She lost her humor quickly. "Well, I'm telling you that you are more mysterious and that it is important. It is always the obvious girls who are the most uninteresting. It is essential to have a cloak of mystery about you, Lorelei, especially since you're one of us. You would think you would know that yourself by now, but I keep forgetting how immature you are sometimes."
"I'm not immature." I pouted for a moment and then added, "If I am, it's because I'm not permitted to do anything, to experience anything, when it comes to the opposite sex. I haven't been out on a date or even to a party, have I? Well, have I? Girls much younger than I am have been out on dates and gone to parties. Some of the kids in my class think I must have done something terrible to be so restricted or that we're religious nutcases."
She laughed and then said, "Who cares what they think?"
"I do. It's hard, Ava. Don't tell me it wasn't hard for you, too."
