Starcrossed

described as ‘little,’” Helen said in a droll voice. “So what did you tell him?”
    “The truth. That we’ve been friends since birth and neither of us really remembers your mom, and that she didn’t leave any pictures or anything, but that your dad’s always going on about how she was this incredible beauty and how she was so smart and talented and everything, and blah-blah-blah. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that your mom had to be hot. I mean, look at your dad and then look at you ,” Claire said with a knowing glint in her eyes.
    Helen winced at the compliment. “Is that it? Lucas didn’t say anything else?” Helen’s hands were curled up into fists. She found it hard to so much as say his name without wanting to punch someone in the head. Obviously, she either still had heatstroke or she really was going out of her mind.
    “Hasn’t said a thing. But I did hear a rumor that Zach was talking trash about you and Lucas shut him down hard.”
    “Really?” Helen said, perking up. “Shut him down in what way?”
    “He wouldn’t let anyone say anything bad about you, is all. You know how Zach and Gretchen are. But Lucas wouldn’t hear it. He kept saying you felt like you had a really bad fever when he . . . did that thing that he did. What would you call that, anyway? A back-assed bear hug?”
    Helen groaned and buried her face in her hands.
    “It’s all right,” Claire said, patting her back consolingly. “He’s not going around telling everyone you’re monkey-butt crazy, so at least you brutalized a seriously sweet guy.” Helen groaned louder and tried to crawl into the sofa while Claire had a nice, long laugh at her expense.
    That night, Helen had another nightmare about the dry land. When she woke she was so tired and sore that for a moment she almost believed that she had been walking for days, just like she had dreamed. She had always been good at ignoring strange things about herself, and she tried to convince herself that this was no different, but her hands shook as she bundled up her dirty sheets and took them to the laundry room.
    Helen washed the grit off in the shower and tried to focus on school, though that was no comfort, either. As soon as she walked into Nantucket High, it was going to be open season on the freak, and the freak knew it.
    It was still raining out, so she had to get a ride with Claire and her mother. Helen put a hand over her tummy, afraid of a cramp before she even got out of the car. She had never really understood why she got cramps; she just knew that sometimes when she did something that made people stare at her she was seized with a crippling spasm in her stomach that was so intense it made her stop whatever it was that she was doing.
    “Relax,” Claire said as they opened their doors to get out. “All you have to do is make it through today and then you have the whole weekend to . . .” she trailed off, thinking. “Nope. Sorry, Len, I tried to be optimistic, but this’ll still suck on Monday.” Claire started laughing, and the sound cheered Helen up a bit—until they got inside the school.
    It was worse than she’d imagined. A group of underclassman girls literally gasped and huddled up to gossip as soon as they saw Helen come through the front doors. A senior boy with a leather fetish leered at Helen and called her “hellcat” just as he was passing by. When she turned to stare back at him in astonishment he mouthed the words “call me” before continuing on.
    “I don’t think I can do this,” Helen whispered. Claire put a hand on her back and pushed her forward.
    Every time someone’s eyes landed on her and widened with recognition she got closer and closer to a panic attack. Was she going to have to suffer through the rest of junior year like this? Helen tried to melt into Claire’s shadow and realized that if it was cover she was after, she was going to have to find some bigger friends.
    “Quit stepping on the backs of my feet!” Claire complained. “Why don’t you just go hide out with Hergie while I get your stuff out of your locker?”
    Gratefully, Helen ducked into homeroom and tried to blend in with her desk. Mr. Hergeshimer asked if she was feeling better, and then ignored her completely as soon as she answered that she was feeling fine. She could have kissed him for that.
    Matt just waved and sat down without a word. Helen guessed correctly that he had been threatened by Claire to act like