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CHAPTER ONE

"Have you heard?" Grace plopped her books on the table besideback to town The local celebrity jock is about to 'reclaim his crown'"

I rolled an won't be around to flirt with you as much"

Grace paled "I aape, and then wised up”You're the one who's jealous because Corrigan won't be spending as much time with you"

I laughed at that one If only it were true "Right It an"

Grace pouted and leaned back in her chair "You don't have to be the bitch you like to be I' you because, you know, Bryce is your boyfriend and everyone's talking about him, and you're my friend—just shut up, Grace"

"I know," I ed Grace's thin shoulder "But I wasn't joking You've got the hots for Corrigan"

Grace gasped and wheeled back to me in protest, but the class quieted in that instant and was soon underway As Miss Connors wrote the first objective on the white board, I tuned the class out It wasn't that I didn't enjoy our psychology class; it was that Grace was right Everyone was talking about Bryce's ione to Europe with hi to play professional soccer, and I didn't have anything better to do Corrigan went too, but he was the first to leave However, while Corrigan had a legitimate reason since his mother had fallen sick with cancer; I did not when I followed him a few months later

I stuck around Barcelona, but it was difficult I wasn't good atfriends, and the only person I kneas busy with training, practice, and gas for the public, and a whole host of fanatical fans, mostly female

I'irlfriends—far from it—but the obsessive stalker types wore onso her to pieces until she shrivels up in a fetal position, butfans were too much I realized that I needed o…

An entire year passed from e left to when all of us returned home

"Sheldon!" Miss Connors boomed my name

I blinked back to reality and saw h school counselor frown at hts on the fight or flight instinct?"

I relaxed Homework be damned, I could handle this question "I think it's total crap"

Miss Connors suppressed a smile "And what do you mean by that?"

She knew ht, right? They run or they attack? Well, it also says that people 'freeze' when they're in those life or death moments"

"Do you freeze?"

"Hell, no I'ust

The class broke out in laughter, but I saw Grace grimace I wasn't surprised to see the concern in her baby blues

"Do you think it's wrong to freeze?"

"No It's just what it is, you know? People freeze They're going to freeze if they've never been put in that situation, and it happens The body does weird stuff It takes care of its own"

Miss Connors snapped her intelligent eyes to me, narrowed them, and mused, almost to herself, "And maybe there's a reason why it shuts down…"

What?

I narrowed my eyes and studied my previous therapist/current professor in return She looked tired, but no more than usual Her thin straw-colored hair was pulled into a haphazard bun with strands that teased the tops of her slender shoulders She wore a yellow blouse pulled out from pressed khaki pants All that was the sa to herself in the middle of a lecture

I glanced around the room and saw more than a few other students confused That's when I looked at Grace, only to find her concerned eyes still on me

"I'm fine!" I snapped out

Miss Connors jumped out of her trance

Grace bared her teeth "I can think hts"

"Not when they're about me," I barked back