She pulled her heavy backpack onto her shoulders, waited for a break in the traffic, and ran across. Right outside the store was another pay phone. This one didn't have a whole booth, but it did have a Roswell phone book in the little cabinet underneath the phone.
"Yes!" Sadie cried happily. She grabbed the book and plopped down on the sidewalk next to the pay phone. Quickly she turned to the Gs. There was no Michael Geerin. "He must be unlisted," Sadie murmured sadly.
"Who are you looking for?" someone asked.
Sadie started, glancing anxiously up at the guy standing above her. She wasn't supposed to be in Roswell. If anyone turned her in, she'd be in huge trouble. "Urn, I'm looking for my, uh, cousin. Michael. But I can't find him," she said, climbing to her feet. She hitched her backpack up so it was more secure on her shoulders, in case she had to run.
"What's his last name?" asked the guy. "Maybe I know him."
Sadie thought about it. This guy was a teenager like Maria. Maybe he went to school with her and her boyfriend. "Geerin."
The guy stared at her for a second. Uh-oh, Sadie
thought. He knows I'm lying. She took a step backward.
"Michael's your cousin?" the guy asked, frowning. "I thought he was, like, a total orphan. I mean, with no family at all."
"So you know him?" Sadie asked eagerly.
"Sure. He was in my auto-shop class last year. Well, when he bothered to show." The guy took the phone book and flipped it open to the Gs. "Here," he said, pointing.
Sadie followed his finger. Michael Guerin. She'd been spelling it wrong.
It was a tiny little mistake, but suddenly she felt overwhelmed. What was she doing here, in a place she'd never been, looking for a teenage guy she'd never heard of before yesterday? It hadn't even occurred to her to check other spellings. She must be an idiot! Sadie's heart began to pound, and she felt panicky. She was in way over her head! She had to go home!
"Are you okay, kid?" the guy asked. "You look really pale."
Sadie tried to focus on him. She looked pale? "I'm not his cousin," she blurted out. "I'm really looking for his girlfriend. She's supposed to be there."
Just thinking of Maria calmed her down. That's why she was here, for Maria. She had nothing to worry about. She would find Maria.
The guy shrugged. "Whatever," he said. He wandered off down the sidewalk. Sadie waited until he was at the corner, then she sat back down on the concrete and pulled out her notebook.
Michael Guerin, she wrote. 1701 East 3rd St.
She reached into her backpack again and pulled out a well-worn map. She opened it up and spread it on the
sidewalk in front of her. It was a street map of Roswell, and she knew it almost by heart. She had no trouble finding Michael's address, and she wrote in big letters on the map: MICHAEL'S HOUSE. She already had Maria's house and the Crashdown Cafe written in.
Her confidence restored, Sadie folded up the map, stuck it in her backpack, and went into the Gap to buy a tank top just like Maria's.
"Jesse!" Isabel waved her arms, trying to get her boyfriend's attention across the crowded lawn. Summerhaven Park always filled up at lunchtime… all the businesspeople from the nearby firms liked to eat outside when the weather was nice.
"Jesse," she called again, more quietly this time. The office where Jesse… and her father… worked was only a few blocks away. It was entirely possible that her dad was in the park somewhere too. She was taking a big risk looking for Jesse in such a public place, but she had to see him. She had to explain why she'd hung up on him the day before.
Jesse finally noticed her and headed across the grass to where she'd set up her blanket. She'd found a spot as out of the way as possible.
"Hey," he said, sitting next to her on the blanket. "What are you doing here?" His voice was cold, and he didn't smile.
Isabel felt terrible. "I had to see you," she said in a rush, "I'm so sorry I hung up on you, Jesse. I just didn't know what else to do! My brother was there, and I could tell he was suspicious. I panicked."
Jesse relaxed a little. "I know, I figured it out," he said.
"I knew you'd understand." Isabel reached for his hand, but Jesse pulled away. "What's wrong?" she asked.
He gazed out over the crowded lawn, refusing to meet her eye. "It got me thinking."
"What did?"
"You lying to your brother about me. Why don't you tell him the truth?"
Isabel didn't know what to say. "We… we talked about this, Jesse," she started.
"We talked about keeping it from your parents," Jesse interrupted. "Because I work for your father. But you and your brother are supposed to be close. Why can't you tell him how you feel about me?"
Because he's an alien king and he thinks I'm supposed to obey everything he says, she thought. "It's complicated," she said aloud.
"Too complicated," Jesse agreed.
Alarm bells went off in Isabel's head. "What do you mean?"
For the first time, Jesse turned to face her. "You don't want to tell your brother because you think he won't approve," he said.
Isabel opened her mouth, but no words came out. He was right.
"That's what got me thinking," Jesse went on. "Your brother wouldn't approve, your friends wouldn't approve, and your father would fire me. Because I'm too old for you, Isabel. I'm out of college… I'm out of law school!… and you're not even a freshman yet."
"But I don't care about that," she cried. "Why should it matter how old you are? It's just a number!"
Jesse took her hand now. "Honey, it's not just a number,"
he said gently. "It's experience, it's years of learning how the world works. I just… know more than you do. I can't explain it. There's so much that you haven't done, that you haven't seen yet."
Isabel stared at him, dumbfounded. She had done and seen more than he could imagine. He wouldn't even believe most of the things she'd seen. But she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't risk him finding out her secret.
"You're young, and you should be able to act young," Jesse went on. "You deserve to have a boyfriend you don't have to lie about."
Isabel pulled her hand away. "I can handle it," she said shortly. Her whole life was a lie; why should her love life be any different?
Jesse shook his head. "I know this sounds condescending," he said, "but I don't think you can handle it. I don't even think I can handle it."
Isabel kept her eyes on the picnic basket she'd packed with such care. "Are you breaking up with me?" she whispered.
There was a long pause. Finally Isabel couldn't stand it. She raised her eyes to Jesse's distraught face.
"Yes," he said.
"Score!" Michael yelled. "I am the greatest!" He began his ridiculous victory dance around the foosball table, making his stomach ripple as he shuffled his feet.
Maria shook her head. Michael would never do this dance in front of anyone else. In a way, it proved what a deep intimacy he shared with her. And in another way, it proved what a total loser he was.
"It doesn't count if you're controlling both teams," Maria pointed out.
Michael stopped mid-ripple. "If you would just play with me, I wouldn't have to be both teams."
"Foosball is stupid."
"You only think that because you suck at it," Michael said. He halfheartedly continued his dance. Maria returned to reading the Rolling Stone that lay open on her lap.
"I could coach you," Michael offered.
"No thanks."
"I'll let you win the first game."
"How sweet," Maria said dryly, keeping her attention on the magazine.
Michael suddenly leaped across the room, planting himself right in front of Maria's face as she lounged on his filthy couch. He snatched the magazine away from her.
"Hey!" she yelped. "I was reading that!"
He began his dance again, holding up his T-shirt to show off his bare stomach as he sucked it in and out. "You know you want to play with me, baby," he cried. "You can't resist me!"