The bell rang, and Connor gulped the rest of his coffee. As if he'd not be able to when Stephanie starts the class.

As he prepared, he glanced at Teresa. They hadn't spoken to one another, and, so far, he's never heard her voice. She looked far from the part of a shy student with her sleeveless sweater and skirt. He could try to take Stephanie's advice and talk to her, with a little hype perhaps.

Stephanie stepped in just as the bell ended, her books and papers held against her, and a bag full of more books and articles hung over one shoulder.

"Sorry I'm late," Stephanie said as she started organizing her things on the workstation and turned the projector on. She seemed excited as she prepped the materials.

The class settled as a diagram appeared on the screen. It was a stick figure on a curved surface, throwing a ball that hit the ground. A dotted line conveyed the curved path of the ball.

"Orbit and horizontal and vertical motion," Stephanie said. "Imagine yourself throwing a ball exactly parallel to the ground. Gravity will cause it to hit the ground. Obviously, in this example, our stickman is on a small planet, and let's pretend it has the same amount of gravity as Earth and that there's no air so the ball has no resistance. You can see he doesn't throw the ball very far on our hypothetical planet."

She changed the image on the projection. "We've zoomed out and can see more of the planet, and this time our stick figure throws the ball further. You'll notice the curve of the ball is closer to the curve of the planet he is on."

She changed the image again, now zoomed out to see the entire planet, and the curvature of the thrown ball matched the curve of the ground.

"Here, our pitcher has thrown the ball even harder, and now the ball will never hit the ground as it will continuously fall past the curve of the small planet he's on. Does everyone follow?"

Most of the class nodded. Despite how direct Stephanie's instructions were, everyone could see she enjoyed it. Irking Teresa.

"All satellites, the Earth around the Sun, and the Moon around the Earth, all stay in orbit because they are falling beyond the horizon of the object that's pulling them in."

"And the meteor?"

Connor jolted at the sound of Teresa's voice. It was the first time she's spoken, soft with a bit of a southwestern accent. The rest of the class didn't seem surprised, though.

Stephanie looked at her. "Do you mean the new meteor?"

"The one they say could end the world."

"Yes, even that one. Which is in perfect orbit, making it a new, smaller moon."

Mumbling to herself, but loud enough for all to hear, Teresa said, "I hope so."

A beat passed, and the teacher continued. "Great, I've set up a track on each station with these metal balls," Stephanie held one up, "we'll determine where they will land on the ground. With that, and knowing how round the Earth is, we'll know how fast you'd have to throw the ball and send it into orbit three feet above the ground. Pretend the Earth has no air and no obstacles, such as walls or mountains, in the way. There are instructions on each table next to each track with the formulas."

The room darkened and then brightened as Stephanie turned off the projector and turned on the lights. "Great, let's get three to four to a station and begin. I'll come around and make sure you're all on track. Literally and figuratively."

The students stood up, and chatter started as groups assembled.

"I guess we'll be in the same group," Connor nodded to Teresa as he grabbed the worksheets. "Welcome to Blue Ashe."

"He speaks," she said. "And you are?"

Just the guy who's been sitting across from you for a week. "Connor." He set that thought aside, as he never spoke to her either.

"Awesome, Connor," she emphasized. "So we just run these metal balls down the track and—"

"Hey guys, can I join your group?" Neville came up behind Connor.

"No."

"Sure," Teresa was quick to respond.

"Great," Neville slapped Connor on the shoulder and sat next to Teresa. He grabbed one of the worksheets in this uppity mood that annoyed Connor. He found it weird he left Christian with another group, as the two were inseparable.

"Okay, well," Connor said. "Teresa, you can roll the ball down the track, and I'll track where it lands. Neville, if you want to time—"

"Where are you from?" Neville leaned in.

"California," Teresa smiled.

"Far out," Neville tried. "You surf?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, in that case, how about snowboarding?" Neville said. "Season literally starts in a couple of months."

"Never tried it," Teresa said.

"Guys," Conner interjected, "let's get to work."

"Connor here, like, sucks at snowboarding," Neville nodded toward him but kept eye contact with Teresa.

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"Your dad taught the two of us," Connor wanted to clarify that.

"Yeah, and Connor still blows," Neville still didn't look over at Connor.

"You blow at snowboarding?" Teresa said. "Is that popular here?"

"Don't snowboard anymore, and yes," Connor said.

"Because he's not good enough," Neville said.

She looked at Connor. "Well, Connor, what are you good at?"

It felt flirtatious. Teresa leaned back and her shoulders went up near her ears. It was unlike her to be this outgoing as if the group activity caused her to do a one-eighty.

"I'm good at nothing. Now let's get to work." Connor didn't bite.

Teresa leaned back in and raised a brow. Fine. She prepared the metal ball on the track. The other students had started, and metal balls echoed in the classroom as they hit the floor. She thought maybe he felt pressured to keep up.

