Seven.

'WOW,' JASON BREATHED. 'You look incredible.'

Sienna smiled, her lipstick the same crimson as her long dress. 'Incredible enough for you to invite me in before someone sees me?'

'Oh, yeah, of course.' Jason stepped back to let her in. 'My parents and Dani are finishing dinner. Let's go upstairs where we can talk.'

Sienna nodded. Jason grabbed her hand and led her up to his bedroom. 'Sienna's here, you guys. Somebody finish my dessert,' he called down the stairs, realizing he'd forgotten to say who was at the door.

'I'll handle that,' his dad called back.

'I can only stay for a minute,' Sienna told him once he'd shut the door behind them. 'Belle and I got permission to leave the auction early. I'm supposed to be over at her house studying. Her dad's home, and he will definitely report in to my parents if I show up later than he thinks I should. I told Belle not to go straight inside, to buy us a little time.'

Sienna started to pace back and forth across the room. 'I should have just called. Or texted. But I wanted to see your face. I wanted to tell you in person how sorry I am I stood you up today.' Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

'It's OK. I know you didn't want to.' Jason stepped in front of her to stop her agitated pacing. He put his hands on her shoulders. 'It's OK, Sienna.'

'No, it's not. My parents somehow found out I was planning on meeting you,' Sienna burst out.

Brad? Jason couldn't help wondering.

'That's why my mom made me help her set up the auction,' Sienna continued. 'I don't know how they found out, but they did. And they are so furious with me for going behind their backs.' She gave a harsh laugh. 'Or, at least, for trying to go behind their backs.'

Jason felt a tremor run through her body, and he tried to wrap his arms around her. Sienna pulled back, holding him away from her. 'Jason . . .' Her voice shook. 'They told me since I can't be trusted, they don't want you and me to be alone together. At all. They realize that we have cla.s.ses together, that we have the same friends and go to the same parties. They aren't saying that we can't be, like, in the same room. But if they hear that we're alone together, anywhere, ever, then . . .'

'Then?' Jason prompted.

'Then they're sending me to boarding school. In France.' Sienna's lips tightened into a thin line. 'I have an older cousin there. She and her husband will "keep an eye" on me apparently. And I'd stay at their place when school's out.'

Jason was speechless. How had things gotten so insane so fast? Just a few days ago he'd been hanging at Sienna's house, kissing her in her own room.

'Say something,' Sienna urged.

'I I can hardly believe this is happening. I keep trying to think of some way to fix it, but . . .' Jason replied.

'But there isn't a way,' Sienna sighed. 'My parents aren't kidding around. And they don't give a lot of second chances. We get caught out one more time, and I'm going to France.'

'No,' Jason said firmly. 'I couldn't take that not being able to see you at all. We just have to . . . we have to stay away from each other.'

Sienna shook her head. 'No. I'm not letting them split us up. We'll just be careful. Extra careful. I don't know how they're getting their info on us, so for now let's just be as paranoid as we can possibly be.' She glanced at the clock on his DVD player. 'I've been here too long. I've got to get to Belle's. We'll talk tomorrow.'

'In public,' Jason reminded her.

'In public,' Sienna agreed. 'We'll figure this out.'

'Definitely,' Jason answered, although he had no clue how. They'd been pretty careful today, and Sienna's parents had still found out about their plans.

He led her downstairs to the front door. 'So, I'll see you tomorrow,' he said. He wanted to kiss her, but the front door had a long window that ran alongside it. Could someone be watching them even now?

'Tomorrow,' Sienna agreed. She slipped out the door and vanished into the darkness.

Jason stared into the night for a long moment, then shut the door. He headed for the kitchen on auto-pilot. He might as well see if there was any cobbler left. Though it was doubtful. His dad loved cobbler.

'I don't know what it is about that girl,' he heard his mother saying, just as he was about to step inside the room. 'Even though I'm sure she's very nice, there's just something about her that makes me uneasy.'

'Overprotective much, Mom?' Dani teased.

Mrs Freeman laughed. 'I expect I am. That's what happens when you love your kids.'

If she knew the truth about Sienna, she'd be acting just the way Sienna's parents are, Jason realized. She'd build a dungeon in the bas.e.m.e.nt, or whatever it took, to keep us apart. What are we going to do? he asked himself. What the h.e.l.l are we going to do?

