The Mindreader's Classmate

Four

"Hey, Nat," I greet when my friend reaches her desk. "Thanks for helping yesterday."

"You're welcome," she says with a smile. Anytime.

She's wearing a striped shirt today with the sleeves rolled up and two of the front buttons open to reveal pale, freckled skin. I'm glad to see her more relaxed.

"Nice shirt," Char says before I can. She tips Nat's chair forward – with her on it – so she can squeeze between her and my desk to her own seat.

"Thanks," Nat says with a smile, running a hand through her short strawberry-blonde hair. "How was practice?"

"The worst," Char answers with a huff, raising her left hand to show us the bandage keeping her middle and ring finger stuck together. "Julie stepped on me again and I'm beginning to think she's actively trying to sabotage me. I mean, how many times can someone step on a person's hand in volleyball?"

"Maybe she's trying to get your attention?" Natalie hazards, remembering the boy that liked her back when she was twelve and who kept pulling her hair to make her pay attention to him.

I scrunch my nose in distaste. "That's a shitty way to show interest." Char points to me as she nods in agreement.

Nat shrugs. "I didn't say it was ok, only that it's a possibility."

"Doesn't matter anyway. After the fiasco with Gloria's ex, I'm not dating anyone who won't treat me like a godamn queen."

I'd hang the moon and stars for you.

My attention snaps to Natalie whose eyes widen at her sudden thought. Rose tints her cheeks and she turns away, hands tented across the lower half of her face. What was that?

What, indeed. I've known Char is bi long before she told us but I've never seen nor heard Nat express romantic interest in anyone else.

"You ok there, Nat?" Char asks, brows furrowed as she reaches for her shoulder.

Natalie startles at the contact and makes a sound like a chewing toy. Her voice is pitched way higher than normal when she answers, "Yup, yeah, uh-huh. A-okay." Omigosh, she's so pretty.

I bite the inside of my lip to keep from smiling. Charline is definitely one of the prettiest girls around. We've known this for a while but it's kinda cute to see Nat get so flustered by it now.

A-okay? "You sure you're alright?" Char asks again, growing genuinely worried. "You look flushed."

I grab Char's hand before she can reach for Nat's foreahead to check her temperature and risk making her short-circuit. "I like your nail polish. Is it new?"

"Uh, yeah," she casts another glance at Nat before focusing fully on me. "Yeah, I got it from–"

I listen to her tell me about the quaint shop she found tucked away in a small street while Nat composes herself. I know I should be ashamed for invading her privacy like this or at least worried about what this turn of events might mean for the future of our friendship but all I feel is giddy.

My ability sucks. But on a few, very rare occasions, it's tolerable.

Hearing someone notice their crush for the first time is one such rare occasion. There's something so pure and endearing about a person suddenly realizing that someone else makes their heart flutter that–

It was full tilt jungle madness.

Oh, for the love of - does it have to be now, Martin?!

I try my hardest not to glare at him when he takes the seat beside mine, images flickering before my eyes. Girls in pink with impeccable makeup. More girls, picking up papers in a hallway. A school-wide fight. Sprinklers. Screams about hair. This better be from the last movie he watched and not porn or I'm defenestrating him.