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. Shelooked on the verge of tears. That s just not right.Why don t you come in here and let me do you afavor. My hair simply flowed behind my head onto myback, but apparently that wasn t good enough for thissalon owner. If you insist, I smiled, letting her show me in anddirect me to a chair.Her generosity was impressive,and she was very gentle as she washed my hair andput it up. He must be really special to have you all gussiedup like this, she chatted, having no trouble intuitingthat there was a man involved. You have no idea, I grinned. He s one in tentrillion. I think you re going to knock his socks off! theowner glowed, spinning me around in the chair so Icould see myself in the mirror.I couldn t believe that abody could ever look so beautiful.She d put my hairup letting little blonde strands hang down from thesides of my bangs. Thank you so much! This is wonderful! I gushed. You think you ll still be feeling this good by theend of the night? she asked, raising an eyebrow. Probably not.I have a funny feeling this is going to end in disaster, I confessed, sounding perfectlyhappy about it despite the off-putting, strangefuzziness about the future I get when I m stuck in abody.The plump salon owner just threw her headback and laughed. That a girl! Go make some bad decisionstonight, honey.Live a little! she urged, scooting meout of her shop.I thanked her again and exited intothe cool, dusky air.All that was left now was to go to Nathan s andmake our way to his glamorous party.There wassomething strange going on in my stomach though,and I looked down at it confused.It was like therewere butterflies fluttering around in there.Was Ihungry? Did I have to use the bathroom? Nothing thisbody did ever made any sense to me.In a second I was crossing the small lawn,climbing the steps, and approaching Nathan s frontdoor.Raising my hand, I rapped my knuckles againstthe door once when a sudden revelation shook me.Oh, no! Nathan wasn t going to be the one whoopened the door!It swung open, revealing the icy cold stare of afourteen-year-old girl with glasses.Cammie couldn thave been more terrifying if she d been wielding aknife, but the firestorm of thoughts swirling about her head were much more dangerous than even that.Shestepped out onto the porch holding a pen and pad,closing the door behind her.Slowly, she inspectedme. If you think I m going to let you get anywherenear my brother, you ve got another thing coming, she scowled, her voice full of scorn.Remembering themistakes I made, I could understand how she felt thatway, but I still wasn t about to let her walk all over me. You re very protective of him, aren t you? Igrinned, earning an even more suspicious glance. I m sorry to tell you this, but you won t be goinganywhere with Nathan tonight.He has sort of a historyof being unable to let go of women who are bad forhim, and so it s up to me to put a stop to this.You canturn around and leave right now.Never talk to himagain, or else! She was dead serious, but I couldn t stop myselffrom chuckling.For some reason, it was just amazingto me how protective she d grown of him even beforeshe had any idea she would lose him. Out of all the Cammies, you have to be thefeistiest, I said, holding my hand over my laughingmouth. What is that supposed to mean? sheinterrogated, a sour look growing on her face. You don t think you re the only Cammie, do you?Can t you imagine what you d be like if you d madeother decisions that led to doing other things? Why,you d be a completely different person! Well, notalways completely different, just every variation youcould possibly imagine.But the thing you don t knowis that you did make those different decisions, andyou did become those different Cammies. The girl squinted at me. You re crazier than Ithought. I m not joking. You re talking about parallel universes! she shotback, shaking her head. That s crazy. I decided to let her in on the secret of it then, thepieces of the formula that held all of the ten trillionuniverses in place.She had to know I wasn t lying, thatI wasn t some chick trying to mess with her brother.He meant too much to me for that.So I took the tiniest step forward.I came so closeI could feel the warmth from her face.She keptperfectly still as I whispered five words into her ear. Energy.Space.Time.Mass.Probability. I still don t believe you, she said after I pulledaway.I was growing exasperated.Nathan would becoming any minute, and I didn t have time to beplaying more games. Ok, you want proof that the universe isseamless? I ll give you proof.Tell me, do you have ascar on your left ankle? Now Cammie appeared to be on the defensive.Most of her anger had faded, and now she justappeared confused and suspicious. Yes, she answered, bending her left leg to lookat her ankle.The scar across it was painful even tolook at. How did you know that? That s not important, I went on. How did you getit? When I was seven, I ran across the yard andstepped on a sprinkler, she explained
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