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Charlie once punched Jaseʼs door after one of the more spectacular rounds with his father

He had knocked the trim loose, but ere able to fix it before anyone noticed I didnʼt think I kicked as hard as Charlie punched, but apparently our doors were er stuff than the ones in Alexʼs house As I felt h the faux wood I said a four-letter word that had never passed my lips before

"Feel better?"

I couldnʼt bear to look at Alex, so I just closed ainst the door frame At least the top half was still intact

"I told you we should have told her," Alex was saying to Talley as a loud trilling noiseopen her phone "Hey, Jase," she said in an upbeat tone that certainly didnʼt match the look in her eyes or dried tears on her cheeks

"Listen" Even from across the roo in rapid, urgent tones "Charlie, listenCharlie Charlie!" Alex ht about kicking another hole in the wall "I found her Sheʼs okay" Charlie said so Talley to raise her eyebrows at Alex

"Sheʼs at Joiʼs" Talley lied s out that she was a Seer "When I wasnʼt houys and" Talley rolled her eyes, which was again very out of character I felt like I atching a Talley Cylon "Iʼm sure thatʼs it, Charlie," she said dis "Anyways, when the storo ho to stay here for a little whileBecause weʼre doing fun girl bonding stuffCharlieIʼll have her home in two hours" As Charlie continued to ra in Talley shifted She didnʼt even look like my friend when she said, "You are not the Pack Leader, Charles Jefferson Hagan, Jr I, however, aize for forgetting that" Who was this person? The Talley Matthews I kneas always meek and ive orders And she never slammed her phone shut on her friends

Alex o of Talleyʼs hand, but she held on "I still ht need you," she said

Talley pressed some numbers into her phone and then held it six inches fro Joi Really, Joi is a fairly bright girl, she just has soy It took her three weeks to figure out the re which QVC played in her rooe the station or turn it off) iPods freak her out, she cannot grasp the concept of Twitter or Facebook, and she has never understood, no matter how many times we tried to explain it, that you donʼt have to screaosh, is that you? Thatʼs so weird! I was just thinking about you!" No need for super-senses to hear Joi on the phone

"Can you do Scout and me a favor?" Talley looked at Alex expectantly, but he didnʼt do or say anything

"Sure! Whatcha need?"

"If anyone asks, could you tell theht? And if anyone calls to look for us in the next couple of hours, tell them weʼre too busy to come to the phone? Weʼre ummm" She shot another look at Alex, but he stayed silent "Weʼre working on this really huge surprise for Jase as like a graduation present We donʼt want anyone to know about it because it would totally ruin it"

"You donʼt think that Jase would, like, call here, do you?" Joi had a not-so-secret crush on my brother which rendered her unable to carry on a conversation when he was anywhere nearby The last tiht staring mutely in the direction of Jaseʼs bedrooht?" Poor Joi We were probably giving her a ain, it was noon, so she was on her second or third of the day

"Sure I can do that" Sheif her voice hadnʼt been shaking