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Natty giggled while Simon passed out our fake IDs, and not for the first tisworth’s driver’s license It was the saiven ent Trunaled towhat this could possibly be about "I alot," he told ot you thisat the gas station we stopped at"

I stared down at his offering in surprise Thoh to me, but this was different, and all of a sudden I saw hihtful

I shook my head "I can’t" I tried to wave him off as I blinked furiously "Howhow did you even know?" My last words came out squeaky, like so the air out super slow

"Natty’s not your only friend at Silent Creek, you know? Besides, you’re a little obvious--always checking the tied his hand closer "Here Take it I don’t think the place I got it from has a return policy, so if you don’t accept it, then I have to wear it" He glancedme knohich option was out of the question

I wasn’t used to being euard Thom wasn’t my friend, and he wasn’t my leader either I was just someone who’d landed on his doorstep in need of a place to stay If it wasn’t for the fact that the present was calling to me, I would have held firm in my I-can’t-accept-it stance But I seriously wanted it, so I held out ed out by the fact that my obsession had been so obvious

Thom wrapped the rubbery pink band around , but the ti my eyes from the rhythmic advance of the second hand as it ticked around the face of the watch, I couldn’t stoplike an idiot "It’s perfect," I told him

"Do me a favor, will ya?" he asked "Keep an eye on Natty today Don’t let anything happen to her"

I frowned, because of course I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, not on purpose anyway "Yeah Sure"

The scrunched muscles between his brows softened, just a tad "Thanks It’s just" He shrugged "Well, you knowthanks," he finished, running his hand through his black hair Then he put his watch beside mine so I could see that the tere in sync "Seven o’clock," he tolda plan to ht As if I had a purpose

And then Tho rinned ata sense of deterether "Now that those losers are gone, what should we do?"

Bowling

That’s hoe spent the better part of our afternoon, in a noisy bowling alley where atched the Thursday afternoon leagues fill up the lanes--a lot of oldshirts and had fancy, shiny, and even colored bowling balls that they polished before they threw theain when they plucked theutter balls, and even ot a strike or a spare--Lucky shot! soave the i tiirls from my softball team who I’d spent hours and hours on the field with I was even a little nostalgic for Austin, since he and I had grown up together

But most of all, I missed Tyler

I picked at the deep-fried cheese sticks and onion rings we’d ordered while aited for a lane to open up for us Unlike the doughnuts Jett had gotten forhad since I’d returned: bland But it gaveto do with my hands and it oal To blend

There hadn’t been any real stores in town, not like a Target or a Walmart, a superstore that had racks and racks of clothes I could choose fro, like a Fred Meyer I hadn’t planned on being choosy; I just wanted so not of the cutoff variety, preferably without chunks of my own flesh stuck to it

But obviously, in a toithout a flashing stoplight, that had been too h the as station, sos that housed a bakery–slash–coffee shop–slash–hardware store, a butcher shop, and a liquor store that was, not surprisingly, the biggest shop of them all

It was in this section of town that we also canment shop

The place was jam-packed with all kinds of clothes, hats, shoes, and purses that sed by clothing type, and I was starting to think I was either going to be stuck withof the polyester variety, since that’s what they ed to find one pair of jeans in exactly my size And bonus, not only did they fit me, but they only had to be rolled at the hem one time