1. “You know that what we are, what we can do, is hereditary. I got it from my dad, and you got it from me. But because we’re so different, we have to keep what we can do secret from humans.” The man scratched his five o’clock shadow as he considered his next words. “You also know your mother is human. When we started getting serious about each other, that’s when I let her know what I was. I didn’t wait until after we were married. When I took that step to let her know from the get-go, I broke a cardinal rule among our kind.”
2. “Oh, really?” She turned to face him directly. “And what do you call me behind my back? A geek? A nerd?” By the expression on his face, she knew she’d hit one of his guilty nerves. Making sure he didn’t misread her disdain, she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Get back with me when you learn some manners,” she quipped, and pranced off to her next class.
3. His friend sucked his milk carton dry. “I dunno, dude. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she doesn’t look at you the way a girl looks at a friend. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s just sitting and biding her time, waiting for you to make the first move.” Manny’s expression hardened. “You ain’t got much time left, dude. Graduation’s in a few days. Pretty soon she’ll be off to some college somewhere. And when she leaves, there’ll go the last opportunity you’ll ever have.”
4. Parking his elbow on the center console, Randy rubbed the tense spot between his eyes with his fingertips. “If I see her with her bathing suit on, it will only cause problems. I can’t risk it.” He gritted his teeth. “It’s a good thing, anyway. We can’t afford it, especially now that you’ve had to fork out money for this stupid hat that I didn’t need.” Snatching it off his head, he tossed it onto the console. But he also ran his hand over his hairline, checking to make sure the horns were gone. “Dad, does it ever stop? I mean, will my horns always come out when I get horny?”
5. Head Boy started to come into the pool after him, when there was a shriek. At the top of the sluice, Randy saw Cricket trying to bat away the two teenagers who were trying to grab her. She managed to fight them off, then turned and went down the shorter slide, which ended on the opposite side of the pool, closer to the Wave Washer. Realizing she was safe for the moment, Randy caught Head Boy’s attention, flashed him the bird with both hands, and began swimming to the other side of the pool.
6. “You’ve been keeping a big secret from me, and I’m hurt because…I don’t know if you don’t trust me anymore, or…what. What are you? Are you the devil?”
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