Chapter One

Thunder rumbled overhead as Mari stepped out of the car and closed the door.

"It's going to rain, Shelly, hurry up," she said.

Shelly Carter stepped out of the driver's side of the ancient silver Buick, her fiery-red curls hanging loosely over her shoulders, and looked at Mari wryly. She was never in a hurry, not even today when they were supposed to be in the auditorium of Boone High School in less than five minutes for Orientation. Thunder rumbled again, and Mari watched — growing increasingly irritated — as Shelly turned her forest-green eyes up to the sky, bruised with heavy purple-black rain clouds. There was an intelligent-sounding scientific word for those clouds, but Mari couldn't remember what it was, and just then she didn't much care. What Mari cared about was avoiding getting drenched in the student parking lot, which would make her recently straightened hair — naturally very curly — frizzy and out of control.

"Come on, Shelly!" Mari said excitedly, almost shouting.

"Will you just relax?" Shelly snapped back, reaching into the backseat for her purse. "We're not going to be late. Besides, we can just sit in the back if we have to."

Mari rolled her eyes.

She was getting impatient, which was typical for her when forced to stand still or wait in a line for any more than a few seconds, and she was doing her best to resist the urge to start jumping up and down. "Shelly!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Shelly said. She slung the thin strap of her purse across her shoulder and started in my direction. "Sheesh."

They hurried inside, rushing through the double doors just as the rain started to come down in quick, heavy drops. They just barely escaped the downpour. Mari stared out through the small square window set into the heavy, metal door, looking up at the darkened sky. She thought that everything — trees, flowers, the sky — was so beautiful during a good rain. A storm was better. Suddenly, Mari felt fingers clasp tightly around her elbow and then someone was pulling her along.

"Come on, Mari," Shelly said. "I thought you were so worried about being late."

Mari rolled her eyes as Shelly dragged her through the auditorium's double doors. Across the hall the cafeteria doors stood open, revealing a buffet lunch spread across several of the octagon-shaped tables that had been shoved together. The auditorium doors closed, blocking off the view of the cafeteria, and Mari turned her head to see that Shelly was pulling her along the center aisle behind her. Mari looked ahead to see why Shelly was dragging her to the front of the large, crowded room when they ordinarily sat toward the back, away from view, and spotted her best friend, Ardeth Parker, sitting in the front row with her mom. Mari was surprised to see that they had made it on time. Marjorie Parker was notorious for arriving late, especially for important events. Mari wriggled free of Shelly's grip and sat down in the seat beside of Ardeth. Shelly dropped down into the seat on Mari's right.

"Hi," Ardeth said softly, her shoulder-length blond hair hanging loosely down her back. Her mother had cut and dyed it just before having Ardeth's formal senior pictures made, and Ardeth had finally stopped fuming over the drastic change. Her hair had once hung freely at the center of her back in dark, brownish-blond waves, and she longed to have it back.

"How long have you been here?" Mari asked. From her peripheral she could see Shelly staring at someone across the aisle, but she ignored her. Knowing Shelly, it was probably just some boy, and, in Mari's opinion, no boy in this school was worth the time or effort.

"Just a couple of minutes," Ardeth answered, keeping her voice low so that it didn't echo off of the high, acoustic walls of the auditorium. "I was sure we were going to be late."

Mari smiled. "So was I. But then Shelly drove down the road like Speed Racer."

"I heard that," Shelly snapped, turning her eyes back to her friends.

"What were you looking at?" Mari asked curiously.

"Him," she answered, jabbing her index finger in the air toward the row of wooden seats across the aisle from us.

Mari turned her eyes in the direction of Shelly's pointing finger, deciding that it would be useless to tell her how rude that was, and her breath suddenly caught in her throat. Sitting in the seat directly across the aisle from Shelly was the most beautiful boy Mari had ever seen — and she had most certainly not seen him here before. She would have remembered that face.

The boy sat with his eyes fixed on the stage ahead of them, his inky hair hanging loosely at his shoulders. His olive complexion strongly accentuated the strange, purple color of his eyes, which were framed by thick, dark lashes. High cheekbones and a long nose gave him a slightly Native American appearance, despite the violet eyes. He turned suddenly, his eyes meeting Mari's, and she quickly looked away, meeting Shelly's questioning stare.

