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Penelope’s head snapped up. “The Grid. You promised to make sure we don’t get cut off.”

“Oh!” Josie smiled and tried to act like she had any idea what Penelope was talking about. “Of course. Already taken care of.”

Penelope’s body relaxed somewhat.

Mr. Baines clapped his hands and the class came to attention. Josie pulled a notebook and pen from her bag, and caught the look of confusion on Penelope’s face as she stared at both.

The lecture was pretty standard, a lesson on fields: electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and gravity. Practically remedial as far as Josie was concerned, so she didn’t even bother to take notes. Hell, she could have taught that class. Penelope appeared to be of the same mind-set: Josie saw her occasionally scribble down a name or an equation, but for the most part she doodled on her page. At one point she caught Josie watching her draw a diagram of relativity, showing the grid lines of space warping around the mass of a giant object. Penelope quickly flipped to a new page in her notebook, and carefully shielded her page from Josie’s view for the rest of class.

Bored and disturbed by the fact that Penelope was not only
not
Jo’s friend but appeared to be terrified of her, Josie zoned out for most of the lecture, until one of Mr. Baines’s questions grabbed her attention.

“Which brings us to the last question before the bell,” he said, with a dramatic flourish at the equations he’d spent most of the period diagramming on the whiteboard. “And your homework assignment for tonight. Despite being the weakest of the four fundamental fields, gravity is also the most important. Tell me why. At least five hundred words.”

A groan rippled through the class, and Josie was surprised. Really? That was hard? She couldn’t help herself; she laughed out loud.

“Miss Byrne,” Mr. Baines said, his voice full of concern. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, sorry,” she said, composing herself.

Mr. Baines’s glance shifted to Penelope, then back to Josie. “Is everything okay with tonight’s assignment?”

Really? The teacher was asking
her
if the assignment was okay? Josie looked nervously around the classroom. “No, it’s fine. It’s just kind of easy.”

She had no idea why she said it. Perhaps her combative nature with her own version of Mr. Baines was bubbling to the surface. But as soon as the words flew out of her mouth, she regretted them. The color drained from Mr. Baines’s face, and a chorus of whispers raced through the room. What had she said? What mistake had she made now?

“I just meant,” she said nervously, trying to make it better, “the idea that gravity is the only field that works on all particles regardless of mass is pretty basic, right? And the only field that can unite quantum mechanics and general relativity in one . . .”

Josie’s voice trailed off. Every single person in the room was staring at her, eyes wide, in several cases mouths agape. No one said a word; no one moved. They just stared at her like she was sitting there in class completely naked.

She turned to Penelope, who stared at her too, but with something more than the shock reflected in every other face. Penelope’s narrow eyes were closed to thin slits, wary and alert, and her brows were scrunched low.

Josie swallowed hard. Did Penelope suspect that Josie was an impostor?

The bell rang, saving Josie from any further muck-ups. Mr. Baines repeated the assignment and scurried from the room without even a look in Josie’s direction, and the rest of the students followed suit. It was as if the room were on fire, people were so anxious to get out of there.

Josie packed up her things slowly. Holy crap, she’d better keep her mouth closed for the rest of the day before she ruined the whole masquerade. She stood up and saw Penelope standing silently by the door of the empty classroom.

Her chin was jutted out and her arms folded across her chest. “What was all that about?”

Damn. Josie must have made quite a faux pas. “Sorry,” Josie said. “I didn’t realize I was being rude.”

“Rude?” Penelope laughed drily. “You’re Jo Byrne. You own this school. Hell, you have your own parking spot reserved every day. No one would ever think you were rude.”

“Oh.” Josie was confused. “I just thought . . . I mean, everyone got quiet.”

Penelope tilted her head to the side, scrutinizing Josie. “You know why.”

Josie’s mind raced. “Um . . .”

“You’ve never answered a question in class.”

So science wasn’t Jo’s strong suit. Of all the things they had in common, Josie found it ironic that an aptitude for science wasn’t one of them. “Oh, well, you know I’m not good at science.”

