“Are you new here? You must be, because anybody that’s been to more than one of these events as a seat filler knows that the food is for the invited attendees only. Throw it away.” She narrowed her eyes at me and got that judgy look some women had, as if they were assessing you based solely on your appearance and immediately dismissing you.

She took in my dark-brown hair and pale skin, and then her gaze lingered on the scars on the right side of my neck. Usually I wore my hair down, like a shield against this kind of attention, but Shelby had convinced me that my dress called for a good updo. That no one would pay any attention to or care about my scars, which had faded to a light silver color. And somehow I’d both believed her and convinced myself that they weren’t that noticeable.

“Did you hear me? I said, throw it away!”

I hated that I let people make me feel self-conscious about the scars, and it made me angry. So after carefully removing the toothpick, I popped the food into my mouth, maintaining eye contact while I chewed. There were only two people in my life who got to tell me what to do, and she was neither one of them.

She made a sound of outrage when I ate my pilfered mini-sandwich (which was not all that great, but I was not about to let her know that) and stalked off to join another group of women, where she kept pointing at me and shaking her head.

I should have grabbed the entire tray. I was certainly hungry enough for it, and as an added bonus, it might have made Sandwich Monitor’s head explode.

Harmony would have really been upset then.

Allan waved us over. He had light-brown hair and was as tall as I was, six feet. He had dark-brown eyes that were always smiling. I wondered for the millionth time if there had been an as-yet-undiscovered mix-up at the hospital, because I had no idea how he could be related to his mother. He had on a headset and was holding a clipboard. “Okay, Shelby? You’re in row fifteen, seat J. You’ll be climbing over some people. Don’t run away with some movie star while you’re out there.”

“I’ll try not to,” she said with a giggle and kissed Allan quickly before going out to join the crowd.

“And Juliet?”

“Reporting for my first official assignment,” I told him, saluting.

He smiled back. “You’re going to be in row two, seat B. That’s some prime seating, just so you know.”