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I wanted to tell hiht, looking for the exact sa for, but for some reason I didn’t Maybe it was because I liked the way Noah was looking at me, as if there were no one else in the world It reminded me of what I could have with Dante

"You know I don’t do this kind of thing every night," I said "Most of the ti I had a different life"

"I don’t believe that"

"It’s true," I said "I’ it for, then?"

Dante, uess"

I shivered Noah took off his coat and draped it around my shoulders "No, please," I said "I’ its lapels, I pulled it around ood in that," he said, gazing at ently

Before I could go on, Noah completed my sentence "You have a boyfriend--I know, I know But a friend can still give a compliment, no?"

"What about Clementine?"

The s I hadn’t mentioned her "It’s private; I shouldn’t have asked"

"No," he said quickly "It’s fine It’s just hard to explain"

Leaning forward, I hugged "

"When I first met her in class, I knew there was no one like her She was this a about her that bit into e ; she would always push er, s less than what she wants I loved that about her"

"Loved? Past tense?"

"I still love her," he said "But not in the sas Watch o out for expensive dinners But she doesn’t want…adventure She doesn’t want to have fun That edge that she used to have, I only see gliether for a year, and she only wants to work, to be the best" He paused, picking at his spaghetti "She always says that everything worth doing is hard"

"She’s right," I said, surprising myself

"But should a relationship be hard?" Noah asked

Around us, pigeons cooed fros, but it just sounded like noise The h the water of the fountain, but noI stared at it, I couldn’t see its beauty And the food that I’d thought I wanted now sat in front of s would be easier with another boy, but Dante was the only person who understood how delicate life was, how quickly it vanished He didn’t care if I was the best Monitor in school, or if I was fun enough or wild enough; he just enjoyed le Latin word sound like poetry, how to make the past come alive and the present feel like it passed far too quickly Hebut a paper background

I felt Noah waiting for me to respond, but I didn’t kno to tell hi for a way for ether, so we could watch o out for expensive dinners I yearned for the sas Clementine did; I just knew I could never have them

Chapter 9

I DIDN’T REMEMBER GOING HOME THAT NIGHT; I JUST reainst ether as alked beneath the streetlaine that he was Dante

Before I knew it, I was back in the darkness of my room, alone I took off Noah’s blazer and draped it over the back of h Noah was there, sitting with h I knew Dante couldn’t see me, I quickly tucked the coat into my closet, ashamed that I even had another boy’s blazer in ainst the door, I shook Noah out of my head, picked up my towel, and went to the bathroom to take a shower

But when I turned the knob, the door was locked

"Occupied," Cleles

I threw my towel on a nearby armchair, and was about to collapse onto my bed when I heard one of the by the door, I listened

"I don’t even understand how she got into this school" Josie’s voice was full of spite "You should have seen her the other day, trying to find the dead ani"

Josie chimed in "She can barely speak French or Latin She can’t sense a dead thing when it’s on her plate; she can’t dig a proper hole or even build a makeshift pyre; but she still ranked nulared at the door, but the truth was, they were right If Anya had any talent as a Monitor, I hadn’t witnessed it either, and I had no idea how she’d ranked nuy and Prediction class