Free Portal by Imogen Rose

work on it.
    “Shrimps first,” he whispered into my ear as I tried to squeeze pass him through the doorway.
    I suddenly felt intensely irritated. It was one thing for Harry to call me Shrimp, but it annoyed me when Kellan did. I’m not sure why. It seemed less affectionate when he said it, almost teasing. I gathered that he was one of my brother’s (a brother … it sounded so odd. My mind wandered momentarily, but I shook myself back to the present) best friends, however, surely I didn’t have to put up with this? No, I definitely did not! I turned around and snarled at him, baring my teeth.
    “Stop calling me Shrimp !” I glowered at him with my fists clenched at my side, ready to punch him if I needed to. The expression on his face changed immediately to one of shock. I instantly regretted opening my big mouth.
    “Are you ok? I’ve called you Shrimp since we were eight! What’s going on with you? You’re acting very bizarre. There is something different about you. Did something happen?” he looked me over carefully, narrowing his eyes.
    I realized that I had made a big mistake. I was horrified. The hurt in his eyes was unbearable; it made my stomach heave. I tugged at his sleeve nervously.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean it. You know that.”
    Thankfully he nodded and his mouth broke into an infectious smile. I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I walked over to my seat with Maria. She was pinching my elbow and she gave me a clearly disappointed stare. She shrugged her shoulders at Kellan and more or less pushed me down on my chair.
    “O-M-G, what’s up with you?” she hissed clearly irritated.
    “I don’t know,” I whispered back wearily.
    She went around to her desk and sat down. I could feel everyone looking at me. This was clearly out of character. I wondered if Ariele was sitting at the back and if she had noticed my little fit. She’s the only one who wouldn’t give this a second thought. After all, this was quite normal behavior for Princeton Arizona. This is how I always was.
    I wasn’t feeling brave enough to turn around to see if she was there. The thought of meeting Kellan’s gaze was more than I could deal with at the moment. I could hear Justin laugh from behind me and it took all I had not to turn around and wallop him. It was really hard to suppress my natural instincts, but I felt I had to. This was so clearly not how the Arizona they knew would behave. Well, I can’t be perfect all the time! At least, I looked like Arizona Darley today. Ella had helped me get back to normal . I looked pretty and well polished. I would have to work on the attitude.
    I did feel bad for Kellan. He was clearly hurt and disappointed in me. Best to find a way of making it up to him, although I wasn’t sure exactly why I felt I had to. I rummaged around in my bag, pulled out my physics folder and pretended to go through my homework.
    After what seemed like eternity, a very late Dr. Lee entered the classroom and everyone went silent. I was a bit taken aback. I had expected a burly ex-hockey player, but Dr. Lee looked like your everyday science nerd who had never skated in his life. I guessed he had hidden talents, however, I was starting to wonder if this team was any good. I gave myself an imaginary kick. How could I be so judgmental? After all, I, a petite girl, was expecting to be accepted as a serious candidate to play for the varsity team.
    “Miss Darley, I got your note this morning. Please come to my office during lunch,” he said as he adjusted his bow tie.
    Maria shot me a curious look, as did the rest of the class. I put my head down and pretended to concentrate on my work. Thankfully, with Harry’s help last night, I was able to keep up with Dr. Lee as he moved on to equilibrium and torque. I was actually starting to enjoy this class. Physics seemed to be fairly intuitive and I seemed to get the various concepts without too much effort. Memorizing all these equations would be a challenge though.