I swallowed hard, a little bit dazed as the familiar scent of her perfume enveloped me again, and pushed myself up. “That wasn’t fair.”

“I never said I played fair,” Noelle pointed out and easily got to her feet.

She offered me a hand, but instead of taking it I shot her a dirty look and got up myself, which only made her laugh even harder.

After we had put away the mats, she asked, “Can we do this again sometime next week?”

“If you want,” I said, still a bit cross.

“Cool.” She grinned. “Now shoo, the basketball team is gonna be here any moment.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. As I strolled back to our room and glanced out the windows, I noticed that the rain had stopped, leaving only a few lingering raindrops to trail idly down the glass; for the first time today, the sun peeked through the blanket of clouds.

9

Seth

Since the party, something had changed. First and foremost, the (although rather one-sided) cold war that had reigned between Evelyn and Noelle in the beginning had ceased. Somehow, they had gone from avoiding each other at all costs to arriving at breakfast together in the mornings and exchanging smiles during class. I still wasn’t sure what exactly had happened that had made Noelle lay down her arms—Evelyn was suspiciously quiet when it came to what had happened in that closet—but I appreciated the fact that I no longer felt like I was entering a battle zone every time I came to their room.

The second change was that, in helping Jasper, I had unintentionally stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Now, people recognized me when I walked around the school, though the stories were becoming progressively more outlandish each day. I was anywhere between the lad that helped Noel e bring Jasper outside for a bit to that bloke who did full-on CPR on him for half an hour, mouth-to-mouth and everything!

All of this was to say that I hadn’t become popular all of a sudden, just a little bit more known by association; not totally invisible anymore, but also still translucent enough that people didn’t stop in the hallways to talk to me.

More than anyone, Jasper now saw me. Not that I cared.

The situation with Gabe hadn’t changed a bit, but now I at least had other places to go when he got too much; the common room, where Evelyn and I had a regular seat by now, the auditorium, Evelyn’s room, and the library.

The latter was where Evelyn and I were right now. The library was as empty as always—just us, Miss Pepperman, and a few younger students who were hogging one of the computers, their soft chatter the only sounds disturbing the silence. After about an hour of going over my politics assignment, I was unable to focus anymore. My thoughts kept wandering elsewhere and the raindrops traveling down the tall windows next to us held my attention more than John Locke’s theory of inalienable rights, the world behind them a dreary blur.