Starcrossed

olive oil Mrs. Delos had sent, she thought about her father and how oblivious he was to the forces pulling her life apart in hunks. With all that was happening to her, she knew she might not have many more nights of dinner and baseball to look forward to, but the thought didn’t bother her as much as it would have a week ago. If the Delos family wanted her, they could try and take her. She was sick of being angry all the time. Fight and kill or fight and die, she really didn’t care. As long as she could keep her father out of all of this Greek tragedy nonsense, she would deal with whatever came her way.

Chapter Five
    T he next week at school was nothing short of torture. On Monday, Helen tried to stay away from the Delos family, but every effort she made to avoid contact seemed to lead her right to them. She went to school early to try to beat them there, only to see them pull up behind her in the black Hum-Scalade she had seen at the market. She rushed to lock up her bike and get her bags together, but her rush only put her in stride with Jason and Hector. Slowing down to let them get ahead of her put her next to Lucas, who was helping his little sister get her cello out of the back. Helen took a flustered step forward, then went back toward her bike to stand and wait there as long as it took for them to go inside and get out of her way.
    Later that day, she got permission to eat lunch outside, only to find Cassandra was already out on the patio practicing the fingering without using her bow on her cello. When she saw Cassandra, Helen pulled up short. As she turned to go back inside, she smacked into Ariadne. The contact made Helen’s skin prickle so tight that her pores hurt, and although she tried to be gracious and smile apologetically, Ariadne’s hands balled into fists around her violin case. Helen stumbled to get away from her, both of them mumbling apologies.
    “Cass and I got an outdoor pass to practice. We’ll be out here during lunch for the next few days,” Ariadne explained quickly, avoiding eye contact as she moved away from Helen.
    “Thank you,” Helen managed to push out between her clenched teeth. She went back to the cafeteria to intercept Claire.
    “Aren’t we going to eat outside?” Claire asked, still moving toward the exit. She spotted Ariadne and Cassandra out there and then turned back to Helen with an incredulous look on her face. “Seriously? It’s not like we have to sit at the same table as them.”
    “I know. I just don’t want to be anywhere near them,” Helen said defensively as she fiddled with the clasp on her lunch box. Claire rolled her eyes.
    “Hey,” Matt said, catching up to them. “I thought we were going out on the patio. There’re still plenty of tables . . .” His voice trailed off when he saw the Delos girls. Matt had just enough willpower to stifle a whistle at Ariadne’s glorious cleavage—pretty impressive since Ariadne was wearing a tank top and bending over at that particular moment. Helen knew she was ruining Matt’s eye candy and Claire’s sunshine, but she just couldn’t eat outside.
    “You guys go out. It’s fine,” Helen said as she abruptly left them and headed toward the cafeteria.
    “Lennie! What the hell?” Claire called after her in frustration. “Could you please get your head out of your ass?”
    Claire’s voice carried right around the corner with Helen. The word ass seemed to echo in the air as she found herself facing Hector and Jason at their lockers. They were talking with Gretchen and Amy Heart, a senior girl on the cheerleading squad, both of whom were flirting their brains out. Gretchen and Amy looked at each other and then turned in unison to stare at Helen as though she was something they had just found in a hankie. The Furies started to whisper. Helen took a deep breath and tried to block them out.
    “Hi, Helen,” Hector said with a bright voice and eerily blank eyes. His body leaned ever so slightly forward in her direction, as if he couldn’t stop himself from trying to reach out and grab her. Jason playfully smacked his brother on the chest with far more force than normal people like Amy and Gretchen could guess at.
    “Rude?” Jason reminded Hector.
    “Just saying hi to Helen. Hi, Helen. Helen Hamilton, hi. Get out to ’Sconset lately?” he jeered.
    “No, she hasn’t,” Lucas said from behind her. Helen spun around and glared at him. “And I would know,” he said so quietly there was no way