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  “I saw Marbles outside this woman’s window with a bag of ham and a few other items that looked like they may have been dropped. And if I find out that once again, you’ve broken into someone’s cabin by climbing through a—”

  “You just can’t leave me alone for three seconds, can you?” Scowling, the little redhead pointed her yolky fork at the brunette. “Not even for three—”

  “No, apparently I can’t. Because when I do, this is what happens. I find you—”

  “You find me making breakfast for my new best friend? That’s right. You heard me. Me and the blonde girl next to you are already best friends. We already decided that. We’re about to have breakfast together, and we’re also gonna go to get ice cream sometime together. We’re also gonna do each other’s makeup sometime together. We’re even gonna have a party sometime together, with dancing, and fun games, and we already decided that you’re not invited. Just me, and my new best friend, and a bunch of other cool people are. Even Jim already said he’s coming. He said he’s bringing pizza for everyone. Me and my new best friend are bringing pop.”

  I fought a strong, sudden urge to giggle, but not at my new little fib-telling friend, just with delight. It had been a long time since I’d been so amused by a friend, if I had ever been.

  The brunette standing in the kitchen with us, however, wasn’t quite as amused. Hands still on her hips, she snorted, looking at the little redhead. “Do you even know the name of your ‘new best friend?’ Have you even been polite enough to properly introduce yourself? Or were you too busy rudely climbing through—”

  “Of course I politely introduced myself. Of course I did. Duh. And of course I know my new best friend’s name. Duh on that, too. Her name is... well, it’s...”

  The little redhead quickly glanced around my kitchen, as if my name might be written on one of the objects in it. I wanted to help her, wanted to just say my name, but at the same time, I didn’t want to make it clear to the brunette that my “new best friend” really didn’t know my name.

  After a glance at me, though, seeming to be thinking, the little redhead quickly recovered, fixing the brunette with a confident sort of look. “My new best friend’s name is Bright Blue Pajamas. That’s her official nickname, anyway, because she wears those pajamas she has on now all the time. But for short, most people just call her Bright Blue PJs. And honestly, for really short, most people just call her BB PJs. That’s my new best friend’s name, BB PJs. Yup.”

  After a slight eye roll and a sigh, the brunette turned her gaze to me. “I’ll just go ahead and assume that that’s actually not something you’re called, and I’ll also go ahead and make formal introductions. I’m Annalise Kendall, though you can call me Annie, or just Ann, and I’m twenty-eight years old. The girl at your stove is my sister Jen, and she’s eighteen, going on seven.”

  “‘A very sharp seven,’ though, right, Annie? Remember when you even admitted that?”

  Ignoring Jen, Annie extended a hand to me. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  I took her hand and shook it. “Thank you. You, too. I’m Avery Clark.”

  Still clutching her yolky fork, Jen hustled over from the stove. “I think it’s nice to meet you, too, Avery, and just keep on remembering that I’m your new best friend, not Annie, okay?”

  I smiled. “Okay.”

  Just then, there was another knock at the door, and Jen immediately began heading over to it.

  “I’ve got this, because if it’s anyone else wanting to make you breakfast, Avery, or anyone else wanting to yell at me, I’m just going to shoo them away. So, you two girls can just go ahead and start cooking the eggs now, even though there’s not enough for you to have any, Annie.”

  Annie didn’t look extremely disappointed. Moving out of view of the front door, the two of us headed over to the stove, hearing Jen open the door and then close it, as if she’d went out on the porch to talk to whoever had been knocking.

  I picked up a spatula and moved to turn on the stove, but then decided not to. “I guess I’ll wait until she gets back in here, to make sure the eggs won’t get cold. Oh, and by the way, there will be plenty for us all if you want to stay to eat. Jen lost a few of her eggs on floor on her way in, but I’ve got another carton in the fridge.”

  I gave Annie a little smile, but she just winced.

