the show and enjoy。 I？ll be there of course； and there are some people I want you
to meet。 You？re already a moviemaking goddess； babe。 You totally rock。？
？Cool；？ Vanessa replied； slightly appalled that he？d actually told her she rocked not once
buttwice 。 ？So what？s the designer？s name again？？
？Cult of Humanity by Jedediah Angel；？ Ken repeated slowly。 ？SixP。M。 Friday at Highway 1。 It？s
a club in Chelsea。？
？I？ve heard of it。？ It was the type of place Vanessa normally avoided like the plague。 ？I guess I？ll
see you there。？
？Fan…fucking…tastic！？ Ken enthused。 ？Ciao！？
Vanessa hung up and rubbed at a glop of dried sugaring paste on her wrist。 Then she picked up
the phone and dialed Dan？s number without even looking at the keypad。
？Hello？？ Jenny answered on the first ring。
？Hey Jennifer； it？s Vanessa。？ Vanessa always called Jenny Jennifer because Jenny had asked her
to。
？I？m not sure if Dan will talk to you。 He wouldn？t talk tome ； and he？s been locked in his room
ever since he got home。 It？s so gross？there？s cigarette smoke； like；pouring out from under the
door。？
Vanessa laughed and flopped back on her black pillows。 Everything in her room was black；
except the walls； which were dark red。 ？How do you know he？s not in there putting gel in his hair？
That new haircut looks pretty high maintenance。？
The two girls snickered。
？I？ll go see if I can get him。 Hold on。？
？What？s up？？ Dan picked up the phone a minute or two later。 He sounded distracted。 ？Jenny said
it was an emergency。？
Vanessa lifted her leg in the air and tugged at another sugaring strip。 It appeared to be glued
permanently to her skin。 Talk abou