Wired by Francine Pascal Page A

the person that’s a little different, that no one knows how to handle. We were both used to being avoided or ignored. And so when Itried to use my typical emotional defense tactics against him, he saw through my BS and wouldn’t take it. So of course I think he’s great. A great catch. Probably my best friend and definitely one of my
only
friends. And, as established, I’m not exactly one for winning friends and influencing people.
    I have no doubt that a relationship never would have worked out between us. For starters, I’ve proven completely incapable of the typical John-Hughes-movie-style high school romance. The closest I’ve ever gotten to true cheese was when Ed handed me a big, honking wheel of it on one of our dates. He was joking, of course, but he knew. He knew I needed help in the cheese department. A cheese tutorial.
    Then there’s also the fact that anyone I date for more than, oh, twenty-four hours finds their life in jeopardy. And I’m not being melodramatic. I wish to God I were. Ed knew this and waswilling to cope with it, but I couldn’t do that to him. He was just too vulnerable, and I care about him too much. I couldn’t see the same thing happen to him that happened to Sam.
    So if Ed’s single right now, then Kai is pretty much the perfect prom date. She’s cute, she’s fun—as far as I can see—and she clearly likes him a lot. And she’s probably at least a little interesting, because I don’t think Ed could hang out with her if she wasn’t.
    And most of all, she’s
normal
. In a way that Ed hasn’t seen in a while, in a way that he deserves. She probably won’t be on the run from some ancient enemy of her father’s with a killer-eye for sharpshooting, and she probably won’t try and manipulate him financially or emotionally or expect him to be anything he’s not. She’s probably perfect for him. You know, as a normal, no-strings -attached, 1et’s-hang-out-after-school-and-chill friend.
    And since Ed is my best friend—let’s face it, the closest thing to a true soul mate that I’ve known, someone who understands me beyond the surface chemistry that often brings two people together—then of course, I want him to have that. A stable friend, without questions or drama.
    Which so isn’t me.
    So I’m cool with it. Really.
    Damn.
ED
    Okay . Just when I think that 1) Gaia can’t get any stranger, or 2.) I’ve gotten so accustomed to her strangeness that it isn’t going to faze me anymore, some new form of weirdness comes and resets the charts, blows all of my theories to hell, forces me to update the Gaia files.
    Gaia Moore
is worried about prom? Screw that-Gaia Moore is
interested in attending the prom?
I mean, I know that when we were dating, we took some baby steps toward standard dating procedures, and I’m not naïve enough to pretend that she and Jake don’t have at least some basic working knowledge of male-female relations, but still.
    This is all very odd.
    It’s as if she’s been possessed by the spirit of Heather Gannis-which I’m not saying is such a bad thing. Just radically unexpected.
    Gaia wants to go to prom. Gaia worries that she won’t be asked.Gaia wonders what she’ll wear. Gaia stresses over Jake. Gaia
cries?
    I’m baffled, truly.
    I have to say, though, that this alternate universe into which we’ve stumbled makes me think twice. What would it be like to be dating this new Gaia? She might, for example, be more willing to expose herself to me (emotionally. Expose herself emotionally, I mean). Would she be more open to honesty and intimacy? Less afraid of being dependent? All of those issues that burdened our relationship… would they just be… gone?
    Probably not. I mean, people don’t just undergo entire personality transplants overnight (except for Heather, but, well, there were extenuating