I was pretty sure my friends were more impatient about my ungrounding than I was. During lunch period on the first Friday of my freedom, I found myself daydreaming again, digging deep inside my head, desperate to remember more. But every time I tried, al I could see was Ragnuk's horrible face, gnashing and biting. When that happened, I forced his memory away and pictured Wil 's gentle face, and I focused on him as hard as I could. Ragnuk frightened me and I wasn't ashamed to admit it. He was the size of a pickup truck and he wanted to eat me. Fear was, at the very least, reasonable.

"Ellie Marie . . ." came a singsong voice beside me.

"Huh," I grumbled, and prodded my lunch. It was turkeyand-gravy day, which was my favorite school lunch, but I had too much on my mind for me to enjoy it.

"What's with you this week?" Kate asked, her voice low. Landon sat across from us and was deep into a conversation with Chris and Evan about their favorite video game's being optioned for a major movie. None of them heard us.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I've just been real y distracted."

"Is it your dad?" Her tone was serious.

"For once, no, not just him. It's him, school crap, thinking about col ege, dumb boys. . . . There's just a lot of stuff going through my head right now."

She frowned. "You seem so tired al the time."

"I am. I don't know. I'm just going through a funk, I guess."

"Wel , cheer up! It's Movie Night and you haven't come with us in like a mil ion years."

I poked at my lunch. "I don't think I feel like going to see a movie."

"Uh, too bad," Kate said. "You don't have a choice. I need to hang out with you, so you're going."

I forced a smile. "I know, I'm so sorry."

"Bring Wil ."

I laughed for real this time. "Yeah, right."

"Why not?"

"He's not real y a movie person." I tried to imagine sixhundred-year-old Wil sitting in a crowded movie theater digging through a tub of buttery popcorn. Then I pictured him wearing oversize 3D glasses, and it was very difficult not to laugh out loud.

Kate made an unintel igible noise. "Who doesn't like going to the movies? That's a load of bul ."

"He's a pretty serious guy," I admitted. "Very focused on what he's supposed to be doing. He doesn't put having fun very high on his priority list."

"He's never taken you on a date?" She seemed appal ed.

"He's not my boyfriend, Kate."

"You hang out with him all the time. How are you two not dating?"

I took a bite and averted my gaze; I knew how bad a liar I was. "He's my tutor. That's al ."

"Don't lie to me. If you're going out with him, just admit it. I won't judge you for it. He seems nice and he's hot. I don't know why you'd be embarrassed to admit he's your boyfriend. Not to mention he's already graduated. Col ege guys are way better than high school boys. They know things. They know how to do things."

I didn't want to know what she meant by that. "He's just my tutor. He's been helping me with econ. It's real y embarrassing to have to admit it, but that's al he is, I swear."

It would have felt real y, real y strange cal ing Wil my boyfriend, because it was very untrue; but thinking about the idea made me realize that I did kind of like him. He probably wouldn't be my parents' first choice, to say the least, but I couldn't help it. My mom wouldn't like it if I dated someone I said was in col ege. My dad . . . Wel , he'd never like me going out with anyone--so, whatever. His opinion didn't count. I didn't remember knowing Wil forever, but I could feel it. And it was kind of romantic thinking of him as my protector. I liked that. He was like a security blanket . . . only less fluffy. I wondered, for a moment, if he was cuddly. Probably not. Kate sat back with a crafty smile on her face. "You're a dirty liar."

"Am not."

"Nobody hangs out with their tutor," she chal enged.

"Tutors suck. Even hot ones."

"He's a cool guy," I insisted. "We're kind of friends now."

"I thought you said he wasn't that nice."

"He can be nice when he wants to, but he's also moody."

"Sounds like a typical boy. Are you bringing him tonight?"

"I real y doubt it."

She frowned. "That'd sure piss Landon off, wouldn't it? I feel kind of bad for the guy."

"He'l have to get over it." I sipped on the straw sticking out of my Mountain Dew.

Kate folded her arms over her chest and sighed. "You're being na naively optimistic."

Landon looked up. "Mmm? What about me?"

"We're talking crap about your ugly roots," Kate sneered, poking the top of his head. "You might want to get those touched up. David Beckham would weep at the sight of you."

He scowled and flipped her off before going back to his conversation. She laughed.

After the final bel , I stayed an hour after school to go over our next lit assignment with Mr. Levine. When our meeting ended, I went to my locker, retrieved what I needed, and headed to the student parking lot. My friends had al left, and the lot wasn't as ful as usual. As I walked to my car, I caught a glimpse of Josephine Newport standing by her sparkly red Range Rover. Boldly, I changed my path and strol ed up to her. She was texting away on her phone.