  “I’m really so sorry about all this. Sorry and deeply embarrassed.”

  “Please don’t be. I have to admit that when I first heard someone in the cabin, I was a bit alarmed about a possible intruder, but honestly, I think it was very sweet that Jen just wanted to surprise me with breakfast. It’s actually been kind of fun to have my own ‘welcoming committee.’ Or, ‘breakfast patrol,’ as the case has been.”

  Again, I gave Annie a little smile, but also again, she didn’t return it.

  Instead, she just leaned against the counter, rubbing her temples. “Well, I’m relieved to hear you say so, but I’m still a bit embarrassed. Jen is really difficult to contain sometimes, and it’s been even worse in the six months since we’ve been here in Timberline. See, despite the fact that we share a cabin, I just can’t keep my eyes on her at all times. Sometimes I wish that I’d been the only one to become a Gifted; that way, Jen could have gone to live with some distant relative, and I could have had some semblance of a normal life here, specifically, a life free from babysitting duties. The past eighteen years of babysitting have just about been plenty for me.”

  I suddenly had a few questions. “So you said ‘distant relative.’ If you don’t mind my asking, don’t you and Jen have parents? And also, isn’t she a little young to be a Gifted? I heard most of us Gifteds are young women in our twenties.”

  “Well, we are. Jen just seems to be some weird anomaly. From what I’ve heard, she’s actually the youngest Gifted in the nation, and by a full four years. Just my luck. And as far as our parents, no, unfortunately, we don’t have any. It was always just Mom, and she passed away a year or so before The Takeover. That’s when I got Jen full-time, though to be honest, I’d kind of been raising her long before then.”

  Mirroring Annie’s pose, I leaned against the counter. “I’m really sorry to hear about your mom, and I kind of have a similar family situation. I still have some very distant relatives, my dad was never in the picture, and my mom passed away. But at least you have Jen, though. I get that like most little sisters, she can probably be a handful sometimes, but it must be nice to have a sister, at least on some level.”

  Annie sighed, giving her head a single shake. “Well, you’d think it would be, but, well, look. You seem to like Jen, and that’s great, but I’m just going to be blunt. She has some really severe problems. And after a certain length of time, they really start to wear on you.”

  “Well, what kind of ‘problems,’ specifically? I mean I can see that she... she maybe acts a little young for her age, but...”

  “Yeah. And that’s a very kind understatement. Jen is profoundly immature. Profoundly. And that’s just the half of it.”

  “Well, what’s the other half?”

  With her gaze darting to the side for a moment, Annie shifted her feet, as if uncomfortable. “Well that’s the thing. The ‘other half’ is kind of hard to quantify, or explain. In our life before we became Gifteds, I took Jen to dozens of doctors and psychologists—literally dozens. Our mom took her to at least a dozen as well. And yet, not a single one of them could ever pinpoint anything specifically ‘wrong’ with her. Other than profound immaturity, obviously. A few of the doctors suspected attention deficit disorder, but they weren’t really sure. She was always in ‘special’ classes at school, however, before dropping out when we became Gifteds; but even that was because she consistently refused to do schoolwork, instead preferring to just have ‘fun.’ And even though she could barely read by the start of her senior year, and still is near-illiterate, no teaching professional was ever able to diagnose her with any specific learning disability. So, the general consensus of all doct
ors and teaching professionals seemed to be that she’s just profoundly immature and weird, for lack of a more precise descriptor. But as far as specific problems, supposedly there’s nothing wrong with her.”

  I didn’t respond right away, thinking. “Well, maybe there’s not anything wrong with her, other than immaturity, which may get better in time. She is only eighteen, after all. And teenagers do mature at wildly different rates.”

  “Do any teenagers you know have ‘dinner parties’ for their dogs?”

  Just then, Jen herself shouted from the living room. “Hey, Avery! Our friend Jim is here! He wants to know if you’ll come out to talk to him about the party he’s gonna bring pizzas for! I won’t let him come inside, because I told him this is a girl-only breakfast! But he really wants to talk to you!”