"What?" Mari asked, sounding a bit defensive.

Shelly shrugged, smiling. "Well? What do you think?"

Mari tried to conceal the smile that threatened to spread across her lips by biting down on her lower lip momentarily before answering. "He's . . . something."

Shelly grinned.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ardeth asked, her voice soft and quiet as always. Mari could tell by looking into her eyes that there was a swell of emotions and thoughts inside of her, but she so rarely expressed herself at school. Mari couldn't blame her, really. This wasn't exactly the sort of place that welcomed free thinkers.

"That guy over here," Shelly said.

Mari stole another quick glance at him, and noticed that he had once again turned his eyes toward the stage. She could, however, see a sneaky smile tugging at the corners of his sculpted lips. Had he heard them talking about him?

"Shelly, would you keep your voice down?" Mari scolded.

Shelly shrugged again. "I don't care. It's not like I'm going to go out with him or anything. I just think he's hot."

Ardeth cast her a disapproving look before leaning forward slightly to catch her own glimpse of the new boy. She leaned back into her seat quickly, her eyes wide. It was difficult to get Ardeth to admit when she thought a guy was cute, but she was grinning just now, so there was no need for her to elaborate on her opinion. Still, she chastised Shelly for her behavior. "You still shouldn't talk about him like that with him right there, it's rude."

Shelly rolled her eyes.

"I hope I don't get Mr. Sykes for Biology," Ardeth said.

"I already know who I'm getting," Mari said. "Mr. Stillwell. He's the only one who teaches second level Biology."

Mari had been on an advanced placement curriculum since her Sophomore year, and Biology II was standard for Seniors shooting for an advanced placement diploma. Shelly took advanced English, but Ardeth didn't take any advanced courses, which was probably for the best. She stressed out enough over standard curriculum courses.

Suddenly a voice echoed around the room, and everyone looked up to see Principal Stephens standing on the stage at the front of the auditorium. "Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

Everyone around Mari rolled their eyes and stifled giggles, Shelly included. Principal Stephens droned boringly on about the Senior class's responsibility to set a good example for the underclassmen, and how he and the rest of the office staff expected better behavior out of them, blah blah blah. Mari looked past Ardeth at her mom. Marjorie Parker appeared to be paying attention, but anyone who knew her knew better. She was only staring straight ahead, but her thoughts were probably scattered all over the place.

Mari had already tuned Principal Stephens out, as she suspected most of the people in the auditorium had, and decided to sneak one more peek at the new guy. It was difficult to do without Shelly noticing, so Mari pretended to be uncomfortable in her seat and creatively sneak a glance as she shifted.

He stared straight ahead at the stage, just as he had before, appearing to be paying attention, though Mari didn't think he was. She found it impossible to tear her eyes away from him, and as he slowly turned his head to look at her she felt her chest tighten and butterflies form in the pit of her stomach. His violet eyes, glittering like amethyst beneath the thick frame of his lashes, burned forcefully into hers.

Mari felt something jab her in the ribs and looked up to see Shelly staring severely at her. "Pay attention," Shelly mouth, nodding her head in Principal Stephens's direction. Mari looked up at the stage.

Principal Stephens was still speaking, but he was looking down at Mari with disapproval reflected in his steel-grey eyes. She adjusted in her seat and obediently pretended to pay attention, not that it mattered. It wasn't as though he was explaining anything vitally important, and it was pretty much the same speech that he'd given to this class since ninth grade, just readjusted a little to reflect their new status. Apparently being a Senior was a big deal.

After thirty minutes of listening to Principal Stephen's drone-like monotone prattle, and watching him pace back and forth across the stage with the microphone in his hand — Mari had been mentally picturing him tripping over the microphone's long cord and falling on his face on the stage floor — she sensed that today's sermon was coming to an end, and her heart leaped.

"So, I'm going to turn you over to the teachers seated behind me. They'll give you each a packet, and then you can file down the back stairs and go into the cafeteria for lunch."

