The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 14

"Edwards was right of course," Cassie said. "I had a lot of unresolved feelings about my mother. Being angry and suspicious about Bella's strange behavior must have seemed like a good way to hide from them. Until something happened that pushed those feelings forward."

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Magnolia Blossom Park, Willow Creek, 2000

I remember, it was the week before Halloween. We were meeting in the park - Carmilla, Molly, Gwen and me. (Yes, I'd made sure Edwards knew where I was this time.) Carmilla wanted to talk to us about Halloween. Carmilla was big on Halloween which, looking back, had helped distract me from my emotional turmoil in years past. It wasn't helping that year.

Anyway, we were just sitting around and chatting, waiting for Gwen who hadn't been on the bus...

"Ugh, that Elly is terrible," Gwen groaned expansively as she practically collapsed onto the bench next to me.

"Oh God, what happened?" I asked. "Did she make you miss the bus?"

"Yes," Gwen sighed. "Well, kind of. She cornered me on my way out and got me so upset... I just lost track of time."

"To be fair," Molly put in, "lots of things make you lose track of time."

"Well, this time it was Elly," Gwen said. 

"At my old school, I'd just challenge her to a duel," Gwen continued, "but Doug says I'm not allowed to do that. Just another one of this place's stupid rules... You can't have duels, Gwen, even with mean girls. You can't go outside with no clothes on, Gwen. You can't fly, Gwen. Why can't we fly!? I love to fly!"

"Um, physics," Molly suggested. "Can't argue with physics."

"I argue with physics all the time," Gwen said. 

"Ok, are we just going to skip over the whole 'going outside naked' part," Carmilla said, "because, Gwen, I want you to know I would be totally fine with you doing that."

"Carmilla!" I gasped, shocked and more than a little jealous that she was leering at my... friend. 

"I don't know," Gwen sighed deeply, clearly missing the point, "Lilian was pretty instant that I can't do that. She doesn't even like it when I walk around with no clothes inside the house."

"You can come over to my house," Carmilla smiled suggestively.

"Carmilla," I snarled warningly.

"I don't mean... well, OK, maybe I did, a little," Carmilla smiled at me, "but what I really mean is you should all come over. Like, for an overnight, this weekend. We can have a slumber party, like we used to."

"There's no way Bella would let me do that," I sighed. "Not with how she's been lately."

"Come on! Gramma D will be there, so you can totally tell Bella we'll have responsible, adult supervision," Carmilla said. "Except, of course, we won't because Gramma D is always asleep by sunset and my mom's in the City on some lame business trip. We'll practically have the whole house to ourselves."

"I've never been to a slumber party," Gwen mused.

"Oh, slumber parties are great," Molly said cheerfully. "Bring a sleeping bag or blankets and a pillow and..."

"Sleep, obviously," Gwen said. "It's in the name."

"Oh no," Molly shook her head. "That's the first rule of slumber parties. You never sleep."

"I'm confused again," Gwen said.

"We talk and eat pizza and listen to music," Molly smiled. "We could dance and..."

"It's a Halloween party, so we'll tell scary stories too," Carmilla added. "You've got to come."

"OK," Gwen laughed. 

"I'll talk to my father," I sighed. "Maybe he can convince Bella."

"Remember to tell him about Gramma D and the responsible adult thing," Carmilla said. "Parents always fall for that."

We all laughed. For a moment, a friendly kind of silence fell across us. I remember, I looked at Gwen, and Molly looked at Carmilla, and it seemed like everything really was OK. 

Then Carmilla's eyes went wide, looking at something behind me.

"Guys, a raven just landed on the table behind us," Carmilla said softly. "Don't startle it."

"A raven?' I said softly. I felt a chill, because Raven was my father's name for my mother.

"Ravens are so cool," Molly said.

"Ravens are wise and intelligent birds," Carmilla said in her 'occult lecture' voice. "They're deeply connected to the spirit world. They guide the spirits of the dead across... and sometimes they bring messages from the dead back to living," she added, looking significantly at Gwen. 

"If my mother had a message for me, she'd send a fairy," Gwen said, surprisingly serious. "My grandmother would probably just come herself." 

"Are you sure?" Carmilla said, a little put off by Gwen's response.

"Yes, but I'll ask," Gwen said.

To our surprise, Gwen did exactly that. 

