11
LEO AND LIBRA CAN BE AN EXCELLENT MATCH AS LONG AS THEY LOVE EACH OTHER ENOUGH TO SHARE CENTER STAGE. BOTH ARE ATTRACTIVE PERSONALITIES; BOTH LOVE ATTENTION. LEO’S FIXED FIRE, AND LIBRA IS CARDINAL AIR. THEY WILL HAVE EITHER HOT, PASSIONATE LOVE OR HOT, PASSIONATE FIGHTS. BOTH ARE TAKE-CHARGE TYPES. LEO JUMPS IN AND JUST DOES IT. LIBRA MANIPULATES. IF THEY DON’T CONFLICT OVER WHO GETS THE ATTENTION, THESE TWO CAN ENJOY A LONG-LASTING RELATIONSHIP.
—Fearless Astrology
Libra. Sign of Zac Efron, Ashlee Simpson, and Hillary Duff. As if Geneva wasn’t sexy enough. To make it worse, I discovered that she had a Leo Moon. I rechecked just to be sure. Afraid so. She was a Libra with a Leo Moon, and Nathan was a Leo with a Libra Moon. Opposite sides of the same coin. What was I going to do?
“What are you going to do?” Chili echoed my thoughts. She was getting her highlights done that Saturday, and Paige and I sat with her in the salon waiting for the color to cook into her hair. She patted at the foil packets on her head. “You could lie.”
“Can’t,” I said.
All right, I’ll admit it. That was my first thought too. I mean, would anyone with a shred of sanity announce the fact that the guy she wanted—the guy whose kiss she could still taste—and the hottest girl in school were perfect astrological soul mates? No! I should tell her that Leo and Libra were the worst combination on the planet.
“Agreed.” Paige looked up from the magazine she was flipping through. “You’d get caught.”
“How?” Chili demanded.
“Because any astrology book could prove me wrong. I’d come out looking pathetic, stupid, or both.”
“You really think Geneva would go to the trouble of checking ?” Chili met my eyes in the mirror.
“She might if she wants Nathan enough.”
“So you have to tell her?” Paige looked up from her magazine again.
“Only if she asks,” I said.
I reminded myself that I didn’t know enough about the influence of the other planets in Geneva’s and Nathan’s charts. Beside, as the book said, the Sun sign is not the sum. I’d need to make that clear to Geneva. If I talked to her at all. If I told her anything.
I’d been planning to catch up with her on Monday in journalism class. But have I mentioned that my life doesn’t always work out according to plan? Chili had lost her car keys, and once her highlights were as perfect as always, we had to get a copy of the keys made. Afterward, we walked around the mall and looked for shoes for Chili to buy for Operation Trevor, as she now called it. Scorpios were big on style, I’d told her, although you’d never guess that from looking at Trevor’s jock attire.
“What I need . . . ” She turned around in front of the mirror in our favorite shop and lifted the sandals she was trying on. “What I really need is a pair of combat boots to kick Kat’s ass right out of Trevor’s life.”
Paige giggled.
“What you need is a gemstone that corresponds to your Sun sign,” I told her. “Amethyst, I think the book says.”
Their faces lit up again. And, yes, I was starting to like this, well, power. Maybe I had some Leo in my sign.
“Let’s go.” Chili kicked off the sandals. “Where do you buy an amethyst in this town?”
“Let me check the book first to be sure that’s the right stone,” I said.
We were on our way out of the store when we nearly ran into Geneva. The breeze tossed her cropped hair across her face. She shoved it back and still looked great.
“Well, look who’s here.” She glanced down at us with an amused expression that must have passed for friendly in her mind. Then her gaze settled on me. “Cool top, Logan.”
My face must have been the same shade as the red patent belt Paige had talked me into wearing with the black-and-white rugby tee.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Very few people can wear horizontal stripes.” Before I could recover from the Libra backhand, she added, “I’ve been thinking about you.”
Chili and Paige whirled their heads so quickly toward me that I was afraid they’d get whiplash.
“You have?”
The wind was blowing my own hair. I wished I had my fabulous new beret, and I remembered for a moment how it felt when Nathan pulled it down over my eyes as we sat in my driveway.
“Yep. I was wondering what you found out about the sign of Libra.”
I paused. Looked at Paige, at Chili, then back at this girl who could give me the newspaper column with a snap of those long, tapered fingers. I had to show her that I knew something about astrology.
“Libras can be beautiful,” I said, “but then, you probably don’t need me to tell you that.”
Although her laugh was low-pitched and sophisticated as always, a pink tinge spread over her cheeks. “Hunh, what else?”
Chili and Paige stood mute as statues.
“Libras tend to be fair,” I said, and hoped it was the truth. “They hold the scales of justice and can sometimes be a little wishy-washy, even envious.”
“Oh?”
“But only because they’re trying so hard to be balanced and to see both sides of an issue.”
“What about the other birth date I gave you?” She tilted her head.
“Leo.” My voice scratched out the word.
“And?” she urged.
Why lie? I’d be caught anyway.
“A very auspicious match,” I said, using the book’s term, then quickly added because I just couldn’t help it, “Of course, the Sun sign is not the sum. There are other factors. Moon sign, Mars, Venus. All possible to check, of course.”
“Logan, I so absolutely want you to do the Star Crossed column for the paper.” Although her voice was still low, it was more intense now. Her expression wasn’t all that different from the way Chili and Paige had looked at me that night in the spa when I told them about the book. “Where did you learn all this?”
“Here and there.”
“She’s amazing,” Chili blurted. “You wouldn’t believe all she can do with it.”
“Like what?”
I tried to jerk a silent no with my head. Chili caught it, but that wasn’t going to do me any good. Paige was the one Geneva was nailing with that lie-detector look of hers.
“Lots of things.” Paige licked her lips. “Logan’s going to ID the Gears.”
“She is?” Geneva turned wide eyes on me. “You are?”
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Chili shouted. “She’s brilliant with this stuff, Geneva. If anyone can find out who the Gears are, Logan can.”
Geneva stepped back. Articulate Geneva. Perfect Geneva. Never-without-a-quick-comeback Geneva. Her gaze darted from Chili to Paige and finally rested on me. Slowly her lips curved into that infamous grin.
“No shit?” she said.
NOTES TO SELF
So now I have to find out who the Gears are through their birth signs. As luck would have it, I’ll be trying to do it while Mercury is in retrograde. More on that problematic little phenomenon in a minute. I’m starting to understand the fearless in Fearless Astrology. Still, I remember what my life was like before I found the book—how I stumbled over my tongue when I tried to talk to Frankenstein, how miserable I felt when I saw Nathan and Geneva together in the parking lot. No way would I go back. Plus, I got the column. And that puts me closer to Frankenstein, and closer to the fellowship.
It just flashed into my head that running into Geneva today was no accident. There’s only one reason she’d lower herself to stalk me. She thinks I know my astro stuff. Let’s hope she’s right.