“I like literature," I said. "We started watching the film version of Romeo and Juliet today."I didn't tell them this, but the love story fascinated me. The way the lovers fell so deeply and irrevocably in love after their first meeting sparked a burning curiosity in me about what human love might feel like."How are you finding that?" Ivy asked."It's very powerful, but the teacher got really mad when one of the boys said something about Lady Capulet.""What did he say?""He called her a MILF, which must be offensive because Miss Castle called him a thug and sent him out of the room. Gabe, what is a MILF?"Ivy smothered her smile behind a napkin while Gabriel did something I'd never seen before. He blushed and shifted uncomfortably in his chair."Some acronym for a teenage obscnity, I imagine," he mumbled."Yes, but do you know what it means?"He paused, trying to find the right words."It's a term used by adolescent males to describe a woman who is both attractive and a mother." He cleared his throat and got up quickly to refill the water jug."I'm sure it must stand for something," I pressed."It does," Gabriel said. "Ivy, can you remeber what it is?""I believe it stands for 'mother I'd like to...befriend'," said my sister."Is that all?" I exclaimed. "What a fuss over nothing. I really think Miss Castle needs to chill.”

“He called her a MILF, which must be offensive because Miss Castle called him a thug and sent hit out of the room. Gabe, what is a MILF?”- Bethany”

“The water was lapping around my waist by the time Ivy and Gabriel found me. I was shivering, but I hardly noticed. I didn't move or speak, not even when Gabriel lifted me out of the water and carried me back to our house. Ivy helped me into the shower, and came to help me out half an hour later when I'd forgotten where I was and just stood under the pounding water. Gabriel bought me some dinner, but I couldn't eat it. I sat on my bed, staring into space and doing nothing but thinking of Xavier and trying not to think of him at the same time. The separation made me realize just how safe I felt with him. I craved his touch, his smell, even the awareness that he was nearby. But now he felt miles away, and I couldn't reach him, and that knowledge made me feel ready to crumble, to cease to exist.”

“Raphael continued to stare at me, in no hurry to get started. "You know the best way to get rid of a demon, right?" He asked with a serious face. I caught Ivy rolling her eyes as I shook my head. "Exorcise alot!"Ivy caught my expression of dismay. "It's okay, Beth. He's famous for his bad jokes. We're still waiting for him to grow up.""And like Peter Pan, I hope to avoid that at all costs.”

“They want to hold a seance and go dressed as bunnies.”“What kind of bunnies?” he asked suspiciously.“Playboy, I think. Whatever that means.”“That sounds about right.” Xavier laughed. “But don’t let them talk you into anything you don’t feel comfortable with.”“They’re my friends.”“So what?” He shrugged. “If your friends walked off a cliff, would you do it too?”“Why would they walk off a cliff?” I asked in alarm. “Is someone having problems at home?”Xavier laughed. “It’s just an expression.”“It’s silly,” I told him. “Do you think I should go as an angel? Like in the film version of Romeo and Juliet?”“There would be a certain irony in that,” Xavier said, smirking. “An angel posing as a human posing as an angel.I like it.”

“Love you,” Xavier said just before he drifted back to sleep.“Love you more,” I said playfully.“Not a chance,” Xavier said, fully awake now. “I’m bigger, I can contain more love.”“I’m smaller, therefore my love particles are more compressed, which means I can fit more in.”Xavier laughed. “That argument makes no sense. Overruled.”“I’m just basing it on how much I miss you when you’re not around,” I countered.“How can you possibly know how much I miss you?” he said. “Have you got some sort of built-in miss-o-meter that can give us a reading?”“I’m a girl; of course I have a built-in miss-o-meter.”

“Some people really need to be taught some manners," he said disdainfully. I stared up at him."Would you really have gotten in a fight for me?""Of course." He didn't hesitate."But there were four of them.""Beth, I'd take on Megatron's army to protect you.""Who?”