  After telling Annie we’d talk more later, I began heading out of the kitchen with my heart hammering in my chest.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When I saw Jim, my heart began hammering even a little louder. Standing on the porch with sunlight bathing his handsome, strong-jawed, stubbly face, he looked so sexy, so rugged, and so irresistible that my first thought was that I wanted to kiss him. Or, have him kiss me, more like. I wanted him to pull me into his arms, tip my head back, and plant a kiss on my mouth that would leave me breathless.

  More than a bit tongue-tied, I didn’t say anything, didn’t even greet him, just stared, probably like an idiot. However, Jim just did the same to me.

  It was Jen who broke the silence after a long moment that felt like an hour. “Well, I’ll leave you two guys alone to talk now. But, Jim, remember, Avery’s my best friend, okay? You can be her friend, too, but I’m the best. Okay? Me and her pretty much already worked this out.”

  With his delectable lips twitching more than a bit, Jim nodded, obviously working hard to maintain at least a semi-straight face. “I’ll keep that in mind, Jen. I can be Avery’s friend, but you’re the best friend. I won’t forget.”

  With her expression one of complete seriousness, Jen pointed a finger at him on her way into the cabin. “You’d better not.”

  She shut the door, and I returned my gaze to Jim’s face, wishing that he were hideously ugly. Or even just average-looking. Anything other than what he was.

  With his arms loosely folded across his muscular chest, he climbed the last of three porch steps, coming to stand maybe two feet away from me. “It’s really nice of you to be Jen’s friend. She really hasn’t had it easy since coming here. Though I don’t think she really had it easy beforehand, either. She could use a good friend, especially since I think her sister is a little hard on her at times.”

  “Well, I’m glad to be her friend. I think she’s sweet, and interesting, and I could use a good friend myself.” Mirroring Jim’s pose, I folded my arms loosely across my chest, choosing my next words carefully. “What with me being in a place where the community leader has told me that I have to attend community training sessions. I don’t even have a choice about it, despite the fact that I’m an adult, who should be able to decide what she’s going to do and what she’s not, and also despite the fact that me practicing my levitation power is pointless, since I have no intention of ever using it in any kind of a battle against the Angels.”

  Jim sighed, moving a hand to massage the back of his neck. But even though I took these as clear signs of irritation, his mouth was displaying just a hint of amusement, as if he found my reticence to participate in training somehow entertaining, which I didn’t like. I also didn’t like how I couldn’t seem to stop focusing on his mouth. But, for the life of me, I just couldn’t seem to stop. At least, not until he fixed me with his dark green eyes, looking into my own eyes so deeply that my heart seemed to skip a beat.

  “This is why I took a break from patrol to come see you this morning, Avery. I wanted to apologize if some of the things I said to you last night seemed harsh. I certainly didn’t mean to welcome you to town by telling you that you’re going to be forced to do something you don’t want to do.”

  I allowed the tiniest bubble of hope to rise in my heart. “So... so, you’re not going to force me to participate in training exercises with the rest of you?”

  “No, I definitely am. Like I said last night, everyone participates in training. We’re like a family here, and everyone in any family of mine is required to pitch in. But also like I said last night, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to throw you headfirst into any fight with—”

  “So, if you’re still going to force me to participate in training, what exactly are you apologizing for, Jim?”

  With all traces of amusement now gone from his mouth, he raked his hands over his face. “Just what I said. I’m sorry if my tone became a little harsh at times last night.”

  “Yet, you’re not sorry for continuing to insist that I participate in training exercises.”

  “That’s correct. Not sorry about that. Never will be.”

  Tightening my arms across my chest, I snorted. “I think you may as well go back to your patrolling now.”

  “Well, fine. But I just have one more question for you.”

  “I don’t think you even had a first.”

