“Darcy is a complete douchebag.”

Alex struggled not to roll his eyes as the class tittered and giggled. “Language, Mr. Key.”

“He is so not a douchebag,” Reva insisted, her face screwing up as she swiveled in her seat to look back at Logan. “He took Elizabeth’s ‘no’ for an answer, which is more than I can say for some guys around here.” She swiveled back to face the front for emphasis.

Logan huffed. “I’m sorry the entire town thinks he’s a douchebag.”

“Lang-“

“LoKey!” Reva interjected her hands raising with her voice but not turning. For a second Alex thought she had sworn in some kind of slang he was unfamiliar with and opened his mouth to intervene when Elliot Braum’s muffled voice came from where he dropped his head onto his folded arms.

“Do you guys ever stop arguing?”

“She’s delusional.”

“He’s an asshole!” Reva exclaimed. Alex cleared his throat loudly. “Sorry, Mr. Danvers,” she muttered, waving a disconcerted hand in the air.

“Reva, we were asked to give our opinion on the characters in the novel and LoKey did that.”

Alex’s eyes fell on Kelsey Charming who looked utterly bored as she twirled a pen between her fingers while the other hand supported the weight of her cheek as she leaned heavily on her elbow.

“Then you gave your opinion and now it’s someone else’s turn,” Kelsey finished waving her pen in a circular motion indicating the rest of the room. Reva frowned at her.

“Yes, thank you Miss Charming. Tell us what you think of Mr. Darcy,” Alex said, leaning back against the front of his desk. Suddenly Kelsey was ramrod straight in her seat, her eyes wide.

“Er… I didn’t mean me,” she said followed by a nervous chuckle.

“Doesn’t matter,” Alex said. “Fitzwilliam Darcy, Dreamboat or D…” Alex paused nearly repeating Logan’s colorful description. “Discourteous suitor?”

A low chuckle rumbled from the left side of the room as Cody Alger said “Nice save, Mr. Danvers.” The rest of the class tittered again. Alex gave him a taciturn smile before turning back to Kelsey who was whispering furiously with Reva.

“Miss Charming?”

Kelsey looked at him again.

“I agree with Reva,” she said firmly and a smile tugged at the corners of Reva’s lips as she tossed her hair, preening. Logan groaned behind her.

Alex looked from Kelsey to Reva for a beat before asking, “Why?”

Kelsey looked nervously from him to the girl next to her as a fine blush crept up her neck. “Um…”

She jumped as the bell sounded loudly in the hall and almost immediately the thunder of hundreds of students getting up from their desks sounded through the entire building.

“Saved by the bell, Miss Charming,” Alex called over the desks screeching against the floor as gangling teenagers tried to extricate themselves from them. “Please pick up your summer reading essays on the way out.” He added grabbing a stack of papers from his desk.

Students filed past him one by one and he plucked their paper from his stack. He was hoping that Kelsey would be last but she was right in the middle, Reva in front of her and Elliot behind. She took it without looking at it, keeping the front page turned against her leg so no one could see. Alex blinked, feeling miffed. If she knew she would receive a bad grade when turning it in why didn’t she try harder?

“Reva what’d you get?” Elliot asked as the three of them filed out the door. “I got an A!”

Reva rolled her eyes, looking over her shoulder at him as they melted into a sea of bodies. “So did I, Elliot. It was a simple book report. How do you not get an A?”

Elliot frowned and nudged Kelsey’s arm with the back of his hand. “Hey, what’d you get?”

Kelsey reluctantly lifted her paper, being careful to keep it tilted away from Elliot’s gaze, and gulped. There was no grade. Just “see me after class” scribbled in tight red cursive underneath her name. This was why she couldn’t make the AP thing work. Mr. Danvers was one of the toughest graders in the school - this was his reaction to a simple book report? She had dreaded being his student since she entered Lambency High but her grandmother had always told her she was being silly. That Mr. Danvers is a nice man. He grades hard but fair. You just keep doing what you’re doing Kells Bells and we’ll get through it together. She shook her head.

“Uh, I got a B,” she said, shoving the paper in her bag as they let the flow of students guide them down the hall to their lockers.

“That’s great for you Kels!” Reva exclaimed, edging out of the flow of traffic and dropping her bag in front of her locker. “I told you going to the writing center would help! Meet up with you guys outside!”

“Kay,” Kelsey hollered back, she and Elliot already being moved forward towards the other end of the hall.

“You know if you ever want to study together I’m totally down,” Elliot said, sidling up next to her as the crowd thinned. “Us STEM kids gotta stick together.”

Kelsey snorted dropping her bag in front of her own locker. “The blind leading the blind.”

Elliot chuckled working the lock on the door next to hers. “I’m just saying there’s strength in numbers.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kelsey replied sarcastically, pulling her Calculus and Physics books from her locker and attempting to shove the large volumes into her bag.

