Alive by Chandler Baker

to say as evenly as possible. “Do you mind watching Elsie for a sec? I need to find a restroom.”
    She nods, tilting her face one direction then the other to study her reflection. I can feel the seconds tick by.
    “Watch her, please!” I call over my shoulder. I hate to trust Brynn with my sister, if only because my parents would kill me if something happened.
    Stepping outside, I follow a path along the bricks toward the waterfront. Maybe the breeze will help. I’m already flushed. I spot the bay through a gap in the shops. My neck’s sticky
and I stagger to the railing that separates the market from the sea below. I take a deep breath of ocean air and slump onto a stone bench. Why does this happen to me? And why won’t it
stop?
    Salt sticks to my cheeks. The breeze sweeps across the water, whipping my ponytail into my face. I peel it back and pull out my cell. I watch as the digital lines on my clock arrange themselves
into different numbers. A one becomes a four that becomes a six. My muscles are tense and alert, as if being ready will change anything. I’m alone out here. Away from the human traffic of
Pike Place.
    Five oh eight.
    I shut my eyes. Maybe today it won’t come. Maybe today it’s different.
    But I’m only halfway through the thought when it begins. Small at first. I wonder, for an instant, if I can ignore it. But it grows.
    My heart abruptly squeezes like a sponge being wrung dry.
    The shock of the compression doubles me over and sweat springs up on my neck. The pain is minor at first. Tricky. Slight but still enough to allow me to lie to myself. This will be it. This
isn’t so bad. I can deal with this much. Even this much, I bargain.
    But it grows, and before I know it someone has lit a sparkler inside me.
    I imagine my brain on a CT scan exploding with color. Pain everywhere. I bite into my fist and crumple into the fetal position.
    Then, before the pain reaches its crescendo, it disappears all at once. “Stella?” The voice is boyish. Clear. “Stella?” The pain is gone so fast it seems it was never
there. Someone pats my face and it’s as if I’ve been saved. “Are you okay?”
    My eyelids flutter open. I blink once, twice, and stare up at what should be the gray sky.
    “Can you hear me?”
    Dark, almond eyes stare down at me. He cradles my head in his lap and wipes sweat from my forehead. I can hardly believe the clean, smooth feeling in my chest.
    “Levi?” I can’t believe I just said that. He’ll think I’m a stalker.
    He chuckles. “Good, you know who I am. I was worried you’d think I was some bum off the streets.”
    I stare at him blankly. Words, Stella. Any word will do. Say something. Anything, I plead with myself.
    “Um, yeah, calculus,” I say, crawling upright. Brilliant, Stel.
    His smile, though, is megawatt. “Yeah, I noticed you in there.” There’s a tiny bead of water hanging from a tuft of hair on his forehead, like he must have walked through
pouring rain earlier today or arrived from a photo shoot under a waterfall. Meanwhile, I probably have mascara smudged underneath my eyes and the stringy hair of a wet shih tzu.
    “What are you doing here?” I ask.
    He raises an eyebrow. “I’m rescuing you. Do you have a habit of shrieking and passing out on public benches?” I don’t remember making any noise at all.
    “Low blood sugar,” I lie. “Started feeling faint and then—”
    “Then I saw you lying here white as a sheet and panicked.” He shakes his head and stares out at Elliott Bay. “I was about to call the damn coast guard.”
    “Seems like a lot of people for one girl,” I say dryly.
    “Well…” He winks. “You gave me a scare, Cross.”
    I squint at the glare from the clouds. He knows my last name, too? He hands me my purse and my wallet, which had slipped out. My hopes take a nosedive.
    I swallow hard. He must know the effect he has on girls, right? “So.” Unsure of what to do, I figure I ought to at least make