And I’d been right about Jasper being in trouble. I don’t feel like he is anymore. I am so hoping I am right about that too. I’m just scared I’m confusing my hope with the truth.

The other girls have to be given the same chance to feel their way through this. The way I am trying to now. Little by little finding my footing in this unexpected place They should know about my dad and his research, about Dr. Cornelia and his bizarre ideas. They have the right to know that they might be Outliers.

11

“HAVE YOU READ THIS?”

When I look down, Kelsey is stretched out again on the couch. Was she there the whole time? “What?”

“I asked if you had read this book?” She thumbs through the last pages of 1984.

“Oh, yeah, I guess,” I say, trying to figure out why we are even talking about something so trivial when the world is exploding. “I don’t remember it.”

Kelsey frowns down at the copy of 1984 in her hands. Then she seems to come to some conclusion before holding it out to me. “Take it,” she says, and her feelings are, as usual, a brick wall. I’ve only been knowingly reading people for six weeks, but I’ve never felt anything remotely like it. “You can have it.”

And the way she says it, it’s like she’s giving me this great gift, which annoys me way more than it probably should. “Yeah, no thanks,” I say. “I’m not in the mood to read.”

“No, I mean it. Take it,” she says, waving the book at me again. “You need it. You should read it again.”

The heat rises to my face. Now I am actually getting pissed. “I don’t want it.”

“Except you do,” she says. “But you have to promise me you’ll read it, all the way to the end again. And then after, we should, you know, talk about it. Like a book club or whatever.”

Reluctantly, I take the book from Kelsey and stare down at its worn pages. Pages read so many times that the spine has been repaired more than once. When I look back, Kelsey is reading a new book, Fahrenheit 451.

When we meet eyes again, her feelings suddenly crash over me—anger, outrage, righteous determination. Commitment. Then almost as fast: nothing. Like a light switch. And she has this expression on her face, too. See? That was a demonstration. Proof that she knows what she’s doing—even more, she knows that I do, too.

“Wait, what was—”

But the windowless doors buzz and Dr. Haddox steps through before I can get my whole question out. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. I know I promised you all more information,” he calls to the group. His voice is rushed. “But I do have some good news.”