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She blushed evenher face, and shook his head as if to clear it He turned his face away from her abruptly and stared ahead of him A muscle ticked furiously in his jaw For many seconds he was silent and she simply stared at him She had never been out with a boy and she didn’t knohat to do or say

‘You knohat?’ he said finally ‘Let’s not go to this party Let’s just go to town and get to know each other better over soers and Coke’

Her face crumpled with disappointment She had never been to a party before Her life had been sheltered It was her parents and her books She had no real friends They had only o and she was still treated like a stranger in this tiny town of five thousand people ‘You’ve changed yourseen with me around your fine friends’

‘Of course not,’ he denied hotly, but a flush of shame slashed across his cheekbones

She shook her head sadly ‘It’s all right, you don’t have to explain’

‘Shit,’ he cursed under his breath

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and bowed her head to hide from him

He turned to her and clutching her face in both his hands lifted it and forced her to

look at him ‘Don’t be sorry, Sky It’s not you,’ he said fiercely

She brightened at that ‘All right, we’ll go into town instead I’d rather have a burger and a Coke with you than go to a party, anyway’ And she s to the party Burger and Coke with him would be a dream come true It was silly of her to have insisted It was just her pride that had been hurt She was not beautiful And that was that

He let go of her and looked down at his hands for a o in, but we’re not staying Five minutes and we’re out of there’

She grinned frorin back He seemed almost fearful He opened her car door and held his hand to help her out of his car She put her hand in his and felt the warm power in it

He dropped her hand but they walked close to each other At the door he took a deep breath and looked at her She was gazing at hi eyes He opened the door and they stepped inside

She had never been to a party in such a fine house and she looked around her in awe Sky iirls from school, the va and ridiculing the lesser endowed She didn’t allow herself to think it, but they were the golden girls who usually hung out with Miko, the ones with the lithe, cheerleading bodies and flawlessly beautiful faces One of the at her and looked like she was about to come in their direction

Miko grabbed her hand and started to pull her through the throng of people One or two people called out to hied her even faster toward the back of the house In a corridor where the crowd had thinned a little, he turned around and, still walking quickly ahead, said, ‘Coet a drink’

She noticed that he seemed tense and different than he had been in the car

‘Cohtly They were nearly at the kitchen by then

‘What do you want to drink?’ he asked, his eyes roa around them

‘Beer,’ she said although she didn’t really like it

‘There is fruit punch if you prefer,’ he said

She nodded gratefully

‘Stay here and don’ther into a corner where there was no one, and where no one could see her She watched hiet the drinks