She stood up, calmly approached the raven and started talking softly to it. We couldn't hear what she said, but she was clearly speaking to it and, even more surprising, the raven seemed to croak back, as if it was answering her.

When she was finished, Gwen took her seat beside me again... and changed my life again.

"I was right. Roac's message wasn't for me. It was for you," she said, looking at me. "He said that your mother, Victoria, had told him it was time for you to look in her book."

I don't know how to explain what I felt in that moment. A rush of excitement. A breathless moment of shock. 

Then agony, like Gwen had stabbed me through the heart with a blade of ice.

"How... how could you?!" I demanded, sudden tears burning my eyes. "How could you make fun of me like that!?"

"What?" Gwen said, shocked. 

"You know how important she is to me," I accused. "You know I've been trying to reach her spirit for years. You think this is funny!? I hate you!"

"Cas... I don't... I would never," Gwen stammered.

"I never want to see you again!" I shouted, running off.

"But... that was the message," Gwen called after me.

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 13

"Of course, now that I was once again convinced Bella was up to something sinister, I had to tell Gwen," Cassie said.

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Ophelia Villa, Willow Creek, 2000

The next time she came over after school, I pulled her into the kitchen and filled her in.

"... and I thought she was being nice!" I ranted. "Really, she's totally up to something. And now she's getting Mrs. Brown to help her... I mean, you need to be careful. Who knows what she might convince the Browns to do."

"I don't think Doug and Lilian would do anything bad to me," Gwen said soothingly. "They're both really nice."

"Well, I thought Bella was being nice," I put in bitterly.

"Lilian makes brownies," Gwen said serenely but firmly, "and she's teaching me about Postmodernist painting."

That seemed to settle the matter of the Browns in Gwen's mind.

"Alright, fine," I said irritably. "As long as you're sure... but I still don't trust Bella. She not just asking all these questions and hanging out around us for no reason. I'm sure she's checking up on you. I don't know why but it can't be for anything good."

Gwen did start to look concerned about that.

I know it's horrible to say, but I hadn't really noticed that Edwards was in the kitchen with us. I mean, I did really think of him as an important person in my life, a trusted friend and confidant. At the same time, he's the one who told me once that it's the sign of a good butler that you don't really notice them when they're doing their thing. Yeah, I know... horrible.

"Excuse me," Edwards put in, joining us at the table. "I don't want to be out of line here, cher, but it is almost Halloween, and you know you can get emotional at this time of year."

"I am not emotional," I huffed. "I'm angry at Bella."

"I don't understand," Gwen said, puzzled.

"Every year, near Halloween, when the walls between us and the Netherworld are thinnest, Mr. Mortimer and Cas have a big seance," Edwards explained. "They reach out to the spirit of Cas's mother, Victoria... trying to get some message from her."

"It never works," I grumbled. "And this isn't about that."

"It upsets you," Edwards said. 

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Oh, but you know what else?" I continued on my rant. "It's almost Halloween and Bella is still insisting on my stupid curfew. Who has a sunset curfew on Halloween!? I tried to tell her that she has to change it, but she won't listen."

"You mean you yelled at her about it," Edwards said.

"She was being totally unreasonable!" I insisted. 

"You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar, cher," Edwards suggested. 

"Why would you want to catch flies?" Gwen asked. "Unless you had a frog and you wanted to feed it fresh flies. Oh, we could turn Elly into a frog and feed her the flies you catch... with the honey."

"It's a saying." Edwards wasn't used to Gwen's odd tangents. "It means you're more likely to get what you want by being nice than by being angry."

"But... why flies?" Gwen asked.

I couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately, it didn't last.

"Anyway," I tried to continue. "She has all these lame reasons about not wanting me to be out too late... and how I needed to show her I could be responsible and polite and all that garbage. Like I'm not polite and responsible!" 

"Well, you were yelling at her, I guess," Gwen said.

"She's totally unreasonable," I said firmly. "And she thinks it's like dangerous for me to be out at night. What does she think... that I'm going to get attacked by some crazed trick-or-treater or something!"

"Your mother cares about you, cher," Edwards said. 

"Stepmother," I snapped.

"Stepmother, then," Edwards allowed, beginning to sound irritated with me. "She has still been a good one to you, cher, and she's a good partner to your father."

"Oh, oh, I didn't tell you!" I said suddenly. "I think she might be cheating on him!"

"Cassandra Goth," Edwards said, a hint of anger in his voice. "I will not hear this from you."

