"Joel," Melanie said, amazed, "you're having somebody over?"

"Lab partner." Her brother's tone was offhand, but there was nothing casual about the way he was bustling around their little three-bedroom like an appraiser on a tight schedule. "We made some eleventh-hour changes in physics lab, so we've got to hustle to catch up." He entered the open kitchen area and looked into the fridge. "Do we have anything to eat besides leftovers?"

Lori and Alex, girlfriends and fellow musicians, had come home from school with her. From the kitchen table, they watched with raised eyebrows as Joel went through the living room, picking up. Not that most of the clutter wasn't his anyway, but she'd never seen him so concerned about making an impression. Lori turned a heavily-mascara'd eye towards her; the black-painted lips stretched in a wicked little smile. "Lab partner's not a girl, is she, Reed?"

"Don't call me Reed. It's ridiculous. Yes, she's a girl." He continued to load his arms with books and techie magazines.

"A real girl?" Alex pressed. "Like, with breasts and everything? Not some wraith with welder's goggles for glasses and ratty hair?"

"Stuff it, Alex. Why don't you three just be gone when she gets here?" He took his load past the kitchen, disappearing into the bedroom annex.

Lori raised her eyebrows. "Do you think?"

She shook her head. "No. I can't even imagine it. He hasn't even met a girl for coffee since we came here. I'm sure she's some sexless brainiac he's enlisting to help pump up his grade. But I thought he was working alone this semester."

Joel hustled back and cast another look around the room. "When are Mom and Dad coming home?"

The three girls shared a look. "Dad's out of town, Clueless. Mom works late Friday nights, but she's home by eight-thirty, like clockwork. Honestly."

"Do you know where Dad keeps the key to the office? I'm going to need the computer."

"He needs to keep his client records confidential, Joel. What's wrong with yours?"

He looked at her as if she were an idiot. "It's in my bedroom. Besides, we need room to spread out." Alex snorted, and he drilled her with a look. "On second thought, stay. Maybe some of her maturity will rub off." He glanced at his watch. "Just enough time for a shower. Can I trust you to catch the door if she comes early? And not embarrass me?"

She nodded. "Oh, sure," Lori chimed in.

After he left, they got back to the discussion they'd been having when her brother had burst through the door. The three of them were the remaining members of the Sirens, a student garage band. They'd played a few gigs, as much for fun and experience as profit, and had gotten decent reviews and word-of-mouth. But their fourth member, the second guitarist, was graduating, and had already quit to finalize plans to leave San Diego. They were running through a few possibilities for a replacement.

"We want to stay an all-girl band?" Lori looked through the list they'd put together. Of six people who'd responded to the posted notices in student union and the website billboard, four were guys.

"We want to stay worth listening to. All-girl was just the way it worked out the first time."

"And it worked out good," Alex put in. "It's a draw. A lot of guys come to our shows just to see four chicks on stage."

"Is that why we're doing it?" She lifted the list to her face to hide her smile. "I thought we were dedicated to our art."

"It's easy to keep your edge when you're playing to a roomful of horny college boys. Besides… one guy on guitar in a four-piece band might get ideas he's the leader. Or think he's got a harem. And I can see all sorts of complications, starting with song selections."

"That would eliminate the best player on our list."

"Best instrumentalist," Lori corrected. "He can make a bass do anything, but he sings like Bob Dylan with a cold. Not our style."

"Okay." She drew a line through the name. "On technical merits, not because he's a guy. I'm not convinced gender should be an issue." Ten minutes later, the list was reduced to two girls and a guy, and they agreed to set up auditions.

The doorbell rang. Lori balled a fist. "Scissors, paper, rock?"

"My house." She got up. "What do you think? Butch androgyne, or timid little mouse?" The other two trailed her to the door. "Let her get inside, at least."

She put her eye to the peephole, but what she saw didn't register at first. Instead of viewing their visitor's head, she was looking at the base of her throat, and nothing else. She swung open the door. And looked up. Behind her, Alex said softly, "Caramba."

It was one of the new girls, Caitlin something-or-other, the one the campus wits had nicknamed "Fantasy." Melanie hadn't met her, or any of them, but this one had made her presence on campus known in a big way. Mel had actually seen two guys run into each other as they watched her walk by, just like a comedy skit. Way over six feet tall, shining red-gold hair, bright green eyes, huge girls. She held a laptop case to her flat stomach. "Hi. I'm looking for Joel. Am I in the right place?"

