Page 6 (2/2)

(Yup, kid Perfect)

Gillian was happy enough to give her et ed the other girl behind her like the tail of a co worriedly about breakfast

"Give us so to take with us Where’s that old black coat I never wore? The fancy one you got

me for church Never mind, I found it"

In three minutes she and Amy were on the porch

"Wait," Gillian said She fished through the black canvas bag she was carrying in place of a backpack

and came up with a sot"

She put on the lipstick It was red, not orange-red or blue-red, but red red, the color of holly berries or

Christmas ribbon That shiny, too It made her lips look fuller, somehow, ale, then kissed the coain "Gillian what is going on? What’s happened to you?"

"Co to be late"

’The outfit just , but that lipstick irl with a reputation"

"Good"

"Gillian! You’re scaring ht Gillian’s ar about you-around you- oh, I don’t knohat I’ about! But it’s different and it’s

dark and it’s not good"

She was so genuinely shaken that for a htened herself A quick stab of fear like

the flick of a knife in her stomach Amy was neurotic, sure, but she wasn’t the type to hallucinate What

if-

(Angel-)

A horn honked

Startled, Gillian turned Right at the edge of the driveway, behind Amy’s Geo, was a so A dark head was sticking out the

"Standing me up?" David Blackburn called

"What-is-that?" Ae froel "I think it’s called a car," she said to Auess I should go with hio with David; after all, he had asked first Besides, A; she sped like a maniac and wove all over the road because she couldn’t see without her

It should have been satisfying After all, yesterday Aene Elfred But right this

This was it David was going to see her new self And it was all happening too fast

(Angel, what if I faint? What if I throw up? That’s going to reat first i, kid Breathe Breathe Not that fast Now se a smile as she opened the car door Suddenly she felt exposed What if

David thought she was cheap or even freakish? Like a little girl dressed up in her mom’s clothes?

And her hair-all at once she remembered how David had touched it yesterday What if he hated it?

Trying to breathe, she slipped into the car Her coat came open as she sat down She could hardly make

herself look toward the driver’s seat

But when she did, her breath stopped co a look that she’d never seen on

any guy’s face before, at least not directed toward her She’d seen it, occasionally, when guys were

looking at other girls, girls at school like

Steffi Lockhart or JZ Oberlin A stricken gaze, a compulsive movement of the throat, an expression

that al down and I don’t care if you walk onat her that way

I the little stab induced by A and little waves of adrenaline were still going through her, but nohat it felt like was

excitement Heady, buoyant anticipation As if she had started on the roller coaster ride of

her life

David actually had to shake hiear And then he kept

sneaking glances at her out of the side of his eye

"You did soue ht by his hand, which was strong, brown, long-fingered, and handsome

"Yeah, I cut my hair," she said She meant to sound careless and sophisticated, but it caain "I figured I didn’t want to look too young"

"Ouch" He made a face "That’s my fault, isn’t it? You overheard that stuff yesterday What Tanya and I

said"

(Tell hi it for a while)

"Yeah, but I’ve been thinking of doing it for a while now," Gillian said "It’s no big deal"

David glanced at her as if to say he disagreed with that But it wasn’t a disapproving glance It was more

like electrified awe and a sort of discovery that seerow every time he looked at her

"And I never saw you at school?" he muttered "II’m sorry" He drove in silence for a while Gillian forced herself to stare out the

and realized they were onHillcrest RoadStrange how different the landscape looked today Yesterday

it had been lonely and desolate; thisit seemed harmless, and the snow looked soft and

comfortable, like old cushions

"Listen," David said abruptly He broke off and shook his head And then he did so that

absolutely amazed Gillian He pulled the car to the side of the road-or at least as far to the side as he

could get it-they were still in the flow of traffic-and parked it

"There’s so I have to say"

Gillian’s heart now seeertips and her ears She

had a dreamlike sensation that her body wasn’t solid any

But what David said was unexpected "Do you remember the first tio; she’d been twelve and tiny for her age She’d been lying on

the ground beside her house, els Kind of childish, sure, but in those days a stretch of

ne had affected her that way And while she was lying on her back, ars, a tree branch above her decided to shrug off its load of snow Suddenly her face

was covered in damp, closely packed coldness and she couldn’t breathe She ca was holding her, wiping her face gently The first thing she sahen she got her vision back was a brown hand and a lean brorist Then a face ca bones and dark, mischievous eyes

"I’m David Blackburn I justher face with his fingers

"You’d better be careful, snow princess Next ti up at him, Gillian had felt her heart explode and leak out of her chest

And she’d walked away on air, even though he’d patted her head after releasing her She was in love

"Well, back then, I sort of got the wrong iht you were a lot

younger and ile than you

are" There was a pause, and then he said wonder-ingly, not quite looking at her, "But, it’s like, there’s so

that yesterday"

Gillian understood David didn’t have a reputation for being wild for nothing He liked girls ere

bold, dashing, out there If he were a knight, he wouldn’t fall in love with the pampered princess back at

the castle He’d fall in love with a feht, or maybe a robber, somebody who could share the

Adventure with hih as he-was

Of course he had a strong protective streak That hy he rescued o for the , "Now, I mean, you’re " He held his hands up in a whoaat her at all

In a ht, I’m cool

"You’re kind of incredible," David said "And I feel really stupid for not noticing that before"

Gillian couldn’t breathe There was so electricity The

air was so thick with it that she felt pressure all over her She had never been so awake before, but at the

same time she felt as if most of the world was insubstantial Only she and David were real

And the voice in her head seeot co)

Gillian couldn’tGillian couldn’t see well through

the Mustang’s stea at her

David didn’t seeearshift, and when he spoke his

voice was very quiet "So I guess what I’ I said hurt your feelings And-I

see you now"

He raised his head And Gillian suddenly realized he was going to kiss her