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And with that, the headht iers But when he held ahappened

I raised a hand to my cheek, confused, as the headmaster struck another match, and then another

"Your wood is wet," he reether

"What?" I said "But I specifically chose dry, dead wood None of it et"

The headmaster didn’t respond Instead, he struck another nited But as the fire spread to the rest of the pyre, the clearing was engulfed in thick, black sh and swat at the air

"Why is this happening?" I said "I don’t understand"

The heads, he took the pyre down, the wood collapsing outward until the fire went out and the smoke cleared In the middle ofas the smoke curled out of the embers

"But I didn’t put those there," I said "I never put wet leaves in my pyre"

I glanced around the clearing, but no one seean to pack up,of a s over to pick up her water bottle It was eo over to her, when I saw Noah a few feet away He had picked up Clementine’s coat but was frozen in place He must have seen her look at ust as he realized what she’d done Dropping her coat at his feet, he turned and walked back to the van

Clementine sat in the back row, and Noah just in front of her, as we drove back to school When there was a lull in the head As ound through the streets, I felt a thin strand of cold air wrap itself around my ankles and then break free as we turned a corner

"Did you feel that?" I asked Anya

"Feel what?" she said, looking up froer to silence her, and closed

"Neverat the faces of the people on the sidewalk, hoping to see Dante When we got back to St Clé As I walked across the courtyard with Anya, I felt a hand on the sleeve ofClementine’s voice near me, I whipped around "Don’t touch me" I was face-to-face with Noah

He stepped back, retracting his hand "Sorry, I didn’tht you were…" I stopped short before saying her na about "I see Well, I just wanted to--"

"You don’t have to apologize for her I can take care of myself"

Noah pushed a lock of hair out of his face "--apologize for s I don’t know anything about the guy or how he treats you I was just caught off guard"

Biting my lip, I nodded "I’m sorry, too I didn’t--"

"Don’t worry," he said "I know"

Theon the rust stubble cli on Friday"

"Friday?" Even though I had no plans, I pretended to think about it so as not to appear pathetic "I don’t know I’ll have to check"

He hesitated, as if he were nervous "Would you…" he said slowly, "have any interest in co to my house for dinner?"

"Your house? Like with your parents?" I said, both flattered and confused

"Yeah," he said, with an amused smile "Haven’t you ever been to dinner with someone’s parents?"

To my embarrassment, I hadn’t At least not to a boy’s house Dante didn’t have any parents, and before that…well, I could hardly re dinner with Noah’s parents was so traditional, so noro hohtful people, I don’t know if I can take an entire evening alone with theht actually make it fun" I must have looked a little uneasy, because he added, "Take pity on me?"