Revive Read Online Free Page A

know this because she’s told me a hundred times since she discovered I was taking it. Audrey took it last spring, and I think she’d have signed up for it again if she could.
    â€œYou’re crazy.” But her smile is contagious, and this plan makes me feel better too. No one warned me the whole making-friends business would be so stressful. My friends back home are more like family. We grew up together and are very similar. Audrey, on the other hand, is so different I’m constantly amazed we get along at all.
    She starts to say something else, but our professor, Dr. Fernald, enters the room, and conversations die down.
    As I expected, the topics we’re covering today are more basics that I learned years ago. My classmates, it seems, have forgotten a lot since high school. This kind of sloppiness would never have been tolerated back home, but back home we never got summers off either. There was no time to forget things.
    Since it takes me only minutes to do the work, I let my hair fall over my face to hide the fact I’m assessing the class. Sparked by the girl with the bruise, I search everyone’s exposed skin for more bruises, cuts, scrapes, or anything that suggests unhealed injuries. It’s definitely not an efficient use of time, but what else is there to do during these fifteen minutes?
    As my gaze roams over Kyle and Chase, Kyle lifts his head, glances at me then returns to his paper. My cheeks warm, and I temporarily avert my gaze, hoping he couldn’t tell I’d been staring at him. It’s stupid. I was only checking him for injuries, yet I feel like I’ve been caught doing something bad. What if he thinks I was looking at him because… What? He’s hot?
    That would truly be bad, but I still shouldn’t care what he thinks. He’s nothing to me unless he turns out to be X. For that matter, neither is Audrey or anyone else here. Too bad it hasn’t stopped me from caring what they think or wanting them to like me. Or me liking them.
    Stupid, stupid emotions.
    Shifting position, I hope to appear less obvious when I return to my examination of Chase. He doesn’t have any visible injuries either. Most people don’t.
    So much for that. I need another opportunity to use a real plan. Something that won’t involve booby traps that can fail, or barring that, me “accidentally” tripping people on the way to dinner. Something that will get me out of here before I become friendly enough with anyone to miss them when I leave.
    When I turn back to my e-sheet, Kyle is looking at me again. And again, he drops his gaze back to his desk quickly. I’m relieved when Fernald calls for our attention because it spares me from thinking about this.
    I’m not spared for long, though. After class, Audrey and I end up walking to lunch with Chase and Kyle.
    â€œWhy are you taking physics anyway, Aud?” Chase asks. “Aren’t you an English major?”
    Audrey glares at him, but her cheeks turn pink. “Don’t give me crap. I need one more science elective to finish them off. Besides, I like science. I used to be good at it in high school.” She sighs. “It’s the calculus part that’s going to do me in. But Sophia is a math genius, and she’s going to help me.”
    I laugh because genius, I am not.
    Chase groans. “No, geniuses aren’t good either. They ruin the curve and make the rest of us look dumb.”
    â€œThat’s only ’cause you are.” Kyle pushes him into the doorway with his shoulder as we step outside. “So does this mean I’m going to have competition for keeping the highest average in Fernald’s class?” He raises an eyebrow as he looks at me.
    I return the expression. “You don’t want to compete with me. I’m very competitive.”
    â€œA challenge then. It’s on, Hernandez.” He kicks a stone down the stairs. “Meet you guys at lunch.