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feel kind of sorry for her, I’ll be honest. She’s an attention leech. She’s a lot like a girl I knew back in Georgia who didn’t have any friends because she was different from the norm.
    Cecilia is definitely different from a lot of norms.
    “Hey!” she says, bright-eyed. “I was looking all over for you two!”
    “Hi Cecilia,” Daisy and I say in unison.
    Cecilia’s short frame drops right between me and Daisy on the grass and she goes right into her usual random spiel, which never fails to confuse me in the first two sentences.
    “I told her,” she says as if I already know who she’s talking about, “but she did it anyway—Marc is like a bad acid trip—.” She looks over at me determinedly. “Not that I know what that’s like, or anything. I’m just not good with analogs.”
    Mine and Daisy’s eyes lock without moving our heads.
    “You mean analogies?” I correct her, though as nicely as I can.
    “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Cecilia says and goes right back to her story. “Anyway, she started going out with him despite my warnings. It’s gross seeing her all over him like that. I never did that when I went out with him. She’s just making herself look slutty.”
    Cecilia still isn’t over her ex-boyfriend and I guess by bashing whoever is going out with him now, it’s helping her to cope with the breakup.
    I can’t stand this relationship gossip stuff. This person hates that person. That girl is sluttier than the other girl. That guy is the hottest thing in Hallowell. That same guy (a month later) is the biggest jerk in Hallowell.
    All of it repels me.
    “Yeah…ummm, so what have you been up to, Cecilia?” I say, quickly changing the subject to something more generic before I feel compelled to hang myself. I throw Daisy a desperate look, hoping she’ll not leave me alone in this conversation. Daisy smiles, but still doesn’t offer herself up to being any part of my misery. I’ll have to have a talk with her about that later.
    Cecilia stretches her legs out in front of her and leans back, holding her body up by her hands pressed into the grass. “Not much,” she says. “Can’t wait for school to be over—I’m going to Portland to spend the summer with my dad when school’s out.”
    Portland. Hmmm. Coincidence? Or is fate being cruel? I ponder what I’m about to say for an extra lengthy moment. Daisy’s big doe-eyes are wider now. She must be thinking the same thing I am. Should I tell Cecilia that we’ll be there, too?
    I notice Daisy’s head move side to side in an intense, solid motion, but to my semi-surprise, Cecilia saves me and continues rambling.
    “My dad’s awesome,” she says, shaking her feet crossed at the ankles, back and forth as if she can’t sit still. “I think he’s getting me a car for my birthday.”
    I smile over at her.
    Suddenly, Cecilia’s face falls and she leans back up from her casual lounge and crosses her legs in front of her again; her shoulders fall over into a slouch.
    Of course—Tori and her minions. Tori doesn’t seem to like Cecilia, either, even though she really isn’t part of the I Hate You Because of Sebastian group. The fact that she’s sitting with us right now only makes Cecilia that much more target-worthy.
    “You know,” Tori says, stopping a few feet from us with a hand propped on her hip, “I think maybe you should watch what you say about me around here.” She’s glaring down at Cecilia and I’m quietly trying to figure out where this is going. “Marc dumped you because you’re a freak. He’s with me because I’m not. Get over it.”
    Okay, I don’t generally get involved in this leftover Jr. High angst stuff, but I’ve had just about enough of Tori’s ridiculous, immature antics.
    Cecilia may be annoying as hell, but….
    I’m probably going to regret this.
    “Tori,” I say glaring up at her, “why don’t you get over yourself ? Just back off.”
    Tori sneers down at me like I’m a bad outfit, but I