“Hey how’s the calc going?” Elliot asked the question nearly drowned in the sound of both their lockers slamming at the same time.

“Oh great. We’re actually getting into linear algebra. We just started with matrices,” Kelsey replied, her English paper momentarily forgotten as they walked down the hall towards the front doors.

“Shit I can barely get through inverse functions in calc 2. I forgot everything over the summer,” Elliot bemoaned, his head hanging back as he sighed.

“I’ll help you,” Kelsey responded automatically. She had been helping her friends with math and science homework since fifth grade.

“You’re the best, Kels,” Elliot grinned as he gave one of the large doors a shove and gestured her out first.

She barely had time to smile at him before something bright yellow sailed past her ear a mere inch from hitting her. Elliot took a full blow to the face, the water balloon bursting and dumping water down his front. Kelsey looked back out at the vast front lawn of Lambency High and took in the carnage of the entire student body pelting each other with water balloons. Large trashcans dotted the playing field, filled to the brim with ammunition in an array of colors. The senior class dominated the battlefield, some lower classmen attempting to shield their heads with backpacks and binders as they ran for their lives while others joined in the fray.

“Why didn’t we know it was Senior Splash Day? All seniors are supposed to know,” Kelsey cried over the din, turning to Elliot just in time for what felt like an ice brick to hit her between the shoulder blades, soaking the back of her shirt.

“Nice bra Kelsey. Didn’t take you for a leopard print kinda girl,” someone yelled. A chorus of laughter echoed against the building.

“Yeah bad day to wear white,” someone else sniggered.

“Shut it, assholes,” Elliot hollered as he brushed past Kelsey, taking the stairs two at a time and launching himself at a barrel of balloons, firing them off in quick succession nailing each football player that was laughing in the gut or chest. Elliot may have been Lambency’s second string pitcher, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Kelsey took the opportunity to hop down the steps and slink along the side of the building. There was no way she could get across the lawn without becoming soaked through and yeah, the idiot jock was right she’d picked a very bad day to wear white. She would have to go a few blocks down and over to get away from this mess. She was totally unnoticed until she turned the corner to the parking lot and met three of Lambency High’s defensive line dragging another trash can full of balloons toward the front lawn. They all froze, blinking at each other for a millisecond before Kelsey’s brain unjammed first. She made a running dive for the stairwell that descended into the ground towards the basement.

She heard someone yell “Where ya goin’ Kelsey?” and another bellow, “GET HER!” as she hit the door hard, careening wildly into the pitch black. She hadn’t really expected the door to open but within a half second she was running. Her bag banged against her hip as she followed a feeble light from a bare bulb hanging at the end of the walkway. She flew between shelves with all matter of junk on them, hoping the door beyond was unlocked and led to the upper levels.

Pounding footsteps echoed behind her along with raucous laughter. She skidded up to the door and tugged desperately at the handle which didn’t budge. A balloon splashed against the wall beside her head. She ducked, squealing then laughing. She turned the knob so it hurt her wrist but it gave way, merely stuck not locked. She spun herself through it and threw her body back against it, hoping it would stick harder this time but didn’t hang around to see the results.

The universe was, for once, conspiring with her as she bounded up a flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. The door below burst open again as she sped through the door at the top of the stairs, slamming it shut behind her. She didn’t bother to try and get her bearings she just ran, lockers passing by in a blur. She checked a classroom door but it was locked, hurried to another and the knob gave just as the door at the end of the hall banged open. She spun inside, closing the door behind her as softly as possible in her haste. She flicked the lock and ducked down below the window, hand holding the knob while the other covered her mouth to quiet her ragged breathing. She jumped as a cacophony of hands drummed against the lockers, hoots and hollers echoing down the empty hall.

“Keeeeeeeelseeeeeey,” one sing-songed. “Come out and plaaaaay.”

The others laughed and Kelsey was inclined to giggle herself but smothered it, still nervous that any sound would give her away despite the heavy wood door.

She slowly raised herself to peek out of the window and her heart froze in her chest as she came face to face with one of the football players. Or really more like her face to the side of his, since he was looking back at his friends, telling them to check classrooms. Kelsey turned on the balls of her feet as she sunk down to the floor, pressing her back flat against it with her eyes squeezed shut.

“Miss Charming?”

Her eyes flew open and she was mortified to see Mr. Danvers sitting behind his desk, pen in hand but hovering as if he’d been shocked at the very moment he began applying it to paper. The knob next to her ear began to jiggle. Mr. Danvers’ eyes lifted to the window above her and she heard a muffled sound of surprise through the wood.

“It’s Danvers,” the voice said in annoyance. “You go down to the cafeteria. I’m going to clear the end of this hall. I’ve got balloons with your name on them, Charming!”

