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During the secondProfessor Evans (Hillhouse didn’t call professors who held PhDs "doctors"; the faculty ht that academic tradition elitist) a question after his lecture From the other students’ stares and fro questions was considered inappropriate in this class Professor Evans launched into a lengthy discourse on the Higgs boson, a particle ant detail

"All particles acquire theirfield, called the Higgs field, carried by the Higgs boson," s boson has been predicted, but not yet detected Its existence is necessary to the sixteen particles that make up all est the presence of an unknown" Presence and absence, again, I’d thought

My father had extensive knowledge of the theoretical framework of particle physics, and he was able to discuss it in precise English--two traits not shared by Professor Evans As the professor droned on, he beganthe names of particle accelerators and researchers At that point I tuned in to his thoughts, and I was astonished to hear how bitter they were He thought norance And so he talked on,more and moreto him

I didn’t knohat to do If I pointed out his errors, he’d be even more upset So I kept quiet, and when the class ended, I was the first to leave the room

"Hey, Ari?"

I turned around Jack, our orientation facilitator, was standing by the door I’d noticed hi in the back of the roo you can do in that class is sleep with your eyes open"

"I can’t do that" I folded my arms across my chest

"Then I’d advise you to drop the course"

And that’s how I ended up taking Environ team that afternoon Their operations were based in a low ce near the barn I athered trash fros there, where another crew spread the assortedusable itenment was to be a sorter

The first ti took place, two students were scanning trash spread across a table, and near theloves

I saw Walker first When he saw e

Since then I’ve read theories about what attracts people to each other--speculation that they’re drawn by physical and psychological traits that remind them of their parents I’m not sure how much any of that applies to vampires

I prefer a simpler explanation: my eyes were drawn to Walker first because he was theperson I’d ever seen, and second because he was volatile and enigmatic His sun-streaked hair; his lean, tan body; his loose-fitting, raggedy clothes--none of the parts of him explained the appeal of the whole

"Who are you?" His voice had a soft Southern accent

I let er on the table a second before I looked up at hihter shade of blue than uest roo to do any work today, Walker?" One of the other students pushed back the sleeves of his flannel shirt with his gloved hands

He took a step to the side, thenthat I could see It was one of the feard loves Students threay all kinds of things: photos, books, CDs, clothing, and even old TV sets, as well as genuine garbage We took out the usable items and put them in a cart Later they’d be cleaned and placed in the calass, paper, and cans for recycling, and we put food iteo to the compost pile

The next ti table next to me We didn’t talk much as orked, but ere aware of the proximity of our hands on the table He smelled fresh, like the woods around ca

He askedin, and when I asked hiic My plan is to become a notable eccentric"

Later that afternoon we both reached for an apple at the sah our gloves

The next day, I went to A in the back row I took the seat next to hiic tricks, pulling coins out of his ear and feathers out of his hair

"Inner sanctum" hardly described the room I shared with Bernadette People caht They cas of food or books or CDs or clothes (Most of my new clothes had been "distressed" by Bernadette to make them cooler, and now they were much in demand) Most of our visitors were Hillhouse students, but soabonds who roamed from city to city, campus to campus, all across America For a self-styled outcast, Bernadette was very popular

She had a boyfriend, she said, back home in Louisiana He never called or came to visit, but she showed me his picture: a skinny boy with a shaved head and eyebrow piercings, holding one hand outstretched toward the ca

From time to time, Walker showed up, and usually he’d ask me if I wanted to study with him That meant he and I would walk across campus and find a quiet spot in the library On the e talked about where we’d lived before (he was a North Carolina boy, and his accent struck me as sexy), and we talked about where we’d like to travel (both of us wanted to tour Europe; Walker particularly wanted to go to Prague, where his grandfather had been born)

One night Walker played his guitar for ht That was the first tilimmered silver as it crossed the air between us, and when it reached loith the compliment