"When I was waiting to talk to her about the curfew," I pressed on, missing his warning. "I saw her on the veranda talking to some strange guy."

"Shame on you, cher," Edwards said firmly. "A woman may talk to a man without doing anything that would shame her! I make allowances for your feelings, girl, but Bella is never anything but a good wife to your father and a good mother to you and Alexander." 

"Stepmother," I said, but softly because I knew in my heart, he was right.

"Stepmother, then," Edwards repeated, making it clear what he thought. "She cares about you, regardless... and you do not honor your mother by being angry with the woman she trusted to look after you."

"She ought to be here looking after me herself," I said. Being angry meant I wasn't going to cry, damn it. "She ought to be here! Why isn't she here?"

"I don't know, cher," Edwards said gently. "I don't know."

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 12

"There was definitely strangeness going on," Cassie said. "Though, at the time, I was convinced it was a completely different, and more ordinary, kind of strangeness."

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Willow Creek, 2000

Bella was being weird. 

Don't get me wrong, I still thought she was overprotective and hypercritical. She was still disappearing at all hours of the day and night, ostensibly for work. We still argued about almost everything.

However, she was suddenly completely supportive of Gwen coming over to study. Even weirder, she seemed very interested in Gwen - in her background and her family, but also in her thoughts, hopes and worries. I admit I might have been a little jealous, but her sudden interest seemed to extend to me too. 

The next weekend things got even stranger.

It was Edwards' day off and, you might recall, he'd made plans to join Mr. Brown and his friends fishing. Hoping that I had enough good will from Bella, I asked if I could go along.

"Of course," Bella said with a smile. "In fact, if you don't think anyone would mind, Edwards, I'd like to join you as well."

"You... you want to come fishing ma'am?" Edwards managed to sound both shocked and polite with the same breath.

"Well, no," Bella admitted. "I was hoping to catch up a little with Lilian. It's been ages since we got together."

Excited as I was about getting to go over to Gwen's, the idea of my elegant stepmother hanging out with the bohemian artist Mrs. Brown almost made me laugh out loud. Still, neither Edwards nor I were willing to argue with Bella about it.

"Of course, ma'am. You're most welcome, I'm sure," Edwards smiled nervously.

"Bella," Mrs. Brown greeted us with obvious surprise. "I wasn't expecting you. You look... well, amazing."

Honestly, until that day I don't think I'd known she even owned a pair of jeans. (Edwards, always discrete, had managed to run off and join the guys fishing in the canal almost as soon as we arrived.)

"Thank you." Bella was all smiles. "I hope you don't mind me tagging along. It's been so long since you and I just got together and chatted about things."

Gwen gave me an even-more-perplexed-than-usual look. 

I was excited enough about spending the afternoon with her, outside of school, that even Bella's presence wasn't going to bother me.

We made a beeline for Gwen's room, leaving Bella and Mrs. Brown making small talk.

Bella seemed so completely comfortable, dressed in casual clothes I'd never imagined her wearing, hanging out in that little house, chatting amiably about art with Mrs. Brown. I remember thinking to myself - 'who is this woman, and what did she do with my stepmother?' 

Of course, alone with Gwen, I quickly forgot about Bella's weird behavior. Although, searching for something, anything, to talk about, I latched onto Bella's topic, and we started chatting about art. I found myself asking Gwen about her artistic process. What she told me would soon change my life in the most unexpected ways.

"I start by Centering," Gwen said. "It's something Grandmother taught me when I was little. She would say 'Feel the wind, blowing over you. Listen to the water, flowing by. Smell the green grass as it grows. Be warmed by the Sun and touch the memories of the Moon.'"

"That's cool," I said, feeling oddly moved. "So, it's like a meditation."

"Similar," Gwen mused. "For me, meditation is about silence and stillness. Centering is about connecting and moving, creating and changing."

"What do you think?" she asked, showing me her new painting.

"It's different," I said. "It's... warm and... it's about connecting, isn't it."

"I'm glad you like it," Gwen smiled, and I felt warm and connected too.

Yeah, I felt good about my friendship with Gwen and that made me feel good about life in general. I decided that Bella was just being decent, wanting to get to know my friend. Maybe, I thought, she was even trying to make up for her overreaction to me going over to Gwen's that day.

Then, a few days later, came the museum trip. 

