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It was easier to say good-bye to Mãe than to ed part of his face--his eyelashes, long and thick and black--then quickly kissed his temple and pulled away It was the first time I’d ever dared to kiss hi down nments I’d missed The ent fairly quickly, since er a beehive Friends didn’t coo at all hours Even my roommate had deserted the room

Bernadette had moved in with Jacey, it seemed She didn’t tellwith one long blond braid "She says it’s too spooky in that room"

It seemed spooky even to me, without Bernadette’s threads and shells and feathers I spent as little time there as I could

Whenever I saw Bernadette, in class or in the cafeteria, she looked away The first time I went up to her and said, "Hoas your break?"

She drew back and turned slightly, as if to minimize her exposure to me In a low voice, she said, "Please leave me alone"

I hadn’t expected that

Jacey told me a few days later, "It’s not you, Ari She says it’s just that people around you tend to die"

If Walker knew about Bernadette’s feelings, he never ht back I alking alone on the path from the cafeteria to the dormitory when a white luminous sphere about a foot in dia hovered, then moved toward me

Was I startled? Yes, for a moment, before I spied, beneath the sphere, a black cloth suspended in the air by two black-gloved hands

"Hello, Walker," I said

"I am a zoh, squeaky

The word zombie did startle me After a few seconds, I said, "Zonored the comment "If you kiss the ball, the zombie will be freed"

Somehow he ood trick I couldn’t see any strings

Walker made squeaky zombie sounds

"Okay," I said I stepped closer to the ball "Let’s free the zolobe and the cloth both vanished In the darkness, Walker’s lips touched mine

For seconds, oura dance in midair His lips were soft as a violet (Yes, I had kissed more than one flower It’s the best way to practice)

For seconds, I heard nothing, saw nothing, felt only his lips pressed against , as if a sh all my nerves and into my lips, and then crossed into his

The kiss ended It was still the sa a black hood with holes for his eyes and hter made hi light frolobe He’d dropped the cloth that had concealed it

"Ath, much less the desire, to contradict him

After that, ere a couple Walker and I held hands (clu center We walked back from the cafeteria to the dorether, in the lounge--actually studied, eyes on books, each of us savoring the tension that kept us fro--so that e did touch, the sensations were indescribably intense

What I felt ild It went deep and o of before--creating a sweet laziness that bathedthe wildness Maybe it was the new tonic I was taking Maybe I was in love Whatever it was, I felt charged with life, fully aware of each passing moment

When our American Politics class met, Walker and I made efforts not to look at each other, with li us ure out as different

Meanwhile Professor Hogan spoke in her strident yet unconfident way about third parties "Even though we can argue that the two-party system has becoroups realize that working within the two parties is the only real path to power?" Her voice rose at the end of sentences,them sound like questions

Walker yawned His teeth were s at his one between us When I looked over at her, she turned away

"In American politics, third parties have sometimes played a corrective role? They’ve raised issues that the traditional parties avoided because the issues couldn’t generate social capital?"

Walker and I glanced at each other A slow shiver climbed my spine