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Gaia turned to Liz. “You invited the Friends of Heather?”

“Friends of . . . ” Liz squinted in confusion. “Who's Heather?”

“Those girls,” Gaia explained. Liz was leading them toward the bedroom, where, sure enough, Gaia could hear the squeals of more FOHs. “From Starbucks yesterday? The vultures.”

“Oh God, you're right. It's
them.
” Liz looked pained. “I guess Chris must have.”

Jake led them through the big white door into the suite's master bedroom. It was a big, bright room with a gigantic king-size bed. A smaller crowd had gathered in the room. A boom box was playing slightly mellower music. A bar to one side held a big bottle of vodka and some mixers and an ice bucket. The air-conditioning was blasting; the room was nice and cool. Out the huge picture window Gaia could see the bright sky and the tops of the buildings near the hotel and, if she craned her neck, a little bit of the river between the buildings in the distance.

Chris Rodke was, without question, the room's center of attention. Gaia recognized him immediately—the
princely aura from the previous day was intact. He was reclining on the wide bed with his shoes off, leaning comfortably on the headboard with a tall glass in one hand. The lamplight shone from his golden yellow hair. Gaia could see the wet frost beading the sides of his glass and the lime and ice.
He's drinking vodka with soda,
Gaia realized. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen anyone under thirty have a vodka and soda.

“That's so
funny,
” Megan gasped. “That's just so funny.”

Megan, Tina, and Laura were perched on the soft carpet near Chris. They all had drinks. All of them were laughing as if Chris had made the single most humorous remark in the entire history of human civilization. Gaia thought that Megan was going to pass out, she was laughing so hard.

“Elizabeth Rodke!” Chris yelled out. “'Bout time you made it.” When he saw Gaia, he threw his arms around her, then gave her an air kiss on each cheek. “Ga-yah bay-bee,” he sang, elongating each syllable.

“Hi, Gaia!” Megan said, far too brightly. “I'm so glad you're here!”

“Right on,” Laura squealed.

Gaia blinked two long blinks.
So . . . the attitudes are reversible, just like the Burberry raincoats.

“Gaia, how the hell are ya?” Chris asked.

“I have no idea,” Gaia replied. Too honest, perhaps. She was still working on this stuff. But somehow she'd made Chris smile.

“Oh, Christ, neither do I.” Chris laughed. He turned to his sister. “This one's a keeper.”

Gaia suddenly realized that the FOHs were watching her like hawks.

“Gaia, come sit with us,” Megan suddenly suggested as she tapped a spot on the carpet next to her. Gaia didn't even respond. She could only muster a raised eyebrow of confusion.

“Here,” Jake said quietly. He was up close to her, handing over a glass of ice water he'd brought from the bar. He'd gotten himself one, too. “You want to sit down?”

“Sure,” she said, moving as far as possible from the disturbing smiles of the FOHs.

“Liz, let's do this every day!” Chris called out. “New party, new hotel.” He was finishing his drink—the ice clattered loudly in his glass.

“Oh,
great
idea,” Tina squeaked. “Yeah!”

Gaia sat down in an expensive-looking leather chair halfway across the room. Jake dropped onto the carpet beside her.

“So, you live on Fifth?” Megan asked, staring up worshipfully at the Rodkes. She was pivoting on the floor, looking back and forth between the two of them. It must have been hard to decide which one's ass to kiss first. “Do you love it?”

Liz made a face, nodding while she cracked open a beer and sat down. “It's cool. I mean, it's fine. We just
got there. Dad's like that—suddenly it's, ‘New York,
right now,
' and we have to jump. But the place is nice.”

“Right on,” Laura said. That seemed to be the sum total of her vocabulary for the day.

Jake slouched on the floor, leaning his head against Gaia's next to her knee.

“
I
love the house,” Chris said. “I think it's got great potential.”

“Do you have a balcony?” Megan asked. “Overlooking the park?”

“We do,” Chris replied.

“Huh. Your place sounds really nice,” Megan said. It was fairly obvious that she was fishing for an invite.

“I'm still unpacking boxes,” Liz said. It was the perfect answer: a polite refusal to invite anyone anywhere.

