Free Persona by Amy Lunderman Page B

up to the net, and holds the ball up high and fists her other hand and pulls it back. Before she tosses the ball, she sees Liam in the back across from her. He’s watching her again, with such intensity that she feels the cinnamon scent tickle her senses even from the distance. He doesn’t look away from her this time, and she feels drawn into his gaze. Only when the teacher yells at her to serve, does she look away. Knowing she’s blushing, she tosses the ball into the air and brings her other hand up and hits it high over the net. It ends up going all the back on the guy’s line, but Liam moves fast and hits the ball back over to the girls side before anyone else can. He never looks his eyes off her and as she looks away from him, she notices Spencer watching her now. He gives her a confused look before turning to glare in Liam’s direction. Now she feels really embarrassed, she wonders how long she was zoning in on Liam.
    She ignores both boys for the rest of the class, and actually gets involved with volleyball. This works well for her until it’s time to go back to the locker room to get changed. Spencer intercepts her before she can get inside. They stand off to the side of the girl’s locker room door. He looks fidgety for some reason, like he’s nervous.
    “I don’t know if you heard, but I broke up with Quinn.” He says in a rush.
    Moira is surprised by this, but the different appearance of Quinn suddenly makes sense to her now.
    “I’m sorry, I hadn’t heard that. You want to talk about it?”
    “Actually, I was hoping I could take you to the movies tomorrow night. If you’re interested?” Moira notices his cheeks go slightly pink, as he says this.
    Moira hesitates for a brief second, not knowing what to think. Since she first met Spencer, all she wanted was to be alone with him and for him to be hers. But it feels different now, and she feels bad that he’d ask her out so soon after breaking up with Quinn. She knows she shouldn’t feel bad for Quinn, since the girl is a monster. She wouldn’t hesitate to take this opportunity, so Moira decides not to let it pass either.
    With a smile, she says, “I would like that a lot actually.”
    Grinning brightly now, he backs up a step toward the guys locker room.
    “Great, I’ll pick you up at six-ish? We’ll talk later though.” He stumbles over his words before he turns around, and jogs over to the guy’s locker room door.
    Laughing to herself, she finds it cute that she is making him so nervous. She thought she was the only one, but apparently not. With a glow, she rushes to go get changed for lunch.
     
     
     
    Moira walks into the cafeteria later in a daze, and can’t wait to see Spencer. It’s not until she’s halfway across the room to her table, that she picks up on the scent of cinnamon again. It fills her senses and makes her stumble, before she regains control to ignore it. The closer she gets to her table, it gets stronger and that’s when she notices that someone new is sitting there among her friends. It’s Liam, and his gaze shifts to her as she approaches. As they’re eyes meet, her persona tingles under her skin and makes her suck in a deep breath. The cinnamon scent travels through her, and she can almost taste cinnamon rolls again. Liam smirks at her suddenly and looks away, and when he does, the scent dims a bit.
    Raven was talking to him when she walked up, and noticing his distraction, she turns to Moira.
    “There you are, we have new company today.”
    She and the others don’t seem to have picked up on the tension that between them the moment before. Moira finds it weird that she picks up on a new scent and that they don’t. She wishes she could ask them about it, but can’t without giving herself away.
    “So I see.” Moira says as she sits down next to a pensive looking Marty.
    ***
    August 2023
    Moira lies in bed that night after using her persona for the first time, and tries not to cry. She had never been as