"Aiden turned up with his buddies. He chatted to Rose most of the night," said Hannah.

"Oh be careful with Aiden, he's a nasty piece of work," said Sean.

"Really? He was nice enough to me," I replied.

"Aiden being nice, that's a new one," Lucinda chimed in.

"What? He's that unpleasant? We got along great." A little too great, I thought.

"Be careful. He used to bully me at school, he can be very cruel if he wants to," said Sean. "Mind you, he changed when he came out of Juvie."

"Juvie?"

"Oh yes, our Aiden was a Juvenile Offender at the age of twelve. He was away for a couple of years. He came back a little quieter, but still bad."

"I'll bear it in mind, but I can take care of myself. Anyway, Mira and Mike seemed to hit it off," I said, changing the subject.

"I only held his hand for five minutes."

"Looked cosy enough to me!" Hannah laughed.

"It seems like we missed a good time. I wished I'd gone now," said Debbie disappointed.

We all soon relaxed and the conversation drifted to school matters, and more gossip about people from town. It was weird not knowing who they were chatting about, I still felt a little like an outsider.

From the corner of my eye I noticed Lucinda glance my way a couple of times, staring or maybe glaring. I avoided her gaze.

Sean kept me entertained, making sure I never sat too long in quiet. Lucinda barely spoke but Hannah chatted eagerly with everyone and Mira with Debbie's help kept the talk flowing.

"So, you haven't met Morgan yet?" Debbie said across from me.

I felt a flush trying to rise to my cheeks but I managed to calm it down. The question had caught me out of the blue.

Oh yes, I've met him.

"Er, yes. I saw him yesterday, and this morning briefly," I managed to say.

"He's been so excited about meeting you. He's been on and on about you coming to live here. I think he's going to be grateful of your company being as it's been only him and Daisy living in the sticks," Debbie continued.

"You better watch out though, Rose. Now he's a favourite with the girls, there are some who think he is to die for, in the looks department. I can't see it myself but what would I know?" Sean winked at me, grinning.

"Well, good job for him that I'm not interested," I laughed back, stowing my emotions.

"Have you got a boyfriend in Manchester still?" Sean asked me quietly. I noticed that everyone had stopped talking now and were listening.

"No," I guffawed, in embarrassment. "I don't."

"Are you kidding, why not?" Debbie asked.

"Well, the guys I liked were too old for me. And the guys who were interested in me were too young," I said truthfully. I hated talking about this subject; I hoped my discomfort would help change the subject.

I had had crushes in my time but nothing that didn't pass away within a few weeks. A few hopeful boys had asked me out on dates but they had never appealed to me in a romantic way. For one thing they always seemed much younger, less mature, even though they were usually from my school year. The older guys that I had wanted to get to know better always balked at my age, which was confusing because I was constantly being told that I looked older than I was.

"I don't believe that for a minute. You just wait till school starts then all the guys will be swarming around you," Mira said laughing.

"Why? Is there a girl shortage here?" I said grinning. Mira had such a gorgeous slender figure and it had surprised me that she was still single.

"Rose, you look like a supermodel. What guy wouldn't want to go out with you?" She continued.

I glared at her in disbelief.

"Don't look at me like that, Rose, its true!"

"Mira, shut up! Why are you single?" I threw a paper towel at her and it bounced off her arm.

"I know everyone, and I don't fancy any of them, that's why!" she answered, throwing the paper towel back at me. She missed me by a large margin.

"Lucinda? Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked. She had been too quiet and hadn't joined in at all.

"Oh Lucie has fancied the same boy since we were twelve. I keep telling her she should give up on him," Debbie said, flicking her hair out of her face. "I mean, he knows Lucie likes him but he just leads her on."

"No he doesn't," Lucinda said defensively. "Actually he was with me last night, well until about two this morning. And I mean with me."

"You mean, you and he" Mira asked, but it was clear that Mira would never say the 'S' word.

Sex was something you said when you were ready for it, and I guessed Mira and Hannah shared my view that sex was something worth waiting for. I wasn't ready to give myself to anyone yet. Of course there were always those who did it earlier, and felt that they were grown up because they had had sex, but I was in no rush.

"Well, not exactly but almost. It's only a matter of time," Lucinda flushed red, and smiled.

"No!" Debbie stared in amazement. "I hope you were careful."

She flushed redder. "We were."

"At your house? While your parents are away?" Sean asked, grinning.

"At mine. He finished work and came straight over. He was so sweet," she said coyly.

"So, you didn't exactly do it," Hannah said.

"Not all the way, but next time we will."

"Lucie, you hussy!" Debbie exclaimed. "So when are you seeing him again?"

"I'm not sure, maybe later?" She grinned.

"So who is he?" I said.

"Oh, it's Morgan, who else," Debbie blurted out. "She's had a crush on him since forever. Seems like she's finally got her man!"

- Chapter Ten -.

The sharp pain in my chest felt like a dagger piercing my heart. No one noticed my sudden silence, or lack of movement. Just as Debbie had spoken his name, my stomach dropped to the floor. I felt...ill. As if my food was going to land on my lap again.