The sound of their footsteps receded and a ringing silence was left in their wake. Kelsey’s sense of relief was minimal, almost wishing she’d been fully wetted, leopard print bra or not. Mr. Danvers looked as if he were trying his very hardest not to laugh.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment and a chuckle escaped despite himself which he tried to mask as a cough.

She’d scared the daylights out of him but the sight of her peeking up over the window only to see Chuck Laclede on the other side was pretty hysterical. He politely ignored the leopard print band of her bra clearly visible through her soaked shirt before she thumped to the ground eyes closed and stock still. He’d figured he’d better announce himself since she was clearly going through an ordeal and discovering he’d witnessed the entire thing would likely mortify her. He wasn’t wrong.

“I’m fine,” she blurted spastically, the slow blush creeping all the way up her neck to her ears.

“Senior Splash Day?” he asked turning his eyes back to the papers in front of him, giving her some privacy to pull herself together.

She laughed darkly. “Yeah.”

“Aren’t all the seniors supposed to know about that though?”

“Yeah!” she said, sounding indignant this time so he looked up at her again. “What the h–“ She cut herself off and blinked at him. “Heck?”

This time he did laugh, ducking his head to try and smother it with his hand. Kelsey felt the corners of her own lips turn up. She didn’t know why he was always forcing himself not to smile, to be so stern and serious but she liked this little thrill she got when he cracked.

He regained his composure and while his mouth was back to its normal straight line his eyes were still alight with humor. “Did you want to discuss your paper or was this merely a shelter from the storm?”

Kelsey’s smile faded instantly and Alex almost felt bad for snuffing it out. She didn’t smile much he noticed which was a shame because she was one of those girls whose smile turned her from plain to radiant. He usually felt weird for noticing such things in students but Fitz and Hilary were constantly talking about this kid’s goofy ears or that one’s lumbering gait. It was normal to notice, he thought to himself, especially if she was his project student.

“How bad is it that you didn’t even give me a grade?” She asked quietly, not looking at him as she hoisted herself to her feet, reaching into her bag and drawing out the crumpled papers.

Alex merely held out his hand. She stepped forward to give it to him as he stood from his desk and he gestured to the front row of desks. Alex heard her heavy sigh as she trudged over, letting her bag slide to the floor before lowering herself into the chair. He slid into the desk beside her, looking at the paper in his hands.

“This paper was not bad, per say,” he began with a casual shrug of one shoulder. She braced herself for the pendulum swing, “It just felt…” he paused trying to find a delicate word, “unfocused.”

“Unfocused?” Kelsey asked, her brows creasing so that a little line drew itself between them.

“Yes. How long ago did you read The Accidental Tourist?”

Kelsey’s eyes went uneasy. “Um,” she looked down at her hands, one squeezing the other brutally. “J-July. We were trying to get through it together before…” She trailed her eyes meeting his and he grimaced, looking away from the pain reflected there. He flipped through the pages of her paper for a distraction.

“Well.” He cleared his throat. “You did a nice job of summarizing the plot and giving factual context about the author and its reception after it was published,” he folded back the first two pages and Kelsey looked morose as he focused on the feeble little sentences before her closing paragraph. “But you only give two sentences to your opinion of the book, no thoughts on the characters or themes.”

He was silent then, watching her face as she stared blankly at the paper in his hands. He felt a tincture of irritation again, but quashed it. He was a teacher and making students understand things was part of his job, but he hated feeling like he was doing all the heavy lifting.

“So, what did you like about the book?”

Kelsey met his gaze and he could see the anxiety in her brown eyes before she looked down at her hands.

“Erm… it wasn’t too long,” she said slowly and Alex coughed out another laugh that he tried to suppress. Kelsey looked at him bewildered. “Is that funny?”

“No,” Alex said, clearing his throat and back peddled when he saw her cheeks pinken. “I mean, yes it was. Only because I don’t often hear that except in book reviews where the only good thing the critic can find to say about the work is that it was short.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know that’s why it was funny.”

A pause in which they looked at each other and a strange tension began to coil between them. She mashed her lips together in a tight line when she didn’t know what to say, he noticed. He licked his lips. A lot. Which she found terribly distracting. She looked away.

“I liked Muriel,” she said with a gesture. “And the dog.”

Alex nodded. “Okay why?”

Kelsey looked pained as she tried to think. Eventually she heaved a sigh and gave up, flopping against the back of her chair. “I just do.” She crossed her arms over he chest and Alex shifted in his chair, stretching his neck to fight his annoyance. “I’m sorry.” Kelsey said after a moment. “This was the stuff…” She placed a hand flat on the desktop and focused on it, naming the bones in her hand. The carpals: scaphoid bone, lunate bone, triquetral bone…

“This was the stuff Eleanor helped you with,” Alex said softly.

Kelsey nodded feeling that tightness in her throat, the burning behind her eyes as she sucked in a slow breath. The pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate and hamate bones all make up the - Suddenly Alex’s palm covered the back of her hand - distal row.

