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you yesterday, you must have been at practice, huh? I should have figured.”
    “Everyone acts like I’ve always been around. They just assume I’ll be hanging out with them,” Anthony went on.
    Thanks for asking why I called you, Rae thought, picking at a loose thread on the arm of her chair.
    “This guy Marcus-Marcus Salkow, you know him?” Anthony didn’t wait for an answer. “First day he calls me over to his table, introduces me, and man, this blond girl, Jackie, was-anyway. It’s just like I’ve been going there since day one.”
    “I’m happy for you,” Rae muttered, the image of Jackie’s fingers running through Anthony’s hair popping up in her mind. Not that it had been too far away ever since she’d seen the real thing…
    She blinked a couple of times, as if that would get rid of the mental picture, which of course it didn’t. It was like she had some kind of film loop running in her head.
    You have a lot more important things to think about, she reminded herself. She opened her mouth to tell Anthony about the man she’d caught snooping around the backyard, but he was still babbling.
    “All the cheerleaders took pictures of me with the tiger. Cheerleaders wanting pictures of me. How delusional does that sound?” Anthony asked.
    Rae gave the loose thread a tug, making a snag in the upholstery. “Pretty friggin’ delusional,” she answered, her voice sounding harsh even to her own ears.
    “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that one of the guys on the team-McHugh-invited me to a party tomorrow night.
    Parents on vacation. It’s supposed to behuge. Probably there will be a ton of people you know there and I-”
    “Considering I’ve gone to Sanderson since I was a freshman, yeah,” Rae said, cutting him off. Clearly the only reason Anthony had come over was to tell her all about how great everything was. If she sat with him all night, he’d probably never get around to actually asking her a question. She had a lot to figure out. A lot of plans to make. If she had to do it without Anthony, fine.
    “I might be going to the party,” Anthony began again. “And I-”
    He’s never shutting up, Rae thought. “Look, you know what, my throat is kind of starting to hurt,” she told him.
    “You should go. I don’t want to contaminate you or anything.”
    Anthony slammed the car door shut. What in the hell had he been thinking? Was he insane? Did he think that he could just stop by Rae’s and ask her to go to the party with him and that would be that?
    The girl hadn’t even let him get the question out. She kept interrupting him. Like she knew what he was going to ask and was trying to stop him from going there.
    He let his head slump back against the seat. It wasn’t just the idea that he was trying to ask her outthat had gotten Rae all freaked out. She’d practically had icicles growing off her when he’d mentioned some of the people he was getting to know. Like she wanted nothing to do with any of it.
    Did she even remember it was her friggin’ idea for him to transfer? Hell, not even just her idea-she arranged the whole thing. Anthony straightened up and jammed the key in the ignition. He knew one thing for sure-he wasn’t going to sit parked outside her house like the biggest loser in North America.
    He turned over the engine, revving it until it growled, then he pulled out onto the street. About halfway down the block he spotted a car-if a BMW could be called something as basic as a car -pulling into Rae’s driveway.
    Anthony slowed to a crawl, eyes on the rearview mirror. The Beemer’s door swung open-and Marcus Salkow stepped out. Anthony frowned, confused. He watched as Marcus slowly approached Rae’s front door. Marcus was there to see Rae?
    And the Bluebird finally gets it, Anthony thought, pressing his foot down on the gas. The old boyfriend Rae had at Sanderson-it was Marcus Salkow. Which more than explained why she wouldn’t even let him ask her to the party.
    When you’re