After everything that had happened, last night and this morning, Morgan had been with Lucie before coming to my room.

I felt suddenly dirty, betrayed, and most of all crushed.

I swallowed quickly, and recklessly used my gift to halt the red flush that was rising in my cheeks. Everyone was still paying attention to Lucie, so the tears that pooled in my eyes went unseen, as did the tiny sparkle that shot out from one of my fingers.

Internally distraught, I wallowed in my solitary despair. I wanted to cry, to scream away my anger and my hurt. I wanted to scream at Morgan. How dare he use me?

I gulped down some more water composing myself. I would deal with this later, but thank god I had kept our intimate actions quiet from the others. I couldn't have borne their sympathy; it would have been too much.

"Shut up!" Lucinda cried out. "Just tell everyone, why don't you."

"Well, they all know except for Rose, it's not secret." Now Debbie was being defensive and I saw a dark look cross Lucinda's face but not to Debbie, it was aimed at me. What did I care if she liked Morgan now? She could have him with my blessing.

Sean changed the subject slightly and confessed that he'd never had a girlfriend but admitted that he wasn't sure yet about the girl species. "I've just never met anyone I've had that thing with." He tilted his head when he said "that thing" but I knew what he was talking about. I had already felt it.

"That thing?" Debbie mimicked, joking. "Oh, I've had that thing! When you meet someone and you stare into their eyes and they stare into yours and the whole world disappears around you. It doesn't last; something always spoils it, or gets in the way."

"But what's it like, when you have it?" Hannah asked eagerly. She was thinking about Jez, I was sure. Her eyes gave off the same twinkle I had seen early.

Debbie began. "When you see that person for the first time, it's like a spark suddenly ignites inside you. You don't know where it starts from, your heart, your stomach, who knows. But you know when it's there. It races around your body so fast that your heart can't keep up. You can't breathe. You feel the ground slipping away from under your feet as if you're walking on air, your body goes cold and hot all at the same time. And you know, absolutely, that he's the one. And in that moment you would do anything for him, be anything for him because he is your world. Nothing else matters."

"Wow," Mira said in awe. "I've been out with guys but I never felt like that."

"Maybe we're not meeting people in the right places, we need to get out more," Sean said laughing. "I'd like to meet a girl who would do anything for me." We all laughed again. It was sincere and Sean knew it.

"So, are you going out with anyone now?" I asked Debbie, keeping my voice under control.

She shook her head. "No, not at the moment. I like someone but he ignores me, and pretends that I don't exist." She gave Lucinda a knowing glance as she said this.

"Yes, but don't us guys do that when we like someone too. Maybe he's just shy." Sean added.

"Spencer is not shy," Debbie said defensively. "He just hangs round with the wrong people."

"Who does he mix with, anyone from town?" I asked.

"He's one of Aiden Deverill's friends," Debbie said reluctantly. "He rarely leaves Aiden's side, except to fetch and carry for him. I knew Spencer when we were kids at playgroup. He changed a lot over the years and now we don't speak, at all."

"But you'd like to," I added.

"Oh yeah," she sighed as she sipped from her water bottle. "I'd like to."

"Doesn't Jason hang around with the same crowd?" I asked Mira.

She chuckled. "Yep, but don't ask me to tell Jason anything. He has a head like a sieve. And you know guys don't get involved with a friend's girl problems. They think it's a sign of weakness. They're all alpha's at the end of the day."

I could feel a plan coming on as I spoke. "So, we have to do something. Is Spencer going to the party at Cley Hill?"

Debbie nodded.

"Okay, so we just have to get you alone with Spencer, so you can ... talk. The rest will be up to you."

"What have you got in mind?" She said quietly.

"I'm not sure yet."

"That's Rose," Mira said to the others about me. "She could always devise a plan."

"What? Even when it means falling into a brook and being carried away by mad men!" I added.

Everyone laughed, it was clear that they'd all heard the story of Old Mad Cole. Somehow it didn't seem so funny when I thought of him and how I'd seen him last night.

"But it was your idea to climb that tree, and you convinced us that the branches wouldn't break," Hannah chipped in.

"Stupid branches, I didn't know the tree was dead, did I?" I said.

Sean was in stitches laughing beside me and even Lucinda cracked a smile.

"How is he?" Debbie asked gently at me.

"I don't know. When I got up he was still sleeping. I don't know anything else," I shrugged.

"Poor beggar. He must have gone through hell," Sean offered.

"And back again," said Mira.

Sean and Mira stopped abruptly; Lucinda followed their gaze at something behind us.

"What is it?"

"There's a car coming," Hannah said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she peered.

"I didn't think cars were allowed up here," I said, turning to look. I couldn't see anything. I hoped it wasn't Pritchard, but also hoped that they were nearby. I had promised not to check them out.

"Cars aren't allowed. Someone must have opened the barrier," Debbie pointed out.

"And they clearly ignored the "No Cars" sign," Sean added.

As they spoke I could hear the low but gradually increasing rumble of a sports car engine getting ever nearer. I twisted back around to get a clearer view.

"I don't believe it, what's he doing here?" Mira said aghast.