Gregory and Company did not seem to have been affected by Nancy’s disappearance. They were sitting at their usual window table, throwing pasta shells at each other.

Grace mooned over, dragging Rose. Gregory

looked up for a moment and got a shot of pasta sauce in the eye for his trouble.

“Need a tissue, Gregory?” Grace asked. She said if she openly acted like a moo cow, she could pretend it was all a joke and make Gregory think she didn’t take him seriously.

“Hi, Rose,” Gregory said, ignoring Grace’s tissue and wiping his face on his sleeve.

“Hi, Rose, Hi, Grace,” said Paul and Randy.

“Hi, Grace, Hi, Rose,” said Daniel.

“Hi, you all,” Grace said, curling her fingers over into a silly wave.

“You’re too late for lunch,” Daniel said, looking straight at Rose in a disconcerting way. They cared about each other, Rose thought, but they kept dancing around instead of making real contact. Grace’s outrageous behavior gave them cover; people were too busy watching Grace and Gregory act up to notice Rose and Daniel staring at each other. Sooner or later, Rose thought, something’s got to give. But who was going to give in first?

“We had yogurt in art,” Grace said, batting her eyes. “Valerian doesn’t mind if we eat in class.”

“They ate in art,” said Paul, and this cracked the rest of them up. They fell around the table laughing and punching each other and not noticing that Daniel just sat there quietly looking at Rose. The noise of the cafeteria receded, and it was as if they were suddenly alone. A shiver of possibilities went through her, quickly squelched by that persistent underlying hesitation, worrying that Daniel would disappoint her by acting as jerky as the rest of them. Jerram said she had unreasonable expectations about men, which came from his being her twin brother and absolutely perfect. Jerram never hung out with guys in the cafeteria. But Jerram never did anything anybody else did.

There was dance class that afternoon so Rose took the town bus instead of going back with Grace. Daniel rode it, too, and it was accepted that they sat together. The conversation was not always a success. Rose was never sure of Daniel’s mood. He could be friendly and open and they’d talk. Or he could be preoccupied and distant, making Rose feel shy and uncertain. Nervousness brought out the worst kind of Jerram-like remarks, witty but caustic, and she’d hate herself afterwards. Why was it always so hard to just act natural around Daniel?

“How’s it going?” he said as she sat down. He smelled of tomato sauce.

“Okay … I guess.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. A heavy day. What do you think about it?”

“About Nancy? I’m not sure,” Rose began but Daniel seemed eager to voice his own theories.