Free Persona by Amy Lunderman Page A

for the first time since she met him. Thankfully the line into the school was uneventful, and she didn’t have any run in’s with Quinn. She did however see her as she went to her locker, and thought about going in the other direction, but remembered she has to hold her ground.
    Moira had just opened her locker, when Quinn is walking past her. She regards her with alertness, but the other girl doesn’t even look her way. She notices then, that Quinn is all alone. Her clone copies are nowhere to be seen, and she looks less than her usual chipper self. Moira lets herself wonder what could possibly make her be so different all of a sudden, but then she remembers that she doesn’t care. Slamming her locker closed, she rushes to her first class before the bell can ring.
    By the time she gets to gym, she still hasn’t seen Marty anywhere and she’s getting really worried. The last time he disappeared, he got into trouble defending Raven. As she changes into her workout clothes, she hopes he’ll be in lunch and everything will be alright. With a heavy heart, she follows the heard of girls into the gymnasium. As soon as she walks through the locker room door, her persona starts to tingle inside her. She pushes it back inside, as she gets farther in the room, and that’s when she picks up on the light scent of cinnamon.
    Swiftly she takes in the room, until her eyes land on Liam Morgan sitting off to the side on the bleachers watching her. He’s wearing the usual sweats and shirt, and he makes it look rather rugged slouched back like he doesn’t care about anything. His eyes are bright though, and again they flicker from grey to violet before he looks away. She feels her vision getting brighter and weaker, and has impression her eyes might be flickering too. She stops right where she is, not caring that some girls yell at her and walk around. Closing her eyes before someone sees, she takes deep breathes until the tingling sensation dims.
    Moira hears the other kids in class, make their way around the room, talking to one another, and she tries to ignore them. Hearing movement close to her, she opens her eyes to see Spencer standing in front of her. He looks worried about something, and she wonders if he’s worried about her. So she gives him a smile, and he easily returns it.
    “You looked deep in thought there, everything alright?” He asks, as he puts his hand to her back and guides her over to the bleachers where most of the class is now seated.
    “Just a headache is all. It’ll pass.” She tries to reassure him.
    The closer to the bleachers and Liam she gets, the scent of cinnamon gets stronger and she can almost taste it. She tries to breathe through her mouth and ignore it, as she sits down next to Spencer. But she can feel eyes on her, and has to force herself not to look to see if it’s Liam again.
    She gets a reprieve from her thoughts as the teacher tells them that the girls and guys are being immersed again today, and get to play opposite each other with volleyball. They are all instructed to get on opposite sides of the gym, while the nets are hooked up for them. Moira quickly scurries to get away from the scent that accompanies Liam, and Spencer gives her a weird look as she walks away from him. She doesn’t bother trying to reassure him since she’s not sure if he needs it, it’s not like he’s affected by her.
    Now that she is on the other side of the gym, her sense are her own again. Taking deep breathes, she wonders if maybe she’s just imagining things. She doesn’t think it’s possible for Liam to smell so strongly. She’s never picked up scents form people before, not even others of her kind. But then, she doesn’t really know if he is like her. His could be wearing defective contacts or something, but deep down she doesn’t really believe that. As the game begins, Moira slinks around the court only pretending to care about participating. That is, until it’s her turn to serve.
    She steps