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I LEFT CALCULUS A MINUTE before the bell so I’d be the first to arrive at the student councilOur advisor, Ms Yates, would sit at the back of the classroo, and I wanted her vacated desk at the front of the roo, Aidan had taken her desk in a show of presidential authority But as vice president, I was the one who needed room for paperwork A better boyfriend than Aidan would have let irlfriend than me would have let him have it

And that prettyjust as I reached the roo for Ms Yates to e and for her freshlanced atas if I were a celebrity I re fro up to e to be on the receiving end

As the last of the ninth graders escaped down the hall, I stepped into the room, which should have been empty

Instead, Sawyer De Luca sat behind Ms Yates’s desk He must have left his last class twodeep blue eyes at me, the color of the September sky out thebehind him When Sawyer’s hair was combed--which I’d seen happen once or twice in the couple of years I’d known him--it looked platinum blond Today, as usual, it was aup on top, and the dark blond layers peeking out underneath He had on his favorite shirt, which he wore at least two times a week, the madras short-sleeved button-doith blue stripes that made his eyes stand out even more His khaki shorts were rumpled I couldn’t see his feet beneath the desk, but I kneore his beat-up flip-flops In short, if you’d never met Sawyer before, you’d assue beach bum

I knew better

I closed the door behind ument ere about to have I wanted that desk I suspected he understood this, which hy he’d sat there But long experience with Sawyer told ood That’s what he expected rin on iven Sawyer "Hi!"

He smiled serenely back at me "Hello, Kaye You look beautiful in yellow"

His sweet reh the heart My friend Harper had just altered this dress to fit me I didn’t need her beautifully holad to take them--especially this sixties A-line throwback as vivid as the Florida sunshine After a rocky couple of weeks for ro praise from him He hadn’t said a word

Leave it to Sawyer to catch ht After two years of teasing and taunting me, out of the blue he’d told me he loved my new hairstyle I always had a ready response for his insults, but these cowith my tablet and my loose-leaf binder for student council projects Then I said brightly, "So, Mr Parlia the vice president have the desk? I need to spread out"

"I need to spread out" He patted the stack of library books in front of his, called Robert’s Rules of Order, plus a couple of modern discussions of how the rules worked For once Sawyer had done his ho the parliamentarian job seriously, are we?" This was my fourth year in student council We’d always elected a parlia what the title meant Ms Yates said the parlia with a charis in the back Nobody ran for parlia Ms Yates waited until school started in the fall, then pointed out that "student council parliae applications One study hall representative volunteered, got approved, and never lifted a finger duringand look stuff up quickly" Sawyer swept his hand across his books and a legal pad inscribed with tiny cryptic notes "Last , Aidan didn’t follow parliamentary procedure at all But I’ll share the desk with you" He stood and headed for the back of the roo chairs for the

Nor a chair for estion that we share a desk was the best way to make me drop the subject and sit down elsewhere He kneouldn’t want Aidan to think ere flirting

But this asn’t nor ave hi into the rooether was incredibly appealing

Sawyer held the folding chair high above his head as he made his way toward me He unfolded the chair behind the desk I started to sit down in it

"No, that’s for me I meant for you to have the comfy chair" He rolled Ms Yates’s chair over, waited for me to sit, and pushedchair "Will you marry me?"