Chapter 2

Hayley's first thought upon entering her room and finding her roommate's stuff thrown all over the place was Oh great, a slob. Her second thought, after a brief inventory of the clothes that were falling out of every one of the six suitcases in the middle of the floor revealed not one polo shirt or pastel colored item of clothing was Thank the gods she's not one of them.

"Hey! You must be Hayley. I'm Brigid Quinn." Brigid grabbed Hayley's hand and shook it enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastically if you asked Hayley. Even against her unbelievably pale skin the girl's smile was so bright it was blinding. Hayley figured the excitement couldn't possibly be real. No one could possibly be that excited about anything. Eyeing her new roommate warily, Hayley wondered if one of them might have been better than this perky slip of a girl standing in front of her.

If she didn't know better, she'd swear that her new roommate was part fairy or something. She was a tiny little thing—4'11" tops. And she couldn't possibly weigh more than 85 lbs soaking wet ... in the clothes of an Eskimo ... on the coldest day of winter. At 5'5" (when she wore tennis shoes), Hayley rarely felt tall, but standing next to Brigid, she felt like an NBA scout might come knocking at her door any minute. Briefly, she considered the possibility that she had accidentally been paired with a 6th grader.

"How'd you like your first day of class? I gotta say, I'm not at all sad that I missed the first day. There's nothing more boring than hearing first-day speeches from the teachers. Except maybe hearing it for 4 years in a row. Especially Ms. Davis. I mean, seriously, what makes her think that anyone in the class really gives a rat's ass about her cats? The woman really should look into retiring soon. She has to be at least 80 by now. My first day here sucked. We moved here when I was 12 and I soooo did not want to come here. But my dad got a new job here and so we had to move. We're originally from Kiltimagh, Ireland. It's a small town in western Ireland. We were there this summer. I already miss it, even though we just got back today. That's why I missed classes today. Anyway, when my parents first told us about moving, I really didn't want to leave my friends back at home, but my brother..."

As curious as Hayley was about her new roommate, she had already tuned out Brigid's 30-word-per-second monologue around the third or fourth sentence. Brigid didn't really seem to mind though. She didn't even seem to notice. She was busy unpacking as she talked; moving from suitcase to suitcase haphazardly. She was used to people tuning her out and rarely needed anyone to listen to her. She just liked to talk. And talk. And talk. It drove most of her family crazy because they also liked to talk and Brigid hardly ever let them get a word in edgewise. The only person who seemed to have no problem with, and oddly enough actually seemed to listen to Brigid's monologues was her twin brother, Brandon. Unlike the rest of the family, Brandon was naturally quiet and didn't mind having Brigid do all of the talking.

Hayley sat on her bed and watched her new roommate in action. She was amazed that Brigid even had the breath to talk as much as she was bouncing around. She was unpacking things at incredible speed, gracefully stepping over the many heaps of clothes and shoes and books and sports equipment and millions of other things that Hayley couldn't make out. If I could bottle up her energy and sell it, I could probably pay my own tuition here, Hayley thought, watching her in amazement.

"So have you eaten yet? Do you want to go to dinner? The food here is actually pretty good. I'm glad too, because I really like to eat. Not that you can tell by looking at me, but fast metabolisms run in my family. My grandmother said that when my mother was younger, she could out-eat the entire family, even her four older brothers, without gaining a pound. I can't out-eat the family or anything, but I can definitely hold my own..."

How can she talk that much without needing to stop for air? Hayley shook her head, amused and a little bit impressed. Some people are truly gifted. She slid on her shoes, grabbed her key from her desk and followed Brigid out of the door.

"What was your old school like? Did you go to another boarding school or is this your first one?" When Hayley didn't answer, Brigid stopped to look at her curiously. It was only when Hayley almost ran into her that she noticed that Brigid had stopped talking. She looked at Brigid, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry. I zoned out for a second." Wow Hayley, you're just a social butterfly aren't you? You've only known the girl for 20 minutes and you're already insulting her by ignoring her. Now I see why you have so many friends. But Brigid was more amused than insulted.

"It's okay." Brigid smiled and continued walking. Hayley followed, glad to see laughter in her eyes instead malice. "I know I have a tendency to go on and on. But anyway, did you go to another boarding school before this?"

"No, this is my first. I used to go to public school when I was younger. Then I was home-schooled by my grandmother from the time I was 12 until now."

"Did you like home-schooling? I remember when we were younger, my brother used to try to get our parents to get him a tutor so he wouldn't have to go to school. He's not really a big fan of being around a lot of people. He's a lot better than he used to be though. I think it helps that his roommate is the sociable type. When we first got here, I was the only person he would talk to. But Aidan helped him come out of his shell a little. He still doesn't talk much though." They walked through the doors of the dining room and stopped while Brigid scanned the room for her brother.

"There he is over there with his roommate, Aidan." Hayley couldn't really see where Brigid was pointing, so she just followed her to the table. When they were a few feet away from the table Hayley stopped, her breath suddenly leaving her.

It was him.

The boy from her English class.

Hayley didn't know what to do. She hadn't stopped thinking about him since that first class. She still couldn't understand how he had been able to see through her spell. No one in any of her other classes had noticed her. Nobody had even looked her way until she got to her room, closed the spell, and started talking to Brigid.

And she had no clue what to make of the whole 20-minute-eye-contact-thing. Her years of training had definitely not prepared her for this. Hayley had never felt such an intense connection with anyone before. She wondered what was so special about this boy. Sure he was attractive. Quite attractive actually. Even if she tried to deny that, no one would buy it. He was 6 feet of pure drop dead gorgeousness—short black hair with a no-fuss cut; clear skin that any teenager in the grips of the evils of puberty would kill for with just a hint of tan; eyes of the purest blue Hayley had ever seen. And that body. Even under his clothes, she could tell that he had his fair share of muscles. But not so many that he looked like a model for a steroid ad. He looked fit, strong. Perfect.