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and a large chunk of
hair separated from her scalp. Her eyes watered. What was wrong
with her?
    “Are you crying?” Austin asked.
    His long, jet-black eyelashes curled at the
ends. Why did boys always get the good eyelashes?
    “Um, no...I have allergies.” She fumbled,
fighting a weird urge to lean in and rub her cheek against his.
That would be creepy. “This time of year is rubbish for them.”
    “Winter?”
    Even the seasons were against her now. “Yes.”
She waded deeper into her creative mess. “I have terrible winter
allergies.”
    Austin raised an eyebrow.
    Damn him for being able to do that. She
couldn’t.
    “Okay.” Austin nodded. “Tough break. So you
moved here from Australia?”
    “Yep.” Cate kept her eyes forward.
    “Have you lived in the thriving metropolis of
Tempus Falls, California, for long?”
    “About five years.” Cate tapped her pencil on
the desk and glanced at her flashing phone.
    MUM: “ZACH ALIVE AND
KICKING”
    Relief washed through her.
    Austin covered her fingers and stopped the
pencil tapping. She tried to yank her hand away, but he held
fast.
    “Let go,” she hissed.
    He moved his hand away. “Do you want to get
lunch today?”
    That came out of left field. “Lunch?” Cate
processed a zillion scenarios in her head of how lunch might play
out. Some ended well, but most ended with her dead, or in a
straitjacket. “No.”
    “Think about it. Eating lunch with me makes a
strong ‘I’ve moved on’ statement to everyone. If Zach doesn’t see
us, he’ll hear about it.”
    Austin was back on the Zach thing. She did
need to find a boyfriend. Fast. A little voice told her Austin
would be trouble in that department. Trouble with a capital T she was more than a little interested
in.
    “You do eat lunch, I assume?” Austin
said.
    “Yes...always. Eating is one of my favourite things to do.
Mum is constantly on my case about how much I eat.” That was
probably too much information. “Eve and I can both eat an entire
dinosaur steak from The Bedrock. Our names are on the walls there.” Why can I not stop talking?
    “Impressive.” He looked more wary than
impressed.
    The bell rang.
    “Hallelujah.” She groaned and hurried to pack
her books before racing out of the classroom.
    “Eve!” Cate dodged around students. “Make a
path, people, make a path,” she muttered, surprised when a path of
sorts opened up along the grey and white tiled floor of the busy
school corridor. Something had finally gone her way. “Have you seen
the three new kids?” Shit! The annoying buzzing in her ears was
back.
    “No,” Eve stopped at her locker to swap
books. “No one’s mentioned any new kids. Three, you say?”
    “Cate, I wanted to check we’re on for lunch.”
Austin slouched against the lockers. “Hey, Eve.”
    “Austin,” Eve replied, her eyes not leaving
the books in her locker.
    “You know him?” Cate asked.
    “Of course I know him.” Eve smacked Austin on
the arm.
    “But he’s never been here before today,” Cate
said.
    “You’ve been so weird today, even considering
the Zach debacle.”
    “I’m not the weird one. You’ve never met
Austin before. He doesn’t go to school here. Yesterday you were in
a catatonic state while he disabled a bomb under a bus.” She
lowered her voice when heads turned her way at the mention of a
bomb.
    Austin rolled his eyes.
    Eve shook her head and slammed her locker. “I
refuse to feel guilty when I say I have no idea what you’re ranting
about. See you at lunch, Austin.”
    “Magic,” Austin
mouthed as he left.
    “What was all that about?” Eve said with a
tight smile.
    “Huh?”
    “That crap about bombs. Are you on something?
That’s not okay. Ever.” Eve’s voice and face were devoid of humour . She looked,
well, fierce.
    “Of course I’m not on something.”
    Eve had her best parental look on.
    “It’s only ten o’clock. I never take anything
before lunch. It makes me queasy.” Cate wriggled her eyebrows