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the crap out of us. “Just you wait and see!” she yells. Then her head snaps back out and we stand there, holding our breath.
    Finally Kel says, “Is she gone?”
    I inch toward the door and peer out. “All clear,” I say.
    â€œMan,” Kel moans. “What did I see in her?”
    â€œYou’re asking us?” Cia doesn’t really expect an answer, but Kel gives her one.
    â€œI wish someone would’ve told me.”
    â€œTold you what?” I ask. “That’s not something anyone else can tell you about. Love is blind, right?”
    â€œI never loved her,” he says. “Okay, maybe I thought I did, for a while. But now I feel like an idiot. It’s so obvious what a cow she is.”
    Cia pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Kel. We’re all human.”
    I don’t tell them what I thought about Amy being an alien.
    It takes our entire Saturday to clean that garage, but when we’re done we have to admit, we like the results. It smells better for one thing. We found a big sack of rotten, moldy potatoes in one corner, and getting rid of them helped a lot. The light is better too. We discovered a window behind a bunch of old cardboard and cleaned it off. Actual sunlight comes into the place now. The last thing Ciadoes is dust off her drum set, and then she sits down and lays out a fast pattern, goes heavy on the bass and finishes with a cymbal crash.
    â€œHey, you know what?” Kel says. “I think the sound is better in here.”
    â€œYeah,” I say. “It does sound sharper.”
    Cia raises her eyebrows. “Are you kidding?”
    And Mrs. Stanton is yelling, “That’s too loud. Turn it down!”
    Great. All the junk we took out must have been making a sound barrier. Shouldn’t Mrs. Stanton know by now that there’s no way to turn down drums?
    â€œI think I need a cigarette,” Cia sighs.

Chapter Eight
    I go home and have a nice long shower, eat dinner, figure maybe I’ll just take it easy tonight. The problem is, I can’t stop thinking about Rowan. I feel like I’m obsessing. I have this horrible thought that maybe this is what Amy feels like. What if I turn into someone like her, get all clingy and crazy? How nasty would that be? I decide I better do something about this and call Kel to ask if he wants to see a movie.
    â€œCan’t,” Kel says. “I have to babysit my little brother tonight.”
    I call Cia and she says, “Duh. I’m grounded, remember?”
    I try Don, but he’s already got plans. I even consider calling this girl from school who keeps hinting around that she’d like to go out with me. Then I get really brave and think, what the hell, why not call Rowan? So I look up her name in the phone book and there’s the address too. She doesn’t live that far away.
    I could just go for a walk, couldn’t I? It’s not even dark yet when I set out. I love this time of year, early June, when the days are long and everything looks new. Lawns are still bright green and the air is fresh and soft. Another bonus is that summer is almost here. Sure, there are final exams coming up, but there are still a couple of weeks before I have to worry about studying. No point in stressing over stuff like that too soon.
    Summer is going to be good. Lots of sleeping in, beach parties, waterskiing atthe lake, maybe some gigs. Maybe a day in a recording studio? Yeah, if we win the battle next Saturday night, that’s the prize. I wonder how many tracks we’ll get to record? If it’s more than two, we’ve got a problem. We only have two original songs and one of them is kind of bad. I need to come up with a new song.
    That’s what I should be doing, working on a tune or lyrics or both. I’ve got to find some raw material. I stop and look around, see a cat scurrying across the road.
    Run, cat, run, go catch your meal.
    Eating to live