Penelope pulled her chin back. “You’ve never answered a question in any class. Ever.” Then she caught her breath. A look of fear washed over her face and before Josie could say anything else, Penelope spun around and dashed out the door.

JOSIE SAT IN THE BLEACHERS, WATCHING NICK at track practice. She’d been there for almost three and a half hours, waiting.

He’d avoided her at lunch; that was clear. Josie knew from Jo’s cheat sheet that they had third lunch together, but Nick had never appeared in the cafeteria. It had been the weirdest lunch period of her life. Just like in the hallways between classes, people were constantly stopping by her table to say hi and ask if she needed anything, but no one sat down near her. In fact, no one sat down at the table. She had the whole, long cafeteria table to herself.

If this was popularity, Jo could keep it.

By the beginning of fourth period, she would have talked to the school janitor, given the opportunity. She was desperate for conversation.

She and Nick were supposed to have fourth-period European History together. Finally, she figured he’d be forced to at least sit in the same room with her. Apparently, not so much. Same as lunch, Nick never showed.

But if this Nick was anything like her Nick, track practice was the one place he would absolutely, positively be. Josie was right. Twenty minutes after the final bell, Josie saw him trot out onto the all-weather track in his usual red-and-white track shorts. He’d glanced in her direction and paused. Josie had waved at him, but instead of waving back, he’d turned and sprinted to the far side of the field for his stretches.

Ugh. It was like she was reliving her own crappy life. What was going on?

She had less than twelve hours to spend with Nick. She was determined to make every second count.

Even if that meant camping out on a hot, metal bleacher for three hours while Nick went through the longest workout in the history of track workouts.

It was déjà vu all over again. Sitting in the bleachers watching Nick at track practice, while Nick basically ignored her very existence.

This had to be a parallel universe. Nothing was more parallel than what Josie felt.

It was the slowest three hours of her life, for sure. With the exception of the bodies moving around the track, there wasn’t much to look at. Although every once in a while, Josie caught a movement out of the corner of her eye, a figure in the trees on the south side of the track. But when she’d look in that direction, there was never anyone there. Josie shook her head. She was just being paranoid, like Penelope and her talk of serial killers and dismembered bodies in the woods. Ridiculous. Those deaths took place in a different world, far from where Josie was now.

Nick was the last to leave the track. The coaches and managers were already packing up when he finished his last sprint. Again, he glanced at the bleachers. He must have seen her. But instead of coming over to talk to her, he turned on his heel and headed straight to the boys’ locker room.

What the hell? He was avoiding her, of that Josie was sure. Was it about Tony? Josie was determined to find out.

She just had to find him. And there was one place Nick would have to show up.

Josie shouldered her bag and marched into the school parking lot. There were only two cars left: Jo’s black BMW and a beat-up old SUV.

Bingo.

Fifteen minutes later, her patience paid off. Nick exited the side door of the gym and made a beeline for his car.

“You want to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me all day?” Josie asked, stepping out from behind his car. Her mock-up of Jo’s confidence was finally starting to feel more “make it” and less “fake it.”

Nick flinched and dropped his keys on the ground. “Shit, Jo. You scared me. What are you doing here?”

“I want to know why you’re avoiding me.”

He bent down to pick up his keys and slowly straightened up. “Avoiding you?” he said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Where were you at lunch? And fourth period?”

Nick looked her dead in the eye. “I was excused for both.”

“Is this about Tony?” Josie blurted out. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

Nick flinched. “What are you, my mother?”

“I’m your girlfriend,” Josie erupted. She wasn’t sure which Nick the anger was directed at. Maybe both.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me.” She totally failed at keeping the exasperation out of her voice. She pulled the necklace out from under her sweater. “Remember this?”

“Your mom’s necklace? What does that have to do with it?”

Josie’s mouth went dry. “My
mom’s
necklace?”

“I told you the other day when I gave it back to you.”

Returned. That’s what Mr. Byrne meant. Josie felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. It wasn’t a gift; Nick had just been returning something to her.

