Zoe sat in the back of the bus, next to a girl and across from two more girls, so that the Asian boy would not be encouraged to continue his interrogation by sitting next to her. Zoe watched him out the window. He continued to stare at her, up through the bus window and past her oblivious, iPod-listening seatmate.

Then, the bus jerked into motion. The Asian boy didn't come on. But his head swiveled to track her as Zoe and the bus skipped down the road.

Zoe wondered what the boy's problem could possibly be. Maybe he was a dork, like Robert, and that exchange was some weird way of flirting with her. But why didn't he get on the bus?

Zoe sighed. She didn't want to remind herself about Robert, but now all she could think about was how much she needed to talk to him. He was the only one she could tell about the magical glass she found.

She spent the bus ride practicing ways to initiate the conversation in her mind.

After a while, though, she decided she didn't want to talk to Robert at all. At least not yet. He probably needed some space. For that matter, so did she.