Only now did Mari realize that there were several teachers seated behind the microphone stand. She watched as Ms. Jenkins, her favorite teacher who she'd had for Journalism the previous school year, took the microphone from the principal and began speaking.

"If your last name starts with A through E you'll get in line behind Mr. Stillwell's table. If your last name starts with F through J, get in line behind Mr. Matthews. K through O behind Ms. Packard, P through T behind Ms. Miller, and the rest behind me. Parents can wait outside the cafeteria for their children."

She put the microphone on the stand and returned to her chair, which sat behind a small snack table, the kind that sat in the livingroom so that you could eat your frozen dinner while you watched TV. There was a cardboard box on each one, filled with manilla envelopes.

There was a loud, echoing rustle as everyone stood at once and began filing forward. Students began filing up the stairs on either side of the stage. Mari walked behind Shelly, but lost her when she went to stand in line behind Mr. Stillwell's table. Ardeth had been behind Mari, but she now stood in the line behind Ms. Miller's table. Mari herself was pleased to be in Ms. Jenkins's line, and a sudden rush went through her when she realized she was standing in line beside the new guy. Ardeth was right behind him. Mari hoped she would pay attention and catch his name.

"Annemari West," Ms. Jenkins exclaimed as Mari stepped up to her table. She flashed Mari a warm smile that she found easy to return, which was saying a lot. Mari didn't smile often. She handed Mari a manilla envelope sealed shut on the back with a metal clasp. "I think I have you for two classes this year."

"Really?" Mari asked, a little surprised.

"Yep. AP English and Yearbook. I'm looking forward to reading more of your writing."

Mari felt her cheeks burn and knew with a pang of regret that she had flushed. "Thanks, Ms. J."

Ms. Jenkins nodded, still smiling. "Go on and get some food. See you in a week."

"Yeah, see you." Mari left the line and hurried to wait for Ardeth at the back of the stage. Shelly was already waiting by the stairs, her red hair gleaming in the darkness. The new boy hurried past them and down the stairs, casting a quick glance back at Mari over his shoulder before he disappeared into the hallway.

Mari tried to fight against the butterflies that swooped through her belly as best she could. She was a little confounded that she had allowed this guy to have such a strong effect on her. It wasn't like her at all.

"Did you open your packet yet?" She asked Shelly, unfolding the metal tabs that held the flap down on my own envelope. Mari hoped that she hadn't noticed her reaction to the guy as he'd flashed her that quick glance.

Shelly shook her head. "No. I was too anxious to get out of that line. I got stuck in front of Mindy Bostic and Rachel Samples." She said their names with a snarl of her nose, which was understandable. Mindy and Rachel were two of the resident mean girls and both had shrill, bird-like voices. Listening to them talk was a lot like listening to the sound of fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard.

Mari cringed. "Oh God," she groaned for Shelly's benefit. "I'm sorry, Shelly. Look at it this way: I doubt that you'll have any classes with them except for English. They're in all AP classes."

"Thank God," Shelly said, rolling her eyes comically. "But you'll have to put up with them all year."

Mari shrugged. "I sit in the back and pretend they don't exist. It's worked pretty well so far."

The truth was that Mari had told them off on more than one occasion during Freshman year. And not just for her own sake, but for Ardeth's as well. By the end of their Freshman year, attempting to bully Mari had lost most of its appeal for them, and now they ignored Mari just as much as she ignored them. Not that all of the popular kids were totally wretched. There were a few good apples in the bunch.

"Well, let's go find Mom," Ardeth said, joining them. There was a sour, pinched look to her face. "I just want to get out of here."

The girls found Marjorie standing against the wall in the hall outside the cafeteria, an impatient expression on her face. "Do you know how long I've been waiting out here? Where have you girls been?" Marjorie asked, her voice impatient and worried.

"We were stuck in line, Mom," Ardeth apologized. Their little group filed into the cafeteria, which was already an insanely chaotic mingling of teenagers, parents, and teachers.