Gwen was doing advanced art classes, you see, because of course she was. As a class assignment, she had to visit the local art museum and analyze some paintings. Mrs. Brown was taking her and they asked if I wanted to join them. 

I wasn't even surprised Bella invited herself along again.

I admit, before Gwen, I was all about music. I didn't know much about art, and I'd never been to the museum before (except maybe for some elementary school trip when I was little).

Of course, Willow Creek was all about music and especially about jazz. So, I probably shouldn't have been surprised when Gwen led to me paintings about music.

"You can hear it, can't you," she said, looking at the painting. "Like the music is caught in the brush strokes."

Looking at the painting with her, I almost could.

Even as I looked at the painting, I caught a bit of conversation behind us.

"It's not that she's difficult," Mrs. Brown was saying. "I think I could handle 'difficult.' She does her schoolwork and her chores without complaint. Actually, she's always very quick about her chores. I swear, I'll leave the room and come back moments later to find everything clean and Gwen reading a book. I don't know how she does it."

"But?" Bella promoted.

"Well, she's usually very polite and very quiet," Mrs. Brown said, "but I worry about her, Bella. You know she's been through something terrible, but she won't talk about it. I think she has nightmares... she hardly seems to sleep. I'll hear her up at all hours of the night. Sometimes, she barely eats. She has these... outbursts... startling at nothing, becoming totally panicked, then a moment later she's calm as a lake. Doug says she'll talk when she's ready, but I worry she needs more help than we're giving her. I just wish she'd open up to me."

"You know if you, or Doug, need anything, Mortimer and I are here for you," Bella said.

"We really appreciate that, Bella," Mrs. Brown replied.

"And if you're worried about Gwen, I may know some people who can help," Bella added. "The company I work for has a lot of resources. I'm sure I could get you a recommendation or referral to specialists."

"Oh, I don't know," Mrs. Brown said. "I'm sure Doug's right and we just need to give her time... but I'll keep it in mind."

What was Bella up to, I thought indignantly. OK, Gwen was a little odd and could have a strange turn sometimes, but she wasn't ready for a straitjacket and a rubber room or anything.

As we said out goodbyes outside the museum, I found myself suddenly suspicious.

Was Bella up to something sinister? Did all those questions she asked Gwen, about her past and her feelings, have some hidden agenda? Had she invited herself along, over the weekend and to the museum, just to get closer to Mrs. Brown, and through her to find out more about Gwen? 

Why?

One thing I knew for sure - Gwen was my best friend and if Bella tried to do anything to come between us, she was going to fail!

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 11

"After that, Gwen came over after school almost every day," Cassie said with a smile. "I really was helping her with her homework. Like she's said, she had some odd gaps in her knowledge. It led to some strange conversations..."

"Oh, tell them about Career Day," Gwen said, chuckling at a memory.

"Oh God, I'd forgotten about that," Cassie laughed.

"What happened on Career Day?" Mariah asked.

"Well, it was a pretty strange day," Cassie said.

"OK, what happened on Career Day?!" Miranda insisted, knowing all too well what her family's threshold for "strange" was.

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Buckingham High School, 2000

It started out as an ordinary school day. We spent the morning sitting in class listening to our teacher drone on about... oh, I have no idea what she droned on about (and probably didn't even at the time). 

"Remember students," Ms. Coombes said as she wrapped up her morning lecture, "today is Career Day. After lunch we will be gathering in the gymnasium to learn about some possible future careers for you. We have some very distinguished guest speakers today and I expect you all to be on your best behavior."

Well, at least it was a break from an afternoon of listening to her drone on about something.

The gym at Buckingham was in a separate building. Honestly, it always seemed to me to be just a big room with terrible acoustics and a funky smell where the sweat of generations of teenage athletes had long ago sunk into the wood. 

At least they'd made some effort to decorate it for career day. 

As for distinguished guest speakers... well, that's where things start to get interesting. 

First, we had Jacques Villareal talking to us about... well, he called it Finance and Business Consulting Services.

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"Wait, Jacques Villareal?" Mariah interrupted. "As in Jacques Villareal, the gangster!?"

"That's the one," Cassie nodded.

"Your high school had an organized crime kingpin as a guest speaker at Career Day!?" Mariah gasped.

"Yeah," Cassie nodded.

"You know, when I was in Moonwood Mill, the school had a Career Day," Miranda mused, "I think we had a guy from the lumber mill and the manager of the local Gas n' Gulp." 

