But as I unzip the backpack and pull my laptop and tablet from the big pocket, stragglers from the row ahead of mine start to turn around with not-so-hidden looks that’d make you think I’d sprouted horns. What the hell?

Before I can even start to theorize about what’s going on, Dr Stearns starts the lecture with a curt, ‘Good morning,’ and the class starts scribbling down notes. I replay all my movements from the last twenty-four hours. What could I have done? Practice. Chores. Bar. Home. And now class. No room for committing any serious crimes.

I make it through Stearns’s monotone lecture before packing up my stuff at the end of the fifty minutes, hustling out of my row to avoid any more weird stares. Unfortunately, I’m not fast enough.

‘May!’ Hailey, one of the girls in my research lab team, rushes towards me. I have a great amount of respect for Hailey Marrero, who rightfully earned her nickname ‘Hailstorm’ by driving straight into an EF-2 tornado and capturing some sick data for the lab while she was at it. The look of surprise on Hailey’s face right now, though, doesn’t look to have anything to do with research. ‘I can’t believe it. You know, he’s basically a legend out here …’

‘Who?’ I feel my jaw go slack and my legs go numb as I start to register just what might be going on. ‘What?’

‘Girl, you did that,’ gushes Hailey. ‘You guys are so cute.’ She turns her phone my way, and my horror is pretty damn immediate.

On the screen is a shaky video clip from last night. Colt and I kick and step to ‘Copperhead Road’ and, as the dance ends, he holds his hands up, and we high-five. Except that our high-five turns into a moment. I don’t remember the elongated period for which our hands stay in one another’s, and I definitely don’t remember our eyes meeting the way they do in this video, but they must have, because it’s unmistakable. And clearly, to everyone else, the eye contact wasn’t the only thing that was unmistakable.

Unfortunate. The man could have chemistry with a plank of wood.

‘That’s not—’

‘Can’t wait to see him cheer you on at the game tonight!’ Hailey grins, waving as she walks around me to leave the lecture hall.

Oh, no.

It takes me a moment to get my bearings, but as soon as I do, I rush out of the Meteorology Hub and immediately call Jordan. This cannot be happening.

My heart thuds against my sternum. The dial tone drones. Pick up. Pick up.

There’s a crackle, and then my friend’s voice, no hi, no hello, just, ‘You didn’t tell me?’

‘Jor, I swear, it’s nothing—’