Feeling her stomach growl, Mari made a bee line for the buffet, Shelly following right behind her. Though there was a delicious assortment of finger sandwiches, cakes, salads, and casseroles, Mari spared them no attention as she headed straight for the pizza. But just she reached out for the perfect slice, an olive-toned hand shot out and grabbed it just as her fingers were about to grasp it.

"Hey," Mari said defensively, looking up into a set of smiling amethyst eyes. He appeared amused, and there was a twinkle in his eyes that told her he'd somehow known she was going to take that piece. Mari was suddenly furious. "I was going to take that slice."

He raised his eyebrows, his lips curving up into a mischievous grin. "Oh, really? Too bad."

Despite the fact that he was behaving like a major ass, and definitely needed some help in the flirtation department in her opinion, just standing this close to him caused a wave of warmth to wash over Mari and butterflies to bat around inside her growling, ravenous stomach. She could feel Shelly watching them, though she couldn't tear her eyes away from the new guy's to read her friend's expression.

As Mari watched, he bit off a bite, his strange, purple eyes remaining fixed on hers, and smiled mischievously as he chewed. "Want it now?" He asked, sounding like the perfect smartass and infuriating Mari even .

For a split second Mari thought about reaching up and knocking the pizza from his hands and onto the floor. Instead, she just reached out and snatched it from him instead, glaring at him as she bit off a piece and chewed. "Thanks. Don't mind if I do."

He only smiled, amused but otherwise completely unfazed, and took another slice from the cardboard box that had been propped open. He walked off, throwing a pointed glance back at Mari over his shoulder as he took a seat at an empty table by the front doors of the cafeteria. He seemed totally unruffled by the whole scene, and something about that irked Mari, though she couldn't explain what.

Mari, however, had been ruffled by what had happened over the pizza, though she didn't understand why, and she didn't want to appear as though her nerves had come totally unfettered. Luckily, she was able to keep her strangely fluctuating emotions under control while under the watchful, judgmental eyes of the closed-minded social zombies who held tightly to what they thought was proper behavior.

Mari couldn't relate to them. She wasn't what you would call bad, exactly. Not even close. She just didn't like to do what was expected of her, and didn't like to do — or wear, or listen to, or watch — what everyone else thought was cool. Most of these people meant nothing to her anyway, and their opinions mattered very little. Mari put the slice of pizza, which now had two very clear bite marks in it, on a Styrofoam plate, along with another, took a can of Coke from the cooler at the end of the line, and headed to an empty table at the back of the cafeteria next to the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Shelly, Ardeth, and her mom were right behind her. "What the hell was that all about?" Shelly asked low enough so that only Mari could hear, setting her plate and soda down as she pulled out the chair next to me and planted her butt down in it.

Mari looked up into her curious green eyes and shrugged. "I dunno. Something about him just . . . pissed me off."

She didn't feel like getting into a discussion of the weirdness that had come over her when she'd looked into those strange, glittering amethyst eyes, especially not with Shelly, who would, among her two closest friends, be the least likely to understand. Shelly was much more likely to laugh at Mari.

Ardeth eyed Mari cautiously as she sat down on the other side of her, her brow furrowed.

"What?" Mari asked, taking another bite of pizza.

"I . . . never mind." Ardeth's voice was soft, as always, but with a hint of exasperation saturating her endearing Southwestern Virginia accent.

"No, go ahead and say whatever it was you were thinking. I want to hear it."

Ardeth only looked at her, then sighed resignedly as her mother sat down beside her. This conversation would obviously have to wait until later, though Mari could tell from Ardeth's expression that she was ready to really lay into her. Mari was the only person Ardeth unleashed her verbal arsenal on, usually to tell her that she was being rude, or a bitch, or needed to calm down. Mari was constantly taking care of important things for Ardeth, like signing her up for Driver's Ed and filling out a majority of her college applications, but Ardeth was the one who could really look right into Mari and see through all of her pretenses. She was probably the only person who realized that Mari's standoffish attitude was actually just a defense mechanism, designed to keep the people she couldn't stand away from her so that they would leave her alone.

Better to be feared was Mari's motto.