She blinked rapidly, feeling the heavy weight of his hand on hers. His palm was rough and dry and she suddenly remembered him in his sailboat about a quarter of a mile out, tugging at the rigging with no gloves, his open shirt blowing in the sea breeze.

Five metacarpals, then the phalanges…

“Well...I’ll be the first to admit I’m probably a poor substitute,” Alex said after a moment because his mind was absolutely empty, astounded by his own forwardness. He removed his hand from hers slowly, as if she were a wild animal and sudden movement would spook her. She jumped anyway.

“I’m sorry. This… This is why me being in your AP class is a bad idea. I… I don’t want to take up too much of your time–“

“Tell me a scene you remember with the dog in it.”

Kelsey stopped fidgeting then and blinked at him. That line appeared between her eyebrows again. “When he chased the guy into the pantry.”

Alex offered a rare smile. “Why did you like it?”

“It was funny.”

“Was there anything else happening at that time?”

“What do you mean?”

“What else was happening in the book while the dog had trapped the man in the pantry.”

Kelsey’s face screwed up in thought. “Macon was having lunch with his wife, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, was he having a good time?”

“No, he had, like, a panic attack or something,” Kelsey said. Alex looked at her pointedly and she stared back.

“Did that happen often in the book? Macon and the dog acting out at the same time?”

“Yeah,” Kelsey said and then her eyes widened. “Are they parallels?”

Alex smiled widely nodding and Kelsey beamed back at him bouncing a little in her chair. “Very good, Miss Charming.”

“Thanks,” she said looking down at her hand still on the desk, a look of delighted astonishment on her face. That was the first time she’d successfully analyzed anything without Gram. It was as if a light was then snuffed out inside her. She watched each of the metacarpals articulate with the bases of the proximal phalanx of her fingers, flexing the metacarpophalangeal joints.

Alex watched her open and close her fingers slowly, her eyes concentrating on her knuckles before she shook her head fluttering her fingers as if the movement would shoo her thoughts away.

“I think,” Alex said, lifting himself from the chair to wiggle a hand into the pocket of his khakis and produced a pen, “that we have covered enough to show me what I needed to see.” Kelsey’s eyes lit up but sobered quickly as he drew a curved letter C right under his previous note. He handed it to her. “A ‘C’ is average, Kelsey. Meaning you performed as expected but did not exceed expectations. You’re exactly where you need to be with room for improvement if you work hard at it.”

She nodded soberly. He was right, she had just pushed hard enough to pass. If she wanted to excel she’d have to do a little more heavy thinking. She could do that. They had talked out this problem together but she’d gotten it pretty much on her own. On her next paper, maybe she could do it all on her own. The thought thrilled and terrified her. Gram I hope you’re watching this.

“Thank you Mr. Danvers,” she said turning to him suddenly and he felt the tips of her fingers lightly pat the back of his hand in a respectable imitation of his previous touch.

He nodded, feeling the corners of his mouth tug. He liked Kelsey Charming. She was sharp but lacked confidence. She could get the answers on her own, but she needed someone to ask the right questions. She stood, hoisting her bag up onto her shoulder, untucking her long dark hair from under the strap with a grimace. He stood as well.

“So, what’s your decision, Miss Charming? AP or no AP?” Alex crossed his arms over his chest and Kelsey bit her bottom lip as an uneasy look crossed her face. She looked out the windows, chewing the corner of her mouth then looked at him again, anxiety in her amber colored eyes.

“Well… what do you think?” she asked, shifting from foot to foot. “From just now. Do you think I can pass it?”

Alex thought for a moment then nodded. “It’ll be hard. You might not get an A.” He raised his eyebrows and gestured with his hand, “you might not even get a B, but I definitely think you can pass.”

Kelsey took a deep breath and let it out slow, puffing out her cheeks as she debated with herself. She swallowed hard, hooked her hand around the strap of her bag and jutted her chin out as she looked at Mr. Danvers.

“I wanna do it,” she said with a nod. “I want that scholarship. I’m tired of the Bellengrath kids winning every year.”

Alex coughed out an unexpected laugh at this and a smile crept over Kelsey’s face. “Is that why you want the Illumination Scholarship? So the rich kids on the north end of town don’t get it?”

Kelsey shrugged one shoulder. “Pretty much.” Alex snorted another laugh. “And for Gram. Gram wanted me to have it,” she added softly.

Alex’s smile faded as sympathy washed through his dark blue eyes. Kelsey looked down at her feet, biting her lip.

“I’ll do what I can to help you get it,” Alex said and Kelsey looked up at him, bashful now and gave him a tight smile.

“Thanks Mr. Danvers,” she said as she made for the door. Alex noticed that the back of her shirt had dried just enough to become opaque once more.