Better Late Than Never

Chapter 2

AMANDA BEESON STRUCK a pose in front of the dressing-room mirror. "What do you think?" Personally, she didn't really care whether or not Sophie or Britney or Nina approved of the dress she was trying on-- she thought she looked hot. But you were supposed to ask your friends for their opinions, so she did.

"So cute!" Sophie exclaimed, and Britney nodded vigorously in agreement. But Nina wasn't quite so enthusiastic.

"I don't know . . . The dress is okay, but isn't it a little too tight around your hips?"

"That's how it's supposed to be," Amanda informed her. "Figure hugging." She punctuated this with a narrow-eyed glare.

In the olden days--like, a month ago--a look like that would have reduced Nina to a quivering mass of apology. But lately, Nina hadn't been quite so easy to push around. It was almost as if she was challenging Amanda's authority as Queen Bee of the eighth grade at Meadowbrook Middle School. And this wasn't the first time.

Amanda noticed that Sophie and Britney were exchanging wary looks. She knew she needed to assert herself immediately and remind them who was in charge here. She performed a little twirl in front of the mirror and nodded in satisfaction.

"It's fabulous. It's perfect for me--I'm going to buy it," she stated firmly.

As she was making the purchase, she glanced over to where the girls were waiting for her by the door of the boutique. She couldn't hear what Nina was saying to the others, but Sophie's uneasy expression and Britney's quick glances in her direction worried her. As she handed over her mother's credit card, for the zillionth time she made a silent vow that the recent change in her life would not disrupt her social standing.

Leaving the boutique, the girls made their way through the mall and down an escalator to the food court, where eight different kinds of fast-food counters offered lunch.

"Let's get pizza," Nina declared.

Sophie and Britney looked at Amanda. Amanda took her time, letting her gaze move from the Chinese noodle place to the Burger King and beyond. "I'm going to the salad bar," she announced.

There was no reason why they couldn't each have whatever kind of food they wanted, since all the customers had to take their food away from the counters to the tables set up in the middle of the court. But it was traditional for the group to buy their lunch together as well as eat it together, and Amanda was gratified to see Sophie and Britney following her to the salad bar. A few seconds later, Nina joined them, too. Amanda mentally racked up another point for herself.

But Nina hadn't given up. As soon as they sat down at a table with their salads, she asked the question that Amanda had been expecting--and dreading.

"How's your new class?" she inquired. "What's it called--'gifted'?"

Amanda chewed slowly on a carrot stick. Eventually, however, she had to swallow and reply.

"Fine." She knew that wouldn't be a sufficient answer for Nina, and she was right.

"Why do they call it 'gifted'?" Nina wanted to know. "I mean, no offense, Amanda, but you're not a genius."

"Actually, I don't have the slightest idea why people call it that," Amanda replied casually. "The students aren't brilliant or anything."

Nina persisted. "But you must be special in some way to get picked for the class. Like special ed."

Amanda stiffened. Special ed was the term used for classes attended by kids who weren't able to do the same work as their classmates. "No, it's nothing like that."

"But you're together as a group, so you must have something in common. Let's see . . . isn't Emily Sanders in that class?"

Britney gasped. "Emily Sanders, the space cadet? The Queen of Cloud Nine?"

Sophie giggled. "She's in my biology class, and she's so out of it. Every time the teacher calls on her, she practically jumps out of her seat. It's like she's on another planet."

Amanda almost smiled. If only they knew! When Emily looked as though she was daydreaming, she was actually having visions of the future.

Nina's eyes glittered. "So, what do you have in common with Emily Sanders, Amanda?"

"Nothing," Amanda replied sharply.

"Who else is in the class?" Nina continued. "Oh yeah, that nasty boy in the wheelchair--what's his name?"

Sophie supplied it. "Charles Temple. Is he as mean as he looks, Amanda?"

"How should I know? I've never even spoken to him." But all three of them were looking at her curiously now, so she had to come up with something to explain the group. "Look, as far as I can tell, we're just a bunch of students who were picked by chance--like out of a hat. I think they're doing a study or a survey, something like that."

"Who?" Nina asked.

"What?"

"Who's doing this survey?"

Amanda groaned. "I don't know! Mr. Jackson, maybe."

