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Gillian stood perfectly still and watched David disappear around a corner

(It’s not time for the plan yet, kid Now buck up A cheery face is worth diae day continued In each class, Gillian appealed to the teacher for a new book In each class,

she was boh it all Angel whispered in her ear,

always suggesting just the right thing to say to each person He itty, irreverent, occasionally

cutting-and so was Gillian

She had an advantage, she realized Since nobody had ever noticed her before, it was al she wanted to be, present herself as anyone, and be believed

(Like Cinderella at the ball The el’s voice was amused but tender

In journalisirl with sloe eyes and drooping

contemptuous lashes Daryl the Rich Girl, Daryl the World-weary World Traveler She talked to Gillian

as if Gillian knew all about Paris and Rome and California

At lunch, Gillian hesitated as she walked into the cafeteria Usually she sat with Aene had been sitting with Aroup

that included Amanda the Cheerleader, Kim the Gymnast, and others froe (Do I sit with thea But near

them Sit at the end of that table just beside them Don’t look at the it)

Gillian had never eaten her lunch alone before-or at least not in a public place On days Amy was

absent, if she couldn’t find one of the few other juniors she felt comfortable with, she snuck into the

library and ate there

In the old days she would have felt horribly exposed, but now she wasn’t really alone; she had Angel

cracking jokes in her ear And she had a new confidence She could al, calhtful to the point of being dreauid, like Daryl the Rich Girl’s

(And I hope A her I mean, it’s not as if she’s back there alone She’s got

Eugene)

(Yeah We’re gonna have to talk about Aed Sracious)

"Jill! Earth to Jill!"

"Hey, Jill, c’ her lunch over to their table, and she wasn’t spilling anything and she

wasn’t falling as she slid in She was little and graceful, thistledown light in heraround her to form a warm and friendly bulwark

And she wasn’t afraid of the of all These kids who’d seeers, were real people who got crumbs on themselves and

made jokes she could understand

Gillian had alondered what they found so funny when they were laughing together But now she

kneas just the heady ate that they were special Itquietly there with Tanya, could see her laughing

She could hear other voices occasionally, froroup, people on the outside

looking in Mostly bright chatter and ht she heard her name mentioned

And then she focused on the words "I heard her mom’s a drunk" They sounded horribly loud and

dear to Gillian, standing out against the background noise She could feel her whole skin tingling with

shock and she lost track of the story Kiel-who said that? Was it about me-my mo a few years ago and having these hallucinations-"

This tih the banter of Gillian’s group Kim stopped in

mid-sentence Bruce the Athlete’s smile faltered An aard silence fell

Gillian felt a wave of anger that made her dizzy (Who said that? I’ll kill them-)

(Calm down! Calm down That’s not the way to handle it at all) (But-)

(I said, calm down Look at your lunch No, at your lunch Now say-and make your voice absolutely

cool-"I really hate rumors, don’t you? I don’t knohat kind of people start theh her

voice wasn’t absolutely cool It had a little tremor

"I don’t know either," a new voice said Gillian

glanced up to see that David was on his feet, his

face hard as he surveyed the table behind her as

if looking for the person who’d spoken "But I think they’re pretty sick and they should get a life"

There was the cold glint in his eyes that had given hiuy Gillian felt as if a

hand had steadied her Gratitude rushed through her-and a longing that made her bite down on her lip

"I hate rumors, too," JZ Oberlin said in her absent voice J Z the Model was the one who looked like

a Calvin Klein ad, breathlessly sexy and rather blank, but right now she see around the rumor last year that I tried to kill myself I never did find out who

started it" Her hazy blue-green eyes were narrowed

And then everyone was talking about rumors, and people who spread ru around Gillian

But it was David who stood up for ht

She had just looked over at hi noise

It was almost musical, but the kind of sound that draws attention ilass Gillian, along with everyone else, glanced around to see who’d done it

She couldn’t see anybody No one had the right expression of dis

definite Everybody was looking around in searchnear the cafeteria doors looked down and then up

Above the doors, far above, was a semi-circularin the red brick As Gillian stared at the

she realized that light was reflecting off it oddly, almost prislass

And so like a few specks of snow It hit the ground and tinkled, and

the people by the door stared at it on the cafeteria floor They looked puzzled

Realization flashed on Gillian She was on her feet, but the only words that she could find were, "Oh, o! Get out of there!" It was David, waving at the people under the

He was running toward the to stop

Other people were shouting Cory and A

And then the as going, chunks of it falling al It fell and fell and fell Gillian felt as if she atching an avalanche in slow motion

At last it was over, and the as just an arch-shaped hole with jagged teeth clinging to the

edges Glass had flown and bounced and skittered all over the cafeteria, where it lay like hailstones And

people fro cuts fro bits

But nobody had been directly underneath, and nobody seemed seriously hurt

(Thanks to David) Gillian was still nuot them all out of the way in time

Oh, God, he isn’t hurt, is he?)

(He’s fine And what makes you think he did it all alone? Maybe I had some part I can do that, you

know-put it into people’s heads to do things And they never even know I’el’s voice

sounded almost-well-piqued

(Huh? You did that? Well, that was really nice of you) Gillian atching David across the roo, look around

He’s not hurt Thank heaven Gillian felt so relieved it was almost painful

It was then that it occurred to her to wonder what had happened

That -before the glass fell it had looked just like the mirror in her bathroom Evenly shattered

from side to side, spidery cracks over every inch of the surface

The bathroo catty about Gillian’s roo she’d wanted to ask Angel last night It had been about how the mirror ca a few minutes after someone insulted Gillian’s mother Nobody had

heard it actually break, but it couldn’t have happened too long ago

The small hairs on the back of Gillian’s neck stirred and she felt a fluttering inside