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"Isn’t it?"

He shook his head, but at thenext to hi he could do If she’d restored his ain And if she started to wonder how he knew about ic, she’d realize Nadia had broken one of the First Laws to tell hier

But he knew he’d never feel complete--not for one second of one day--until he’d had soe

Elizabeth had ruined soto let her get aith it

No way in hell

"So, I heard that they were, like, going to put hiured out the collapse was, like, physical instead of ht ency surgery, and they were starting to shave his head, and that’s why his hair looks like that" Kendall Bender led her crew of girls down the hallway past Nadia, as stashing her stuff in her locker "But then he didn’t have a tu,in the food, like, at that restaurant? Because I like the burritos there and all but you can never tell with stuff that’s, like, you know, foreign"

Nadia didn’t bother contradicting Kendall Her ht now, beyond anything else, she needed to get to Mateo

All last night, she’d tossed and turned There was only one thing she could do--only one responsible choice she could make--and as much as she hated it, Nadia knehat she had to do She couldn’t put this conversation off oneacross the gravel area of the quad His haircut really was lopsided--Ginger had freaked out , really When he saw her, his face lit up in a s inside her et it out, she told herself Walk over there and say it

Already Mateo was coht in the wind skittered across the gravel, in front of her feet Nadia clutched her hoodie th

"Hey," she ed to say as he reached her "You’re back"

"When you’re glad to be at school, it’s a bad sign" He grinned at her, but she couldn’t find the strength to s? Is it Elizabeth?"

"No Ieither of theood Nadia forced herself to meet Mateo’s eyes as she said, "I can’t do this"