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The rogue backpack went into the closet, on top of the rows of penny loafers and Mary Janes; then Jane changed out of her school uniforown There was no reason to put real clothes on She was going nowhere

She took her stack of books to her white desk She had English hoebra French

She glanced over at her bedside table Arabian Nights waited for her

She couldn't think of a better way to spend her punishment, but houilty

Two hours later she was on her bed with Nights in her lap when the door opened and Hannah's head poked in Her curly red hair was another deviation The rest of theht food"

Jane sat up, worried for her younger sister "You'll get in trouble"

"No, I won't" Hannah slipped in, a little basket with a gingham napkin, a sandwich, an apple, and a cookie in her hand "Richard gave this to ht"

"What about you?"

"I'ry Here"

"Thanks, Han" Jane took the basket as Hannah sat on the foot of the bed

"So what didja do?"

Jane shook her head and bit into the roast beef sandwich "I got upset with Mom"

" 'Cuz you couldn't have your party?"

"Uh-huh"

"Well I gots so to cheer you up" Hannah slid a folded piece of construction paper onto the duvet "Happy birthday!"

Jane looked at the card and blinked fast a couple of times "Thanks Han"

"Don't be sad, I'm here Look at your card! I made it for you"

On the front, drawn in her sister's ht blond hair and the word Jane written under it The other had curly red hair and the na smiles on their circle faces

Just as Jane went to open the card, a pair of headlights swept the front of the house and started co up the driveway

"Papa's hoet out of here"

Hannah didn't seem as concerned as she'd usually be, probably because she didn't feel good Or ot distracted by She was mostly in her daydreams, which was probably why she was happy all the time

"Go, Han, seriously"

"Okay But I'ot quitted" Hannah shuffled over to the door

"Hey, Han? I like my card"

"You didn't look inside"

"Don't have to I like it because you made it for me"

Hannah's face split into one of her daisy smiles, the kind that reminded Jane of sunny days "It's about you and me"

As the door shut, Jane heard her parents' voices drift up from the foyer In a rush she ate Hannah's snack, shoved the basket into the folds of the drapes next to the bed, and went to the stack of her schoolbooks She took Dickens's The Pickwick Papers back with her to the bed She figured if she orking on school stuff when her father came in, it would buy her some brownie points

Her parents ca her father to knock He didn't

Which eird He was, in his controlling way, as reliable as a clock, and there was a strange coh she didn't like dealing with him

She put Pickwick aside, turned the light out, and tucked her legs under her frilly duvet Beneath the canopy of her bed she couldn't sleep, and eventually she heard the grandfather clock at the head of the stairs chime twelve times

Midnight

Slipping froue knapsack, and unzipped it The Ouija board fell out, flipping open and landing faceup on the floor She grabbed it with a wince, as if it y

She and her friends had been looking forward to playing the ga to marry Jane liked a boy named Victor Broas in hera little lately, and she really thought they could be a couple Trouble was, she wasn't sure what he felt for her Maybe he just liked her because she gave him answers

Jane laid out the board on her bed, rested her hands on the pointer, and took a deep breath "What is the na to marry?"

She didn't expect the thing to move And it didn't