Jake pivoted his head, looking up at Gaia. “How are you?” he asked. His hair brushed her knee, making her feel a mild tingle. He was quiet enough that the others didn't seem to hear.

“Fine.” Gaia smiled at him. “I'm fine.”

He sat up and turned to face her, moving closer.

“I mean . . . do you feel like finishing that conversation?”

Here we go,
Gaia thought. She could feel her calm, peaceful mood immediately start to drift away.
He still wants to talk.
After last night's fiasco, she was feeling that much less inclined to have that talk just yet. Last night's sadomasochistic freak show had been the perfect reminder of just exactly why they
shouldn't
have that talk.

“There are so many people here,” Gaia said. She tried not to sound too evasive, like she was looking for an excuse not to talk to him. The fact that it was true didn't help.

“Big deal,” Jake said easily. He was gulping his ice water. “Nobody's listening. We can have a private conversation in the corner and all they'll do is point and giggle.”

“True enough,” Gaia said. She had a sinking feeling because she couldn't think of a way out this time. Not without actually admitting that she didn't want to talk.

Why not? Let's do it. Let's see what happens when we talk. Let's see if I ruin everything.

Gaia realized she was holding her breath. “Okay,” she said, exhaling loudly. “Okay. Let's have that conversation. You're right; this is a perfect time.”

“Gaia! Jake!” Chris called out. “Join the party!”

“I've got to work out,” Jake said apologetically. “I can't have any—”

“Don't drink,
talk,
” Chris went on grandly. “We're new kids; we need to make friends. Gaia, where do you live? Who are you?”

She hated being put on the spot. But something about Chris's way made it a little easier. “I don't really know that, either,” she replied honestly. “I'm kind of in transition.”

“Who isn't?” Chris joked. “From what to what?”

“Oh,” Gaia uttered, thinking it through. “I don't know . . . old to new?”

“Perfect.”
Chris laughed. “Old to new. Well, here's to the new you, Gaia Moore.” He raised his glass. “Not that you need to change anything.”

“Yeah, well . . . no one ever really changes, right?”

“Oh,
wrong,
” Chris bellowed excitedly. He suddenly shot up off the bed as his eyes widened.

“Oh,
no,
Gaia,” Liz moaned. “You've just hit on one of my brother's favorite topics. Please, Chris, no speech. Control yourself.”

“Liz, come on,” Chris snorted. “They don't even know me yet. They haven't heard some of my best stuff.”

Liz turned to Gaia. “Oh God, Gaia, I warned you about my family and speeches. Don't say I never warned you.”

“Stop it,” Chris complained. “It's not a big deal. Your friend Gaia just happened to say that no one ever changes, and I just wanted to let her know that she was dead wrong, that's all.” Chris turned to Gaia like they were sharing a secret. “You're dead wrong.”

This Gaia certainly wanted to hear. “Wrong how?”

“No—” Liz giggled, pouncing on her brother to get a hand over his overly verbose mouth.

Chris pushed his sister away in the exact same manner that he probably had since toddlerhood. “Well, as long as you
asked,
” he bellowed triumphantly, “I say we're not stuck with anything. Not anything. Not character
traits, not physical traits, nothing. I say that we are in complete control. If ‘Right On' Laura over here wanted blue eyes, then she could go get color contacts. If Megan were depressed, she'd take Prozac or some other drug. It's all in our hands now. It's all just chemistry.”

“Stop, stop,” Liz moaned painfully. “Don't you all see where he's going to go with this? Two more seconds and he's going to fall right smack down on his favorite topic: the highly controversial gay gene.”

“There's
no such thing,
” Chris insisted, pointing at Liz. “No such thing at all. That's a myth. The human chromosome has no gene for gayness.”

“Okay,”
Liz moaned again. “I'm not arguing.”

“And even if there
was,
” Chris went on, “I
still
wouldn't believe in it. I'm gay because I'm gay. It's who I
am
—it's
my choice.
It's the twenty-first century; my genes aren't in charge: I am.”