"The principal?"

"Or--or the board of education, or something like that. For crying out loud, who cares?" It was definitely time to change the subject. "Hey, did you see American Idol last night? I can't believe Joshua was voted off--he was my favorite."

Naturally, Nina picked up on this as another opportunity to disagree with Amanda. "He wasn't a very good singer."

"But he was so cute," Sophie said. "I just love blond-haired boys with dreadlocks."

Amanda breathed a silent sigh of relief as the TV show became the topic under discussion. She couldn't really blame her friends for being curious. After all, it didn't make sense. Amanda Beeson was cool. The gifted class was mysterious. Mysterious wasn't cool. Amanda Beeson was in the gifted class. Therefore, Amanda Beeson wasn't cool. Which just went to show how sometimes logic didn't make any sense. Amanda Beeson not cool? It was a completely unthinkable conclusion.

There was no way on earth that she was going to reveal the real reason for the gifted class--it was just too embarrassing. Very few people knew why the class existed, and the class members hoped to keep it that way. Who would want the whole world to know you're a freak?

Amanda herself still couldn't believe that she'd been classified as one. Okay, she'd always known she was a little different. She'd been having weird experiences since she was five years old, when she saw a shabby woman begging on a street corner. She'd felt so sad for the woman that somehow her mind took over the woman's body and she actually felt her suffering. It happened other times, too. Whenever she experienced a lot of sympathy for another person, she became that person. It was very annoying.

It wouldn't be so bad, being a body snatcher, if she could pick and choose the bodies she snatched. Unfortunately, she couldn't snap her fingers and become Miss Teen America. She had to feel pity first. And it wasn't as if she could feel sorry for someone like what's-her-name, who won the gold medal for figure skating in the last Olympics. Instead, Amanda became a girl who was hurt in an accident, a battered housewife, a boy who was picked on by bullies. Or Tracey Devon.

Yeah, it was all pretty strange, but she didn't believe she belonged in that class of weirdos. She hadn't body snatched since Tracey, and as long as she could keep herself from feeling sorry for anyone, she'd never have another experience like that again. If only she could convince Madame of that and get herself released from the World of Wackos . . .

Her thoughts were interrupted by Britney's soft shriek. "Ohmigod! Don't turn around--it's Ken Preston."

Naturally, Sophie ignored Britney's direction and turned. "He is hot," she remarked.

No one was going to argue with that--not even Nina. When a guy was tall and broad shouldered, when he had silky sandy-blond hair falling into emerald green eyes, a cute dimple, and a square jaw, he was highly desirable. He'd been a star of the Meadowbrook soccer team until he'd had some sort of accident a couple of months before, but he still looked like an athlete--and that was what counted.

Amanda watched him with interest. He hadn't noticed the girls, but if he continued walking in the same direction, he'd go straight past their table. Oh yes, Ken Preston was very hot and totally sought after by every girl at Meadowbrook Middle School. And Ken Preston was in the gifted class, too, along with Emily Sanders and Charles Temple and Amanda Beeson.

As he got closer, the girls automatically looked away from him and toward one another. When he was practically alongside them, Nina spoke loudly. "Anyone want my tomato?"

The voice drew his attention, but he didn't look at Nina. "Hey, Amanda."

"Hi, Ken," she replied.

He moved on, and she basked in the glow of her friends' admiration. "I think he likes you," Sophie said excitedly.

Nina rolled her eyes. "Because he said hello to her?"

"He didn't speak to me" Britney said mournfully.

"He came to my pool party last spring, and he doesn't even remember my name," Sophie added.

"Well, I see him every day," Amanda explained. "He's in the gifted class with me."

She was gratified to see Nina's mouth drop open. "You're kidding!"

Amanda smiled. "I'll take your tomato."

It was while she was putting salt on the tomato that she noticed two other "gifted" classmates walking across the food court. This time, however, she wanted to dive under the table to avoid their seeing her. Greeting Tracey Devon and Jenna Kelley would not impress her friends.

Fortunately, the two girls turned in another direction, and Amanda could breathe a sigh of relief. Okay, maybe she was being snobby and shallow, but what choice did she have? Now, more than ever, she had an image to maintain.