“That’s good,” said the treemage. “People are so shallow rooted. It’s a shame to cut them down. They don’t grow back.”

Chapter 3

3

Pat knew it was safer to stay away from Danny. Mostly because it wasn’t really Danny. Danny’s face, but not the same smile, not really—now he was too knowing, condescending like one of the jock athletes. It only made her angry and afraid and sick at heart and lonely to see him walking through the halls at school or sitting there in class, looking bored or annoyed or amused. None of it was Danny and she missed him.

Missed him and wanted to do something to help him, but there was nothing she could do.

At least he no longer came and sat at the same lunch table as Pat and her friends. Hal and Wheeler still came, but that was all right, even though before Danny they would never have dared—Laurette would have withered them with a look. Now, though, everybody seemed so miserable that who would want to sit with them? Just pack the food into their faces, that’s all they did.

Then it was Friday and Hal and Wheeler either cut school or had some errand or assignment during lunch because they weren’t there, it was just Laurette and Sin and Xena sitting with Pat at one end of their table. Nobody else could hear them—nobody would try to listen anyway—and it soon became clear to Pat that the other three were working up the courage to say something.

“Just say it,” said Pat.

“Say what?” said Xena and Sin at the same time.

“Whatever it is none of you has the guts to say,” said Pat. “The longer you take, the worse I expect it to be.”

“Well it’s bad,” said Laurette, “and you’re going to hate us.”

And then Pat guessed what it was. “Danny,” she said. “You made a play for him and you don’t have the guts to tell me.”

“But we didn’t,” said Xena miserably.

“We would never,” said Sin.

“Yes, but not the way you think,” said Laurette. “We were all flirty with him. Offering things we didn’t mean to do—”

Xena rolled her eyes.

“OK, so Xena meant to,” said Laurette. “But after you took us to DC and told us that stuff with Stone—”

“I thought we didn’t talk about things like that here at school,” said Pat.

“Do we have to go to the place even to breathe?” asked Xena.

“We didn’t want to make a big deal out of this,” said Sin.

“It’s a big deal,” said Laurette. “But we didn’t understand it till that conversation. We knew something was weird but—”

“And we didn’t know about each other until after,” said Xena.

“We each thought we were the only one,” said Sin.