"You sat next to the biggest downer in the school," Neville said. "My friends and I are going out for lunch. I saw you talking to Olivya earlier. She's coming if you want to come."

Teresa forced out a smile. "Sure."

Connor stood up. "Just get ready with the timer."

"Okay," Neville pulled his phone out, "freaking buzzkill."

Teresa posed as she would run with an intense, over-the-top focus on releasing the metal ball.

"Whenever you're ready," Connor said.

She released the ball, Neville pressed the timer on his phone, and it hit the ground, Neville stopped the timer, and Connor marked where it landed.

"Great, I'll start measuring. Someone weigh the ball."

They continued the lesson and figured the ball would have to move at 8 kilometers per second to reach an orbit several feet above the Earth.

With the assignment finished, Connor put his head down to nap while Neville and Teresa continued talking. He wasn't tired. He wanted to silence their conversation, as it disturbed him as she got all talkative and giddy when Neville joined the group.

"Your numbers are a little off," Stephanie startled the group.

"What?" Connor said as he got his head up. The right half of his face had a shirt wrinkle on it.

"We followed the formula," Neville tapped his paper with his pencil.

"I can see that, but in reality, assuming no oxygen and obstruction, this wouldn't work."

"Like, we followed the formula," Neville said again.

"And what do you think is wrong?"

"The scale."

"The meter stick."

Connor and Teresa both spoke simultaneously.

"That's correct," Stephanie said.

Neville looked between Connor and Teresa and said nothing, but Stephanie caught on.

"The meter stick might not be accurate, or the scale that weighed the ball might have been off. A combination of both is likely. Also, the timer, of course, is most susceptible to human error. But for the exercise, this works."

She didn't wait and moved on to the following table to review their work.

"There's a Van Halen song named after her," Teresa said.

"Please, she's not that hot," Neville said.

"I saw you looking," Teresa arched an eyebrow. "No shame in that."

"You think I was looking? Look at this." Neville pulled his phone out and showed a photo to Teresa.

"Damn, Connor, getting drinks with the hot teacher." Teresa double-raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

Neville flipped the phone, and it was of Connor sitting outside at the coffee shop with Stephanie across from him, and Neville's car dashboard framed the bottom of the photo.

"Why are you holding a drink to your face?" Teresa said.

"Don't worry about it."

"Who cares about the drink? The teacher! She's there, literally," Neville reminded her.

"Right," Teresa paused and thought about it. "What's going on there, Connor?"

"She saw me sitting there and talked to me for a few minutes. But hey, Neville, spying on me isn't weird at all? Right?"

"Right," Teresa emphasized, turning to Neville. "Are you trying to start a bromance here? Stalking your crush?"

"Oh God," Neville rolled his eyes, "like, you know."

"And what's that on the ground?" Teresa said.

"That's my dog, Joules. She's out in the field right now."

"That one out there, by the base of the mountain?" she pointed.

Connor nodded.

Ring!

Connor didn't waste a moment as gym was coming up, and running into Neville was a certainty, but at least they won't be right next to each other. He grabbed his bag and hustled into the hallway.

She just sat across from me despite there being more open stations. Does she like me? Nah.

She is going to lunch with Neville and his friends. Connor's former friends.

Maybe? He questioned.

A hand grabbed his arm from behind.

"Is your phone broken?" Olivya asked.

Connor just glanced at her.

"What?" Olivya legit looked confused.

He didn't hesitate to hide the issue. "I saw you flirting with Axel," he swapped a book out.

She lost some composure, and after a beat, she burst out, "Just flirting. That's just normal?"

"You know who Axel is?"

"That was the first time I've seen him. I—"

"He's my degenerate ass of a brother."

That shook her, not because Axel was his brother, but because of how he described him as a degenerate. "Really?" She was surprised that someone so buff was related to Connor. As the two didn't look alike at all. "I had no idea, but it's fine."

"It's not that simple."

"Sure it is. I mean, it's a little awkward, but we can go out later this week."

He knew she was being serious. All the teasing and playfulness were honest. Connor turned his head and leaned in. "Notice anything?"

She studied his face. "Oh, it's bruised? It's faint."

"Axel did this over nothing," he said. "He'll beat the shit out of me if he remotely likes you."

She threw her hands to her sides. "Come on. We know that's not true."

"What?"

"Axel is really sweet."

Connor stared off into the distance with so much disbelief that Santa Claus became real again.

She saw that he looked defeated. "Well," she said, "text me if he ever moves out."

What he just told her wasn't the real reason. He knew she was attracted to him. It was evident in the way they were talking to one another. Getting involved in a love triangle that included Axel sounded like hell. He'd instead get hit by a bus. And compared to Axel, Axel was better at this, especially with girls.

It didn't matter what the two did. Connor paid no mind to anything else as he went to gym class. Nothing can change the fact that he lives in a house with a gun pointed at his head.