Finding You

chapter 46

"Take out your Anthem books and read silently. Don't forget to take notes for annotating and reflecting," the teacher directs the class.

Zay smiles besides me. "Anthem is a personal favorite of mine," he says in a quiet voice.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. The way that Orwell portrays unity, and the need for there to be some form of individualism within society. He describes it with perfect balance."

"Would you look at that. I woulda never guessed you liked literature," I say, surprised at his sudden candor.

He smiles crookedly. "Had a lot of spare time the past three years."

"Your choice. You could have made some friends. But anyways, I prefer writing over reading."

His mouth hangs open a bit. "How could you utter such words? Those things go hand in hand. You end up reading what you write, don't you?"

I think about it for a moment. "Yeah, I guess so. But I write more nonfiction. If I didn't like animals so much, I would go to school for journalism."

"I said silent reading. Do I have to issue you two a detention?" the teacher calls from her desk, looking only at me.

"No ma'am," Zay answers, and the teacher timidly goes back to ignoring us.

We read Anthem quietly for the rest of the hour, not talking to avoid getting in trouble. The silence of the room is broken when the bell finally rings.

Zay follows me out of class and walks in pace with me as we walk to my next hour. I hold my books in one hand and Zay's hand in the other.

"So, why didn't you ever talk to anyone?" I ask him. "All of high school. If you would have at least tried to make friends, you could have gotten somewhere."

"Don't be too sure about that. Half of the people are too scared to start up a conversation. It's the beast in me. Naturally makes people edgy."

I frown at the word beast, but don't comment on it. "I've never felt edgy around you. Quite the opposite actually. I've been wanting to approach you for forever."

He smirks at me, teasing. "So you wanted to before the little stalking incident?"

"Well, yeah. Secretly, I've always had a little crush on you," I share, trying my best not to blush.

Zay kisses my head and I feel him smile in my hair. "How cute," he murmurs.

"Did you ever notice me? Ya know, before the whole 'stalking incident' as you put it?"

He nods thoughtfully. "Sure I noticed you. I even noticed you almost talk to me in the beginning of the year. I didn't think anything of it then, but now I'm wishing you would've done it."

I smile recalling the moment. "Wasn't feeling very brave that day," I admit.

"Yeah, well I should have been less rude and waved back. But I kind of distanced myself from everyone, so I wouldn't get attached.
And I thought you were like every other human girl, just trying to get my attention."

"Technically, that was exactly what I was trying to do," I say through a laugh.

He drops his voice to a whisper. "But you, you're different. You aren't superficial." He kisses my head. "You make me feel alive."

His words force the blush to my face and caress my heart. I smile up at him when we stop at the class door. He cups my face in warm hands and kisses me gently. "You have a great day, okay?" he says after a few seconds.