"I'm pretty sure he recruited someone that day too," Cassie added, a shadow passing briefly across her eyes. "But that's a different story."

Miranda looked at her mother, puzzled, but Mariah quieted any question she might have asked with a gentle shake of her head. 

"Another day, perhaps," Gwen said softly. 

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Anyway, as if that wasn't weird enough, we had another distinguished speaker, this one from the government.

Director Shantel Bridges spoke at length, and rather eloquently, about the importance and value of government service. Interestingly, as I recall, she didn't actually say anything specific about the nature of the government service.

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"Wait a minute," Mariah said. "Shantel Bridges. I know that name. Where do I know that name?"

Cassie and Gwen just sat there, looking mysterious. 

"Liberty!" Mariah gasped. "Shantel Bridges was... I can't say."

"She was Liberty Lee's boss at the Agency," Gwen supplied.

"So, wait," Miranda said. "You had a crime boss and a spy captain at Career Day, and all I got was the pervy manager from Gas 'n Gulp?"

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Not that we knew it at the time. We just knew we had two distinguished speakers, like Ms. Coombes said. We had no idea neither of them was anything but exactly what they seemed. 

We certainly didn't know that one of them was there with a very specific agenda that would eventually end up directly involving us.

Even not knowing any of that, it was still a weird day. I once again found myself running into the odd blind spots in Gwen's knowledge of the world, and my own blind spots when it came to Gwen.

"So, what's the point of all of this?" Gwen asked me after we'd listened to Director Bridges' presentation.

"Well, for one thing, I'm pretty sure I don't want to work in finance or for the government," I answered. "What about you?"

"No, I mean this whole Career Day thing? What is this about?" Gwen looked genuinely puzzled.

"Oh, you know, trying to teach us about the various jobs we can get," I said. "So, we can decide how to slowly kill our souls."

"Why would anyone do that?" Gwen asked, clearly appalled.

"You know, for money," I said. "I'm going to be a musician. I hope. That is, if I can make it in the music business. I know my family is rich," I added self-consciously, "but I don't want to just live off the family money forever and..."

Gwen just looked confused.

"Oh, come on!" I laughed. "They have money in Windenburg. What did your family do for work?"

"Nothing," Gwen shrugged. "Well, I mean, we served the Council, but I don't think there was money involved."

"So, what did you do for money?" 

It was my turn to be genuinely puzzled. I realized I had thought of Gwen in terms of the Brown family, who were definitely not well to do.

"Grandmother always had some to give us when we needed it, which wasn't often," Gwen said. "I've never really thought about it before."

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"Um, how rich are you? Mariah asked.

"Oh, come on," Miranda laughed. "It's not like your family is struggling. Danielle is a best-selling novelist and Londyn is an award-winning actress."

"Yeah, but I grew up with Janet, the struggling lounge singer, and her parade of petty thief and drug dealing boyfriends," Mariah reminded her. "I have a lot of different life experiences." 

"Gwen has occasionally used the term 'treasure horde' when referring to her money," Cassie put in.

"As much fun as Gwen's relationship with money is," Miranda said, "I think we're getting off track. You had gangsters and spies at Career Day. That's something beyond even our usual strangeness."

"Is it really, though?" Mariah asked wryly. 

"There was definitely strangeness going on," Cassie agreed.

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Author's Note: Some quick links to earlier stories referenced here.

Jacques Villareal: first appearance, learning more.

Mariah likely encountered Shantel Bridges's name when reading Confidential Files of Agent Liberty Lee.

The Raven's Apprentice - Chapter 10

Glimmerbrook Watch, Present Day

"Alright," Cassie said with a smile, "that's studio business dealt with for now. Though I'll be up all night reading scripts."

"Did you get their guy off OK?" Miranda asked.

"I had the car service wait and drive him back," Cassie said. "Rather than abandoning him on the edge of the forest... unlike some people."

"That happened one time," Gwen rolled her eyes, "and they found him eventually. He was fine."

"OK, much as I'd like to hear that story... I think... I want to know more about you guys as teens," Mariah smiled.

"Right," Cassie laughed. "Where was I?"

"'Fated friends'," Mariah said, amused frustration weighing down each word.

"Oh yeah," Cassie sighed theatrically. "Well..." 

