She looked
almost afraid. It made David's stomach hurt, to know that he was the
cause of the pained look on her face.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi." She squeezed her arm as if she was nervous.

"You haven't been to see me or anything," he said. "You still like me,
right?"

"_Like_ you? I don't even _know_ you." Rebecca waited what seemed
like forever before she next spoke. When she did, her voice was soft,
as if she was recounting a painful tale. "Three years ago, my best
friend moved to the other side of the country, and I never got to see
her again. We still e-mail each other, of course, but it's not the
same. For the longest time, I didn't have anyone to help me make it
through the day. Until I met you. Until I met Faye, I mean. Now it's
happening all over again, only worse than that, because it's like a
part of Faye's still here, and you're running around, oblivious to the
fact that you've stolen it from her."

"Oh." David didn't know what else to say.

"Is that all you've got to say? '_Oh_'?"

"I guess I didn't see it that way. I was hoping we could still be
friends." David looked at Rebecca, but her eyes seemed sharp and cold.
"You know, like you and her were. You and me, I mean. I still
remember everything, you know. How you'd laugh together, or swap
secrets about boys."

"Yeah, well not anymore, OK?"

David stood in silence, trying to think of something to say to make it
all better. Deep down, he knew there was nothing he could say or do
that could change how Rebecca felt.

"So is this it?" David eventually asked. "Is this how we're going to
say goodbye? You meant everything to her."

Rebecca paused, as if she wanted to say something but wasn't sure if
she should. Finally, she said, "She loved me, didn't she?"

David nodded.

Rebecca looked straight ahead as if she was talking to the front door.
"I loved her too, I think. Despite everything." She turned to face
David. "That's why it hurts to look at you."

"I'm sorry," said David. He cursed himself for not being able to think
of anything better to say.

Rebecca didn't reply to him, but as he walked out the door, he could
have sworn he'd heard her whispering, "So am I."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Identity, by Zoe Blade

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IDENTITY ***

***** This file should be named 29676.txt or 29676.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in