"She knows, Roman."

"No, she doesn't. She suspects. It's different."

"I think you're wrong."

Roman sighed and kissed Emery's bare shoulder. He had not previously considered the possibility that he would one day be defending Teri's behavior to Emery, but here they were.

"Teri and I have… history," he finally admitted. He watched Emery tense up, and even though he knew it was wrong he couldn't help feeling kind of glad to see her reaction. She was jealous! It was oddly reassuring. And maybe, in a very tiny (and very dark) corner of his heart, he also felt that a sort of imbalance had been corrected.

"Hey now, don't forget that I had to actually watch while Grayson pawed at you," he murmured as his lips brushed Emery's furrowed brow. She looked at him with real concern then.

"I will happily spend forever making that up to you," she offered, and her eyes dropped to his warm, inviting lips. She leaned forward in anticipation; Roman leaned back just enough, teasing her, until she let out a tiny whimper of frustration. The sound always triggered something in him, something animal. They sank onto the floor of the shed, and in their driving need for each other they knocked over a shovel, which hit the lawn mower with a resonant clang. The lovers froze, Roman with his shirt halfway off, Emery's skirt pushed up to her waist, and listened for any indication of discovery. After an interminable minute, Roman finally whispered that he would just double-check.

The moment was already lost; Emery reassembled herself while Roman peeked outside to make sure they were still alone.

"I hate this," he sighed, sitting down on the seat of the John Deere. "I am the happiest, and the luckiest, man I know - and I want to be able to show you off to everyone, but we can't." Emery dropped into his lap, leaning back on the steering wheel to see him better, and smiled brilliantly.

"You want to show me off?"

"Any man would want to show you off," Roman answered honestly. He played with the hem of her shirt, running his fingers along the skin beneath. Emery sighed with pleasure and tried to focus.

"You know we have to get ready. Everyone will be here soon," she warned him. Julia had graciously taken charge of their research group after Ms. Benton assigned them to work with Grayson and Teri, but a week and a half later things were still just as tense between the five teens. Julia's brightest move had been sending everyone off with their own jobs to do, and only meeting once a week.

Roman's features darkened.

"What time did you tell them again? 5:30?" Emery simply nodded.

"I still think it could have been held somewhere else," Roman complained. He could be so stubborn sometimes. "You didn't have to invite everyone to your house. You can be so stubborn sometimes!"

"Roman, it will be fine," Emery sighed, already tensing up at the thought of rehashing this argument. "Like I said, the only thing I'm worried about is Teri. We have to be more careful around her."

"Really, Emery? You're just worried about Teri? Because I'm much more concerned about your Redhawk ex-boyfriend!" Roman couldn't hide his irritation now, either. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but it was too late.

"Well, your ex-girlfriend seems like she's one bad excuse away from joining her mother and the Trags!" she shot back.

"I guess we'd better not give her any excuse, then," Roman said. Emery caught the tone, but she was still feeling the stabs of her earlier jealousy.

"I guess we'd better not!" she snapped. She swung off the lawn mower and pushed out of the shed, heading angrily for the house.

Julia was the first to arrive, and it was obvious from her face that she immediately noticed the tension between her two friends. She wasn't at all surprised. The pressure of working in such close proximity with both Grayson and Teri for the past week had started taking its toll from day one, and grown from there.

"Alright, you two, let's take these snacks into the living room. And then you both have to get much better at acting, fast. Because I want you to fool me into thinking you don't actually care enough about each other to be this upset," Julia chided them. Roman opened his mouth to comment but the doorbell rang, and then Teri and Grayson walked in together.

It would have been funny to watch, had the stakes not been so high. Neither classmate felt comfortable in the presence of the other, but both of them were trying desperately to hide the fact. The result was a frigid kind of super-formality, layered painfully over banal comments about the weather, the school's chances of making All State next year, the Whitehills' color scheme for their living room, anything devoid of the potential for disagreement. Teri's delicate nostrils flared every time Grayson moved too close, as though she worried he might contaminate her air. Grayson was clearly the better actor. He smiled at her with just the right balance of friendliness and polite disinterest, and held her gaze lightly whenever she spoke.

The group gathered around the Whitehills' coffee table to prepare for their presentation tomorrow. Grayson and Teri were on the loveseat; Roman, Julia, and Emery each grabbed nearby chairs.

Emery, still writhing from her earlier confrontation with Roman, chose to focus on Grayson instead. At one point Teri reached across him to grab a notepad on the end table, and it was the first time Emery caught him with his guard down. As Teri stretched, Grayson flinched and leaned way back, avoiding any contact with her body. He was not Emery's responsibility any more, she knew that, but it still bothered her to see this change in his attitude. She had hoped time would heal his wounds, but that did not appear to be the case.

