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The man can’t see her, of course It’s not his drealasses She wants to see his face Wonders if his eyes are brown like hers She can never focus her attention in one place for long, though, with all the spinning colors

Abruptly the dreaes

Sours

The hippie man fades, and Janie’s mother stands in a line of people that stretches on for what seees in a well-read book

Her face is griry

She’s holding—

jiggling—

a screa, red-faced baby

Not this again Janie doesn’t want to watch anyth and concentrates Hard Groans inwardly And pulls herself out of her mother’s dream

Exhausted

1:51 am

Janie’s vision slowly returns She shivers in a cold sweat and flexes her aching fingers, grateful that she never seeet sucked back into a dream once she’s successfully pulled out of it So far, anyway

She pushes herself to her feet as her mother snores on the couch, and walks shakily to the bathroos and retches, thenher teeth Once in her bedroohtly behind her

Falls to the bed, like a luh

After last et her strength back or the dreaain

That night, Janie’s own drea oceans and hurricanes and life jackets that sink like stones

11:44 am

Janie wakes to sunlight strea it

“Cabe?” she mumbles, eyes closed

“Hey I let ers drawing her tangled hair away fro up?”

“Mrrff” She rolls over Sees the plate of eggs and toast, steaes for it “You—best secret boyfriend ever”

ASSIGNMENTS AND SECRETS

January 2, 2006, 11:54 am

It’s the last day of winter break

Janie and Cabel sit in Cabel’s spare bedroo the school website for their exarades

It’s a good thing Cabel has two laptops Or there rades are posted at noon But who are they kidding They ht have to roll around on the

floor and wrestle, regardless

Janie’s nervous

She turned in a blank blue book for the o She had a good excuse; there was still blood on her sweatshirt, after all And the teacher gave her a second shot at it Too bad it was on the day after a rough night of dreaht fundraiser danceathon Also too bad—it was a lock in No escape

Janie and Cabe ht have skipped the whole dance if they could have, but it wasn’t possible They were on assignment

Undercover

Captain’s orders