"Package for you on the table," Valenti said. "A messenger brought it by today."

Kyle glanced at the bulky brown envelope. The label on it read META-CHEM. "Must be my new uniform," Kyle said. "I start at Meta-chem tomorrow."

He ripped open the paper and pulled out… a jumpsuit. Just like the one he was wearing now, except the Meta-chem jumpsuit was dark green. Over the right pocket, his name was stitched, and over the left pocket it said, HOUSEKEEPING. "Just kill me now," Kyle said.

"Looks like you won't need any new clothes for a while," Valenti joked.

Kyle narrowed his eyes and shot Valenti the nastiest look he had.

"Toss me a beer, would you, son?" Valenti asked.

"What city, please?" said the voice on the other end of the phone.

" Roswell," Sadie replied. She was crammed into a tiny phone booth on Nelson Avenue, and the cars and trucks were whizzing by pretty quickly.

"Georgia?" the operator asked.

Sadie covered her other ear with her hand to block out the noise of the traffic. "What?" she yelled into the phone…

" Roswell, Georgia?" the operator repeated.

"No, New Mexico," Sadie corrected her. "G-e-e-r-i-n. Michael Geerin. I need his address."

"No listing under that name," the operator said, and promptly hung up.

Sadie put the phone back in its cradle and tried not to get upset. This was the third phone booth she'd tried, and

none of them had phone books. She had to find the address of Michael's place, because that's where Maria was going. How could she watch Maria if she couldn't even find her?

Across the street there was a Gap. Sadie brightened, struck by an idea. She could go in there and get a tank top just like the one Maria was wearing today. That would make her feel better… she could dress just like Maria!

She pulled her heavy backpack onto her shoulders, waited for a break in the traffic, and ran across. Right outside the store was another pay phone. This one didn't have a whole booth, but it did have a Roswell phone book in the little cabinet underneath the phone.

"Yes!" Sadie cried happily. She grabbed the book and plopped down on the sidewalk next to the pay phone. Quickly she turned to the Gs. There was no Michael Geerin. "He must be unlisted," Sadie murmured sadly.

"Who are you looking for?" someone asked.

Sadie started, glancing anxiously up at the guy standing above her. She wasn't supposed to be in Roswell. If anyone turned her in, she'd be in huge trouble. "Urn, I'm looking for my, uh, cousin. Michael. But I can't find him," she said, climbing to her feet. She hitched her backpack up so it was more secure on her shoulders, in case she had to run.

"What's his last name?" asked the guy. "Maybe I know him."

Sadie thought about it. This guy was a teenager like Maria. Maybe he went to school with her and her boyfriend. "Geerin."

The guy stared at her for a second. Uh-oh, Sadie

thought. He knows I'm lying. She took a step backward.

"Michael's your cousin?" the guy asked, frowning. "I thought he was, like, a total orphan. I mean, with no family at all."

"So you know him?" Sadie asked eagerly.

"Sure. He was in my auto-shop class last year. Well, when he bothered to show." The guy took the phone book and flipped it open to the Gs. "Here," he said, pointing.

Sadie followed his finger. Michael Guerin. She'd been spelling it wrong.

It was a tiny little mistake, but suddenly she felt overwhelmed. What was she doing here, in a place she'd never been, looking for a teenage guy she'd never heard of before yesterday? It hadn't even occurred to her to check other spellings. She must be an idiot! Sadie's heart began to pound, and she felt panicky. She was in way over her head! She had to go home!

"Are you okay, kid?" the guy asked. "You look really pale."

Sadie tried to focus on him. She looked pale? "I'm not his cousin," she blurted out. "I'm really looking for his girlfriend. She's supposed to be there."

Just thinking of Maria calmed her down. That's why she was here, for Maria. She had nothing to worry about. She would find Maria.

The guy shrugged. "Whatever," he said. He wandered off down the sidewalk. Sadie waited until he was at the corner, then she sat back down on the concrete and pulled out her notebook.

Michael Guerin, she wrote. 1701 East 3rd St.

She reached into her backpack again and pulled out a well-worn map. She opened it up and spread it on the

sidewalk in front of her. It was a street map of Roswell, and she knew it almost by heart. She had no trouble finding Michael's address, and she wrote in big letters on the map: MICHAEL'S HOUSE. She already had Maria's house and the Crashdown Cafe written in.

Her confidence restored, Sadie folded up the map, stuck it in her backpack, and went into the Gap to buy a tank top just like Maria's.

"Jesse!" Isabel waved her arms, trying to get her boyfriend's attention across the crowded lawn. Summerhaven Park always filled up at lunchtime… all the businesspeople from the nearby firms liked to eat outside when the weather was nice.

"Jesse," she called again, more quietly this time. The office where Jesse… and her father… worked was only a few blocks away. It was entirely possible that her dad was in the park somewhere too. She was taking a big risk looking for Jesse in such a public place, but she had to see him. She had to explain why she'd hung up on him the day before.

Jesse finally noticed her and headed across the grass to where she'd set up her blanket. She'd found a spot as out of the way as possible.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her on the blanket. "What are you doing here?" His voice was cold, and he didn't smile.

Isabel felt terrible. "I had to see you," she said in a rush, "I'm so sorry I hung up on you, Jesse. I just didn't know what else to do! My brother was there, and I could tell he was suspicious. I panicked."

Jesse relaxed a little. "I know, I figured it out," he said.

"I knew you'd understand." Isabel reached for his hand, but Jesse pulled away. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He gazed out over the crowded lawn, refusing to meet her eye. "It got me thinking."

"What did?"

"You lying to your brother about me. Why don't you tell him the truth?"

Isabel didn't know what to say. "We… we talked about this, Jesse," she started.

"We talked about keeping it from your parents," Jesse interrupted. "Because I work for your father. But you and your brother are supposed to be close. Why can't you tell him how you feel about me?"

Because he's an alien king and he thinks I'm supposed to obey everything he says, she thought. "It's complicated," she said aloud.

"Too complicated," Jesse agreed.

Alarm bells went off in Isabel's head. "What do you mean?"

For the first time, Jesse turned to face her. "You don't want to tell your brother because you think he won't approve," he said.

Isabel opened her mouth, but no words came out. He was right.

"That's what got me thinking," Jesse went on. "Your brother wouldn't approve, your friends wouldn't approve, and your father would fire me. Because I'm too old for you, Isabel. I'm out of college… I'm out of law school!… and you're not even a freshman yet."

"But I don't care about that," she cried. "Why should it matter how old you are? It's just a number!"

Jesse took her hand now. "Honey, it's not just a number,"

he said gently. "It's experience, it's years of learning how the world works. I just… know more than you do. I can't explain it. There's so much that you haven't done, that you haven't seen yet."

Isabel stared at him, dumbfounded. She had done and seen more than he could imagine. He wouldn't even believe most of the things she'd seen. But she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't risk him finding out her secret.