Gaia didn't realize that she was staring at Chris until Jake knocked his hand against her thigh, trying to get her attention. She nodded impatiently at him and turned back to Chris. What he was saying was absolutely fascinating.

My genes aren't in charge: I am.

But Gaia knew that wasn't true. If her life had one unalterable fact, it was this: her genes were in charge of everything. They defined every aspect of her miserable life. What Chris was saying was nonsense.

“Chris, how can
you
be in charge?” Gaia argued. “Your genes make you who you are. I took biology; I know how it works.”

“How it
usually
works,” Chris corrected politely. “The more we learn about heredity, the more in charge we are. Look, you should talk to my dad. He really understands this stuff. The incredible stuff they're doing in some of those labs—it would blow you away.”

“I thought your dad made toothpaste,” Gaia said.

Chris's eyes widened. “Are you kidding? That's the boring part. They make
everything.
Toothpaste, med supplies, high-end drugs, research—billions of dollars in research. Are you interested in genetics?”

“Well—yeah.”

That was one way of putting it. Gaia's entire life had been determined by her own unique genetic code. The funny thing was, Gaia had never really tried to understand it from a scientific standpoint. It had always seemed over her head. But maybe it wasn't.

“Gaia,” Jake said, standing up, “I'm leaving.”

Gaia looked up at Jake. And suddenly realized she'd been completely ignoring him. Right at the moment that she'd agreed to have the “big conversation.” Suddenly she felt awful. Selfish and evasive and awful.

“Jake, I'm so sorry,” she said quickly, standing up and taking his hands. “I'm a jerk—I keep stopping you from—”

“Shhh! Relax. It's not you,” Jake said smoothly. “It's just that it's getting late. I've got to get to the gym for my sparring session. And I need time to warm up.”

“Oh.” Gaia looked at Jake's eyes to double-check. “So you're not mad?”

“Mad? No! Of course not. We can talk some other time.”

But there was something strange in those eyes—something she'd never seen before.

He's lying,
she thought suddenly.
He's lying—he's angry with me. He says he's not, but he is.

“Are you sure you have to go?” she asked. “You sure you're not mad?”

“Yeah.” Jake smiled and lifted his book bag. “Yeah, everything's cool. But I've got to take off.”

And then Jake turned around and walked out of the room, his book bag slung from his shoulder. He didn't look back.

That was bad,
Gaia thought.
That was really bad. I should go after him—talk to him. So what if they think we're having a fight? So what? I have to fix this.

She started moving toward the hotel bedroom door. She was about to call out after Jake.

“Hey, Gaia,” Chris said, lunging up off the bed. “Why don't you come have dinner?”

“What?”

Gaia turned around and looked at Chris. The FOHs were lined up along the carpet, enviously listening.
They probably would do anything to be invited to the Rodkes' Fifth Avenue apartment.

“Come to dinner,” Chris repeated. “Liz was probably going to invite you anyway, right, Liz?”

“You read my mind,” Liz said. She smiled at Gaia warmly. “Do come, Gaia! It'll be fun. We'll stay here until the party ends and then get a car uptown.”

“Well, I'm not sure—” Gaia glanced over at the door and thought about Jake. Jake, who was probably still within reach, still waiting for the elevator a few feet away.

“You should meet Dad,” Chris insisted. “If you're really interested in genetic medicine, you definitely need to talk to him. He can explain this stuff
much
better than I can.”

Gaia thought about it. But she didn't have to think very long. She already knew what she wanted to do.

“Sure,” she told Chris. “Thanks, I'd love to come.”

“Great!” Chris clapped briskly. “We'll have a blast. And
you
all”—he looked down at the Friends of Heather—“can come next time.” He flashed them a condescending wink.

“Oh—thanks,” Megan said uncertainly. The FOHs were still giving Gaia that wide-eyed look, like she'd been invited to Disneyland and they hadn't.

But Gaia couldn't stop thinking about Jake.

“Excuse me,” she said. “I'll be right back.”

She pushed open the door, coming back out into
the hotel suite's living room, which was still full of music and crowds of shouting kids. Another quarters game had started, and a few people were dancing in the corner. Gaia shoved through the crowds to the suite door and out into the quiet hotel corridor.