  “Well... fair enough.”

  “Well, what is it? What’s your question?”

  “Will you be my date for the party?”

  As rattled as he’d gotten me, I’d forgotten what Jen had said about a possible party earlier. I’d also become distracted by the sight of a few people, two men and two women, ambling up the sunlit dirt lane between the rows of cabins. They had apparently become distracted by the sight of Jim and me, and they were kind of curiously staring at us, making me uncomfortable.

  Glad that at least they weren’t within earshot yet, I forced myself to pull my focus from them and return it to Jim. “What? What party?”

  “The party that Jen and I decided to have to welcome you to Timberline. Tonight. In the community room, which also doubles as our bar and restaurant of sorts. Eight o’ clock. Apparently, I’m providing pizza. I just want to know if you’ll go as my date.”

  With my heartbeat suddenly accelerating again, like it had when Jen had told me that Jim was out on my porch, I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Oh. Well, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go as your date, because I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to make the party. I’m just not sure if I’ll be all unpacked by then.”

  “Well, I bet you will be. The movers are here already.”

  Right at that moment, a large, rumbling moving truck came into view, slowly and carefully crawling up the very narrow lane between the cabins.

  Making my knees a little weak, Jim smiled. “Meet you here a few minutes before eight?”

  I hesitated, wondering if my knees would hold out during a whole date with Jim.

  He smiled again. “Come on. The party is for you, and Jen will be really disappointed if you don’t come. I will be, too.”

  I realized he was right, that Jen would be disappointed, and I couldn’t stand the thought of that, when she’d so sweetly broken in to my cabin to make me breakfast. Complete with a grass-stuffed bud vase on the table.

  “All right. I’ll go to the party. And as your date, I guess, just because I don’t want to argue about it.”

  “Great. See you a few minutes before eight, BB PJs.”

  “What?”

  “Jen told me that’s your nickname. Short for Bright Blue Pajamas, which she described as ‘super pretty,’ and I have to agree. They match your blue eyes perfectly.”

  The sunny morning was unusually warm for late March, but I knew that even the bright sun couldn’t account for a rush of lava-like heat that suddenly flooded my face. I’d completely forgotten that I was still wearing my bright blue satin pajamas. It hadn’t even crossed my mind when I’d stepped out onto the porch. Nor had the fact that I wasn’t even wearing any socks, slippers, or footwear of any kind. Jim had immediately jumbled my thoughts so badly that if the wood-planked porch had initially felt c
hilly beneath my bare feet, it hadn’t even registered.

  Now I completely understood why the people walking up the lane were kind of curiously staring at us. I probably looked like an absolute idiot.

  In a rush to get out of their view, and Jim’s view, and the movers’ view for that matter, I quickly told Jim I’d see him that evening, then all but flew back in the cabin and shut the door with my face still flaming. Never mind training exercises, just being near him was beginning to feel like some sort of extreme exercise. He sure could get my heart pumping like I was exercising.

  I soon sat down to breakfast with Jen in the dining area of the kitchen, while Annie began directing the movers in their unloading. She’d said she wouldn’t mind doing the task at all, and since the eggs were done, and since I was still in my pajamas, I’d gladly taken her up on it, telling her to please have the movers put all my furniture in the community storage facility. Considering the smallish size of my cabin, and considering that it was already furnished, I didn’t want even a single item that would further reduce my space. I was still as in love with the cabin as I’d been the night before, and I just really didn’t want to change it in any way.

  Jen’s and my long-awaited scrambled eggs with cheese were delicious, and I told her so while the two of us sat eating at the small, circular kitchen table.

  “You really did an amazing with this special breakfast, and I really appreciate it.”

  She’d even peeled and sectioned two little tangerines for me.

  Lifting a big bite of eggs, she beamed. “You’re way more than welcome, and thank you for your compliment on my cooking. Annie only let me start using the stove a couple years ago, but I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.”