Behind her, Lori said, "I don't know about being in the right place, but Joel's here."

She stepped aside to let her in. "I'm Joel's sister Melanie. The Goth wench is Lori. And this is Alex."

"I'm Kat. I'm Joel's partner in physics lab."

"Come on into the living room. He's in the shower. Just transferred in, right? Where from?"

"Uh, Rutherford. It's a sort of exchange program." They watched her ease into the cushions, bumping her shins on the coffee table.

Rutherford was an old East Coast school, about the snootiest in the Ivy League. So she was gorgeous and rich too. "I thought they were all business and law."

"They've been branching out for a few years now. Their computer degrees are first-rate."

"That's your major? Computers?" Alex looked about to say something else, but stilled at a look from Lori.

Kat nodded. "Physics minor. Just lately, though, I'm rethinking my choices for postgrad work. I might want to switch from electrical engineering courses to robotics." She looked around. "What about you guys?"

"Education." Alex's look was challenging. "I might want to teach."

"Tough job." Kat tried to cross her legs, hooked a toe on the edge of the table, and put it down again. "When you're good at it, though, it's got to be rewarding."

"Art school. Visual media." A faint smile curved Lori's lips. "I like paint."

"Have you shown anything yet?"

"Only to friends. I save my exhibitionism for the stage."

"Oh. Drama?"

"Keyboard. We're all in a band. Alex on drums, Mel's guitar. She's the music major."

"Really." The beauty queen turned to her. "I assumed you were a journalism student."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really."

"That was your story in the school paper this week, right? Melanie Richards?"

"You've been here two days and found time to read the school paper?"

"I picked up a copy at lunch today. I couldn't put it down. Comparing campus politics to a prairie dog town…" She grinned. "I'll never look at student elections the same way."

"Kat," she said, "Would you like to sit at the kitchen table? More leg room."

A minute later, the four of them were seated around the kitchen table, drinks in hand. Kat sipped tap water.

Lori looked at Kat over her glass. "So, what's Rutherford like?"

"To tell the truth, I didn't like it much. I had a hard time making friends." Kat brought the glass to her lips. "You know what it's like when you're different."

Alex coughed into her glass. "Went down the wrong pipe."

Lori raised her black-painted eyebrows. "What would I know about being different?"

"I didn't mean-" Kat colored and shook her head. "Goth looks good on you, Lori. My sister goes Goth sometimes, too. Some girls can pull it off. I'd look like the Bride of Frankenstein."

Joel entered the kitchen, took one look at the tableau, and glowered. "What have you been doing to her?"

Kat smiled at him. "We're just making friends. I'm having a very good time."

"They're liberal arts majors. I can't be held responsible for their actions."

"I have a great deal of respect for the arts, Joel," she said seriously. "What we do quantifies the universe and brings it to heel. What your sister and her friends do gives life its savor, and makes everything else worth doing."

He looked at her as if she'd spoken Mandarin. "Huh. Well, I'm ordering pizza. What do you want on yours?"

"Pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese," Alex piped up.

He gave her a withering look. "You're staying?"

"Long enough to eat pizza if you're buying, cheapskate."

Kat said, "Anything you want is fine with me. But order an extra one. I eat a lot."

"And never gain a pound, I suppose," Alex said in an odd voice.

"Well, I work out a lot, too. And I've got a turbocharged metabolism." She suddenly set her glass down. "Oh, drat. Forgot. I have a date, sort of."

"Sort of?" Lori looked at the other two girls.

Joel deflated. "Oh. Well. Maybe tomorrow, then?"

"Course not. School comes first. He'll understand. I just wish I'd called sooner. Scuse." She stood and headed down the hallway towards the bathroom, cellphone in hand.

"Pizza, before she changes her mind." Joel stared at the empty phone cradle on the wall. "Where's the freakin phone?" He left for the living room.

Lori lifted an eyebrow at Alex. "Hate her?"

"With all my heart. 'He'll understand.'" Alex shook her head. "Of course. Any bullshit excuse would be okay, coming from someone like her."

"Alex." Melanie frowned at her. "She seems perfectly nice."

"Bet her manners are as fake as her chest. Coming out of her mouth, 'no friends cuz I'm different' sounds too much like 'don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful.'" She blew out. "And a frickin genius. And rich. She's laughing at all of us, Mel." She stood.