For his part, Grayson tried not to breathe as Teri stretched her lithe, perfect body across to grab a notepad from the end table. He hated everything she represented. He wanted them all out of his life. And he hated himself for the physical reaction she had caused in him, because he knew it was a sickness to be attracted to these creatures. It was unnatural. Her breasts, now inches from his knee, should have no affect on him; that they did was intensely disturbing.

It was bad enough, sitting across from Emery and watching her fawn over Roman. Oh sure, they tried to keep it discreet, sticking poor Julia in the middle to referee, but when Emery thought nobody was watching she looked at Roman like she was a bitch in heat. Grayson hated this assignment. He never wanted to think about mixed human/Atrian children, ever again, for the rest of his life. The past week had been torture after fresh torture, because try as he might to change it, the image his brain called forth every time the subject came up was Emery, giving tortured birth to a shrieking, speckled half-human monster.

Teri was out of her element. The boy next to her seemed to be getting physically ill. If he vomited on her, she would have no choice but to go psycho bitch on everyone here; let them all be warned. Not that she blamed him. Watching the lovers made her feel a little sick too.

It was bad enough, sitting across from Roman and watching him pant after Emery. Oh sure, they tried to keep it discreet, sticking that poor sickly one in the middle, but when he thought nobody was watching Roman looked at Emery like he wanted to throw her across the coffee table and ravage her right there, while everyone watched. Teri hated this assignment. She never wanted to think about mixed human/Atrian children, ever again, for the rest of her life. The past week had only strengthened her resolve to deal with Emery swiftly, because try as she might to change it, the image her brain called forth every time the subject came up was Roman, eyes glistening with love as he cradled a slimy, unmarked half-Atrian monster.

Thank goodness for Julia, Roman thought. The rest of the group was floundering, caught up in their emotional struggles. If they did well on tomorrow's presentation it would all be thanks to Julia's efforts tonight. She had managed to consolidate everyone's work, and was now assigning presentation duties to each member of the group. Roman and Emery would do the majority of the speaking, and then Grayson would take over for the Q&A period, and Teri – this, Roman thought, showed real foresight on Julia's part – would be in charge of "visuals". She asked what that meant, and seemed relieved when Julia explained that pretty much she'd just be hitting play on the slideshow. Julia herself would probably be asleep, she joked, since there were still so many slides to edit tonight and she hadn't even double-checked their works cited list yet. At the last minute Grayson suddenly asked what would happen if someone got sick and was absent. Would the presentation be postponed?

"I doubt it," Julia answered slowly with a thoughtful frown. "I think if someone is absent, we'll just make it through the best we can." She sighed. "We better hope Ms. Benton gives a lot of points for the quality of the research, not just the quality of the presentation. Because Lukas will definitely blow us out of the water. Have you seen what he can do with those holographic slides? It's so unfair!"

Teri stood up abruptly.

"So, are we done? Because I have somewhere to be," she stated as she grabbed her bag off the floor.

"Um, sure, I guess so," Julia responded in surprise. "Roman and Emery should practice their speeches, but we don't all have to stay just for that."

"No, I agree, that is not something we all need to see," Grayson piped up, jumping to his feet as well. "Good night everyone." He was out the door before anyone could reply.

Teri looked at Julia and surprised herself when she managed an authentic sentiment: "Thanks for all the work you did." She headed for the door as well, but stopped a few feet away.

"Oh, Emery, I almost forgot. I heard there's this human custom where you bring a gift the first time you visit someone's house. So here," she said quickly, shoving a small package at Emery, "I made this for you." With that, she too was gone.

Emery stared at Julia and Roman in shocked disbelief, and a smile slowly spread across Roman's face.

"I will not," he whispered, pausing to kiss her on the cheek, "say I told you so. But I did," he winked. He began clearing the dishes of uneaten food off the coffee table, and Emery laughed in relief.

"Okay, I admit it, I really did not expect that from Teri. I wonder what it is?" She began to open the box, but Roman stopped her.

"Listen – if it's food, just throw it away," he warned. Julia stared at him in alarm.

"Why? Do you think it could be poisoned?"

"Well no… not intentionally… But I've had experience with Teri's cooking. It's probably best if nobody else has to be subjected to it." By now Emery had slipped the ribbon off and lifted the lid to reveal several … maybe they were meant to be cookies? … of dubious quality.

"Okay, now I will say I told you so," Roman groaned and grabbed the box. He tossed it in the trash and turned back to Emery, reaching for her hand. "I am so sorry for the way I acted earlier," he said gently. "It was unfair of me to burden you like that."

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," Emery apologized, running her thumb along Roman's gently.

Finally Julia had had enough. "Oh my god you two, I actually like you together, and even I want to run out of this house after Grayson and Teri!"

Roman arched an eyebrow at Julia, and she could tell he was wondering why she hadn't left yet.

"Traitors," Julia grumbled as she gathered her things. "At least promise me you'll practice your speeches? Just one time? …No, two! Two times!" she called from the doorway on her way out.