"You're just not looking hard enough, Mr. Powell." She put her finger softly to his lips and raised her other hand to his temple-and for once, she noticed, he didn't twist away. "Stop talking, for once, and open your eyes."

He raised his hands and gently removed hers from his face. But he let them linger in his grasp for a moment too long, and it was she who broke contact first-but not before raising one of his hands to her lips and grazing his knuckles with a gentle kiss.

He pulled away quickly.

"I'm seeing things pretty clearly right now," he said sharply. "And I can see that it's time for me to go." He slipped out of the bar and Kaia sat down again, sipping her Corona thoughtfully.

He could run-but he couldn't hide.

Kaia would always know where to find him.

It seemed the farther they got from the festival-and from Kane-the better things were. By the time they got back to Adam's house, Beth was smiling, a look of glazed contentedness on her face. Maybe it was just the slow descent from a cotton candy sugar high-but whatever the reason, Adam thought as she snuggled close to him, he'd take it.

"It's such a nice night," she said, taking his hand as she climbed out of the car. "I almost hate to go inside."

He checked his watch. There was only an hour left before her curfew, not enough time to go anywhere, but ...

"How about we go around back," he suggested. He led her into the backyard and over to the large, flat rock that lay on the dividing line between his house and Harper's. He and Harper had played there when they were little and always-even these days-considered it "their" place. He snuck a guilty glance up at Harper's bedroom window, which overlooked the yard. She wouldn't mind-she would, in fact, never know.

Beth clambered up atop the rock and lay back on it, spreading her arms and looking up at the clear, starry sky.

"You could lose yourself in the stars," she sighed. "Out here, in the dark, you could forget the whole world, and just-be."

"I know exactly what you mean," Adam said, lying down next to her. "I could lose myself in you." He took her face in his hands and turned it toward him gently, kissing her forehead, her nose, her cheeks, her soft, smooth lips. She brushed her blond hair away from her face and pulled him closer to her, tangling her legs in his. The smooth rock surface was cool beneath his skin, but she was so warm, throbbing with heat as she grazed the lines of his body and began to rub the bare skin beneath his shirt.

"I'm sorry I was so ... I'm sorry about tonight," she murmured.

"It was nothing. Forget it," he a.s.sured her, cradling her in his arms.

"I'm just stressed-there's so much to do, and no time, and-"

"Shh." She was trembling in his arms, and he put his hand to her cheek, then ran his fingers across her lips. "It's okay. I know. It'll be okay."

"I miss you," she whispered.

"We just need to make it through the SATs," he suggested. "And then maybe you can take a break for a while. We can take a break, focus on us. No stress, no SATs, no homework. Just us."

"It sounds perfect," Beth sighed. "I can't wait." She lay her head on his chest. "I could just lie here forever, listening to you breathe."

He ran his fingers through her hair and began softly ma.s.saging her back, rubbing and kneading her taut muscles, her tender skin.

"I wish you could," he whispered. "Next week. Just keep telling yourself that. You'll make it until then. We'll make it until then."

"I hope so," she whispered.

So did he.

CHAPTER.

7.

"No way in h.e.l.l am I going out in public looking like this," Miranda wailed.

As Harper had expected, Miranda had awoken with a raging hangover and a far stormier outlook on being a green-headed monster.

"Well, on the bright side ...," Harper began.

"I don't want to hear it," Miranda interrupted her. "It's too early in the morning for bright sides."

"It's twelve thirty," Harper pointed out. They'd rolled out of bed a few minutes ago and were now slouched in front of the kitchen table, trying to cure their hangover with juice and a handful of aspirin.

"Am I in my pajamas? Am I eating Rice Krispies? Am I still waiting for my first cup of coffee? Then it's morning."

Harper, whose own head was throbbing with the pain of one margarita too many, was in no position to argue.

"Look, we'll fix this," she promised.

"You'd better," Miranda growled. "It's your fault I look like the Jolly Green Midget to begin with."

"We'll take care of it, I promise. The box said it washes out in twenty to twenty-five shampoos, right? So all we need to do is wash your hair twenty-five times in a row, and that should be that."

"That's a lot of showers...."

"Do you want to go to school on Monday looking like a stalk of broccoli?" Harper asked wryly.

Miranda looked appalled at the thought. "Hey, it's not like we're in the middle of a drought or anything," she said, reconsidering. "Bring on the shampoo."

"Uh, actually, we're going to need to go get some more of that," Harper reminded her. They'd used the last of it the night before in their drunken beauty school efforts. But perhaps the less said about that, the better.

"We?" Miranda squawked. "Did I mention that I am not going out in public like this? Which part of that did you not understand?"

"Chill out-I'll go to the drugstore and get more shampoo. Just let me throw on some clothes."

"Fine," Miranda sulked. "I'll jump in the shower. Might as well get started."

The two of them scampered upstairs, Harper to hastily throw on some clothes and Miranda to single-handedly bring on a drought. As she pulled on a T-shirt, Harper idly picked up her cell phone and noticed she had a text message waiting for her from Kane. 1:37, elementary school playground. Be there. Bring Adam.

