CRUSHED SUGAR Excerpt: "I Lived To Hear You Say My Name."

If you've read Sugar Rush, you may remember Adrian telling Ophelia about how he felt when they first met, about the cute little inflection in her voice when she spoke his name.  In Crushed Sugar, this is a pivotal scene and, hopefully, very romantic.  Crushed Sugar is a *prequel* novella to Sugar Rush.  By that, I mean it's a shorter tale of faint hearts and a fair maiden set in September BEFORE Sugar Rush.  Happy Valentine's Day!
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...When Ophelia Met Adrian.............................................
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Ophelia slipped into Calculus and found a desk in the back. She dropped her backpack on the floor and pressed her forehead to her folded arms. There wasn't much to see, even after three months' absence from the mathematics classroom. The teacher had no imagination. It was just bare walls, windows, desks, and an ancient chalkboard.


She straightened as male blue jeans crossed in front of her. Nice butt.

Every other boy in the universe immediately evaporated from her mind.

Ophelia glanced at the new guy, but he didn't look up. Cute. She quickly forced visual focus on her calculus textbook, but analyzed the mental snapshot she'd taken of him. I wonder if he's the one from the café? He is! I know he is! I'd recognize that backside anywhere. She cleared her throat and fingered her burning earlobe.

Blond hair, kind of longish and sun-bleached very light on top, he smelled of birch trees and a cool breeze. Chicken pox scars dotted his forehead, temple, earlobes, and chin, and made him look ruggedly 'devil may care.'

Must be from a community where a lot of families refuse the chicken pox vaccine for religious reasons. She drove her pencil into her new notebook. Or maybe I'm shifting into hyper-analysis mode here. Omidog, he's gorgeous!

He had a pouty mouth that made her want to give him a chocolate chip cookie, or a nibbling kiss. His lips had fallen apart as he'd shifted uncomfortably in his seat and she'd glimpsed crooked, but well-cared for teeth. He wore a royal blue t-shirt, a gold chain around his neck, and a gold ring on his left pinky finger.

Ophelia wondered where he'd come from and if it was any place she'd always longed to go, like NASA in Florida or the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.

Trevor snapped his fingers in her face and whispered, "He's gay."

Ophelia glared.

"Told me himself." Trevor straightened in his chair. He was cute with curly brown hair and big brown eyes, but she wasn't into that.

He told people he was gay? Wow, that's really brave for this dinky little town. Still, Ophelia's heart sank to her shoes because it meant he'd never be interested in her the same way. She'd only get her heart broken.

"Who you sitting with at lunch?" Trevor persisted.

"Hadn't thought about it. Probably Bianca." She counted her three pencils and three Sharpie pens in her backpack. Her iPhone had been jostled from its inner pocket. Her sister would throw a fashionable fit and launch into a tirade about how she didn't need to look like a geek just because she was one. But, Ophelia could not sacrifice her most precious bit of technology. She tucked the iPhone into a holster embossed with the Star Trek emblem and fastened it to her belt.

Trevor folded his arms on his desk and leaned on them. "The chair next to mine will be empty without you."

Ophelia was a little annoyed by his persistence, but remembered the drawing in her notebook. "Draw me a picture and I'll think about it."

"Okay." Trevor took out a piece of paper and went to work.

Mr. Smith stepped in front of his desk and proceeded to drone. Short, skinny, and bald, he was no more interesting than the bleak room.

If Ophelia wasn't so determined to ace the class and win a scholarship, she'd have fallen over and died of boredom.

After a while, she rolled her eyes up at the big black numbers on the clock. Half way through.

Trevor slid a paper onto her textbook.

Ophelia held her breath and looked. A truck? She exhaled disappointment. She couldn't even tell if it was a Chevy or a Ford. In Togo, Alaska, four wheel drive SUVs were of vital importance. All the snow and ice of the six-month-long winter and all the slush and mud during spring break-up meant everyone knew and loved their trucks very much.

Trevor whispered. "Sit with me at lunch?"

"No. Thanks." Ophelia tossed the drawing back. She forgot to hide her dissatisfaction to spare his feelings. "Sorry." She pushed the word out to compensate.

Trevor slumped his shoulders and pretended to read his textbook.

Ophelia opened her notebook a little, enough to see the owl drawing, and traced the gentle pencil strokes with her finger. Only a person with incredible patience and attention to detail could have drawn such a perfect owl, a person with a great love of animals, birds especially. I love birds too.

A worksheet appeared in front of her nose and she accepted it. "Pass it to Adrian," said the boy in front of her.

Adrian! Such a nice name, like a Spitfire pilot. Ophelia held her breath and turned to him. She'd heard the name in the hall, but had been too preoccupied to connect it to a face. Down, girl. He's gay. "Adrian."

He didn't look up. His shoulders tensed and he pressed his lips into a thin white line.

She placed the worksheet on his desk. "This is for you."

Adrian's beautiful blue eyes flitted around, but he still did not look up. "Thanks. What did you call me?"

"Adrian."

His face went very red.

"Adrian is your name, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it." He showed her the worksheet and pointed to his name written on it. "Can you read this for me?"

"Adrian."

"Thanks." His ears turned scarlet and he shifted in his seat.

He's shy. New kid syndrome. The local jerkwards are probably bullying him for being gay too. Ophelia opened her textbook.

At last, the bell rang.

Ophelia closed her books and tucked them into her backpack. She looked forward to Honors English because her old babysitter, Mrs. Cox, taught it. She rose up and slung the pack over one shoulder.

"Did you drop this?" Adrian held a paper in front of her.

She looked at the blank sheet with his name on the top. "No, that's yours. See? There's your name at the top, Adrian."

His ears turned red again. "Oh. Right. Thanks."

Maybe he needs glasses. Ophelia waited while the other geeks crowded the door.

"Can…can you read…read this too?" Adrian held up his English textbook which he'd already covered with brown paper and duct tape. His name was scrawled at the top.

Ophelia cinched her brow. "Didn't you write this yourself?"

"Uh…yeah." He shrank back.

She faced the door and her heart pounded. Maybe he's flirting with me! Maybe he isn't gay! Oh, please, God.

A loud bang spun her around and Adrian landed shoulder first onto the floor. The chair he'd obviously tripped over lay turned over beside him.

"Adrian!" Ophelia braced an arm up under his and helped him stand. "Are you all right?"

He gaped at her, but didn't speak. His adorable lower lip trembled

She let go of him and followed the other geeks. Nope. Not flirting. Just bad eyesight and I embarrassed the heck out of him.
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......End of Excerpt...
One of the editors told me Crushed Sugar will likely be released in March.  Check back here, my main site Kimber An , or Decadent Publishing's Young Adult Shelf