" And how is it that a mere girl comes to believe that she understands Islam better than all the scholars in its history?" That is not so!" she trembl...d, still not having come to terms with what she was about. "I merely question the logic of their interpretations. I do not presume to know..." Yet here you are, showing your body to a strange man," I mused for her benefit, "in violation of all that they have taught you. Put your clothes on girl, and go back to your father, or grow a spine and. I would pretend to be a magician who could read minds, and my hunches were so often on target it drove the other kids nuts. But nothing prepared me for what hit me now, wave after wave of gnawing hunger. The woman looked so young, I wondered if she was a teenager, and it felt as if she were starving. Without thinking, I blurted out in my broken Spanish, "May I feed you?" What?!" she hissed, looking both mortified and furious. My empathic sense threw me a complete curve ball then. I got the. I stare out of the windows at the rolling grey skies while everyone else scribbles away. My thoughts swing back to Christian, my friend of four years, and his sudden distance from me. I know that he's worked out my secret, I'm surprised it's taken him this long, despite how well I've learnt to lie, and it has worried him. I thought he was made of stronger stuff.Neil Gill calls a halt to lesson and collects in everyone's poems, anonymous despite the fact he can recognise all of our individual. “Apparently he approves,” said Pearl. “I guess that means you may stay.”Pearl sat me down at her dresser and put a brush into my hand. I brushed out my hair while Pearl dived into her closet. She explained that most of her clothes were at her apartment but she still had some things here. She was sure she could find something for me to wear. She pulled out different things and held them up against me before shoving them back into the closet. I rejected the miniskirt she thought would look cute.