Guardian

Chapter 3

"Ron, you okay?" Ava whispered. "You look green."

I nodded and took a sip of my water. "Just nervous," I responded. I took a deep breath as the teacher dismissed us.

"Just don't let him talk you into anything you don't want to do," she reminded me as we walked out of the room.

I nodded and headed my sperate way to anatomy. I sighed as I realized that Holden wasn't there yet. I would have a few minutes to gather myself before he would want to talk. With any luck, he would show up right as class started and I could blame my need to pay attention on avoiding it.

I walked down the row of blacktop desks to the back of the classroom. My foot caught something, and I felt myself falling. I tucked my arms and braced to hit the ground with my eyes squeezed shut, knowing I'd probably do more damage trying to catch myself.

The impact never came, and I slowly opened one eye. Holden was standing above me, one arm cradled around the small of my back. My shirt lifted slightly, and his hand was on bare skin, electrifying at his touch. Goosebumps raised on my skin at the contrast of his hot hands. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Holden," he said, flashing me a smile.

"What are you doing?" I asked, stifling a laugh as I looked into his midnight eyes.

"I'm starting over. From the beginning," he said. "Are you going to tell me your name?"

"Are you going to let me stand back up?" He rose me back to my feet, his hand hesitating on my back before leaving my skin completely. The electricity stopped with the loss of contact and I was left with the ghost of his hand. "I'm Ronnie," I said, playing along with his game.

"It's nice to meet you, Ronnie," he said. I squinted my eyes at him.

"What's the angle here, Holden? Something has to be up," I said. He put his hand on my back and guided me to my chair. I dropped into my seat with my bag on the floor.

"I want to be friends."

"You've been staring at me for months without speaking and now you want to be friends?" I questioned.

"You'll understand eventually," he replied with a smirk. I pulled my notebook out and began drawing swirls on the first page. I felt the ghost of his hand on my back as the teacher began the lesson. He was nowhere near me when I fell. It was like he came out of thin air just to save me from my own clumsiness.

I looked over at him as he took notes. He glanced up at me and smirked back, his dark eyes catching mine. My cheeks warmed at his smile. "I have a question," I whispered, ignoring my blush and scooting a little closer to him.

"Hm?" he hummed, not completely looking at me.

"How did you catch me that fast?"

His eyes got wide but he didn't look at me. As quickly as he lost his composure, it was back again. "What do you mean?" He forced his head down further and his shirt gaped on his back, revealing black ink in swirls and lines.

"You weren't behind me. You came out of nowhere," I said, leaning closer once again. I was mainly trying to get a better look at the ink. He cupped the back of his neck with his hand. Maybe my shifting eyes drew his attention to it.

He looked down at his book. "I was coming in when I saw you trip," he explained poorly. I nodded my understanding but stayed quiet about my skepticism. "Are you busy tonight?"

I shrugged. "My mom keeps me pretty close," I said. "Ava is barely able to come over."

"Even for homework?" he asked.

"That's mainly when Ava is allowed over," I said.

Ms. Walker paused mid-sentence and her eyes glassed over, as if she was listening for something. "I'm going to have everyone do a project with their table partner," she said after a minute. "They will be due on Monday, so you better work together through the weekend." She went into the project that she wanted us to have done in four days. It was complicated and didn't make much sense to me, but Holden seemed to grasp it well enough. He jotted down bullet points in his notebook and slammed it shut as the bell rung.