Beauty and the Geek Boy

Chapter 36-Will

*Geek Boy*

The coach stopped to drop the cheerleaders off first.

Ellie descended from the upper deck. Her eyes locked with mine and my breath caught.

Her soft pink-glossed lips parted as if she were about to say something, then the other cheerleaders and jocks—who had all been on the upper deck—flooded around her and the group spilled out of the coach onto the dark sidewalk. I could still make out her hair through the tinted glass windows of the coach, glowing golden in the darkness, as they collected their suitcases from the luggage compartment and swarmed into the hotel.

I watched until that glow of gold had vanished.

Ellie Kent was here. On the trip. According to Nerissa's clipped explanation—she was annoyed that her sister was also here—there was a Cheer and Jock convention taking place at the same time as our maths trip. Unlike us—who would spend the first week in the Harvard dorms and the second week in a hotel—they would be spending the entirety of the trip in the hotel.

I still couldn't catch my breath.

A truck had rammed straight into my chest the moment I'd spotted Ellie across the parking lot. It had happened hours ago, before I'd gotten on the coach at school that took us to the airport for the plane ride and subsequent coach drive here. Yet, it still felt like a scene out of one of my dreams. The wind had caught her hair, billowing back the golden strands so they glistened almost iridescently in the sunlight. Her large aquamarine eyes had widened, her dark cherry pink lips parting. And, at that exact moment, the sun had risen from behind her, rays dancing over her tanned skin.

I still wasn't convinced I hadn't dreamt her up.

I glanced away from the window to find Catherine's eyes on me. I tensed, expecting a snarky remark.

Still keeping you a secret huh?

I told you it wouldn't work out.

You two clearly don't belong together.

Instead, she just smirked and looked away, her fingers fiddling with the camera she wore around her neck.

I frowned, a strange sense of worry twisting in my chest. I shoved it down and glanced around. The lower deck was where all the mathematicians had sat.

Catherine and Nerissa sat in one of the four seats on the other side of the aisle. Nerissa, who had perked up once her sister had left and the coach had started moving again, was discussing the latest discoveries of bacterial use in genetic engineering. The two West High students opposite her—a reedy blond and a plump brunette—listened avidly.

In the seats opposite me were Theodore Reyes and Lilian Fabris. Lilian was describing to him their itinerary for the trip. Theodore occasionally glanced up from the small metal device he was strategically deconstructing and reconstructing, to murmur one word answers.

There were fourteen mathematicians in total, seven from East Hight and seven from West High.

As we arrived at the dorms and were assigned our rooms, I tried to keep my mind off Ellie.

As you can guess, I failed.

*

A week flew by, filled with university classes and educational activities. Too soon, something I was both anticipating and dreading happened: we moved into the hotel.

Mr Meyers and Ms. Kensignton stood a few feet away from me, debating over whose course was more challenging as they checked us in at the front desk.