"I just feel like someone’s staring at us,” he said, lowering his voice. “Strange, no?"

One year later…

It was late Thursday night. The beis medrash was pulsing with the sounds of dozens of high school bochurim reviewing the Gemara with their chavrusas; arguing, clarifying, waving thumbs in the air as they fought their way to clarity together.

Over at a table to one side, two boys sat engrossed in their chazarah. Even sitting down, you could tell that the brown-haired one was tall and athletically built, while his chavrusa, with the flashing green eyes and black hair, was shorter.

“Let’s go over this one more time,” the dark-haired one, otherwise known as Avi Shine, suggested. “You wanna read?”

“Sure.” Elchanan leaned forward and took a deep breath. Thanks to their nightly chavrusa, he was doing better than ever in learning, but it still took a lot of concentration. On the other hand, a good learning session was even more exhilarating than a game of basketball. And that was saying something.

“Boys, how’s it going?” Rabbi Taub, the ninth-grade rebbi, approached them, smiling. Shine and Stark — now that was a good, solid pair. Such a charismatic duo, the two of them, real leaders, and close friends, too. It wasn’t every day you saw a friendship like that.

Avi looked at Elchanan. “We’re about to move on here, I think.”

“Yup,” Elchanan confirmed. “It’s going good, Rebbi.”

“Excellent, excellent!” Rabbi Taub patted the table between them and moved on.

“Okay, should we keep going?” Elchanan asked, looking over at his friend. Avi was looking around the room, distracted. “Um, Avi? What’s going on?”

Avi glanced back at him. “I… don’t know. I just feel like someone’s staring at us,” he said, lowering his voice. “Strange, no?”