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Elena was surrounded the instant she stepped into the high school parking lot Everyone was there, the whole crowd she hadn’t seen since late June, plus four or five hangers-on who hoped to gain popularity by association One by one she accepted the welcorown at least an inch and was slinkier and reeted Elena coolly and stepped back again with her green eyes narrowed like a cat’s

Bonnie hadn’t grown at all, and her curly red head barely ca her arht Elena She pushed the sirl back

"Bonnie! What did you do to your hair?"

"Do you like it? I think it makes s and s with exciteht

Elenawas equally warm on both sides She hadat the tall girl Meredith never wore any makeup; but then, with perfect olive skin and heavy black lashes, she didn’t need any Right now she had one elegant eyebrow raised as she studied Elena

"Well, your hair is two shades lighter froht you were living it up on the French Riviera"

"You know I never tan" Elena held up her hands for her own inspection The skin was flawless, like porcelain, but almost as fair and translucent as Bonnie’s

"Just aone of Elena’s hands "Guess what I learned from my cousin this summer?" Before anyone could speak, she inforroans, and soh while you can," said Bonnie, not at all disturbed "My cousin told me I’m psychic Now, let me see" She peered into Elena’s pal to be late," said Elena a bit iht Now, this is your life line-or is it your heart line?" In the crowd, so into the void I see I see" All at once, Bonnie’s face went blank, as if she were startled Her brown eyes widened, but she no longer see at Elena’s hand It was as if she were lookingthrough it-at soer," Meredith les

"Dark, yes, and a stranger but not tall" Bonnie’s voice was hushed and faraway

"Although," she continued after apuzzled, "he was tall, once" Her wide brown eyes lifted to Elena’s in bewilderment "But that’s impossible isn’t it?" She dropped Elena’s hand, al it away "I don’t want to see any o," Elena told the others, vaguely irritated She’d always felt psychic tricks were just that-tricks So as she annoyed? Just because that irls started toward the school building, but the roar of a finely tuned motor stopped the "Quite a car"

"Quite a Porsche," Meredith corrected dryly

The sleek black 911 Turbo purred through the parking lot, searching for a space,prey

When the car calimpsed the driver "Oh, ain," breathed Bonnie

From where she stood, Elena could see he had a lean, flat-ht, tight T-shirt, and a leather jacket of unusual cut His hair avy-and dark

He wasn’t tall, though Just average height

Elena let out her breath

"Whois that lasses co his face like a er ," someone else said, and a babble of voices rose up

"Do you see that jacket? That’s Italian, as in Roma"

"Hoould you know? You’ve never been farther than Root that look again The hunting look"

"Short-Dark-and-Handsome had better be careful"

"He isn’t short; he’s perfect!"

Through the chatter, Caroline’s voice suddenly rang out "Oh, coot Matt What more do you want? What can you do with two that you can’t do with one?"

"The saroup dissolved into laughter

The boy had locked his car and alking toward school Casually, Elena started after hiht behind her in a close-knit pack For an instant, annoyance bubbled up inside her Couldn’t she goanywhere without a parade on her heels? But Meredith caught her eye, and she se," Meredith said softly

"What?"

"If you’re going to be queen of the school, you have to put up with the consequences"

Elena frowned at this as they entered the building A long corridor stretched before the through the office doorway up ahead Elena slowed her pace as she walked up to the office, finally stopping to glance thoughtfully at the es on the cork bulletin board by the door There was a largehere, through which the entire office was visible

The other girls were openly gazing through the , and giggling "Nice rear view" "That isdefinitely an Armani jacket" "You think he’s fro her ears for the boy’s name There seemed to be some kind of trouble in there: Mrs Clarke, the ad her head The boy said so, and Mrs Clarke lifted her hands in a "What can I say?" gesture She ran a finger down the list and shook her head again, conclusively The boy started to turn away, then turned back And when Mrs Clarke looked up at hilasses were now in his hand Mrs Clarke see; Elena could see her blink several ti to speak

Elena wished she could see more than the back of the boy’s head Mrs Clarke was fu dazed At last she found a form of some kind and wrote on it, then turned it around and pushed it toward the boy

The boy wrote briefly on the for it, probably-and returned it Mrs Clarke stared at it a second, then fu what looked like a class schedule to him Her eyes never left the boy as he took it, inclined his head in thanks, and turned to the door

Elena ith curiosity by now What had just happened in there? And what did this stranger’s face look like? But as he elasses in place again Disappointh her

Still, she could see the rest of his face as he paused in the doorway The dark curly hair fraht have been taken froh cheekbones, classical straight nose and a ht The upper lip was beautifully sculpted, a little sensitive, a whole lot sensual The chatter of the girls in the hallway had stopped as if so away fro anywhere but at hiave a little toss to her head, pulling the ribbon out of her hair so that it fell loose around her shoulders

Without looking to either side, the boy hs and whispers flared up the moment he was out of earshot

Elena didn’t hear any of it

He’d walked right by her, she thought, dazed Right by without a glance

Di her arm

"What?"

"I said here’s your schedule We’ve got trig on the second floor right now Come on!"

Elena allowed Meredith to propel her down the corridor, up a flight of stairs, and into a classroom She slid into an empty seat automatically and fixed her eyes on the teacher at the front without really seeing her The shock still hadn’t worn off

He’d walked right by Without a glance She couldn’t re it had been since a boy had done that They all looked, at least Some whistled Some stopped to talk Some just stared

And that had always been fine with Elena After all, as more important than boys? They were the mark of how popular you were, of how beautiful you were And they could be useful for all sorts of things So, but usually that didn’t last long So

Most boys, Elena reflected, were like puppies Adorable in their place, but expendable A very few could be more than that, could become real friends Like Matt

Oh, Matt Last year she’d hoped that he was the one she was looking for, the boy who coulda conquest, the pride in showing your new acquisition off to the other girls And shehad co affection for Matt But over the summer, when she’d had time to think, she’d realized it was the affection of a cousin or sister

Ms Halpern was passing out trigonometry books Elena took hers ht

She liked Matt more than any other boy she’d known And that hy she was going to have to tell him it was over

She hadn’t kno to tell him in a letter She didn’t kno to tell him now It wasn’t that she was afraid he’d kick up a fuss; he just wouldn’t understand She didn’t really understand herself

It was as if she were always reaching for soot it, it wasn’t there Not with Matt, not with any of the boys she’d had

And then she had to start all over again Fortunately, there was always fresh material No boy had ever resisted her successfully, and no boy had ever ignored her Until now