Suddenly, he couldn't stand still. Every nerve and muscle in his body was begging for release. He didn't bother to change. He was already wearing his sneakers that was good enough. 'I'm going out for a run,' he announced, and was out the front door before either of his parents had time to answer.

As soon as he could, he cut off the quiet streets of DeVere Heights and scrambled down to the beach. He ran at the edge of the sh.o.r.e. Ran until his lungs were burning and his legs were aching. And then he kept on running. He welcomed the pain in his body. If it kept him from thinking, he'd keep running.

But a half an hour later, he had to stop. He dropped onto the cool sand, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

Slowly, as he stared up at the huge arc of sky above him, his breathing returned to normal, and he realized the exertion had cleared his head. There was no way he could deal with his life without Sienna in it. But there was obviously no way they could continue their relationship in the face of all the parental negativity.

He knew what he and Sienna had to do.

And tomorrow, he'd tell her.

'No, turn a little more to the left,' Adam told Belle at the cafeteria table the next day. 'A little more . . . stop. Perfect.'

'This is a little extreme, don't you think?' Belle laughed.

'Not at all, and keep still!' Adam instructed.

Belle sat absolutely still for all of about two seconds before collapsing into giggles again. Adam shook his head in despair and adjusted himself so that his body blocked Jason's face from the door. 'When you've stopped laughing,' he said, frowning at Belle, 'you're blocking Sienna, and I'm blocking Jason. There will be no lip-reading on our watch.'

'You're too funny!' Belle exclaimed, settling into position. 'n.o.body is here to lip-read anyway. We're inside. No one sits inside for lunch. I didn't even know there was an inside until today.'

'Joke all you want,' Adam replied. 'Just don't move.' He shot a sideways glance at Jason. 'OK. You're clear.'

'Good. Now tell me what's going on,' Sienna said. She started to lean toward Jason, but Adam tsk-tsked her back into place.

Jason swallowed hard, gazing at her gorgeous face. Adam and Belle could have been on another planet as far as he was concerned. They were there for camouflage, nothing else.

'I know what we have to do,' Jason said. He took a deep breath. 'I think we have to . . . We have to go back . . .'

'. . . to being just friends,' Sienna finished for him. 'I know. I was up all night thinking about it. I won't be able to take it if I get sent away from you. At least this way, we can still see each other.'

'And talk to each other,' Jason said. Just not ever touch each other, he added silently.

'It's going to be so hard,' Sienna breathed.

'It's going to be a killer,' Jason agreed. 'But we can do it. We have to do it. And you know that we can. We did it for most of last semester.'

Sienna gave a faint smile. 'We did. And it won't be forever. My parents aren't going to have control of me for my whole life or anything. At college, things will be different. I just wish . . .' She glanced over at Belle and Adam, who were doing a good job of pretending that they were deep in conversation themselves, trying to give Sienna and Jason at least the illusion of being alone.

'You just wish what?' Jason prompted.

'I just wish that the last time we kissed, I'd known it was the last time,' she told him.

'The last time for a while,' he corrected. But he felt exactly the same way.

'Right, the last time for a while,' Sienna agreed. 'I just would have tried to lock the memory away. So I could keep it safe.'

All Jason wanted to do right at that moment was kiss her. Give her that memory. Give them both that memory.

But it was too risky.

One kiss, and he could lose her completely.

Eight.

'LOOK, I KNOW why you're so upset,' Adam said to Jason as they waited for chemistry cla.s.s to start.

'Really? Because I didn't realize you were sitting a foot away from me when Sienna and I broke up,' Jason said, the words slippery with sarcasm.

'Not that. Why you're really upset,' Adam went on, mock serious. 'You're afraid you're going to flunk out of French without Sienna to help you. And I want you to know that you don't have to worry, because I'm taking over as your tutor.'

'Adam, you can't even say the word croissant. Forget about spell it,' Jason reminded him.

'Untrue. OK, it's sort of true,' Adam admitted. 'I prefer the American term "crescent roll". But I can recite most of the lines from Amelie flawlessly. I even sound like Audrey Tautou, who played Amelie, which I'm sure you know, since you never miss a film directed by the genius Jean-Pierre Jeunet.'

