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the guy who got in the fight with Ryu?”
    “How’d you know that?”
    “I hear he knocked you out with one punch.”
    “Word travels fast.”
    I leave my hand out. She looks at it. I have gone beyond the point where I can pretend that I was sticking it out for any other reason than a failed handshake. I grit my teeth and look at my palm. Will. Not. Fail.
    “Do you want me to shake that?”
    “Yes.”
    She shakes it with the tiny mitten she’s working on.
    “I’m Anna.”
    I laugh at the mitten. It’s soft. “Who’s that for?”
    “My sister.”
    “But it’s summer.”
    “By the time I’m done, it’ll be fall. Knitting teaches you patience.”
    “Aren’t you supposed to be on the other side of the lake?”
    “I’ve been here before. I have something I leave in the nurse’s office every year and I’m here to get it before I get settled.”
    “Is it weird to shake hands?”
    “No, it’s formal. It’s normal, I think.”
    “Cool! I mean, cool. So … are you gonna be at the square dance tonight?”
    “If I decide to make an appearance.” She narrows her dark eyes. “Will you?”
    “I was … sort of … planning on leaving the whole camp. But now I—”
    “How old are you?”
    Late bloomer. Inside those two words are all the questions of childhood.
    “Fifteen.”
    “You just turned fifteen?”
    I blink. When did I turn fifteen? Basic mathematical machinery is breaking down. Under Anna’s influence, time hiccups between moments and I cannot speak—
    “I hear fourteen to fifteen is big for boys. Fifteen to sixteenis big for girls. And twelve to thirteen.”
    “Nine months ago,” I blurt.
    “O-kay …”
    “And it’s not big. Fourteen to fifteen. It’s not a big deal. It’s cool.”
    “So you still feel like you did when you were fourteen?”
    “No, I feel bigger.”
    She gives me a look like, You used to be smaller? How is she painting me into these corners?
    “When’s your birthday?” I ask. That’s it. Turn it back on her. Take the offensive.
    “January twenty-sixth.”
    “Aquarius.” Now we’re in my territory. “The Water Bearer.”
    “I was never into signs.”
    “Aquarius! The only human. All the other signs, animals; but Aquarius, a simple man. Human. Man-slash-woman, you know.”
    “What about Gemini? That’s two humans.”
    “They’re demigods.”
    “I always thought it was dumb that there wasn’t a sign that was, like, a car.”
    “The ancient Romans didn’t have cars.”
    “They could have a chariot or something, no? I gotta see the nurse. See you, Perry.”
    She nods. I notice how full her lips are. She walks past me, but I don’t want her to go. I want to say something to keep her here. Anything.
    “Anna?”
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s because I play Creatures and Caverns. That’s why I know so much astrology and why I got into the fight with Ryu.” I grab the fire extinguisher to represent Ryu. “He tried to steal this pewter miniature my mom gave me. So I swung it at him, and …”
    I trail off. There’s nothing else I can do, watching her face. Her smile has evaporated. In its place is disbelief and pity.
    “Oh. You’re one of those guys.”
    “Sorry. What? No. What do you mean?”
    She opens the door to the nurse’s office.
    “Didn’t you know I was one of those guys when I came up to you with a fire extinguisher? Hello?”
    Even from behind, something about her radiates newfound disgust with and dismissal toward me. The door to the nurse’s office swings back and forth on its two-way hinge, giving me strobe-like vision of her from behind as she speaks with the nurse: “Is Dale here?”
    Behind me, a rough voice says, “ Idiot! ”

23
    I SPIN AROUND AND LOOK DOWN THE hallway, but there’s no one, just a watercooler and a poster about Lyme disease.
    “Hello?”
    I have the same feeling I had in Phantom Galaxy Comics and at school—the feeling I’m being watched. Only this time, whoever it is got too close. Down the hall, a door