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them load into buses, get into cars, and file off down the sidewalks.
    Two girls in miniskirts passed by our benches. “Oh, my God,” one sneered to the other. “Did you see what she was wearing? Puh-lease. Where’d she buy her clothes anyway?”
    I sneered right back. They weren’t talking about me, but they reminded me of the horrible girls I used to live with in the dorm. They’d made fun of me and it used to intimidate me. Now it just made me angry.
    Sensing movement to my right, I glanced up and squinted against the sun.
    “Hi!” A brown-haired girl plopped down beside Wirenut.
    He flinched from his contemplative state.
    “Sixty-four degrees on this beautiful day. Forty percent chance for evening showers. Another gorgeous San Belden, California, day.” She stretched her arms over her head.
    This must be Nancy. I’d heard my roommates talk a lot about her. She wanted to be a meteorologist and a journalist. They saidshe started every annoying conversation with a weather report.
    Her big yap would make her a better gossip columnist , Wirenut had commented.
    I looked over at him. Poor guy. He came out here for a little thinking room, and look who invaded his privacy.
    She straightened her shirt. “Did you know one degree Celsius equals Fahrenheit minus thirty-two divided by one point eight?”
    Wirenut and I just looked at each other.
    “Can you believe we’ll graduate high school soon?” She crossed her right leg over her left. “Time just flies, doesn’t it? Before you know it we’ll be graduating college.” Bouncing her crossed leg, she smiled at me. “Are you a new student here?”
    “No, I go to the university.”
    “University? What are you, a freshman?”
    “Actually, I’m graduating this year.”
    She perked up. “You’re that whiz kid, aren’t you? I’ve heard all about you. My brother’s a junior at the U. He said you’re hot.”
    I felt my face grow warm.
    “I bet you didn’t have a childhood, did you? How sad.” Nancy shook her head, all dramatically concerned. “Kids shouldn’t be promoted until they’re emotionally ready.”
    I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I glanced at Wirenut. He rolled his eyes.
    Nancy inched closer to him, apparently done making small talk with me. With his arms sprawled along the bench’s back, they looked more like a couple than tolerant acquaintances.
    He dropped his arms and put his book bag between them. If she didn’t get the hint from that, I didn’t know what to tell her.
    “So”—she pushed her sunglasses up her nose—“how do you like it out there at the San Belden Ranch for Boys and Girls?”
    A foster home for boys and girls was our cover in the community. If only people knew what really went on behind our gates.
    “It’s all right,” Wirenut answered.
    “I was thinking about doing an article on all of you for the school paper. Ya know, about how those less fortunate can, if given the proper guidance, turn into fine, upstanding American citizens.”
    Wirenut rolled his eyes again. “Maybe your ride’s waiting for you in the other parking lot.”
    I almost laughed at the second blatant hint he just dropped.
    “Nope. This is the exact spot I’m supposed to be.” Nancy sighed. “What is the world coming to? The crime rate these days. You heard about that missing artifact out of New Mexico? What a shame. Happened months and months ago.”
    Wirenut cleared his throat. “Artifact?”
    His slouched posture straightened a little bit. His bored eyes became alert. Small changes that I noticed, but anybody else would say he appeared the same. He was interested in this artifact thing and doing an excellent job of hiding it. TL would be proud.
    Nancy finger-fluffed her short hair. “Oh, yeah. But something really juicy just came across my desk.”
    Came across her desk? Who was she, Katie Couric?
    Nancy brushed a fallen leaf from her jeans. “It was the Ghost who stole it. You know, the New Mexico thing.”
    Oh. She was referring to