Flicker by Arreyn Grey Page A

Latin.”
                  Elise gaped at him, open-mouthed. “Least favorite!?” She squeaked. “How can you say that?”
                  Alex's face was pink, and Elise realized belatedly that he was struggling not to laugh. “Well, Magistra is excellent, and very amusing. But there's this tiny problem where I don't pay much attention to her.”
                  “Oh?” Elise asked, raising an eyebrow. Even though she knew he was joking, she wasn't sure where he was going with it, and until she found out she couldn't stop herself from being vaguely offended on Magistra's behalf.
                  “Yes, well, there's this girl who sits in front of me, and much as I try to pay attention to the lessons, I usually end up sitting there staring at her instead, trying to figure out what she's thinking while I can't see her face.”
                  Elise glared at him. “I'm usually thinking about conjugating irregular verbs. And don't try to fool me into thinking you even need to pay attention.” Alex cocked an eyebrow, and she continued with rising annoyance. “Don't think I've forgotten the first day of school: your card was filled out perfectly. You already speak Latin-- and really, who speaks Latin?-- you're just taking the class because it'll be easy.”
                  Alex burst into laughter at her ire. Once again, from the corner of her eye Elise saw heads turn-- this time, however, she was far more preoccupied with telling Alex off. “I did have one word wrong, though,” he said innocently once he had contained his mirth. This assertion only served to further feed Elise's building outrage.
                  “Oh, please,” she ground out. “You only wrote that wrong to see if I would notice and correct you.”
                  “That desperate for your attention, was I?” He inquired dryly.
                  “That desperate for someone to torture,” she shot back, then realized that he had neatly sidetracked her in turn, and subsided into glaring silence.
                  Alex seemed to notice she was on to him. Changing tacks, he asked with considerably less mockery, “So, what are we doing after school today?”
                  Elise was about to reply with something flirtatious but still snarky, when it occurred to her that her mother might find another excuse to be home after school so she could check up on her daughter. That thought, and the reminder of what she still had to face at whatever time her parents came home, killed any inclination to flirt or play. Concealing her mood's sudden plummet behind a brave face, she gave him a bland shrug. “Actually, I have a lot of homework,” she sighed. “I really should focus on that for a little while.”
                  Alex's eyebrows drew together as the laughter left his eyes. He gave her another of his searching looks, and she knew he didn't believe her. That he could read her so easily really was troublesome and disconcerting. “If that's what you want,” he said finally.
                  Instinctively, Elise went to reach for him, but thought better of it at the last second and checked the movement. Smiling up at him instead, she said reassuringly, “Alex, really, it's not like that. It's just, my AP classes are really piling on homework already, and I'm getting swamped. I just need to take a couple of days to catch up, but I promise, as long as our plans for this weekend are still on, Saturday I'm all yours.” Accustomed though she was to lying through her teeth, it bothered her to lie to Alex. That was a dangerous line of thinking, however, and she shut it down as best she could.
                  Alex frowned slightly as he searched her eyes, once again with that intensity that made her feel like he was trying to read her mind. Finally, he smiled ruefully. “I'll hold you to