Mari mentally prepared myself for the tongue lashing she would receive once Ardeth was out of her mom's earshot and continued to eat.

"He's cute," Marjorie Parker said, popping open her soda.

"Who?" Ardeth asked. She could be so clueless sometimes.

But Mari knew who Marjorie Parker meant, even before she nodded her head toward the nearly empty table by the cafeteria doors. "That new boy. Don't you think?"

"He's definitely hot," Shelly said, grinning, that all too familiar spark in her emerald eyes. Mari could already see the wheels turning in her head, planning out her strategy for ensnaring him, only to dump him a week or so later for someone else.

Mari rolled my eyes. For now she just wanted to forget what had happened by the buffet table and eat and then get the hell out of here. Even so, she couldn't help but peek up through her eyelashes to sneak another glance at him.

He was staring right at her.

As their eyes met, he grinned, and Mari immediately looked away, trying her best to ignore the whatever his eyes were doing to her heart. She would not fall for this guy. This guy that she didn't even know. Who the hell was he, anyway, to think that he could just waltz in here and . . . what? What exactly had he done to deserve such antagonism from her in the first place? Stole her slice of pizza? Hardly worth getting angry over. Still, Mari's response to him had somehow been uncontrollable.

Had she just gone crazy? She wouldn't be surprised if she had, especially with what she had to live through on a daily basis.

"Hello to Mari. Is there anybody in there?" Mari was suddenly aware of Shelly's balled up fist knocking lightly at her temple.

"Hey, cut it out." Mari snapped, slapping Shelly's hand away.

"Sorry, but you zoned out. As usual."

Mari had a bad habit of letting her mind wander off, and it never failed to annoy everyone around her, especially her teachers. "What did you want?"

"We were talking about slumbering it and having a movie night."

"But I thought you were going to spend the night with me since my dad's still on the road." Mari's dad was a truck driver, and he stayed out on the road for a week at a time, then come home for three, sometimes four days, and then headed out again. It was a wonderful break from his stifling, overbearing demeanor which all too often turned violent and irrational.

Shelly rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "I am. Ardeth was going to stay, too, and we were going to stay up watching movies and eating junk food. What do you say?"

Mari looked at Ardeth, who was smiling politely, though Mari could read through the expression in her eyes. Mari knew that Ardeth was really going to let her have it. Maybe she even deserved it this time. "Yeah, sure. That sounds fun," she said, returning Ardeth's silent expression with one of her own.

Shelly smiled, satisfied. "Great. Well, I guess we'll take Ardeth home so she can get some clothes and then go to the store to snackage."

Mari suppressed an internal groan. Ardeth lived outside of town on winding, uphill road at least a fifteen minute drive out of town, and that's if they were lucky enough not to get stuck waiting for the train carrying coal and lumber out of the mountains to pass by. That usually added about five to ten minutes to the trip. And then another fifteen minutes back. But Mari really wanted to hang out with her friends tonight, so she sucked it up and nodded.

Marjorie Parker was going grocery shopping, and decided it would be best for Ardeth to ride back with Shelly and Mari. That way Marjorie wouldn't have to go all the way home before heading out to the store, adding about half an hour to her trip. It would have been nice to have a decent grocery stor right here in town, but as it was, residents had to travel to thirty minutes north or south if they wanted to do some decent shopping.

Shelly immediately launched into a never-ending stream of movie titles that she wanted to see, and Mari tuned her out again, turning her attention instead to the table by the cafeteria doors. But it was empty. He was gone.

Damn, Mari thought to herself. She'd been hoping to get another look at those amazing eyes of his. Oh well, Mari thought, downing the remainder of her Coke. I'll see him in school, I guess.

By the time they left the school, easily parting ways with Ardeth's mom — she seemed quite anxious to get away, actually — the rain had stopped, though the sky still looked bloated and purple, promising more rain to come. Mari secretly couldn't wait. She lived for days like this, just so long as her agonizingly straightened hair didn't get wet.

