When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

What kind of nickname is death-speaker? Not only does it sound archaic, it’s very specific. Chills run down my spine and I have to wonder if Natalie knows more about me than I realize.

Lily continues. “Those death-speakers actually asked me if I was okay. That’s more than I can say for you.”

I can’t see Natalie’s face, but I can tell by the change in her voice that what Lily said upset her.

“Lily...I....”

“I know what you think,” Lily says, and her voice is a whisper, tinged with pain like frost cracking across glass. The silence that follows grows colder, too. I step out from our hiding place and round the corner. Natalie spares me a single, angry glance and leaves. Lily smiles, almost relieved, and I have this feeling she thought I wouldn’t

come.

“Hey!” I say smiling. “Sorry we’re a little late. Coach David made us run extra laps.”

Lily smiles, too. “He can be a jerk sometimes.” Her gaze slips hesitantly from me to Lennon, who fills the space beside me.

“Tell me about it,” Lennon says, rolling her eyes. “I think he has it out for us.”

I step forward, looping my arm through Lily’s—much like Lennon does with me—and set off toward Emerson.

“Let’s get ready for the game.”

We make it to Lennon’s dorm and meet her roommate, a short, blond girl named Sara who’s working on smearing black on her cheeks with a coal pencil. When she looks at us, her eyelids sparkle with blue glitter. She’s also wearing a jersey with the number seven on the front and back.

“Who’s seven?” I ask after introductions are made, curious.

“Jacobi Quinn,” Lily answers.

“Oh...is he your boyfriend?” I ask Sara.

“I wish,” she says with a sigh. “Jacobi’s never had a girlfriend...that we know of.”

Lily averts her gaze from Sara and surveys the room. The walls are off-white. There’s a single, rectangle window obscured with a white blind, and the only color in the room comes from the beds, covered in bright blankets and pillows.

“Are you going to the game like that?” Lennon asks me.

I look down at myself—tights, Nacoma Knight uniform, balled up hair… “Yeah.”

Everyone in the room is quiet. I don’t really need to dress up. I hope to sneak off and find my coin. “What?”

“At least let me do your hair. We could curl it.”

I laugh. “You don’t have enough time.”

“At least change,” Sara suggests with a smile. “No one wants to wear a uniform to the game. I have a shirt you can wear.” She goes to her drawer and pulls out a jersey with Shy’s number on it.

“No,” I say quicker than I intend. “I mean...that’s okay. I’ll just wear my uniform.”

Sara’s eyes widen. “Why don’t you want to wear it?”

“Because....” I’m having a hard enough time blending in with the crowd, wearing Shy’s jersey will just keep those whispers circulating.

It’s Lily who speaks up. “I’m sure you won’t be the only one wearing the jersey. They're from state last year.”

“Yeah, we all have one,” Sara says.

Encouraged, I take the jersey from Sara and a skirt from Lennon. Sara also convinces me that wearing glitter and smudging a couple lines on my cheeks isn’t such a bad idea. By the time we head to the field, I blend in pretty well with the girls.

Lennon takes me by my hand and pulls me onto the field where a group of students, cheerleaders, and the band have gathered in front of a large, inflatable blue tunnel. A flap over the front is sealed, and has the school’s initials, NKA, across a shield with a rose on the front. We aren’t there long when the drumline starts to play and the cheerleaders chant. Our team runs onto the field from the locker room, disappearing into the tunnel, I stand on the tips of my toes, looking for Shy. When I can’t find his number, I think I might have missed him. I turn to Lennon who matches my stance, straining her long neck. “Did you see Shy?”