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THIS IS LIZZIE?

Hugh

OCTOBER 28, 1994

W HEN I BOARDED THE BUS AFTER SCHOOL ON F RIDAY , I FELT LIKE A SOLDIER BEING sent on a dangerous mission. Because I just knew that anyone my crazy sister attached herself to was going to be a menace, and I had to invite four of them to my party. To their faces . Worse, Joe picked Gibsie up after school, so I didn’t have him on the bus to back me up, and Feely was enjoying my embarrassment too much to step in and help. One of her friends didn’t take the bus, so Claire had taken her invitation to school with her this morning to hand over, but that still left three of them.

I spotted Pierce’s twin sisters sitting with Claire, so with a grim expression on my face, I trudged down the aisle, stopping when I reached them. They turned to look at me at the exact same time, smiling the same smile and speaking the same words at the same time.

I knew they couldn’t help being identical, but it creeped me out so bad.

Jesus, I was so grateful I didn’t have to live with two Claires.

With three down and one to go, I had every intention of finding the last girl, handing over the invitation as fast as possible, and then booking it back to my friends. What I didn’t intend on was freezing up in the middle of the aisle when my sister pointed out her .

Holy crap.

This was my sister’s friend?

This is Lizzie ?

I used to think my sister had the lightest blond hair I’d ever seen, but this girl’s hair was white . Like snow white . Her skin was so pale it was almost see-through, like one of Claire’s porcelain dolls. She didn’t have a single freckle on her face, either. Not even one.

And her blue eyes, the ones locked on my face? Well, I had never seen eyes like that before.

I blinked a few times, not entirely sure if I was seeing her properly because this girl didn’t look like the other girls on the bus. She didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before.

She sort of resembled a ghost.

Or an angel .

Something different.

Something special .

The girl didn’t look away from me when she caught me looking. Instead, she continued to stare back at me.

Somehow, and I wasn’t sure how, I managed to gather the nerve to walk over and ask, “Lizzie?” Because if Claire had pointed out the wrong girl, I was going to be embarrassed.

God, please let this be the right girl .

When she nodded and offered me the seat next to her, I almost fell into it. This confused me because I never wanted to sit with girls, but I wanted to sit with this girl. I wanted to look at her, too.

Her long, poker-straight hair wasn’t tied up with any fancy ribbons or bows like the other girls. Instead, she had it tucked behind her ears to keep it out of her way. She wasn’t wearing tights like the other girls, either. She wore white socks that stopped below her knees. Her coat was black, not pink or colorful, and both her knees were littered with bramble scratches. Everything about this girl was different, but it was her eyes that really caught my attention. They were so light, they looked like pale-blue icicles with jagged lightning bolts of gray darting through them.

When I introduced myself and we started to talk, I couldn’t hear a word of it. I had no clue what was coming out of my mouth. I was too distracted by the sound of my pulse drumming in my ears and the way my eyes enjoyed looking at this girl. It honestly couldn’t be helped because sitting in front of me was the prettiest girl in the world. When she leaned in and sniffed my neck, I thought she might be the strangest, too. I didn’t pull away, though, and I didn’t feel awkward or embarrassed when she paid me a compliment. Instead, I felt pleased. Because I quickly realized that I wanted her to admire me.

Like I was definitely admiring her .

When I handed her the invitation to my party and she agreed to come, my stomach flipped like a pancake. I tried to be cool about it, but I could hardly breathe. The way she smiled at me made my skin prickle and heat up. I wasn’t sure how long it took me to get back to my friends, but when I did, I felt like I’d just staggered off a fairground ride. A really fast one that spun me ragged and made me dizzy.

When the lads started teasing me about her, I found myself not caring one bit. Instead, I laughed off their taunts, feeling smug instead of embarrassed.

Because they didn’t know what I did.

They didn’t have the strangest girl in Ballylaggin coming to their birthday party.

My eyes locked on hers from across the bus and I smiled.

Or the prettiest .