Five freshmen danced around one another, hopping up and down as if their heels were made of springs. Each L’eihr wannabe, or L’annabe, as people called them, wore her poorly dyed brown hair in a low ponytail and dressed in a beige top over gray pants. Cara shook her head at their orange-streaked faces. Friends didn’t let friends abuse self-tanning spray.
The L’annabes giggled and pushed the group spokesperson forward. “What’s your name?”
“Aelyx.” He took a step back, and Cara pressed her lips together to stifle another laugh.
“Aaaaaa-licksssss,” the girl repeated above a chorus of screams. “Omigosh, a real L’eihr right here in Midtown, I can’t believe it, welcome to Earth, we think you’re so amazing. Can you tell us about your planet, and space travel, and are there other aliens with special powers, and maybe you can hang out with us after school today at my house, and can you really read minds?”
He blinked a few times and shook his head. “No, I can’t read minds.”
As perversely entertaining as it was to watch him squirm, it was time to be a good little hostess and intervene.
“Stop.” Cara stepped in front of Aelyx, holding her palm toward the group. “Don’t get too close.”
The girls glanced at one another, stupefied.
“This is really important. Did you guys color your hair in the last three months?”
“Maybe,” the group’s leader conceded. “Why?”
“Oh, no!” Cara pushed Aelyx farther back and shielded him with her body. “Don’t you know the chemicals in hair dye are toxic to L’eihrs?”
“What? I never heard that.” The fan girl bit her bottom lip and wrinkled her forehead.
“Hmm, maybe it’s not common knowledge yet. They can handle most of our chemicals, but not dye. If you get too close, he’ll have some kind of freaky respiratory reaction.” She leaned forward, trying to look stern. “You don’t want to be responsible for killing our exchange student, do you?”
Shaking her head, the girl backed away and rejoined her friends. “Of course not. I’m so sorry!”
Thank God for gullible freshmen.
Aelyx glanced at her with a flicker of amusement in his eyes and then turned to the girls with a generous smile. “It’s all right. You didn’t mean any harm.”
The L’annabes nodded vigorously and said good-bye, giving him a wide berth to navigate the hallway as Aelyx and Cara walked to class.
“Spanish military leader El Cid’s real name was . . .” Mr. Manuel’s voice trailed off into a question. “Anyone?”
Cara knew the answer, but she didn’t feel like participating. Instead, she rested her chin in her palm and gazed out the window at the parking lot. The last remaining protesters had left hours ago, and things were calm. Well, calmer, anyway. Things inside were pretty dull, too. Apparently, Eric had changed his entire schedule to avoid her, which was both good and bad. While she didn’t have to look at his smug jerkface, that meant he couldn’t see how much she pretended not to care about his smug jerkface.
“Yes, Aelyx?”
The sound of his name brought her to attention.
“Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar,” Aelyx said. “He’s known as the national hero of Spain—a warlord, like so many of Earth’s idols.”
“Impressive.” Mr. Manuel crossed his arms. “You don’t even have a textbook yet.”
“I studied your history while I was still on L’eihr.” And with a smirk that had become his own personal signature, he added, “It didn’t take long.” He returned his attention to the copy of Advanced Binuclear Theories the science teacher had lent him. Maybe he should read How to Avoid Acting Like a Pretentious Ass instead.
“Why is it,” Mr. Manual began loudly, “that an alien knows more about your planet’s history than you do?” He pointed an accusing finger at the class and raised his voice. “The average grade on the last test was forty-six. Forty-six! Does anyone even care?” While he ranted, several students turned in their seats and narrowed their eyes at Aelyx. Someone whispered, “Nice going, L’asswipe.”
When the bell rang, Cara decided to let the classroom clear out before heading to lunch. Why risk getting jumped if she didn’t have to? She nudged Aelyx’s desk, and he glanced up from his book.
“You’re not doing any favors for yourself,” she said. “You’ll never make any friends with those little digs.”
“Digs?”
“Oh, you didn’t study that before you left L’eihr?” she asked. “A dig’s an insult. You know, like announcing your gift is superior to Eric’s, or telling me my hips are huge, or saying it didn’t take long to study our planet’s pathetic history.”
“Well, in all honesty, it only took three—”
“Look. You’re some kind of genius. We get it. Whoop-de-do.” She twirled one finger in the air. “But honesty is overrated. We’ve got a long year ahead of us, and the whole student body will hate you if you don’t lay off.”
“That won’t happen. You’re forgetting”—he closed his book and pointed it at her—“that I have a fan club.”
“You made a joke!” Progress! “I’ll make a human out of you yet.”
“That’s an ugly threat, Cah-ra.”
“Very funny. The halls should be empty now. Let’s go eat.”
As Cara had feared, the garlicky reek of sloppy joes was the only thing greeting them inside the cafeteria. A slow hush permeated the room, spreading from person to person like a rolling fog of silence. Ignoring the freeze-out, she scanned the crowded space for Tori, who caught her eye and waved from an open table all the way in the back.
While crossing the lunchroom, Cara noticed a few eyes widen when Aelyx passed. Brandi Greene, the dance team captain and one of Cara’s ex-friends, spat orange Gatorade onto her tray and sat there staring with her mouth hanging open like a 7-Eleven. Cara laughed inwardly, but she’d had the same reaction the first time she’d met Aelyx. The boy was chocolate for the eyes. But for every dreamy sigh, there were ten openly hostile glares.
Pseudo tuberculosis broke out at Eric’s table of jocks as they passed. Cough, cough. “L’asshole!” Cough, cough. Cara kept her eyes trained forward and studied Eric from her peripheral vision. He seemed too focused on his hatred of Aelyx to notice her. She knew that shouldn’t bother her, but it did. Why couldn’t he suffer, just a little bit?
One thing was clear: lines had been drawn. She’d run track, played soccer, debated with and tutored many of the people who now leered at her like she had an STD. Eric had been right. She’d just set the world record for Fastest Freefalling Social Status.
“Sorry about this,” Aelyx whispered from behind her, tickling the back of her neck with his warm breath.
“I should be the one apologizing.” She sat beside Tori, facing the wall, while Aelyx took the seat across the table. “I bet your friends back home will treat me better than this.”
Aelyx’s shoulders slumped a couple inches while he took a sudden interest in the chipped tabletop. Maybe she’d been too hard on him back in the classroom.
“Yeah.” Tori shook her apple at him. “You made quite an impression. I took a lotta crap for you today.”
“Whatever,” Cara said. “You don’t take crap from anyone.” She pulled a Ziploc bag from her mini-cooler and handed it to Aelyx. “Here’s a slice of provolone and some of those wheat crackers you liked.”
Aelyx perked up. Poor thing, he had to be starving. “Thank you, Cah-ra.”
“And by the way,” Tori mumbled with one cheek stuffed full. “You’re sayin’ it wrong. It’s Care-ah.”
“Don’t listen to her.” Cara slid a bottle of unsweetened iced tea across the table. “I like the way you say my name.”