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knew what this David guy expected out of her? Gaia the undated. Gaia the untouched. Gaia the ultimate virgin.
    Maybe knocking David down had spun his brain around backward. Left him with a concussion that led to his asking out the first girl he saw.
    Or maybe it was a setup. Maybe Heather and some of the certified Popular Crowd (also known as The Association of People Who Really Hate Gaia Moore) had put this guy in her way just so they could pop up at her so-called date and pull a
Carrie.
    Gaia closed her eyes and moaned. “Stupid. Definitely stupid.”
    â€œUh, you’re Gaia Moore, right?”
    Gaia looked up from her desk and found a tall blond girl standing in front of her. From the way people were up and moving around the room, class had to be over. Gaia had successfully managed to obsess away the entire period.
    â€œAre you Gaia?”
    â€œUh, yeah.” Gaia was surprised on two counts. The first was that the girl knew her name at all; the second was that she actually pronounced it right on the first try. “Yeah, that’s right.”
    â€œI’m Cassie,” said the girl. “Cassie Greenman.”
    How wonderful for you, thought Gaia. She had noticed the girl in class before. Although she hadn’t seen her running with the core popular-people crowd, Gaia assumed that Cassie was in on the anti-Gaia coalition.
    â€œAren’t you worried?” Cassie asked.
    â€œWhat am I supposed to be worried about?” Gaia wondered if she had missed the announcement of a history exam or some similar nonevent. Or maybe this girl was talking about Gaia’s upcoming date. Maybe Heather and pals really were planning some horrible heap of humiliation. Maybe they were all standing outside the door right now, ready to mock Gaia for thinking someone would actually ask her out.
    Not that Gaia cared.
    The girl rolled her eyes. “About being next.”
    â€œThe next what?” Gaia asked.
    â€œYou know.” Cassie raised a hand to her throat and drew one silver-blue-painted fingernail across the pale skin of her throat. “Being the next one killed.”
    Killed.
That was a word that definitely drew Gaia’s attention. She sat up straighter at her desk. “What do you mean, killed?”
    â€œKilled. Like in dead.”
    â€œKilled by who?”
    The blond girl shook her head. “By the Gentleman.”
    Gaia began to wonder if everyone had just gone nuts while she wasn’t paying attention. “Why would a gentleman want to kill me?”
    â€œNot
a
gentleman”, said Cassie,
“the
Gentleman. You know—the serial killer.” She didn’t add “duh,” but it was clear enough in her voice.
    Now Gaia was definitely interested. “Tell me about it.”
    â€œHaven’t you heard?” Cassie pulled her books a little closer to her chest. “Everyone’s been talking about it all morning.”
    â€œThey haven’t been talking to me.”
    Cassie shrugged. “There’s this guy killing girls. He killed two over in New Jersey and three more somewhere in . . . I don’t know, maybe Connecticut.”
    â€œSo?” said Gaia. “Why should I be worried about what happens in Connecticut?”
    That drew another roll of the eyes from the blond girl. “Don’t you ever listen to the news? Last night he killed a girl from NYU right over on the MacDougal side of the park.”
    Now Gaia wasn’t just interested, she was offended . The park in question was Washington Square Park, and that was Gaia’s territory. Her home court.
    From the chessboards to the playground, all ofit was hers. She used it as a place to relax and as a place to hunt city vermin. Gaia had been in the park herself the night before, just hoping for muggers and dealers to give her trouble. The idea that someone had been killed just a block away. . . .
    â€œHow do they know it was the same guy?” she asked.
    â€œBecause of