Fury's Fire by Lisa Papademetriou

nodded at him. “Hi.”
    “Looks like Jefferson invited the entire school.”
    “I’m sure he didn’t need to,” Mafer said. “He invited three people, and they invited everyone else.”
    “Speak of the devil,” Will said. Here he was now, waving at Gretchen and jogging over to say hello. Will touched Gretchen’s elbow in a possessive gesture and immediately felt an odd mix of embarrassment at his behavior and pride in being there with Gretchen.
    “Gretchen, you made it!” Jefferson beamed, flashing those even white teeth. He nodded at Will. “Hey, man, surprised to see you here.”
    “I can never resist a hero sandwich,” Will said, and Gretchen narrowed her eyes at him.
    “Looks like half the school is in your backyard.” Gretchen gestured at the crowd beneath the tree. “We had to park a full block away.”
    “That’s
good
! People need a party, am I right?”
    Gretchen agreed, but Will didn’t hazard an answer. He could hardly guess at what people needed.
    “Hey, come on down to the river, I want to show you something,” Jefferson said, taking Gretchen by the elbow.
    Will looked at Mafer, but she just lifted her eyebrows and waved at him with her fingers as Will was forced to relinquish his hold on Gretchen. He trailed along behind as Jefferson led Gretchen down a steep slope to the river. The air was cool and clear as they crossed the grass. Near the water was a rack, and something covered by a blue tarp. Jefferson pulled it away, showing a beautiful wooden canoe. The athlete gave the dark wood a paternal smile and looked up at Gretchen. “I made it. Isn’t she a beauty?”
    “Oh, yes,” Gretchen whispered as she touched the boat.
    Will wanted to agree, but he was too surprised—and annoyed. Who would have guessed that Jefferson held secret depths of passion and talent?
    “I worked on her all summer—just finished up last week.” He looked over at Gretchen and asked, almost shyly, “Maybe you’d like to take her out on the river with me sometime.”
    Gretchen hesitated, and Will said, “Gretchen doesn’t like water.”
    Jefferson looked at him, surprised. “Really?”
    A flash of annoyance crossed Gretchen’s face, but she didn’t contradict him. Will winced a little, realizing that she must have thought he was trying to pick herfriends for her again. Which he wasn’t. Well, not intentionally.
    “Hey, what are we doing down here?” called a voice, and Angus loped down the hill with his awkward, long-legged stride. “Nice boat! Should we go fishing?”
    “Jefferson made the boat,” Will said, feeling that he had to make nice now.
    “Really? You’re a man of many talents.” Angus looked impressed. “Um, listen, I hate to bug you, but you’re out of chips, and Kirk Worstler is up in your tree.”
    “What?” Jefferson tied the tarp back into place.
    “You can just tell me where the chips are,” Angus volunteered.
    “I’m more worried about the lunatic in my tree,” Jefferson said.
    “He’s not a lunatic,” Gretchen put in, but Jefferson didn’t respond.
    “We’d better go see if he’s okay,” Will said, knowing better than to get into an argument about Kirk.
    “He’s not doing anything,” Angus insisted as they all started up the slope. “He’s just sitting there.”
    The crowd cleared a bit as Jefferson strode to the tree and looked up. “I don’t see him.” He squinted into the leaves.
    “He’s there.” This was from Mafer. “Near the top.” She didn’t look up, just took another sip of her soda.
    “I can’t see him,” Jefferson repeated.
    Mafer shrugged. “Listen.”
    They did, then, but Will couldn’t hear anything. “What is it?” he whispered to Gretchen.
    “Singing,” she replied, and from the expression on her face, Will could tell that the music had an eerie quality that unnerved her.
    “Hey, it’s not a party until Kirk does something weird, right?” Angus pronounced.
    “Kirk!” Jefferson shouted. “Kirk, get down from