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and Al is already caught in her web.
    “What’s so funny?” Sophia asks.
    I tilt my head toward Al and Lila. “He’s a goner.”
    “She’s something else,” Arthur says. He looks even unhealthier in this light. Like he’s inches from death’s door. “He’s been drooling over her since she came down.”
    “Someone needs to teach him how to play it cool.” Hadley glances at me and arches a brow. Her eyes sweep over my too-small bikini. “You should go over and talk to him.”
    I throw my head back and laugh. I can just imagine Al running off toward the elevator, holding a towel over his crotch. He turned about six shades redder just from hearing that my boobs were fake. It seems like such a mean thing to do, though.
    “Poor Al,” Anne says. “If you walked over in that tiny little thing he’d probably have a heart attack.”
    “It would distract him from the she-demon at least,” Arthur says.
    Even he’s grinning at the idea, so it must not be too mean. In fact, getting him away from Lila and talking a little sense into him might actually be nice. He’s going to make a fool of himself if he keeps acting like that.
    I watch Al for almost a full minute, and he doesn’t take his eyes off Lila once. At this point, she could probably snap her fingers and he’d do anything she wanted. And she knows it, too. Yes, it would be a very nice thing to distract him from that girl.
    “I’m going for it.” Sophia starts to protest, but I shake my head. “Just to get him away from her for a few minutes. Someone needs to have a serious talk with him about playing it cool. If he keeps throwing himself at her like that, she’s never going to respect him.” I like Al too much to let him make a fool of himself.
    I adjust my teeny bikini as I head to the other side of the pool where Al sits fawning over Lila. When I get closer, I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Al is talking about computer stuff, rambling on and on without even pausing to take a breath. He must be a nervous talker, because nervous he is. He keeps biting his lower lip and reaching up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. He’s clearly smart and comes from a nice family, but he must have no experience with girls whatsoever.
    “Al,” I call out cheerfully when I’m about three feet away from them.
    Both teens’ heads snap up. Lila narrows her hazel eyes on me until they’re nothing more than slits. Her expression is slightly evil-looking, but she’s even more beautiful up close. Like an exotic porcelain doll. No wonder Al’s attached to her side.
    Al’s chatter stops and his mouth drops open. His cheeks get red and his eyes move to my barely-covered breasts, then up. Poor Al. I can tell he’s desperately trying to focus on my face, but his eyes keep darting down and they’re so big they look like they’re about to pop out of their sockets.
    I stop in front of them and give Al a big smile, completely ignoring Lila. “We were talking about computers over there and needed your opinion. You know, since you’re so smart and the resident expert on that kind of stuff.”
    Al stutters for a few seconds, then all sound stops while his mouth keeps moving. He pauses and takes a deep breath. When he does finally manage to make sounds they’re not intelligible at all. Just noises that are way too high-pitched to be coming from a seventeen-year-old guy.
    “We’re kind of in the middle of something,” Lila snaps. She flips her hair over her shoulder and glances toward Al like he’ll agree with her. He doesn’t even glance her way.
    I still don’t look at her. I just smile at Al and hold my hand out to him. “Come on, you can come right back after you help us.”
    Al reaches out and takes my hand, and I pull him to his feet. From the way he’s staring at his hand in mine, I’d guess he has no idea how it happened. He mumbles something to Lila that sounds a little bit like, I’ll be right back , and I pull him toward the others.
    “Kid,