Page 15 of Crazy Pucking Love
“Good to hear.” He clapped me on the shoulder again, this time a little softer. “See you at practice tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
And just like that, Megan’s and my fate was sealed. In that we no longer had one.
Chapter Seven
Megan
Me + shiny new calculus book = happy nerd feelings
Yesterday’s classes were all fine and well, but they’d been Gen Ed requirements, and I’d finally made it to one of the courses I was crazy excited about. High school math had been a big yawn fest, but my algebra teacher had noticed how bored I was and suggested I enroll in the advanced track. At first I’d said no, because it wasn’t cool and I’d stupidly cared too much about looking cool.
But once I set out to prove I could get into college early, I’d taken those classes and felt like I’d found my home base. In math, answers were wrong or right, no gray area. The more I learned, the more I wanted to, and once engineering got thrown into the mix, I was hooked.
Other than picking the perfect accessories for an outfit, I’d never considered myself above average at anything. But I not only excelled at math and engineering, I also found them interesting. I happened to notice I was one of the few females in the advanced classes—and the only female enrolled in the STEM program—and ended up doing some research on the lack of women in math-intensive fields. According to several articles, it had a lot to do with gender biases and the subjects and careers girls were pushed toward early in life, as young as elementary school. After reading all the statistics and numbers, I decided I could make a difference.
I sat in a desk near the front and pulled out my notebook, Ti-Nspire CX graphing calculator, and mechanical pencils. Since I wasn’t in high school anymore—and since I no longer cared what people thought about me—I could let my math-nerd flag fly.
“Megan?”
I jerked up my head, sure that the voice I’d heard couldn’t possibly be the one it really was. But there he was. The hot insomniac hockey player who didn’t do relationships, especially with his teammate’s little sister.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’m in this class. What are you doing here?”
“Same thing. I don’t usually go around sitting in classrooms for funsies.”Although I do hope this course turns out to be fun.
“But you’re a freshman. How are you already in this class?”
“How are you not in a higher one?”
At his offended expression, I realized how insulting that sounded. “Sorry. I didn’t mean… Between my ACT scores and a pre-calc college course, I qualified to jump right to calculus.” Excitement seeped into my tone, and since I was so used to smothering it, it took me a second to realize there was no cause for panic or backtracking. I owned it now.
Dane sat on the top of the desk across from mine, his legs blocking the aisle. “So, you’re a math nerd?”
“I have a healthy appreciation for mathematics, yes.”
He laughed, and it only reminded me that he had a sexy laugh. I wanted to go back to that night in the diner and live in it for a while. I hadn’t properly savored every second in the Before Time, when we were just two people who’d met at a party and there was still so much possibility hanging over us.
“Well, I have no appreciation for it and it feels the same about me. I didn’t think I’d have to take another math class, but I switched my major and now here I am, adding calculus to the list of classes that’ll probably kill me.” He ran a hand through his hair—I’d only seen him without his hat for a moment in the diner, and while I liked the casual baseball cap look, I was equally intrigued by the semi-gelled one. Long hair on guys didn’t usually send my pulse racing, but every interaction with Dane only made my attraction to him grow.
“Guess we skipped the small talk about majors when we met. Don’t tell me you like math enough to major in it?” he asked, a hint of teasing in his tone as he raised an eyebrow, challenging me to deny it.
“I’m a bit undecided on the exact field. Math will definitely be involved, but I’m thinking engineering. I have both an electrical and biomedical course this semester to help me choose which I want to explore more.”
“Wow. I don’t know very many girls into engineering.”
“Which is exactly the problem.”
His brow crinkled.
Before I could explain, the professor walked in. Dane glanced at the two open seats in the back, then at me. He swung around and slid into the seat of the desk he’d been perched on.
Growing up with a hockey player brother, I’d gotten used to how much bigger he was than most guys—which was another reason one look from him sent boys running—but I’d never seen him sitting in a school desk, and the way Dane nearly dwarfed his struck me as funny.
He caught me looking, and a smile spread across his face. Butterflies erupted, and I knew this was going to be my favorite class for more than one reason.
