I sat through English and when it was finally over I went to my locker. Jason spotted me and walked over. His friend was with him but he was dancing like an idiot around the hall because he had a Walkman on. Everyone thought he was really strange.

       "Can I get your number?" Jason asked. "I want to call you and talk about the fair."

       "Okay," I said, and gave it to him. I got his and they went off to the buses, guess-who dancing idiotically all the way.

       When I got home I had to go to the dentist. I hate going to the dentist. He said I had to start using a tartar-control toothpaste and then he stuffed this disgusting, painfully sweet-tasting sponge in my mouth. Ick.

       When I got back from the dentist, there was a message for me that someone had called. Amazing, I thought. The call wasn't from Jason, as I'd thought it would be. It was from Lauren O'Neil, from World Geography class. I called her back, wondering what she wanted.

       "Hello, is Lauren there?" I asked when someone answered.

       "This is me. Is this Skyler?"

       "Yeah."

       "Great! Um, our group needs to go to the library, and we need you to come with us. We were going to do it tonight, but, like, I understand if you can't, it being Friday night and all."

       "Oh, no, I'm free." Gee, no, I really have a hot date.

       "Good! Can you be at the big library today at four?"

       "Mm hmm."

       "Kay, see ya then."

       "Bye."

       Then I went to my mom to ask her for money for the bus. She was making dinner.

       "Mom, I have to go to the library. Can I have some money for the bus?"

       "Which library? Big or little?"

       "Big."

       "Bring me my purse?"

       As I was getting it, it occurred to me to ask her.

       "Mom, where are we going for Alex's party?"

       "If I tell you, I'll have to tell everyone else, and then Alex is bound to find out."

       "Okay," I said, bringing her the purse. She handed me some money and then turned the heat down on one of the pans.

       "Don't get back any later than six, and on your way home, get some shampoo at the store. Oh, yeah, and get something for breakfast and that toothpaste you need."

       "Kay. I'll be back soon."

       I left for the bus stop.

       When I got to the library, Mandy and Lauren were already there but Kim wasn't.

       "Hi, Skyler!" Lauren greeted me cheerfully.

       "Hey." I sat down. "Where's Kim?"

       "Late like always," Lauren replied. Mandy got up to look for materials.

       "I saw you with Jason today," Lauren informed me.

       "You know him?"

       "Sure. He's in my band class. Plays the drums."

       "Oh. I didn't know you were in the band."

       "Sure. I play flute. So are you guys going out? I saw you holding hands."

       "Yeah. We just met today."

       She was aghast. "To-day?"

       "Mm-hmm."

       "My God, talk about fast! The guy who liked me took three weeks to ask me out!"

       I smiled.

       "He's in my Spanish class, too."

       "Yeah? What about PE? Don't you guys take PE?"

       "Well, I have asthma. He has some heart thing. He takes medicine, and as long as he takes it he's okay." She turned her head a little bit sideways and looked at me thoughtfully. "You guys are, like, perfect for each other."

       "Why?"

       "Because, he's kind of strange. No offense."

       "None taken."

       "I mean like, he always tells us the day before in Spanish when the teacher's gonna pop a quiz, and he's never been wrong."

       "Really?"

       "Mm-hmm. I thought maybe he looked in the lesson plan, so I did it once. There was a pop quiz scheduled, but he didn't say anything. So I asked him if there was and he goes, 'no' and I said 'it's in the lesson plan' and he said 'yeah well he'll change his mind then' and guess what? He did!" She shook her head. "It's like a game he plays or something."

       Hmm. Sounded more like he was clairvoyant, like he told me he was.

       We talked for a while about Jason. She said she thought he must be psychic or something and she asked me to get the story on that. I said I would. Then we got down to business and got some materials. When we sat back down, we still only had three people at our table.

       "I wonder where Kim is," said Lauren.

       "She's just leaving her house," I said. "She'll be here in a few minutes."

       "How do you know?" asked Mandy, surprised.

       Oops. To tell the truth I didn't know how I knew, it was like she'd told me and I was remembering it from somewhere.

       "I'm just guessing," I said.

       "Good," said Lauren. "You were starting to remind me of Jason!"

[Notes on this: 1. I find it amusing that Jason's friend has a Walkman, since that sorta dates this story. Nowadays it'd be an mp3 player. 2. "I hate going to the dentist." Skye, who LOVES going, anyway? Duh. 3. Know what? It's early in the afternoon and Skyler's mom is home and she's making dinner. WHAT exactly does that woman do for a living, anyway? She's got five frickin' kids and she's divorced; she must do something. I think my brain farted and I just made the mother ever-present even though that didn't make sense, because MY mom was always there since my dad worked. 4. When Skyler is asking her mother where Alex's party is and she doesn't tell her, I'm not saying so but actually that is how she is deliberately finding out. She can ask a question and even if the person doesn't want to tell her the answer, she'll usually be able to know the answer if it comes to their mind. Her boyfriend wanted to go to the fair with her, but she was booked for her brother's party already, but strongly suspected perhaps she was going to be at the fair anyway since that was probably what her mom was planning. This was her confirming it. 5. The reason Skyler concludes that Jason and Lauren must not take P.E. was that they have two electives: Spanish and Band. In the school I went to, nobody had room in their schedule for two electives unless they were exempt from P.E. for a medical reason or there was something else really weird going on. 6. The mention of Jason's heart condition is for real--and, like unusual perceptions, it's hereditary in his family. Jason had a little sister with a much more serious heart condition, and she died when she was four. 7. I think the time is wonky in this chapter. I used to get out of school at 1:45 and be home by about 2:30, I think. But Skyler went to the dentist, then rode a bus to the library, met with her classmates and gathered research information, browsed for books for fun, went to the grocery store for her mother, and got home before 6. What?]