Wired by Francine Pascal

relented. Gaia being defensive, he could handle. But Gaia being defensive about
prom
was
muy
twilight zone. He backpedaled, aiming for damage control. “So I take it Jake Montone is the lucky man? Your escort for the evening?”
    Gaia paused for a moment, as though missing abeat. When she spoke, she sounded tentative, but if she had doubts about Jake, she wasn’t saying. “Yeah. Should be fun,” she said shortly.
    Ed had no idea who this hot-and-cold mannequin was who’d replaced his best friend⁄ex-girlfriend⁄what-ever the hell she was. He could tell that she was keeping something from him, but he had no idea how to bring it out. Direct confrontation wasn’t the way—she was too edgy these days. He decided to take a gamble and spill one of his own secrets. “I’ll tell you something if you promise not to say anything.”
    She flashed him a you’ve-gotta-be-kidding look. Who would she tell? “Uh, yeah. Promise.”
    â€œI, uh, actually kind of wish I could bring Heather. You know, for old times’ sake,” he clarified. “I think she’d really like to be there, and I feel bad that she won’t be able to go. I mean, I feel bad about everything, you know, with her. I think we could have had fun.”
    Ed knew Gaia understood. She and Heather had come to understand each other after all they’d been through. When Gaia had visited Heather in the hospital, they had really bonded. Ed knew that Gaia could relate to his feelings of nostalgia.
    â€œYeah, Heather was definitely born for prom.” Gaia chuckled. “I’m sure she’d love to go.”
    â€œYeah,” Ed agreed. He didn’t mention that as a general rule, he wasn’t especially impressed by girls whowere born for prom. When Ed and Heather had been together, what he’d liked most about her was the side of her that her clotheshorse friends didn’t get to see (and probably wouldn’t have appreciated if they
had
seen). And ever since the second go-round with Heather, his standards were even higher. Kai’s open, friendly personality and adorable, skater-trendy looks weren’t even enough for him. Maybe he’d been sort of reverse spoiled by Gaia. Maybe he needed someone who posed a constant challenge, someone who never let things lie, someone who was always, somehow, steeped in adventure….
Crap
, he thought.
Maybe I won’t ever be satisfied with a normal girl
.
    â€œBut the more I think about it… maybe you should ask Kai,” Gaia broke in, as if thinking aloud. “Heather might feel uncomfortable back at the Village School, with everything that’s… happened. And you and Kai would definitely have fun. But you should ask her soon. You’re too good of a guy to string her along until the last minute.” She gazed steadily at him, an intimate knowledge and affection written across her features. Though when Gaia had brushed up on her knowledge of gender dynamics was a further mystery to him.
    Ed sighed, wishing he could muster up more enthusiasm for the pseudorelationship he had somehow fallen into. “Yeah,” he replied. “I guess I am.”
GAIA
    So Ed and Kai are going to the prom as friends. That’s cool.
    Really. Ed’s had a hard time, after everything that happened with Heather and the accident. I know that a lot of his friends freaked when he was in a wheelchair, didn’t know how to deal, blew him off. He went from being “Shred” Fargo, daredevil skate rat, dating the most popular girl in school, to pretty much being a social pariah. I mean, no one wants to date the guy in the wheelchair. Or you know, even maneuver their way through a few awkward conversations to steer things back to usual. So that had to really suck for him, just to understate things a bit.
    I think that’s why he and I connected at first. We both knew what it was like to be singled out, to be the weird one,