She stared at me with those grey, emotionless eyes. I started to sweat, wishing for the millionth time that I didn’t exist.

She stood very still, like a marble statue, calm and detached from the world. Her voice was clear and soft, unhesitating, like flowing water, yet not coming out in a rush like mine. Long, straight locks of platinum-blond hair cascaded down to curl very slightly at her shoulders. Her lips, pressed together in a straight line, without looking unpleasant. And her eyes… they were worth getting lost in. Hypnotising. Holding some unfathomable power and calm. But to have them fixed on me was the last thing I wanted.

I had been confused when I saw her looking at me, alarmed when she purposefully walked up to me, and decidedly terrified when she spoke to me.

Especially since I had just gotten through practice and was probably looking terrible. My jersey was sweaty- probably stinking-, my shoes and socks were mud splattered and my usually fluffy, perked-up hair was damp and flat. Great.

The one time when the dream date of about seventy percent of boys in the school came to talk to me, and I had to be looking this way. Yeah, sure.

Not that I could ever, ever look good enough for her. No, I definitely liked her a lot, but I was quite okay with looking at her from a distance, thank you.

“Well?”

I gulped, and wiped my wet forehead with my hand. Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t fidget. Stand straight, smile, look confident. Dammit, how was I supposed to look confident with a Greek goddess standing before me? One whose perfection had been intimidating me for years. And she had just asked me to tutor her.

Would I be able to get through an hour, maybe more, of being alone with her? It was doubtful. She scared me by just being within a metre of me, even in a crowded school corridor. I almost shivered a little, thinking of all the stupid things it was possible for me to say, or do. Knowing me, I’d end up making a fool out of myself in absolutely no time.

No. No, no, no. No way. It would be a bad idea. A very bad idea to say yes.

“Sure,” I said, as casually as I could.

I watched as her perfect face broke out into a bright smile, and her expressionless eyes twinkled with something- something, which I had never seen before.

“Great! See you in the library at three today, then?”

And I found myself nodding and smiling back, without even having to think about it. Maybe I could act normal and confident around her after all. And maybe even see her as a person rather than a goddess. Maybe there was hope for me after all.

Her back disappeared into the crowded corridor. The rest of the world around me suddenly seemed blurred, and I felt something- something like...