Page 16 (1/2)

Anything outside of the authoritarian rules set up in the structure for someone else was deemed an abomination

Here in debate the rules were objective They never changed, and the goal posts weren’t ed with fact and reason and analysis, not with e and accusations This was a world thatThe notes were on the page, the measures were clear Which instrument needed to be struck at which time was laid out in an orderly pattern How you tackled it emotionally was up to you Emotions and debate didn’t really have much to do with each other, except in one area

And she walked past et a drink of water

Auy for years is probably the definition--no, the epitome--of desperate I talked to Sam, sure, and I debated his that gaveout a signal, or flirting, or finding so hi he was just as nervous as I was about the debates today, gave s to myself

It was easier that way because if I didn’t take the chance I couldn’t get rejected, right? I was torn betanting to let hienie I’d be unable to tuck back in its bottle if I pulled the cork

Instead, I lived in that world of as I had for hier, at the same ti them out When our eyes met, there see, even one one-thousandth of what I felt for hi froo would have calmed me even now, that it told me how he felt, and yet a deep insecurity in me left me with more questions than answers from his touch More hat I wanted

Did he?

I walked past him at the water fountain, and he stood, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and then called out to me when my back was to hi a little bit on the tile floor, unaccusto sure I didn’t fall The last thing I needed was to splitup my knee, or worse, embarrass myself in front of hi in theinside--and not just from the specter of the day’s debates His smile made me feel like none of itbut us

He leaned back against the wall and crossed his long legs at the ankles, his elbow bent, the skin around his eyes crinkled up as those warm eyes took me in The seconds ticked by My skin floated inches above h, unsure what to do The tangible feeling ofon the planet The only thing more real would have been if his hands had touched the sa to even ask if you’re nervous," he said, looking down

"Does a bear shit in the woods?" a guy’s voice said, interrupting us

I turned, and then my heart picked up in double tiirl except for the gay ones, had a crush on Joe at some point He looked like a really hot version of Orlando Blooht Add in a little Brad Pitt, and then so Tatum, all mixed into a Roman God, and you had Joe

Too bad his personality didn’t ine, and in the debate world, he was the great white shark What I didn’t like about hi comments that pierced uys and girls alike An equal-opportunity jerk I slid a step away fro closer to him would o intomyself His presence snapped me out of the wonder of Sam

With a blank look on his face, Sae, Ross?"

Joe had the decency to pretend to look offended, even taking one hand and pressing it over his heart, as if shocked "What are you i, Hinton?"

"Take it however you want," Sam said, his face impassive

One-on-one in a debate, that ireatest tool The power in the ability to appear unruffled was so for that skill Okay--almost

Almost trade

His eyes were hooded and his face was slack, leaving the other person absolutely no way of knohat he was thinking It undermined Joe and made my face crack with a smile I bit ed h heels

"If your case is as droll as your face, then good luck getting to third place" Joe’s eyes narrowed as he tried to stare Sam down

"You’re a poet, and you know it," was all Sam said in return