Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

?Why can?t you just be honest with me? You slept with him,?

Claire accused her. Her eyes were hurt. Helen knew she couldn?t

shut her out entirely.

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?Honestly? I did sleep with him. Twice. But not the way you

think,? she said frankly. She turned Claire around and steered

them both to Hergie?s. ?We?ve never even kissed.?

?Rubbish!? Claire declared, stopping dead in the middle of the

hall.

?Ask him yourself. You?ve got classes with him all day,? Helen responded,

perfectly serious. The bell rang and they both had to run

the last few steps to make it through the door before Hergie closed

it.

Helen had a terrible morning. Several teachers considered giving

her detention for not doing her homework and every single girl in

school was furious with her for getting a ride with Lucas. Helen?s

relationships with the girls in her class had always been strained.

For years she?d gone out of her way to be nice to them, but she?d finally

given up when she noticed that if she kept her head down and

her mouth shut she could slide under the radar.

That was all over now that she had been seen coming to school

with Lucas. She had crossed some sort of imaginary line, broken

the truce that she had entered into by refusing to compete, and

they?d declared war on her. All day long, Helen found that if she

looked anywhere but at the board or her desk she was shot nasty

looks. To top everything else off, Gretchen was whispering vicious

rumors about Helen to anyone who would listen, and Claire was

still upset.

Helen couldn?t help but smile with relief when she saw Lucas at

his locker before lunch. He seemed to be the only person in the entire