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Paso Fino together.”
    “I know who you are,” she said as she pushed the door open.
    “Oh, uh, sorry,” I stammered. “Are you walking back to Wild Mare Point?”
    She nodded and lifted her long hair off her neck. She looked ethereal despite the choking humidity that hung in the air like a thick fog. I walked quickly to keep up with her long-legged pace and felt a layer of sweat forming on my forehead and upper lip.
    “I’m glad to know someone in that class. Some people there today won’t make it to the end of the course. Professor Morrow is on my list of top three most underestimated teachers.”
    Bernie glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
    “What is that?” she asked.
    “What?”
    “What is that top three list thing you’re doing?”
    “Just a habit I have. I make lists in my head for just about everything.”
    Bernie and I waited for a car to slow to a stop in front of the crosswalk and we strolled across the hot pavement into Wild Mare Woods. The wind died to a breeze in the woods, and although the humidity stuck to our skin, there was a damp coolness in the forest.
    “Why do you do it?”
    I hesitated. “I guess it helps me structure my thoughts.”
    “What’s your chaos?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Your mind must be processing something chaotic for you to categorize your thoughts so compulsively. It’s so rigid. You’re trying to bring order where there is none.”
    “We only just met,” I said, sticking out my chin defiantly. “You can’t psychoanalyze me or whatever it is that you’re doing.”
    “You may have just introduced yourself to me, but I know you. I’m sensitive to auras and yours is a muddy green with a brown overlay. You’re out of balance. But that’s not your real color. I bet you’re a shade of orange when you’re happy,” she said. “My aura is lavender.”
    We walked across the faded planks of a small wooden bridge in the woods, below which the creek would flow if it hadn’t dried to a trickle in the heat of summer. Our feet slapped the boards in sync and I wondered if I should dismiss Bernie’s comments as New Age ramblings or if I should take them to heart. Inside I felt ravaged by doubt.
    “How do I get my aura back?” I asked quietly, hoping no one walking past would hear.
    “Go to the source of your internal chaos.”
    “There have been some . . . misunderstandings with my boyfriend lately,” I admitted. “But once I see him I’m sure I can work it out. One of my friends is having a party next weekend and he might be there. You should come.”
    We stepped out of the woods and the wind and sun hit me again. Just past the sign announcing the entrance to Wild Mare Point, Bernie turned to the left to walk to Georgian Grande.
    “I’m not really into the party scene. It rattles my energy. But I’ll look for your aura next week, and if it hasn’t returned to its normal color, let’s figure out how to get it back.”
    A strong wind blew in and tossed Bernie a few steps backward. She laughed and threw out her arms, tossing herself into a twirl.
    “We have synergy, Dell Hewitt,” she called in a dreamy voice as she walked away. “Together, we’ll make something greater than the individual!”

CHAPTER 5
    WE ENTERED THE party through the doors of Hell.
    Heaven was upstairs, but I didn’t know the girls who lived in that apartment, so Natalie and I stayed in Hell. The party hosts had dressed in angel wings and sequined devil horns, but no one else had dressed for the afterlife.
    Natalie and I found Dean in a far corner near the beer pong table. He pulled me into a one-armed hug and ruffled my hair with his hand.
    “How are you holding up?” he asked.
    Natalie stepped between us. “She’s here to have a good time. So let’s not talk about bad memories from last week, okay?”
    She stared at Dean with dark, confrontational eyes. Dean raised his eyebrows and shifted uncomfortably.
    “Already, I need a menthol,” Natalie said as she turned away.