THE LIST

CHAPTER TWO

Chapter Two

CLAYTON

"Finding everything you need, Clayton?" A deep voice asked me from behind.

I whipped around to find Dr. Asgarth standing in the classroom door. Crap, how long had he been standing there? Hopefully I hadn't picked my nose or something.

"Um..." I wiped my now sweaty hands on my jeans and slid off my stool.

The crick in my neck told me I'd been hunched over the computer way too long.

"I figured I'd stop by and see how your setup was coming along." The doctor smiled and stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Nice to meet you in person, Clayton."

I shook his hand and gulped through the nerves choking the English language from my brain. Here stood the most renowned doctor on traumatic brain injuries, and I stammered like a fan at a BTS concert who'd just got pulled on stage.

Get it together, Clayton!

"It's an honor, Dr. Asgarth," I finally managed to get out.

"Sorry I didn't get here yesterday for your first day in the lab."

"It's okay." More than okay, considering I'd spent half the morning in a closet with one of the prettiest girls who'd ever spoken directly to me. Whoa, never thought I'd say that... ever. Girls avoided me like last leftover broccoli, which notoriously smelled like farts, unless they needed help with schoolwork or they wanted me to put in a good word with my brother.

A sharp pain ripped through my chest. That would probably never happen again... And it was my fault.

"Folks getting settled okay? Jordan all situated and comfortable?" Dr. Asgarth hitched his hip against the end of the table and glanced around the room.

He was a tall guy, which I never got the impression of during our Skype conversations these past few months. But his vivid-green eyes sure were exactly what they'd seemed online.

Intense. Wicked-smart. Curious.

"Um...Jordan. Yep. Settled." Well, as much as he could be in his condition. "We got here the day before yesterday." I hadn't even unpacked my boxes yet, other than to find some clean clothes this morning. "Pretty nice set up here."

"Thought you'd like it. Did you see the illuminator?" He pointed to the corner. "A new one got donated to the hospital, so I thought you'd get a kick out of it."

"It's awesome. It'll help with reading some of the x-rays. That's always interested me." Finally, my synapses started firing. If only I could only talk about research and studies with everyone around me, I'd never be without words.

"We'll do most everything at my clinic, getting the heavy-duty scans done there, but this'll help you read the images, study them, as part of our research."

"Our," I whispered. I couldn't believe I was paired with such an amazing mentor.

"Still getting used to it?" He grinned. "Professor Schwartz, your science teacher here at the school, is a good friend of mine. He'll help you as much as he can while you're on campus. I'll be your main point of contact at the hospital."

I couldn't believe this was happening. I was an actual research assistant to Dr. Edward Asgarth on his traumatic brain injury study. One of the youngest he'd ever taken on. Rules had to be bent to work this whole situation out. This would help me fast-track through high school for sure and be an awesome connection for college. I wouldn't squander this chance. It was my brother's case that caught Dr. Asgarth's attention. And when he'd found out about my high school research projects on traumatic brain injuries, he asked me to join his team...heck yeah, I'd do right by my brother.