about it again, and the evening was already over. Plus, Friday was a long time away. Mary thought quickly.
"Wait, Carter?" she asked.
He opened the car door but stopped and looked back at her.
Mary walked to him. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. At the same time, she jabbed the needle end of the blood test through his sleeve and into the back part of his arm. Not daring to keep it in long enough for him to feel it, she pulled it out and shoved it in her purse behind his back.
That should have been it. But when Mary began to pull away, she realized Carter had already wrapped his arms around her. It felt good being in his arms. He felt warm. And safe.
Mary rested her head on his shoulder. "I had a good time."
"Me, too," he said.
They didn't move for a minute. Then, rather reluctantly, Mary pulled away. "I'll see you on Friday."
He nodded. Finally, he climbed into the Aston and started the ignition. The engine growled. Mary watched him drive away. Even after the car was out of sight, she stood in the empty street for a while.
Mary turned and headed for the front door. As she looked for her key again, she couldn't help but feel that there was something else she was forgetting. She had managed to get his blood. What else was there?
"Crap!" she cried. "I still have his jacket!"
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- 18 -
Ghost
As Carter had said he would, he missed the whole week of school. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Classes dragged for ages. Even Art. Mary thought often about Carter. Actually, she thought about him all the time.
On Monday before Art class, Mary sat next to Sienna. David was on an overnight trip with his hockey team, so it was just the two of them at their table.
"Hey," Sienna said as she doodled in her sketchbook.
"Hey," Mary said. She watched Sienna for a moment. "I'm sorry I called you a moron."
Sienna stopped drawing and looked at her. "What?"
"It was a while back," Mary said. "I don't think that at all, and I shouldn't have said it. I'm sorry."
Sienna stared at her. Then she shrugged. "It's okay. I forgive you."
Carter was right. Being forgiven really does feel good. "Can I ask you something?" Mary said.
"Sure," Sienna said.
"Am I…intimidating?" Mary asked. "Do I, you know, scare people?"
Sienna said nothing for a moment. Then she put her pencil down. "A little, I guess. But not like freaky scary. You just…you don't take crap from anyone. But not in the fake, rebellious way that most kids do it, like they got something to prove. You're real, and people respect you a lot for that."
Mary wrinkled her brow. "Really?"
Sienna nodded. "I do. I know I'm such a gossip freak. I can't help it sometimes. But I don't want to be. I'm working on it. You kinda inspired me. And David helps keep me accountable."
Mary stared at her for a moment. She was starting to see that Sienna was actually a pretty cool person.
"I need accountability, too," Mary said. "If I start being scary, will you let me know? I don't want to be."
Sienna smiled. "Sure."
After school one day, Mary changed into regular clothes again and took the bus to the university. But rather than go back to the jack ugly Sci-Tech building, Drew had emailed her to meet him at a coffee shop near campus. He sat at a table in the corner, wearing a t-shirt this time that said, "I'm an Astronomer. Not an Astrologer. Learn the Difference."
He looked up when he saw her coming. "Hey."
"Hey," she said as she sat across from him. "You got those blood test results back quick. I wasn't expecting to hear from you for a couple weeks."
"I have a friend who works at a lab, and she owed me a favor." He pulled out a stack of papers from his backpack. "Well, your friend's really healthy. I don't think he's gonna die of heart disease any time soon."
"What else? Did you find anything unusual?" She lowered her voice. "Anything alien?"
"Not from just the blood test. Which is why I also asked my friend to do a DNA test," he said as he flipped to the middle of the paper stack. "He sorta has an extra pair of chromosomes."
"What do you mean sorta?" Mary asked.
"I mean just that." He turned the papers around and