Cryptic much? Harper thought grouchily. It was definitely too early in the morning for riddles.

She called Kane immediately.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, without saying h.e.l.lo.

"Can't talk now-Beth and I are studying," he said meaningfully. "Just trust me-you won't want to miss this."

"But what-?"

"Can't talk now," he repeated. "Just be on time."

He hung up, and Harper sighed, casting a glance toward the bathroom door, where the water in the shower had just turned off.

"When you're out getting the shampoo, can you grab us some lunch, too?" Miranda called from behind the door.

Harper cradled her head in her hands. Really, what was she supposed to do? Jeopardize the whole plan just because Miranda was having a hair crisis? It wasn't even a tough call-she'd just need to come up with a good excuse.

"Rand, change of plans-I'm going to need to run you home," she said casually.

Miranda swung open the door and popped out, towel hastily wrapped around her dripping body.

"What? I must have heard you wrong, because I thought you said you were abandoning me."

"Rand-"

"But that can't be right. Not you, my best friend, who just ditched me five days ago and promised never to do it again and who-"

"Rand-," Harper helplessly tried again.

"Who, by the way, turned my hair green!" She grabbed some clothes and went back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. "So, lunch," she said. "I'm thinking pizza? Or Chinese food?"

"Stop acting like a baby, Miranda. I have to take a rain check. It's an emergency."

Harper waited in silence for several minutes, until finally a fully dressed-though still dripping-Miranda emerged from the bathroom.

"What kind of emergency?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, not an emergency exactly-I mean, it's not life threatening," Harper hedged, thinking fast. "It's just, you remember that tooth problem I was having? That was the dentist on the phone-he says he can fit me in for a follow-up, but only if I come right away. Some kind of last-minute cancellation."

"Follow-up?"

"Yeah, my tooth is still killing me." Harper brought one hand to her jaw, hoping that Miranda wouldn't remember which side of her mouth the fake toothache was supposed to be on, since Harper no longer had any idea. "Of course, if you really need me, I guess I could just suffer through the pain...."

Miranda heaved an exaggerated sigh.

"No, I can take a shower-or thirty of them-all by myself. I'm a big girl, after all."

"I'll come over tonight and we'll do final damage control, I promise."

"I can't wait to see the look on my mother's face when she sees this one," Miranda said with a sudden smile. "You know, it'll almost be worth it."

"You see? There's a silver lining after all."

Miranda shot Harper her patented Look of Death. "I said, almost."

"It's such a beautiful day," Kane had mused. "Why don't we do this study thing outside?"

Beth had reluctantly agreed. It's not that she didn't want to go outside-in fact, on a day like this, with a light breeze blowing and only a few wispy clouds in the sky, the last thing she wanted to do was sit inside and stare at fractions. But they had a lot to get through, and not much time. Being outside would be a distraction.

It was just so hard to say no to him.

They ended up in the playground of their old elementary school, stretched out on a picnic blanket between the swings and the jungle gym. The playground served as a park on the weekends, and laughing children swarmed all around them.

Still, Kane stayed focused. More focused even than Beth, who kept looking around at the playground equipment with something akin to longing. She came here by herself sometimes, at dusk, to sit on the swings and watch the sunset. It was a good place to think-surrounded by memories of a simpler time, all those games of tag and four square, the races she'd run, the games she'd lost and won, the swings she'd been on constantly, whooshing through the air as if she could fly.

She'd be going to college in a year, and there were very few parts of the town that she'd be sorry to see go. She'd been born here, grown up here, knew it inside and out. There were a few people she never wanted to leave behind-Adam, of course, her family, and-she looked at Kane-new friends too, the ones she'd missed getting to know all these years. But the town itself? She was ready to leave Grace in the past, never to be seen again. All except the playground. It was a special place. Her place.

And really, it was all that remained of her childhood.

Kane yawned and stretched himself out on the picnic blanket, preening in the sun like a lazy and self-satisfied cat.

"Late night last night?" Beth asked sarcastically, trying her best not to admire his impeccable physique.

"I know, I know, Heather's a little-"

"Hilary," Beth corrected him.

"What?"

"Her name was Hilary," she reminded him with a reproachful glare.

Kane at least had the grace to blush.

"Ah, yeah. Hilary's a little-well, she's not like you. She's just ... fun."

"So I'm not fun?" Why do I even care what he thinks of me? she asked herself.

"You're fun and so much more, Manning," he said languidly.

"And that means what, exactly?"

"It means you're cute when you're mad-anyone ever tell you that?"

"You're changing the subject," she pointed out, ignoring the compliment. That was just the kind of thing Kane said, after all, she reminded herself. Just the kind of guy he was. It didn't mean anything.

Kane sighed. "It means that you're fun, but that's not all there is. Girls like Heather-"

"Hilary."

"Whatever-they're a dime a dozen," he explained. "Girls like you? There aren't so many."

Now it was Beth who blushed. "I just hate to see you wasting your time, Kane. You deserve so much more."