He had never disobeyed the order to hide. Even as a toddler, barely able to walk in the backyard’s tall grass, he had somehow understood the fear in his mother’s voice.Luke is a third child who lives in a country where third children aren’t allowed. No one is supposed to have more then two kids, …

“Hi, Taj. Glad to see you and Johnny are back.”Back?It all started with a website. TAP is a social site for people- you go and meet friends. You create wishlists and people buy you the things on them. You get free stuff. You get to go to awesome parties. And at these parties the ones …

Although the skirt hung in a stiff tube around my legs, maybe with my new white silk blouse it didn’t look half-bad-“You look like a giant tube of toothpaste.”Maybe not.You know those people who have everything planned out? The six year olds who already know exactly who they are going to marry? And the thirteen …

All of the court looks different to me now, somehow both clearer and more confusing than it appeared when this year began. Henry is besieged by those who undoubtedly would do him ill if it would benefit them to do so. During dinner I see him conferring with Edward Seymour, and the sight of it …

Kate sat down on the top of the steps and began drinking her milk shake. Her next-door neighbor Courtney was standing in her front yard. Courtney was six, and she thought everything Kate did was terrific. Kate could dump a bucket of mud over her head and run in circles around her yard, and Courtney …

Ghost Boy: Nighty-night, Robot Girl.Robot Girl: Nighty-night.Ghost Boy is a liar, liar liar liar, I thought drowsily as I drifted off to sleep. He does too want a friend. Even if she is a little stiff. That night I dreamed of bridges made of diamonds.Robot Girl isn’t her name. Robot Girl is the name she uses for the …