"I thought I remembered you wearing this." She laid the belt over the white shirt and stepped back. After a bit more scrutiny, she gave it a nod of approval. The others crowded in to look.

"Good eye," said Kristin.

"Hey, I found the shirt," Jill reminded her.

"I can't wear the shirt alone," I said. I hoped my protests covered up my anxiety. Had I really been that off on the yellow shirt? I'd been certain it was date-appropriate. How was I going to survive tonight if I couldn't even dress right?

"If you want to put a blazer on over it in this weather, be my guest," said Julia. "But I don't think you have to worry about it showing too much. This wouldn't even be worth Mrs. Weathers's notice."

"Neither would the yellow blouse," I pointed out.

They decided my clothing was a done deal and moved on to hair and makeup advice. I drew the line there. I wore makeup every day - very nice, very expensive makeup applied to make the most of my features in a way that made it look as though I didn't even have makeup on. I wasn't going to change that natural look, no matter how adamantly Julia swore pink eye shadow would be "hot."

None of them put up much of a fight on my hair. It was currently in a layered cut that went just past my shoulders. There was exactly one way it could be styled, worn down with the layers carefully arranged with a hair dryer. Any other style looked messy, and of course, I already had it in the perfect configuration today. No point messing with a good thing. Besides, I think they were all too excited that I'd agreed to wear the white tank top - once I'd tried it on to verify that it wasn't transparent.

My only nod to jewelry was my little gold cross. I fastened it around my neck and said a silent prayer that I'd get through this. Although Alchemists used crosses a lot, we weren't exactly part of any traditional Christian faith or practice. We had our own religious services and believed in God, that He was a great force of goodness and light that infused every bit of the universe. With all that responsibility, He probably didn't care much about one girl going on a date, but maybe He could spare a second to make sure it wasn't too painful.

They all traipsed down the stairs with me when the time came for Brayden to pick me up.

(Actually, it was a little earlier than the appointed time, but I hated being late.) The girls had all come up with reasons for needing to meet him, from Jill's "It's a family thing" to Kristin's "I can spot an ass**le in five seconds." I wasn't confident in that last one, seeing as she'd once speculated that Keith might be a good catch.

All of them were also full of unsolicited advice.

"You can split the cost of dinner or the play," said Julia. "Not both. He needs to pick up the whole bill on one of them."

"Better if he pays for everything, though," said Kristin.

"Still order something, even if you don't want to eat it," added Jill. "If he's buying dinner, you don't want to let him off cheap. He's gotta work for you."

"Where are you guys getting all of this?" I asked. "What does it matter if I - oh, come on." We'd reached the lobby and found Eddie and Micah sitting on a bench together. They at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Not you guys too," I said.

"I was just here to see Jill," said Micah unconvincingly.

"And I was here to, um..." Eddie faltered, and I held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't bother. Honestly, I'm surprised Trey isn't here with a camera or something. I figured he'd want to immortalize every moment of this debacle of a - oh. Hey, over here." I put on a smile as Brayden stepped into the lobby. Apparently I wasn't the only one who liked to be early.

Brayden seemed a little surprised that I had an entourage. I couldn't blame him since I was kind of surprised I had one too.

"It's nice to meet all of you," said Brayden, friendly, even if a little bewildered.

Eddie, while uncomfortable with Angeline's advances, could be perfectly outgoing in less bizarre social situations. He played up the brotherly role and shook Brayden's hand. "I hear you guys are seeing a play tonight."

"Yes," said Brayden. "Although, I prefer the term drama. I've actually already seen this production, but I'd like to watch it again with an eye toward alternative forms of dramatic analysis.

The standard Freytag method can get a little cliched after a while." This left everyone speechless. Or maybe they were just trying to figure out what he'd said.

Eddie glanced at me then back to Brayden. "Well. Something tells me you guys are going to have a great time together."

Once we were able to extract ourselves from my well-wishers Brayden said, "You have very... devoted family and friends."

"Oh," I said. "That. They just, uh, happened to all be going out together at the same time we were. To study."

Brayden glanced at his watch. "Not too late for that, I suppose. If I can, I always do my homework right after school because - "

"If you put it off, you never know if something unexpected might happen?"

"Exactly," he said.

He smiled at me. I smiled back.

I followed him to visitor parking, over to a shiny, silver Ford Mustang. I nearly swooned.

Immediately, I reached out and ran my hand along the car's smooth surface. "Nice," I said.

"Brand new, next model year. These new ones will never quite have the character of the classics, but they certainly make up for it in fuel economy and safety." Brayden looked pleasantly surprised. "You know your cars."

"It's a hobby," I admitted. "My mom is really into them." When I'd first met Rose Hathaway, I'd had the incredible experience of driving a 1972 Citroen. Now I owned a Subaru named Latte. I loved it, but it wasn't exactly glamorous. "They're works of art and engineering." I noticed then that Brayden had come with me to the passenger side. For half a second, I thought he expected me to drive. Maybe because I liked cars so much? But then, he opened the door and I realized he was waiting for me to get in. I did, trying to remember the last time a guy had opened a car door for me. My conclusion: never.

Dinner wasn't fast food, but it wasn't anything fancy either. I wondered what Julia and Kristin's opinion would be on that. We ate at a very California type of cafe, that served all organic sandwiches and salads. Every menu item seemed to feature avocado.

"I would've taken you somewhere nicer," he told me. "But I didn't want to risk being late.

The park's a few blocks away, so we should be able to get a good spot. I... I hope that's okay?" He suddenly looked nervous. It was such a contrast to the confidence he had shown when talking about Shakespeare. I had to admit, it was kind of reassuring. I found myself relaxing a little bit. "If it's not, I'll find a better place - "