Ardeth sat in the back, where Mari knew she was happily pretending that she was someone of great importance being chauffeured around by her two admiringly loyal assistants. Mari slipped into the front passenger seat, quickly buckling her seatbelt as Shelly put the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. Shelly rolled her eyes at Mari and backed carefully out of the parking space then pulled out into the stream of traffic that was already leaving the school and winding a bumper to bumper trail through the small town.

Mari was quiet on the ride over to Ardeth's, thankful that her friends would assume her mind had just wandered off again and that they wouldn't suspect she was actually thinking about him. Shelly turned the radio on, and Mari was painfully reminded that they'd been listening to Nirvana's Lithium over and over repeatedly on the way to Orientation. It blared from the speakers now, and Mari suppressed a scream, though she could see Shelly smirking from the corner of her eye, no doubt waiting for a reaction.

Well, she isn't going to get it, Mari decided obstinately.

Ardeth's dad and brother were home, watching TV, her dad leaned back lazily in the recliner, and her little brother, who would be going into third grade this year, was stretched out on the sofa. "Hey, girls," her dad said, not turning to look at them as they filed into the livingroom.

"Hi, dad," Ardeth said, starting down the hall.

Mari and Shelly both mumbled their hellos and started to follow Ardeth down the narrow hallway to her bedroom when her dad yelled out something that made her stop in my tracks.

"Where's your mom?" her Dad asked.

Ardeth was already in her bedroom, so Mari spun around on her heels and offered him her most polite smile. "She said she was going to the grocery store. Ardeth's going to spend the night with me and Shelly watching movies."

There was something about Ardeth's dad that made it impossible not to like him, and Mari wished for a moment that her dad were more like him. Mari quickly tore her eyes from his before he could bombard her with a slew of questions about Orientation and joined Ardeth and Shelly in the small, messy cubical that was Ardeth's bedroom.

She helped Ardeth stuff some clothes and bathroom necessities into a small duffle bag, ignoring her as she pouted that "that wasn't exactly the t-shirt" she'd been talking about when they'd been rummaging through the jumbled disaster of her closet, and then they headed out the door.

By the time the girls returned to town it was raining again, heavier this time. Mari groaned. She was going to get drenched after all. As they walked inside the store, aptly named Hart's Market after the family who owned it, Mari headed straight for the back of the store, where the Little Debbie snack cakes and other miscellaneous junk food was kept. She instantly snatched a box of Swiss Cake Rolls, her favorite, and then looked over the other selections, trying to guess what Ardeth and Shelly would like. Her dad had put a few hundred dollars on her reloadable Visa gift card, though he'd also left the kitchen fully stocked with whatever Mari would need, and the medicine cabinet stocked in case she hurt myself, which was likely. Mari was just slightly more accident prone than she liked to admit. Nevertheless, she had money to spare and today she felt like investing it in a really good sugar rush that she knew she would pay for the next day.

Mari didn't care. She grabbed a box of Fudge Rounds and watched as Ardeth carefully contemplated the chip selection. Everything was such a life-and-death decision with her. Rolling her eyes, Mari said, "would you just pick something already?"

Ardeth glared up at her and turned her attention back to the wall of never ending Ruffles, Lays, and Moores. Finally, she grabbed a bag of barbeque chips and a bag of cheese puffs. Perfect. Mari liked both. They found Shelly at the front of the store, holding a two liter of orange soda in one hand and a box of microwave popcorn in the other.

We're going to get seriously sick, Mari thought, looking at all the junk food they carried as they made our way up to the register.

Thunder rumbled again, rattling the glass in the double doors in the front of the store and gaining some grumbled moans of discontent from the little old ladies standing in line in front of them. Just then the bell over the door jingled as someone opened it and stepped through, and another crack of thunder echoed around the store with a resounding boom. Instinctively Mari looked up through her lashes to see who had entered . . . and regretted it.

His amethyst eyes found Mari's as soon as he stepped inside, and he grinned as he had back at the school, playfully yet with an undertone of sarcasm that Mari could easily recognize and identify with. To her horror, her heart started pounding in double time against her chest, and she immediately bit down on a smile that tried its best to tug at her lips.

God, he's beautiful, Mari thought. She had to admit that much, smartass or not. As he passed by her, his arm grazed hers for just a brief second, but enough for Mari to realize that his skin was hot — almost searing hot.