“It got mixed up with my brother’s things after the accident,” Nick continued, emphasizing every word, like he was talking to a small child who might not understand.

“The accident . . .” Josie shook her head. Was that why Jo’s mom wasn’t around? Had there been some sort of car wreck or something? Something to do with Tony?

Nick let out an exasperated sigh. “Look, I’ve told you at least twice so let’s make this the last time. You and I are just friends. That’s all we are and that’s all we’ll ever be. So no more picnic invitations; no more hugging episodes like in the hall this morning, okay?”

Nick’s face hardened as he spoke. Josie knew that look. She’d seen it before on her ex-boyfriend’s face. Just once: the last conversation they had before she caught him cheating with Madison. Nick had wanted to talk to her, but she didn’t have time, and the same fleeting look passed over his face.

That’s what she saw in this Nick. Disgust.

The realization came crashing upon her, like a spring thunderstorm barreling down the Potomac Valley. Nick hated her.

Josie felt her body sway. It was happening again, same as before. Her skin had gone clammy. Her brow beaded up with sweat, but she felt cold and shivery as if she was running a high fever. She pressed her hand to her temple and noticed that the parking lot of Bowie Prep was tilting ever so slightly to the left. As she started to lose her balance, she could have sworn she saw a figure duck behind her car.

“Jo? Are you okay?” Nick moved toward her, placing a hand on her shoulder, but Josie shook free. It was even worse here than it was back home. Not only was this Nick not in love with her, he absolutely hated her.

Josie’s face burned. She was so humiliated, like she was reliving Madison and Nick’s betrayal. She hadn’t thought anything could be as bad as that moment, but the hatred she saw in Nick’s eyes was definitely worse. She wanted to get out of there, to run as far away from Nick Fiorino as she possibly could, in this universe or any other.

Nick glanced up at the horizon. “Sun’s going down. You’d better get in my car. I’ll drive you home.”

“Get in your car?” Was he crazy? Josie backed away. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She wasn’t going to be the victim anymore. She wouldn’t put herself in the position to be hurt by this Nick in the same way she’d been hurt by her own. It was the only thing she could control.

“Jo, wait!”

Too late. Josie didn’t care if Jo’s BMW sat in the school parking lot all night. She needed to get out of there. Now. She swung around and stumbled around the corner of the gym, out of Nick’s sight.

HOW COULD SHE HAVE BEEN SO STUPID? HOW could she have thought things would be any different here? Whatever she’d seen in her dreams, whatever Jo had led her to believe, was all a fantasy.

Shadows started to creep across the landscape as Josie wandered aimlessly beyond the front lawn of Bowie Prep. She glanced at her watch. A few more hours until she could cross back through the mirror to her own wreck of a life. A life that suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

Josie paused when she reached the sidewalk. Nick was right: the sun was going down and it would be dark soon, and her feet hurt in the high-heeled booties. She should walk back to the parking lot and drive Jo’s swanky car home. But she couldn’t. Nick might see her, and that . . . well, she’d had enough humiliation for a lifetime at the hands of Nick Fiorino. It was only four miles or so back to Jo’s house. She’d just suck up the pain and walk.

The streets were mostly deserted. No one sat on their porches enjoying the warm spring evening. No one was out walking their dog. No one pushing kids in strollers. A few cars whizzed past her, and several of them honked at her. Well, at least someone somewhere in some universe still found her attractive.

As dusk stole across the town, an unnatural chill descended. Josie looked up, expecting to see towering thunderheads piling up into the heavens, but the sky was clear, though perhaps darker than Josie would have thought for that time of evening.

The bright streetlamps bathed the neighborhood with light, but without warmth or cheerfulness. Unlike the ones on Josie’s block back home, these were starkly blue, sterile, and extremely intense. In house after house, blinds were being drawn, shutters latched, like every household was hunkering down for the night. As Josie tramped along, she got a creeping feeling up the back of her spine. The entire town had an air of hostility.