Free Exposed by Francine Pascal

especially since Gaia was some sort of quasi genius who evidently didn’t need the same education that the rest of the common folk did. Though her teachers weren’t necessarily in on the scheme…
    Gaia—Related Frowning
Whatever
. Liz shook her head, frustrated. The point was, Gaia was nowhere to be found. Which was really a shame, for two reasons:
    1. Gaia was one of the only cool people to be found at the Village School and definitely one of the only girls that Liz could stand.
    2. Gaia had been acting erratic and jittery lately—not at all like her usual badass self—and Liz was a little worried about her.
    She took a right turn outside the science lab and sidled up to Gaia’s locker. Sure enough, Gaia wasn’t there. Liz discovered, however, that she wasn’t the only one searching for the elusive blond. As Lizrounded the corner, she saw a slightly disheveled Ed Fargo staring blankly at Gaia’s locker door, as if he’d forgotten why he stopped by in the first place. Liz didn’t know Ed all that well, but through Gaia she’d learned that he recently had been cured of a massive skateboarding injury that had left him paralyzed. Under normal circumstances, it was easy to imagine Ed as a skate rat daredevil: he was a typical class clown, self-deprecating and always up for a laugh. Liz rarely saw him frowning, as he was now. But she was given to understand that most of his frowning was Gaia-related. Ed had dated Gaia for a while before Liz came to New York. Liz didn’t know exactly why it had ended, but she knew that right now, their relationship was a little strained. Yet here Ed was, Staring at Gaia’s locker as though if he concentrated hard enough, he could create her from thin air just by the sheer force of his will.
    â€œHey,” Liz said, offering a tentative smile and a wave. “You haven’t seen her either?”
    Ed started out of his reverie and looked up, blinking. “Huh? No,” he confirmed. He shook his head emphatically, as if clearing away his mental cobwebs. “God, sorry. I don’t know where the hell I just went. I was trying to remember the last time I’d seen or spoken to her, and I blanked out. I wanted to see what was up with her, maybe find out if she’d heard from anycolleges.” He paused thoughtfully. “If she applied to any colleges.”
    Liz laughed. “So I’m guessing it wasn’t that recent, huh? The last time you saw her, I mean.”
    â€œWell, a few days ago. But since then she’s been incommunicado. Which I guess I should be used to,” Ed said, sounding resigned but not angry.
    â€œYeah, I get the feeling that Gaia can be hard to pin down,” Liz agreed. “But I wanted to talk to her. She seemed upset the other day, so now that she hasn’t been in school … I don’t know, I guess I’m being like a nervous mother or something. I mean, Gaia can take care of herself.”
    â€œWell, yes and no,” Ed hedged.
    Liz didn’t quite want to ask what he meant by that. “I guess, you know, if you see her—let her know I was looking. And I’ll do the same for you,” she suggested.
    â€œSure,” Ed said, snapping back into full consciousness as if by the flip of a light switch. “If all else fails, we’ll see her at prom, right?”
    â€œYeah, definitely. I mean, are you … You guys aren’t going together, are you?” Liz asked. She would have thought that Gaia would be going with Jake since they were technically together. But she hadn’t seen them hanging out over the last few days, and the last time they spoke, Gaia told her that Jake hadn’t asked her yet. So really, it was anybody’s guess.
    â€œOh, no,” Ed replied. “I’m taking Kai. I mean, even though we aren’t dating anymore, she’s really cool and fim, and we both thought we’d have a good time