Strange, Mari thought to herself, trying to catch her breath and regain control of her senses as the line moved forward.

Thunder rumbled again, and a flash of lightening lit up the glass front of the market for a moment. The elderly lady in front of her, whose hair had been color-washed a strange shade of blueish-grey, groaned again. Mari suddenly found old woman's disgust over the storm irritating. Looking out the glass store front, Mari thought that the bruised color of the storm sky was actually quite beautiful.

The lady took her paper bag from the counter and moved out of the line, standing by the front doors, watching the storm with an exaggerated expression of loathing. Shelly and Ardeth set everything down on the counter, and then Shelly grabbed the few items that Mari held and added them to the pile. The look in her eyes was amused, and Mari hoped that Shelly would assume she had just let her mind wander off as usual and that her absent mindedness just now had nothing at all to do with the new guy at school.

Mari paid for the snacks, then headed out the door with Shelly and Ardeth in tow. Ardeth caught up to her on the sidewalk as they stood under the awning, watching the rain come down, and shoved a brown paper bag in her arms. Mari looked at her, confused.

"What's this for?" Mari asked.

Ardeth sighed. Mari then realized what the deal was. She'd headed out the door without grabbing a single bag, leaving her to help Shelly carry everything out. Whoops.

Shelly blazed a burning trail through the rain down New Garden Road toward Mari's house while Ardeth complained about how dangerous driving this fast on a wet road was. Mari lived in a simple one-story house that sat just off the side of a narrow, winding country road. The road had been nothing but gravel when Mari's family had first moved in, when she was only three, but soon after Mari started school, the state widened and paved it, though there still weren't any lines painted on the asphalt.

With a road this narrow and serpentine, Mari supposed lines were impossible.

The house was eerily quiet when Mari opened the door, making her feel uneasy even though she'd lived in this house off and on for the last fourteen years of her young life. Shelly immediately turned on the TV, then headed into the kitchen with her bag. After closing the storm door behind her, Mari followed her friends into the kitchen and set her own bag — the one that Ardeth had shoved into her arms at the market — down on the glass top of the dining table.

The kitchen scarcely resembled the one that Mari's mother and paternal grandmother had once cooked in. Her dad had painted the wooden cabinets black and white, changed the light fixtures, and purchased a new dining set and kitchen island. Still, everything else that had belonged to Mari's grandmother was still there. The ceramic strawberry in the center of the dining table. The antique canisters on the counter by the stove, containing corn meal, flour, and sugar. The silverware and dishes. Mari started to unload the groceries when she heard Ardeth sigh.

"So," Ardeth said. This was Mari's warning; Ardeth was about to start her sermon.

Mari wadded up the paper bags and tossed them into the blue plastic trash can next to the stove in the far corner of the kitchen. "So, what?"

"What is with you today?"

Mari looked up just as Ardeth pulled open the bag of barbeque chips. She wasn't looking at Mari, which was good. Mari really didn't want to see the reproachful expression in Ardeth's hazel eyes. "I don't know what you mean."

"Right. You grabbed a piece of pizza out of the guy's hand, Mari. That wasn't nice." She had that scolding tone that Mari had dreaded.

Shelly snickered.

"I don't know why I did it, Ardeth, I just . . . did. Can you let it go?"

Ardeth shrugged. For a moment Mari thought that she might actually get away without one their infamous, albeit small, arguments, but then Ardeth opened her mouth to say something else.

But Shelly cut her off. "Come on, guys," Shelly said, trying to cool the tension and bring some sense of fun back into the night. "We're not going to fight. We're going to order some pizza, pig out on this junk food, and watch some cheesy horror movies on Shudder." Ardeth scowled but took the phone.

"Good idea," Mari said, taking her phone from her pocket and handing it to Ardeth. "You order the pizza and we'll put some movies into the queue."

Mari was determined to relax and have fun. There was only one week left of their dwindling summer vacation, but more importantly Mari only had a couple of days of peace and quiet left before her dad returned home. And she meant to enjoy every precious second.