SOPHIE SIGHED. The sound echoed throughout the quiet room, and she could feel Tabatha look around. Her gaze practically locked onto the side of Sophie's face like a laser. Sophie closed her eyes and focused on the piece in front of her. Her fingers tapped impatiently against the keyboard in front of her. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tabatha asked, again. 

"Not really," Sophie said, and then sighed, again. 

Her mind whirled around like a broken merry-go-round. That was one thing that she liked about Tabatha. Even though her roommate had practically stalked the dorm-hall entrance in wait for Sophie to return from her date,Tabatha had piked up that Sophie needed some space. She seemed to trust Sophie enough to know that she'd come clean about the date when she was ready. Granted, it took several moments of unsuccessful badgering for Tabatha to realize it. 

Eli flashed across her mind then, and his painfully cheerful smile made her heart thump. The way that he'd leisurely walked her to her dorm room, his hands folded behind his head. Sophie's gaze darted toward her wrist. The skull tattoo seemed to gleam teasingly up at her. 

As much as she had enjoyed the date, Sophie reminded herself, she refused to fall for him. Eli had been the one who pressured her into this stupid game. Him and his cute mismatched eyes.

Silence settled across the room again, and Sophie became restless. With another sigh, she closed her laptop and walked over to her bed. She plopped down onto it, stretching out. Then she popped her headphones in and listened to some music. But it didn't help. 

"I'm going to walk around," Sophie announced. She climbed to her feet and stalked toward the door, ignoring Tabatha's amused glance. 

"Just don't get lost," Tabatha said. Sophie could hardly hear her above the music blasting in her ears, and stepped out into the hallway. The door clicked shut behind her. 

Sophie passed through the lounge-area located at the entrance to the dorm, and did her best to ignore the heated looks sent her way. When she stepped outside of the dorm hall, Sophie wondered whether or not taking a walk, alone, had been such a good idea. The student body wasn't exactly pleased with her existence at the moment. 

If she disappeared now, it would only open up a spot in the nominations, and increase some other crazy girl's chance to win Eli as a 'mate'. 

Frustration flooded through Sophie. What did that even mean, anyways? It was something done between animals, not humans. And being a mate to someone was supposed to be permanent. That, alone, frightened Sophie. The idea of being forced to be with someone for the rest of her life all because some stupid game was terrifying. 

Sophie grumbled incoherently under her breath. 

Her music stopped. Sophie yanked her cellphone from her pocket and glanced at the screen. "What the heck are you doing?" she growled at her phone, which had frozen. 

"Do you need help with something, Sophie?" 

Sophie jumped out of her skin. 

Her head snapped upward, her eyes wide. At first she couldn't locate the sound; Sophie seemed to be alone in the vaguely familiar hallway. But something tugged at her heart, and she looked to her right —into the open door of Mr. Wolfe's classroom. He sat at his desk, several papers scattered about in front of him, and stared at her. An eyebrow was arched with anticipation. 

"Uh," Sophie said, and struggled to find the right words. Her cheeks flushed bright red. "It's fine. I'm fine." She stuttered and looked at her cellphone screen. "It just froze on me." 

Mr. Wolfe cocked his head. "Let me take a look." 

Sophie pressed her lips into a firm line. She stepped inside the classroom and looked around. Her heart thudded louder inside her chest when she realized that they were completely alone in the room. She walked over to his desk and held out her phone. 

He took it and glanced it over. His delicate fingers fiddled with the buttons. 

"Are you good with technology or something?" she asked to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the room. 

He hummed. "I guess you could say that," he said and then handed her the phone back. It had restarted and unfrozen. He smiled at her. "But really, most problems can usually be solved by restarting the phone." 

"I guess I should have known that," she muttered, embarrassed. To be fair, she hadn't really had much time to process her phone's problem and how to fix it before Mr. Wolfe had startled her. At least, that's what she assured herself. 

Her gaze skimmed over the papers on his desk as she shoved her phone back into her pocket. Her music blared again, but her earphones remained dangling around her neck. "Are those our essays?" 

"Some of them," he said, and glanced down at them himself, his eyebrows furrowing. 

"How badly did mine suck?" She couldn't help but ask. Her features twisted with a grimace as she waited for his response. 

Mr. Wolfe looked amused. "No, Sophie. You didn't suck. I believe you actually made one of the highest scores in the class." He skimmed through the papers and then plucked one out. He handed it to her. 

Sophie skimmed it over. She'd made an A, which came as a surprise to her. The lessons had been difficult because of her infatuation with Mr. Wolfe; it was hard to concentrate during class, and the subject material wasn't as interesting to study on her own. 

When she went to hand the paper back, she realized that Mr. Wolfe was watching her intently. His gaze made her heart thump loudly behind her ears, and her spine tingled. A small crease had formed in between his brows. He seemed bothered. 

"What?" she asked. 

"I heard that you'll be participating in the games this year," he remarked causally. Genuine curiosity flooded his features, replacing the frustration. "Are you excited?" 

Sophie scoffed before she could stop herself. 

His lips twitched. He arched an eyebrow at her reaction. Sophie sighed through her nose and placed the paper down on top of his desk. "No, I am not excited. How could someone be excited over a game that practically forces people to compete for a chance to date someone? It's stupid. It pressures teenagers against one another just because someone is attractive." 

"That's an interesting take on it," Mr. Wolfe commented. 

Sophie glared at him. "I'm not exactly fond of people forcing me to do things." 

"Dully noted," he remarked. His amusement seemed to have grown stronger. He leaned forward slightly and glanced at her headphones. "Is that the Beatles?" 

Sophie paused. She squinted at him and listened carefully to the music that blared from her headphones. It took a bit to recognize the familiar tune of 'Yellow Submarine'. Then she flushed. "Yes," she said. 

He grinned at that. His smile was so beautiful that it hurt her heart. He leaned back against his chair, and seemed to slump down slightly, into a more comfortable position. His elbow was propped against the arm rest. "I think you're one of the first girls that I've met who actually has a decent taste in music." 

She arched an eyebrow. "Just what kind of girls do you hang out with, Mr. Wolfe?" 

"Obviously not the good kind," he chuckled darkly. 

Sophie shivered. She couldn't help it. Her cheeks burned a darker red and she looked around. He watched her squirm, amused. Her gaze found the globe. "Do you like to travel?" she blurted. 

"All over the world," he answered. "I must admit, waking up in strange, foreign countries is a favored hobby of mine." 

"What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you?" she asked, laughing a little. 

He grinned. "Are you sure you can handle it?" 

"Let's find out." 

His eyebrow arched at that. He eyed her slyly, like a wolf. "I think that the weirdest experience I've ever had, waking up in another country, was when I woke up in Paris. My hotel was filled with flowers, baguettes, and beautiful sleeping women." 

Sophie's mouth dropped open. "What happened?" she gasped. 

He snickered. "I didn't stay to find out." 

"Oh, you're horrible!" she laughed at him. "Those poor women. You probably broke their hearts." 

"What makes you say that?" he asked. 

Sophie shook her head. "Imagine following someone as drop dead gorgeous as you to their hotel room, probably thinking they're going to score, only to wake up next morning in that mess!" She laughed, and then realized what she'd just said. 

Her hand flew to her mouth. 

Mr. Wolfe cocked his head at her, an eyebrow arched. The amusement was still evident in his expression. "You think I'm drop dead gorgeous?" he asked. 

Sophie didn't know how to respond.