Damian kept me home for three weeks, with a signed doctor's note from Peter excusing me. It amazed me that the school never figured out the guy worked in the morgue.

Then again, they had bigger things to worry about. Like preventing stabbings in the hallways and blow jobs in the boy's bathroom.

Before the end of the first week, I'd been begging to go back, bored out of my skull. There was only so much daytime TV I could handle. I'd had dreams with Bob Barker shouting, "Come on down."

I never won The Price is Right. Even in my dreams, my luck sucked.

Damien hadn't budged, even though the bones had healed and if I kept popping painkillers, the pain was manageable.

On day twenty of my imprisonment, he’d finally allowed me to return to school.

It was the first time I’d been eager to go back to the jungle known as high school.

The feeling hadn’t lasted long.

The first thing I learned upon returning was we had a paper due in Mrs. Carter's history class tomorrow on the downfall of ancient Rome.

I was wholly unprepared.

I hadn't touched the stack of homework my best friend had dropped off with my brother.

Mrs. Carter was unsympathetic and denied my request for an extension, which was why I was spending my lunch surrounded by thick tomes, scribbling like mad in the school library.

The place was deserted, as usual. Most of the other students had lives that didn't involve musty old books.

They didn't know what they were missing.

Sure, they had friends and sports and other extracurricular activities, but how many of them could say they'd traveled with a hobbit to destroy the ring of power or rode a dragon in Pern or were stabbed in the heart on their uncle's wedding day?

I was about half done with my paper when my best friend, Elena, rushed over, brown eyes bright with excitement.

With unblemished ebony skin, pouty lips, and curves that made all the boys drool, she looked like she belonged on the cover of Rolling Stone, not trapped in the purgatory of public school.

I envied the coiled cloud-like curls of her hair creating a halo around her heart-shaped face.

She sat down across from me, unable to keep from bouncing in her seat. Elena was usually a bundle of energy, but today must have been extra special.

If she opened her mouth, I would never get this done in time.

"Guess what?" she asked, dooming me to an F.

I sighed and put down my pen. I knew my priorities. School would eventually end, but Elena and I would be friends forever. "I don't know. What?"

If she noticed the exasperation in my voice, she ignored it, her enthusiasm unabated. "Remember the new kid I told you about?"

"Mr. Gorgeous with a side of sexy?" I quoted. I'd heard about him for over a month now. Still hadn't met him. Still didn't want to.

"While you were avoiding me, we spent a lot of time together."

"You're welcome."

I had made excuses the whole time I was healing to keep her from coming to see me while busted up. We kept in touch over the phone, but her calls had become less frequent as the days went by. Now I knew why.

I hadn't even met him yet, and I already didn't like him.

She gazed into the distance, lost to whatever daydream played in her head. It probably involved a picket fence, two-and-a-half kids, and a golden retriever.

"He's so much more amazing than I'd expected."

Elena was a bit boy crazy, having a new crush every few weeks. It wasn't like she was fickle or anything—just the reality of her latest object of affection never lived up to the fantasy.

Never had she ignored me for a guy though. Either she was pissed at my unexplained absence, or I had some competition for being number one in her life.

I avoided guys like the plague. The only one I had ever had an actual conversation with was Wes. And he didn't count. He wouldn't touch me with someone else's ten-foot pole. He liked his body in one piece.

Don't get me wrong. I got all tingly over boys just like any other straight teenage girl. Hormones and all that.

I couldn't risk getting close to another human. It was hard enough to hide what I was from Elena.

"I asked him to meet us here. I can't wait for you to meet him." She bristled with manic pixie energy as she stared at the entrance to the library. "I think he's the one."

Elena was the type of girl who devoured steamy romance novels, watched all the chick-flicks, and subscribed to the belief that there was one person, in the billions who existed in the world, she was meant to be with.

She wanted to be a Disney princess and have her prince sweep her off her feet. No one else would do. She kept her standards impossibly high.

I’d be sad if there were only one person out there for me. The odds of finding that person were one in six billion. Not odds I would bet on.

She was the unrealistic romantic.

I was the pessimistic realist.

We balanced each other out.

I played stupid. It was more fun that way. "The one to bring balance to the force?"

Her lips lifted in a half-smile. No one else appreciated my geek references like she did.

"The one I lose my v-card to."

"You barely know the guy."

"Our souls align. He's my lobster."

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. "You need to be careful. He could be another Jim."

Bringing up her stalker was in bad taste, but it was my job to keep her grounded so she wouldn't float into a hurricane of pain.

She waved her hand dismissively in the air as if being the victim of a sociopath was no big deal. "I'm a better judge of character now."

I dropped it. Arguing with her would make her dig her heels in and ignore the warning signs later.

