After I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I crawled into my bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. Even after grabbing a milkshake with Clarissa, coming home and having dinner with family, and completing my homework while watching TV couldn’t shake how I felt. I had an eerie, icy feeling that seemed to sit through my entire body.
I kept thinking about Ciro’s eyes that seemed to crush the entire classroom. I thought about his smooth, pale skin and his body that seemed to stand like a statue.
I shivered and snuggled into my covers a little bit deeper. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
“Emmi!” he called. “Emmi! Please come outside! Please come outside!”
I sat up with a jolt. My entire body was filled with sweat and I was panting. What the hell was going on?
I got up out of my bed and peered out my window. My blood literally ran cold.
Standing on my sidewalk was Ciro. His pale skin seemed to glow in the dark, October evening.
Should I go outside? Of course I should. I had to get to the bottom of this.
I pulled on some yoga pants and my Uggs and headed downstairs. I tried to be as quiet as possible as to not wake my mom, dad and brother.
As my hand hit the doorknob for the front door, my heart began to accelerate. I didn’t even know Ciro.
“Uh, hi,” I said to him as I walked out onto my sidewalk. “Why are you outside my house?”
Ciro smirked. Now standing next to him, I realized that he towered over me.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I thought I would get to know the girls in my biology class.” Ciro looked me directly in my eyes. His look was so intense that it made me feel dizzy.
“Well, who are you?” I asked, looking away. “Where did you come from? You made me feel so strange today in class. I want to know what’s going on! And now you just show up outside my house!”
“Emily…”
“How did you know my real name is Emily?”
“I know a lot of things about you. I know that your favorite candy is M&M’s. I know that your favorite holiday is Christmas. I know that when you were three, you bumped your head right here…” he took is index finger and pointed to my scar on my forehead. “I know that you want to be a doctor but you’re afraid you’re not smart enough. I know that you want to be a mom one day.”
My breath seemed to stop.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
Ciro walked closer to me and rubbed my cheek. He enveloped me into his arms and began to kiss me. His scent and his strong body seemed to put me in a trance. I kissed him back with passion. When he pulled away from me, I could hardly stand up straight.
“Go to sleep, Emily,” he said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
I nodded my head. I walked back into my house and changed back into my pajamas. Then, I fell into a dark, dreamless, velvet sleep.
The next morning as I got ready for school, my whole body seemed to tingle. I kept repeating the kiss over and over in my head. His lips, his mouth, his tongue… But who was he?!
As I drove to school, Ciro’s presence seemed to be all around me. I got that warm, chicken soup feeling all the way down to my stomach as I found a parking spot. I was either going crazy or I was loopy in love.
The entire day, I waited until ninth period to see Ciro again. As I walked into biology class, I went up to Mrs. Patel.
“Mrs. Patel,” I said, “I would gladly volunteer to help Ciro with catch up in our class. It would be my pleasure.”
Mrs. Patel looked up from her grading.
“I’m sorry, Emmi, but who’s Ciro?”
“Ciro,” I explained. “He’s our new student. He came to this class yesterday.”
“Sweetheart, you must be getting this class confused with another class. I never had a student named Ciro nor do I have a new student.”
“What?!”
“Maybe you can ask Mrs. Healy if she has a new student.”
“No but…”
Clarissa and Todd walked into the classroom holding hands.
“Clarissa,” I said to her urgently. “I’m not crazy. Do you remember Ciro? He’s the new student that came to class yesterday. Remember him?”
Clarissa looked at me like I was crazy.
“Ciro? Who the hell is Ciro?”
“He was our new student yesterday?”
“No, he wasn’t, Emmi.”
“Todd,” I said looking at Todd. “You have to remember Ciro!”
Todd’s eyes widened.
“Have you been getting enough sleep?”
My heart was pounding underneath my clothes.
“I remember him. Yesterday! I swear!”
“I don’t know,” said Clarissa. “Maybe you were dreaming?”
“No,” I said. “It was real.”
When I said that, a cold chill ran down my spine. My whole body seemed to freeze. What had happened yesterday? Did I imagine Ciro?
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