I stared at him. "I am so jealous." I was excited that he felt like revealing things to me. Perhaps this conversation would go somewhere interesting. Our hostess brought my drink and I stuck the straw in to take a gulp.

"Wil you ever tel me how you became my Guardian?" I asked hopeful y.

He smiled. "You know very wel how that happened. I know you don't have access to that memory yet, but I don't think it's something I can just tel you. It means too much to me, I guess. Everything wil come back to you. Be patient."

I huffed at his response, because it only made me more curious. "Are you going to tel me what my name was, or do I have to remember that, too?"

He rol ed his eyes. "You need to stop asking questions. Remember what I said earlier? We're pretending to be normal humans today."

"Wel , normal humans don't sit at Coney Island and watch others eat. They order a plateful of chili cheese fries. Don't be so weird." I took another gulp.

My salad arrived, and just as the waitress was about to leave, Wil held up his hand. "I've changed my mind. I'l take a root beer float."

She flashed a quick smile and fluttered away.

"A root beer float?" I asked. "What are you, five?"

"They're my favorite."

"A root beer float?" I repeated. "You're six hundred years old and a root beer float is your favorite food?"

He shrugged. "You wanted me to be normal and order something, so I did."

"That is stil weird."

"They're delicious."

The waitress returned with his float, and he stirred and dunked the ice cream immediately. Between his sips and bites of ice cream, Wil watched me much too closely as I ate.

"What?" I asked, swal owing a mouthful.

"You remind me of me."

"That can't be good." I took another bite.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing. You must be real y hungry."

I didn't like the amused look on his face. I felt very selfconscious suddenly. "So?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"Screw you."

I ate more slowly after that. When we headed to the register to pay and leave, I reached inside my purse for money, but Wil handed the clerk a twenty-dol ar bil .

"No, no, no," I said, reaching for his hand. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"Don't worry about it," he assured me, al owing the clerk to take the bil . "I've got this."

"But al you had was that float."

"We're trying to act normal, aren't we? It's not very normal for a young lady to pay for her own dinner."

I scowled. "You must be confusing right now with a hundred years ago. That's a stupid stereotype. We aren't even on a date, so it doesn't count."

"Perhaps, but everyone around us is assuming otherwise." He nodded, his gaze wandering around the restaurant. "We don't want them to become suspicious, do we?"

"Wil , they really don't care what we're doing," I said. "It's not like we're undercover or something."

When we met up with my friends, Landon spotted Wil , his attitude soured dramatical y. I told myself sternly that I would ignore Landon's attitude tonight, so I focused my efforts on being in a great mood. I hadn't forgotten about Wil 's earlier warning about the wandering reaper, but seeing Wil at ease made me feel at ease.

"E-l-l-l-l-lie!" Kate grabbed me into a huge hug and held me tightly. "I'm so happy to see you!" She practical y shoved me away and turned to Wil . She yanked him into a hug as wel , resulting in a very uncomfortable Wil . "I'm so glad you came!" You could count on Kate to be over the top with everything she did.

I forced a bright smile. "So how about this movie?"

"We have twenty minutes before it starts," Chris said, looking at his cel phone. "We should probably get our tickets and get seats. It's opening night."

After buying our tickets--and I refused to let Wil pay for ours when he tried--we waited in line to enter the theater. Every once in a while I'd see him stiffen and swivel his gaze around, as if he were listening and watching very careful y. If anything was considering jumping us tonight, I was assured Wil would have plenty of warning.When the doormen let us in, we found seats a little toward the back, since the middle was fil ed. Chris, Rachel, and Evan slipped down the aisle first, fol owed by Landon and Kate, then me and Wil .

Landon leaned over Kate and me. "Where did you say you go to school again?" he asked Wil .

"I'm a sophomore at U of M," Wil replied.

Landon scoffed. "You and El ie hang out often?"

Kate elbowed him in the ribs, and he shot her an angry glare.

"Yes," Wil said.

Wrapping an arm around mine, Kate grinned at Wil . "You shouldn't hog her so much. We miss her!"

Wil shrugged and smiled. "Sorry. I don't mean to."

Kate laughed and toyed with a lock of my hair. "I guess you'l just have to hang out with us more so we can see her, too."

Yeah, right.

The movie final y began, and by halfway through it, Wil seemed to be enjoying himself. He chuckled a few times, but he frequently glanced toward the emergency exit as if expecting something to burst through it. I also noticed Landon repeatedly looking at us. What was his problem? He probably expected us to make out during the movie. That was a junior high thing anyway, so his worry was ridiculous. At nine thirty the movie had finished and the theater began hemorrhaging high school and col ege students. We stopped on the sidewalk outside to plan our next move.