"Can I meet the chosen one later? Damian will ground me if I fail history."

Elena gave me the look. The look your best friend gives you when she thinks you're making excuses to blow her off.

"Five minutes, Lexi. You can give me that, at least." She picked up my notebook and glanced over the half-finished paper. "You're almost done, anyhow. This will take, what, a half hour?"

Maybe it would have taken her a half hour. Everything was easy for Elena. School, friends, boys. She was intelligent, gorgeous, and gave off that vibe of radiant energy that sucked people in like a positive black hole. There was a good reason everyone loved her, including me.

I wasn't jealous. I’d initially gravitated toward her for different reasons than everyone else. She kept people from noticing me, noticing my weirdness.

She was my camouflage.

It was only later I learned Elena and I fit together like Thelma and Louise. She liked the same geeky movies as me, read the same comics, played the same video games. She was just better at hiding her weirdness.

Me? I let my freak flag fly.

"Lucas, over here." Elena stood and frantically waved her hand.

I wasn't sure why. We were directly in sight of the door.

I glanced over, the paper forgotten.

Tall, with the lean muscles of a professional swimmer, he strutted toward our table, a prize cock trying to impress the hens.

Lustrous brown hair curled against sculpted cheekbones. His blue-gray eyes never left Elena's glowing face, the tender smile on his pale lips reserved only for her.

I gulped and tried to slow the mad beating of my heart.

On a good day, I was socially awkward. Add in a hot guy, and I was a mess.

He stopped next to her, never once looking in my direction. I was a non-entity, beneath his notice, beneath both of their notice.

Together they looked like they belonged on the red carpet, oblivious to the photographer's bulbs flashing non-stop, caught in their little world.

It was nausea-inducing.

Elena gestured in my direction. "This is Lexi."

I raised my hand in a half-hearted wave. "Hi."

He tore his eyes from the goddess and met my gaze.

Electric energy crackled through the air. My mouth went dry. The back of my neck itched. Time stood still.

Fight, flight, or freeze kicked in.

Freeze won.

His smile vanished. Eyes widened like a bunny frozen in the headlights that spelled his doom.

I didn't know how long we stared at each other, trapped in the moment, until Elena cleared her throat, breaking the bond holding Lucas and me unwillingly captive.

His lip raised in a confident, half-smirk as if he hadn't been struck dumb moments earlier.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lexi."

My stomach twisted in a knot, the sensation both pleasant and unpleasant. "It's just Lex."

I’d only allowed Elena to call me Lexi. She paired it with sexy just to get under my skin. Sexy Lexi. My affection for her outweighed my aversion to the name. Alexis was the only thing I liked to be called less.

"Lex, then." He extended his hand.

I hesitated. I had a feeling touching him would be about as smart as taking a pizza out of the oven without mitts.

Not wanting to appear rude, and knowing I'd get an earful from Elena later if I did, I reached out. He grasped my hand in his firm grip.

The effect was instantaneous.

You know how a static shock feels? Times that by a million.

He took a little too long to let go.

He pointed at my breasts. "Love the shirt."

I looked down. I was wearing my favorite Zelda T-shirt. Yeah, he was perfect for Elena.

"You, too," I mumbled like an idiot, gesturing at his brown polo.

Told you I was socially awkward.

"It's new." He chuckled. "Lanie has told me a lot about you."

My stomach twisted as butterflies threatened to break out of my chest like a Xenomorph in Alien.

"All lies," I blurted.

His eyes widened for a moment until he realized I was joking. He laughed again. "Yeah, she was right about you."

I would try to decipher that cipher later when I wasn't being overwhelmed by his proximity.

"I, uh, have to get back to work. Nice to meet you," I lied.

I looked down at my paper, but the words blurred. I was still intimately aware of his presence and considered breaking up with Elena if it meant I never had to see him again.

He plopped down in the chair next to me, straining to look at what I'd already written.

"The fall of an empire," he read. "Ancient Rome?"

I nodded, trying to ignore the fact he smelled like an orange grove.

"If you need help, I'm happy to."

He gave me a genuine smile. I doubted he felt what I sensed between us. I know I wouldn't be able to muster a passable smile when my insides felt like they were rebelling against me.

Elena placed her hands on his shoulder, asserting her claim. "You know a lot about Roman history?"

"I've read The Iliad at least a dozen times."

"Who hasn't?" I retorted. I'd rather fail than ask for his help. "Besides, The Iliad is about the Greeks."

He grinned, unaffected by my sour mood. "Touché."

Elena said something, but the words didn't register. I had finally pinpointed why he made me feel like I was riding a broken roller coaster.

He gave off the same aura as my brother. A nephilim.

Fuck me.