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Her panic had somehow given her superhuman speed, too. She arrived home only two minutes late and covered in sweat, which her parents attributed to a vigorous kickball practice.
    She didn’t tell anyone about her encounter. There were even times over the next couple of days when she couldn’t be sure it had really happened. It was just too exhilarating and confusing, too outside her usual sphere of experiences. She had no idea how to file it away in her mind.
    Gradually logic reasserted itself. It scolded her for being so rash, and it demanded some sort of definition for what transpired in the clearing. Was she now in a relationship with Sonny? Would he call her? Or would she turn an even deeper shade of scarlet at the next cook-off?
    She wanted to trust her instincts. She wanted theencounter to mean something—something big. It certainly felt powerful, and he’d said he liked her, but … what if it was all bull? What if he did that sort of thing all the time, lay in wait for some silly girl to come dancing along? He seemed to not just know her, but
know
her—and yet maybe he said stuff like that to every female whose name he could recall.
    Only she couldn’t forget the image of him holding the caterpillar, how gentle he’d been. It made her want to believe that he’d been honest with her. And in a way, it made her want to be that caterpillar, on the verge of a striking metamorphosis that would transform her from a lonely outsider into someone who was happy, well-liked, and maybe even loved.
    Gabby knew she’d have her answer when she saw him again, even though the thought terrified her. She had to know what he was thinking.
    Only … she never did see him again.
    The next Monday at school she vaguely noticed that something was different. Instead of the usual lazy sprawl of students resisting the start of a new week, everyone stood buzzing about in neat little clusters all over the front lawn. She assumed it was football-related fervor, the usual reason for any irrational enthusiasm among her classmates. And then Jana Pennington bounced right into her path. Her face looked grave, but her eyes seemed to flicker with excitement.
    “Did you hear about Sonny Hutchins?” she asked Gabby.
    “What? What are you talking about?” Gabby seemed to recall that she halfway snapped at the girl. She was sureJana had found out about the secret kissing session and was teasing her.
    “You mean you don’t know?” Jana seemed inordinately thrilled to discover this fact. “You didn’t hear about Sonny Hutchins and Prentiss Applewhite?”
    Prentiss was Sonny’s older cousin, and the two of them were inseparable. Gabby always kept an eye out for Prentiss’s flashy convertible since Sonny was typically in the passenger seat. Prentiss was just as rich and was considered equally handsome, but he was stupid. The winter before, he’d gotten drunk and fallen out of a pecan tree, breaking his arm. A couple of months later he got drunk and drove into the duck pond in Monroe Park.
    “What about them?” Gabby asked, already feeling uneasy. It was as if, somehow, a part of her already knew.
    “They were in an accident out by the reservoir. They say Prentiss is okay, but Sonny died.”
    Gabby’s next reaction had no classification. She simply … stopped. Her eyes couldn’t focus. Sound grew tinny and distant. Her lungs felt like two flimsy, twisted sacks. Yet even as her body reacted, her mind was unable to grasp the news. Sonny
died
? Sonny was
dead
? His body would no longer move? It was unfeasible, even silly, to imagine his lips cold and his eyes glassy. That he would never again smile or laugh. Or pick up caterpillars. Or kiss.
    Gabby glanced hazily at Jana and the little knots of people around them. They were all wide-eyed and extra-animated, as if the whole horrible ordeal were a drama written expressly for their entertainment. Maggots. She hated them all.
    It disgusted her how everyone seemed to feed on the news.