"Where are you going?"

"I just want to hear how she's handling the poor sap she's ditching tonight." Alex slipped quietly into the hallway; after a brief nonverbal exchange, she and Lori followed.

Kat's voice came faint but clear through the bathroom door from four feet away, pitched low and confidential. Melanie was sure Kat thought she was private. But her voice just seemed too big for the room, somehow. "Oh, tell me about it. These past three days have been like training to parachute behind enemy lines. I could wish your father had a little less confidence in us. But I'm finally getting a handle on my course load, and I think I made some friends today. My new lab partner's the best, and I met his sister and a couple of her girlfriends. Real people, nothing like those harpies at Rutherford. They make me almost feel at home."

Alex turned to her, eyes round.

"Which brings me to why I called, Bobby. I-" A long pause. "You could be a little less noble about it, it only makes it worse. I'm sorry, Bobby. I know going to concerts alone isn't much fun. But I have to sweep this lab."

Lori mouthed silently, "Bobby?" with raised eyebrows. "Bobby" had to be Bobby Lynch, one of the newcomers and an instant source of prurient speculation among the female half of the student body, including the three now standing in the hall. And, by unanimous opinion, fully worthy boyfriend-bait.

They heard a heavy sigh. "If only we'd had more than three days to meet people. If we'd hit campus last week, I bet you wouldn't have any trouble finding someone to take. Not to an Emergence concert."

Tickets to tonight's Emergence concert at the Civic Theatre had disappeared half an hour after they'd gone on sale three months before. A band that regularly sold out stadiums, Emergence had somehow got booked into a venue with fewer than three thousand seats, and kids all over San Diego County were offering their rent checks to scalpers without scoring.

"Wait. I've got the germ of an idea. Bobby… Joel's sister is a music major. She's in a band. She even plays guitar. I could ask her to take the ticket." Another pause. "I told you. She's nice. Great personality, wicked sense of humor… Huh? Since when do you care about looks?" Another pause, then a chuckle. "Well, fine then. Five-seven, five-six maybe. I won't guess her weight, but she's got a perfect figure. Not like me, the walking flotation device." The bitter tone in Kat's voice left no doubt of her sincerity. "Dark brown eyes, your favorite. And she's got the most gorgeous hair: a little wavy, shoulder length, about ten different shades of brown from dark honey to chocolate, all blended together." A pause. "Well, I can't promise anything. Chances are she's got a boyfriend, or at least a date. I doubt she ever spends a night at home except by choice."

She felt her face flaming. She'd had precisely three dates in six weeks; she spent most of her nights at home or at practice. Lori stared at her in horror, grabbed her wrist, and tugged her away from the door as Kat said, "All right then. I'll ask her and call you back." Alex put her back against the door and waited.

The two of them nearly ran Joel over in the hallway. "What are-"

"Shut up," Lori hissed. "Out of the way. Don't say a word till I say it's okay, or so help me, you won't live to regret it."

Down the hall, she heard the bathroom door open. "Oops," Kat said. "Were you waiting?"

"Just got here," Alex answered. "Hey. Think you're gonna go out for sports?"

"Don't know. I like swimming. But I don't know what to try out for."

While Alex stalled, she and Lori dropped into the couches. She draped her arm off the side, while Lori sat opposite with a leg thrown across the cushions, both of them looking perfectly relaxed and casual. Down the hall, they heard the bathroom door shut.

Lori shot a warning glare at Joel, who busied himself with his lab notes.

Kat came into the room and stood between the couches. "Melanie. I know we only just met. But I need to ask you a favor, a big one. Are you doing anything tonight?"

She pretended to consider. "Sure. Nothing I can't break, though. What's on your mind? Want me to check your math?"

"The guy I had a date with tonight. I'm making him throw away a fortune in concert tickets, and I've got the guilts. He's a musician too. I was hoping… maybe you'd take my place? He's really sweet, a perfect gentleman, and good company, too. Really."

She raised an eyebrow. "A blind date? Not my usual night out."

Joel cleared his throat. Lori said, "Want something for that, Reed?" He shook his head once and stuck his nose back in his notebook with a little smile on his face.

She looked from Kat to Joel. "I could, I suppose. Just so you and big brother can get your A with a clear conscience. But, you know, I'm not used to being any guy's second choice."

Kat gave her a tired little smile. "You aren't. I was."