First Gail was hiring Grant's attentions, according to Mack, and then she wasn't putting out enough for him, which was so obviously contradictory that Gail almost laughed. She wondered what was with Mack's confused obsession with their private life, and why she was so anxious to speculate on their intimacy. Later on, when she could think, Gail would dissect everything she knew about any boys Mack had potentially been intimate with herself during the previous year. For the time being, Gail had to work to break free from the disgusted stare she was giving Grant's mouth.

"I'd rather be a nun than a beached whale," Gail said in response to Mack. She made a pointed look at Mack's distended middle and smirked. Seriously, Gail could think of a lot of worse things to be called than a nun. Weren't nuns supposed to be nice women with good morals? If Mack's idea of an insult was to call Gail kind and chaste, it was no wonder that Mack was a belligerent pregnant teenager. Gail wiped at her mouth, an involuntary show of sympathy for Grant. She was pretty sure that he was going to have to soak his whole head in bleach if he ever wanted to kiss her again.

Mr. Darling was moving towards them now, from the other side of the room, a deep frown causing him to look quite stern as he did, and Gail wondered how much of the unpleasantness he'd observed himself. Gail grabbed at Grant's arm, but released him quickly as though he was contaminated. She rubbed her fingers against her hip and motioned towards her father.

"Come on," she said to Grant. "Time for me to get back to the church or the Head Nun will be after me!" She smirked at her own little joke, made a rude hand gesture at Mack (positioned carefully so that her father couldn't see it) and turned to step away between the racks of tiny clothes.



The best things in life are free. The second best are very expensive.