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.She'dnever gotten the courage to walk up to the yellow Victorian house again,although she'd cruised by it slowly in her grandmother's Volkswagen Rabbit,hoping vainly to bump into the girl "accidentally."Yes, tomorrow she'd pull her hair back like the model in the ad, she decided.Just as she was about to step away, something on the opposite page of themagazine caught her eye.A horoscope column.Her birth sign, Cancer, seemed tobe staring out at her.Automatically her eyes followed the words after it.Thatdaggy insecure feeling has got you again.It's time for positivethinking! If that doesn't work, remember that nothing lasts forever.Try notto make waves in your personal relationships this month.You've got enough tocope with already.Horoscopes are such garbage, Cassie thought, closing the magazine with aslap.Her mother had always said so, and it was true."Thatdaggy insecurefeeling" just telling someone they felt insecure was enough to make them feelit! There was nothing supernatural about that.But if she didn't believe in the supernatural, what was the chalcedony luckypiece doing in the zipper compartment of her backpack? Setting her jaw, shetook it out and put it in her jewelry box, then went downstairs to saygood-bye.The school was an impressive three-story red brick building.So impressivethat after Cassie had parked the Rabbit, she was almost afraid to go anycloser.There were several narrow paths that led up the hill, and she finallynerved herself to take one.At the top her throat closed and she simplystared.God, it looked like acollege or something.Like a historical landmark.Thebold stone facing on the front read NEW SALEM HIGH SCHOOL, and below was asort of crest with the wordsTown ofNew Salem , Incorporated 1693.Was thathow old this town was? Three hundredyears ? Back in Reseda, the oldestbuildings around had been there for maybe fifty years.I am not shy, Cassie told herself, forcingherself to walk forward.I amPage 28ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlCassie the Confident.An incredibly loud roar made her head jerk around, and sheer instinct senther jumping to the side just in time to avoid being run over.Heart pounding,she stood and gawked at what had almost hit her.It was a motorcycle on thebike path.But even more astonishing was its rider a girl.She was wearingtight black jeans and a motorcycle jacket, and her trim, athletic body lookedtough.But when she turned around after parking the motorcycle by a bike rack,Cassie saw that her face was ravishingly pretty.It was small and feminine,framed by tumbling dark curls, and marred only by a sullen, belligerentexpression."What are you staring at?" the girl demanded suddenly.Cassie started.She supposed she had been staring.The girl took a stepforward, and Cassie found herself stepping back."I'm sorry I didn't mean to " She tried to tear her eyes away, but it washard.The girl was wearing a skimpy black midriff top under the jacket, andCassie glimpsed what looked like a small tattoo just above the material.Atattoo of a crescent moon."I'm sorry," Cassie said again, helplessly."You better be.You keep out of my face, get it?"You were the one who almost ranme over, Cassie thought.But she noddedhastily, and to her vast relief the girl turned away.God, what a horrible way to start the first day of school, Cassie thought,hurrying toward the entrance.What a horribleperson to be the first one youspoke to.Well, at least after a beginning like that, things could only getbetter.All around her teenagers were greeting one another, shouting hello; the girlsgiggling and hugging, the boys horsing around.It was an excited bustle, andeverybody seemed to know everybody else.Except Cassie.She stood looking at the fresh haircuts of the guys, thebrand-new clothes of the girls, smelling the scents of too much perfume andunnecessary aftershave and feeling more alone than she ever had in her life.Keep moving, she told herself sternly.Don't stand around looking for thatgirl find your first class.Maybe you'll see somebody there who's alone, andyou can talk to them.You've got tolook extroverted if you want people tothink you are.Her first class was writing for publication, an English elective, and Cassiewas glad she had it.She liked creative writing, and theProgram of Studies hadsaid that the class would offer opportunities for publication in the schoolliterary magazine and newspaper.She'd worked on the newspaper in her oldschool; maybe she could here, too.Of course, theProgram also said you had to sign up for writing forpublication the previous spring, and Cassie still couldn't quite understandhow her grandmother had gotten her enrolled just before school started.Maybeher grandmother had special pull with the administration or something.She found the class without much trouble and took an inconspicuous desk nearthe back.The room was filling up, and everyone seemed to have someone to talkto.Nobody took the slightest notice of Cassie.Page 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlShe began doodling ferociously on the front of her notebook, trying to looktotally involved in it, trying to look as if she weren't the only one in classsitting alone."You're new, aren't you?"The boy in front of her had turned around.His smile was genuinely friendly,but it was also dazzling, and she had a feeling he knew exactly how dazzlingit was.His hair was auburn and curly, and it was clear that when he stood,he'd be very tall."You're new," he said again."Yes," said Cassie, and was furious to hear her voice shake.But this guy wasso good-looking& "I'm Cassie Blake.I just moved here fromCalifornia.""I'm Jeffrey Lovejoy," he said."Oh," Cassie said, trying to make it sound as if she'd heard of him before,since this seemed to be what he expected."Center on the basketball team," he said."Also captain.""Oh, how great."Oh, howstupid.She had to do better than this.She soundedbrainless."I mean that must be really interesting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]