Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

The one thing Helen could confidently gather from all the chatter

was that the Delos family was rather unconventional. There were

two fathers who were brothers, their younger sister, one mother

(one of the fathers was a widower), and five kids, all living together

on the property. The entire family was supposed to be unbelievably

smart and beautiful and wealthy. Helen rolled her eyes when she

heard the parts of the gossip that elevated the Delos family to

mythic proportions. In fact, she could barely stand it.

Helen tried to stay behind the register and ignore the excited

whispering, but it was impossible. Every time she heard one of the

members of the Delos family mentioned by name, it drew her attention

as if it had been shouted, irritating her. She left the register

and went over to the magazine rack, straightening the shelves just

to give her hands something to do. Even so, she couldn?t help but

hear how scandalized the book club was to find out that Cassandra

Delos, who was thirteen, had skipped a grade and was going to be

attending high school. She was supposed to be exceptionally

bright, but on the whole, the book club disapproved of children

skipping grades, probably because none of their children had ever

managed it.

They don?t like to be separated, Helen thought. It?s safer if they

stick together. That?s the real reason why Cassandra skipped a

grade.

Helen had no idea where the thought had come from, but she

knew it was true. She also knew she had to get as far away from the

gossip as she could or she was going to start yelling at Kate?s

friends. She needed to make herself as busy as possible.

As she wiped down the shelves and stocked the candy jars, she

mentally ticked the kids off in her head. Hector is a year older

than Jason and Ariadne, who are twins. Lucas and Cassandra