Jason laughed. He hadn't expected that. He hadn't expected to laugh again, well, pretty much ever. 'OK, you're on. You're my new French tutor,' he told Adam.

Adam rattled off a whole bunch of what might have been French, though it didn't sound remotely like anything Madame G.o.ddard had ever uttered.

'I have no idea what you just said,' Jason admitted.

'Amelie has one friend, Blubber. Alas, the home environment has made Blubber suicidal,' Adam translated. 'It happens right at this point where a goldfish jumps out of the bowl, trying to commit suicide. So fun-'

'Why don't I think any of that is going to be on G.o.ddard's mid-term?' Jason interrupted.

'Don't worry, I know other stuff. Meet me in the parking lot after school, and we'll get started,' Adam replied.

'Cool,' Jason said. But he felt a dull ache roll through his body as he realized he'd never have another French lesson with Sienna. This 'just friends' thing it was going to be even harder than he'd thought.

Jason leaned against the Bug, watching Sienna and Belle head across the school parking lot. He knew it would be better not to even look at her. Or easier at least. But looking was pretty much all he had right now, so he was going to look.

Although maybe he could do a little bit more than look. Sienna was with Belle, after all, so if he went over, he wouldn't be alone with Sienna. And that's what Sienna's parents had forbidden him and Sienna being alone together.

But Jason had only taken two steps in her direction when Brad stepped up beside him, looped one arm over Jason's shoulders, and turned him back toward his car. What's this about? Jason thought. Christ! Is Adam right about Brad? 'What's up?' he asked.

'You don't want to go over there right now,' Brad said softly. 'Sienna's car broke down again, and her dad's come to pick her up. Check it out. At four o'clock.'

Jason shot a quick glance in that direction. Mr Devereux sat behind the wheel of a nearby Bentley. 'Thanks,' Jason told Brad.

'Not a problem,' Brad answered. 'I know you and Sienna are getting a lot of flack from her parents.'

Man, I've got paranoid, Jason thought. Brad's my friend. He's Sienna's friend. He just proved that. And he shouldn't have needed to prove anything!

'Study time!' came a voice from behind him.

Jason turned to face the voice and saw Adam heading toward him, with Michael Van d.y.k.e, Aaron Harberts, and Kyle Priesmeyer from the swim team.

Adam jumped in the shotgun seat of the Bug. Harberts and Priesmeyer took the backseat. And Brad and Van d.y.k.e piled into Brad's Jeep. 'Well, get in,' Adam called to Jason. 'This heap isn't going to drive itself to Venice.'

'How does going to Venice help me pa.s.s French?' Jason asked as he climbed into the driver's seat.

'It doesn't,' Harberts told him. 'But it does help you pa.s.s Fun, which, from the looks of you, is a subject you also need help in.'

Jason got it. The grapevine really did work fast. They all knew what he was going through with Sienna. Harberts and Priesmeyer probably didn't have the whole story, but they still knew something had gone down and that Jason wasn't happy about it. And this trip was their way of showing support.

'Drive,' Priesmeyer ordered. 'Brad and Van d.y.k.e are already pulling out of the parking lot.'

Jason drove. 'So where exactly in Venice do you want to go?' he asked as they flew down PCH.

'Is there more than one destination?' Harberts asked. 'The boardwalk.'

'I actually haven't been there yet,' Jason admitted.

'You really do need help,' Harberts said. 'There are more hot girls on rollerblades at the Venice boardwalk than anyplace else in the entire world. And they usually wear very little clothing.'

Jason didn't care about that not unless one of the girls happened to be Sienna Devereux but he kept his mouth shut. You didn't tell a car full of guys that the only babe you wanted to see was your girlfriend. Your ex-girlfriend. Your very platonic, only-speak-in-public friend.

'This is the exit,' Priesmeyer announced. 'Go left. Ocean turns into Pacific, and that slams right into the boardwalk.'

Jason followed Priesmeyer's instructions and pulled into a medium-sized parking lot near one end of the boardwalk. He took the spot next to Brad's Jeep.

'I've got to eat,' Van d.y.k.e said. 'We're hitting Sausage Kingdom first. No argument.'

'You're not getting one from me. My dad actually sent me to school with leftover ten-alarm chili today,' Adam answered. 'I'm running on empty.'