Affective Needs — Rebecca Taylor

Ninety-two days. That's all that's left. Just ninety-two days and Ruth Robinson, calculus genius, will stand with her arms raised in a triumphant V as the valedictorian of Roosevelt High. With her early admit to Princeton's Neuroscience program burning a hole in her pocket, Ruth can hardly wait to show her fellow teenage troglodytes that while she didn't have followers, friends, or “times” in basements, she was the one ending up on top.

All she needs to do is white knuckle her way through this waiting place last semester and then, finally, she'll be on her way. Except, the first day back from winter break, Porter Creed shows up. Porter is a special education transfer -- Affective Needs. And just like all the other desk flippers and chair throwers in the affective needs classroom, Porter has some major emotional problems. But when Porter strolls onto Ruth's home turf, Advanced Calculus, and disrupts her axis by being both gorgeous and the only person better at math than her -- Ruth begins to realize that maybe life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.