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Ophilia Villa, Willow Creek, 2000 

After Gwen left that night, Bella and I had a huge fight. I believe she said I was irresponsible and disrespectful, and I probably said something about how she was a controlling hypocrite who wasn't my real mother. 

Naturally, I stormed off. 

As usual, it fell to my father to try to make peace.

I'll admit, he managed to come up with a pretty interesting compromise idea... if I could make it work.

Buckingham High School

Have you had ever been perfectly clear on things at night and have them suddenly seem much more confusing the next morning? 

That's how I felt. The night before, the idea that we were destined to be best friends had made sense out of my confusing feelings. Looking at Gwen the next morning, having her smile at me, everything suddenly felt very confusing again.

"I mean, I know I've only known her for a few weeks," I said to Molly later, in the cafeteria, "but it feels like..."

"It feels special," Molly said. "You really like her."

"Well, yeah," I said. "Then I find out that her mom was best friends with my birth mom... it's like..."

"Fate," Molly said with a little gasp.

"Right," I said. "Like we're supposed to be together... to be friends. When I'm with her I feel..."

"Like the whole room lights up," Molly smiled. "Like when she wasn't there, you feel like something's missing..."

"Yeah," I nodded, glad that someone understood (even while I obviously didn't understand). "Like, I hear a song, or read a poem, and I just want to share it with her... you know?"

"Oh yeah," Molly said. "But when you see her, you get totally tongue-tied. Like everything you think to say sounds totally dumb... but then she smiles and it's all OK again."

"Exactly," I sighed. "See, I knew you'd understand."

"Oh yeah," Molly chuckled knowingly. 

Molly got it. I didn't get it, yet, but Molly got it. 

Of course, not everyone in school was as supportive as Molly. I could always count on Elly to be... well, Elly.

"Hey freak," Elly said. "I guess it was only a matter of time."

"Before you got crabs?" I snarked back. "I hear they have a cream for that."

"Before you went full dyke," Elly snarled.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Oh come on, Cas!" Elly drawled. "Everyone knows you and that weirdo, Gwen, are totally muff diving."

"I... what... you... no!" I stammered.

"You know, I bet Carmilla's been giving you carpet munching lessons this whole time," Elly said. "Did you just watch or was it a threesome thing with her and Tubby?"

"Elly, the peroxide has finally leached into your brain," I snapped, recovering. "Don't you have a football player to blow?"

"Hey, if you want to switch back, I know a guy who'd love to have you on your knees," Elly laughed. "No accounting for taste, I guess."

"You'd be the expert on how it tastes," I snarled, stalking away.

I really hated her.

After my run-in with Elly, lunch was awkward. 

Carmilla was going about something... rumors about them making a movie of the second High Fang novel, probably. I wasn't paying attention. I just kept wondering, did people really think that about me and Gwen? 

Gwen could tell something was bothering me, which bothered her. She didn't say anything though (and, let's be honest, Gwen not saying something uncomfortably insightful in that moment was a pretty clear sign of her own confused feelings).

To make things worse, Molly kept giving me knowing looks. Thinking back, I know she was trying to be supportive, but I found myself wondering what she really thought... or guessed. Not helped by the fact that, of course, she obviously had guessed more about my feelings for Gwen that I was willing to admit, even to myself.

Yeah, all in all, it was a really awkward lunch period.

Still, it was Molly and her knowing looks that got me to take the next, very, very small, step after class.

"Hi, Gwen," I was trying to sound so cool and casual. I was totally failing.

"Hello," she said.

"So... umm... I was thinking," I stumbled. "I mean... we've got that history test coming up and... I was wondering..."

I remember, she didn't say anything. She just gave me that Look of hers. (Yeah, that Look.)

"WouldYouLikeToComeOverToMyPlace?" I blurted out. "To study? If... if you want..."

"That would be great," Gwen replied, adding with a mischievous smile. "Let me just find Doug and ask him if it's OK."

"Great," I said. "Yeah, you... you should... ask."

Of course, that was my father's "compromise" idea. Bella may object to me going to Gwen's house, unannounced, but he said she couldn't object to Gwen coming over to our house. 

I'd been sure she would try to find some reason to forbid it anyway, but she didn't. In fact, she seemed quite interested in getting to know more about Gwen. She kept asking her questions and stuff. It was a little annoying, really. I mean, we were trying to study. 

Still, like Molly said, with Gwen there the whole room seemed to light up.