Immortal City

“I can’t believe your uncle won’t get you a BlackBerry,” Gwen said, wrinkling her nose. “You’re, like, missing out on life.”

Maddy pulled an ancient-looking flip phone out of her backpack and did her best Uncle Kevin impersonation.

“Only for homework and emergencies, Maddy, homework and emergencies,” Maddy said, laughing and dropping the phone back in her bag.

“Your uncle is such a dinosaur,” Gwen said. Maddy shrugged.

“I’m sure he would get me a new one if he could afford it.”

Maddy and Gwen reached their lockers, side by side, middle row. This was how they had met in seventh grade.

Even in a school of three thousand, Montgomery and Moore were somehow always right next to each other, and it had been that way since middle school. At the beginning Maddy was quiet, especially around someone as outgoing as Gwen, but after only a few weeks of seeing each other day in, day out at the lockers, Maddy had started to let down her guard. Soon they were real friends. Then later that year, Gwen’s parents split up. A lot of her more popular friends didn’t feel like dealing, but Maddy was there for her the whole time: she knew what it was like to feel abandoned.

They’d been best friends ever since.

“I try not to read the blogs,” Gwen said, setting up her mirror and makeup inside her locker, “but it’s like an accident on the freeway. As much as I try not to, I just have to look.”

“Or you’re obsessed,” Maddy said as she shoveled in books.

“I’m not obsessed,” Gwen said defensively. “I just know I’ll be Protected someday. I want to be ready.”

Maddy stopped unloading her books. “Gwen, you bought one of those maps on Sunset Boulevard and tried to get me to go with you up to their houses. On your learner’s permit.” She turned back to her locker and smiled.

“Obsessed.”

“That was so forever ago,” Gwen huffed.

“That was last summer,” Maddy said.

Gwen nodded. “Exactly.” She paused. “Besides, if I was really obsessed, I would have already shown you this footage of Jacks shirtless at the beach that leaked onto SaveTube last night.”

A roar of laughter echoed down the hall behind Gwen and Maddy. They turned and saw a group of four boys heading toward them.

“Hey, Gwen, what’s up?” one of the guys, Kyle, said.

He was tall, with broad shoulders and lank brown hair. He and Gwen had dated for the first semester junior year but ultimately decided it was better to be just friends. Maddy secretly felt like her best friend might still have some feelings for him, even though Gwen swore up and down against it. He and Maddy had bonded slightly over how they didn’t care about the Angels, not the way most people did.

“Hi, Kyle,” Gwen said, pushing back her hair. They gave each other an awkward hug.

“Hey, Maddy, have a good Columbus Day weekend?” Kyle asked.

“Um, yeah,” Maddy said, wishing she hadn’t put her hood down when she’d gotten in the school. She felt. . exposed. Sometimes when it came to guys, Maddy found herself a bit tongue-tied, even if it was just her best friend’s ex.

Like, why hadn’t she asked him if he’d had a good weekend too?

“Are you guys coming?” the boy standing next to Kyle eagerly blurted out to Maddy and Gwen. He had long hair and glasses, and Maddy thought his name was Simon.

“Dude, of course they are.” This came from Tyler, with whom Maddy had been in government class sophomore year. With every school year he seemed like he’d gotten a little “edgier”: he was wearing black skinny jeans and a little too perfectly ripped-up Vans. “Hi, Maddy,” he added as an afterthought, waving slightly even though he was only five feet away.

“What are you talking about?” Gwen asked.

“Ethan’s having a party later this week,” Kyle said, clapping his hand on the shoulder of the last of the boys, who hadn’t spoken yet.

“Yeah, you should come. My mom’s out of town,” the guy said, stepping forward slightly.

Maddy realized she recognized him, but not from school. He sometimes came in to eat at the diner. They’d had a few brief conversations at the restaurant — he had recently moved to Angel City, to somewhere up the hill from the restaurant, and he’d come in and eat sometimes when his mom was traveling for business. Today he was wearing a navy T-shirt, cargo shorts, and sandals, and as her gaze reached his face, he smiled at her. But that wasn’t what caught, and held, her attention. It was his eyes, which she hadn’t really noticed before. Dark hazel and expressive, they pierced out from under sandy-colored, beach-boy hair. It was almost as if they were talking to her all by themselves.

“The party’s going to be amazing,” Simon said. In an almost reverent tone: “He got a keg.”

“Er. . hey,” Gwen said to Ethan, flipping her blond hair the way she did around cute boys.

“This is Ethan. He’s new to this beautiful institution,”

Kyle said, motioning to the cracked paint and dingy hall of Angel City High. “E, this is Gwen and—”

“It’s Maddy, right?” Ethan interrupted, still smiling at her.

“Yeah, she’s Maddy,” Gwen answered for her. Maddy elbowed her friend.

“We know each other already,” Maddy said, feeling a little shy. “So you’re going to school here now?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Just transferred a couple weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, joking.

“I know, me too,” Ethan said, and laughed.

“So are you guys coming on Friday?” Kyle asked. “I know Gwen will. But, Maddy, you should definitely come too. It’ll be fun. I promise, no SaveTube and no ANN.” Kyle looked at her and gave her a flirtatious smile. Confused, Maddy glanced down.

“ANN,” Tyler repeated with scorn, rolling his eyes. He was “alternative,” and part of that was being against all the Angel glamour and glitz — although Maddy sometimes suspected that if someone offered one of the alterna-kids the chance to become a famous Protection, they’d still do it in a heartbeat.

“Yeah, come to the party,” Ethan said.

“Oh, um, the weekend. .” Maddy said, stalling. In truth, she had no idea what to say. Getting invited to parties was Gwen’s thing. Whenever Maddy wasn’t doing homework or working shifts at the diner, she usually just listened to music or curled up with a good book. Parties were pretty much unknown territory for her. She thought about the stack of college applications waiting for her back home. The weekend would be her only time to work on them.

“I’d like to,” Maddy finally said. “But I have college apps, so. .”

“So that means no, right?” Ethan said, sounding downcast.

It was Gwen’s turn to elbow Maddy. She gave her a look and turned to Ethan.

“It just means she might have some other stuff too,” Gwen said, improvising. “She’s pretty popular, you know,” she added. Maddy felt her cheeks beginning to flush.

“Well, if you want to come, I can give you directions,” Ethan said.

“Maybe she should get your number?” Gwen offered.

Simon and Tyler slightly snickered under their breaths.

Now Maddy was sure she was bright red.

“Yeah, totally.”

Maddy fumbled in her bag for her old phone as Ethan slipped his iPhone out of his pocket. The two exchanged information, Maddy awkwardly asking Ethan to spell his last name, McKinley, while the other boys stood there watching.

Maddy couldn’t believe how embarrassed she felt. “The party should be cool,” Ethan said as he slid his phone back in his pocket.

“Um. . okay,” she said. “Thanks?”

“Keep it quiet, though, he doesn’t want the whole school coming, you know?” Kyle added. Maddy could’ve sworn he winked at her. “See you guys later.”