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But it was Her worst night so much worse than dead dolls or rubber snakes
In a daze of unreality she looked up to see every other occupant of the table rising They were picking up their lunches; they were leaving But unlike the two nice sophoe cans They were justto other tables, one here, another there, anywhere they could fit in
Away fro as it ay from her
"Mom ?" She looked down at the shut eyes with their thick black lashes, the pale face
She didn’t kno she’d h the rest of school today, and when she ca worse Not a lot worse, nothing to be worried about, but worse She needed peace and quiet She’d taken so medicine
Cassie stared at the dark circles under the shut eyes Her ile Vulnerable So young
"Mo but hollow Herher face Then she was still again
Cassie felt the numbness sink in a little deeper There was nobody to help her here
She turned and left the room
In her own bedroom, she put the chalcedony piece in her jewelry box and didn’t touch it again Soof the house kept her up that night, too
On Thursday , there was a bird in her locker A stuffed owl It stared at her with shining round yellow eyes A custodian happened to be passing by, and she pointed it out to hi He took it away
That afternoon, it was a dead goldfish She made a funnel of a sheet of paper and scooped it out She didn’t go near her locker for the rest of the day
She didn’t go near the cafeteria, either And she spent lunch in the farthest corner of the library
It was there that she saw the girl again
The girl with the shining hair, the girl she’d given up on everthat Cassie hadn’t seen her at school before thisthrough the halls with her eyes on the ground, speaking to no one She didn’t knohy she was at school at all, except that there was nowhere else to go And if she had seen the girl, she’d probably have run the other way The thought of being rejected by her as Cassie was rejected by everyone else at school was unbearable
But now Cassie looked up frohtness like sunlight
That hair It was just as Cassie reirl was facing the circulation desk, s to the librarian Cassie could feel the radiance of her presence froe to leap up and run to the girl And then what? She didn’t know But the urge was almost beyond her control Her throat ached, and tears filled her eyes She realized she was on her feet She would run to the girl, and then - and then I her when she was young, cleaning out a skinned knee, kissing it better Comfort Rescue Love
"Diana!"
Another girl was hurrying up to the circulation desk "Diana, don’t you knohat tiirl with the shining hair away, laughing and waving at the librarian They were at the door; they were gone
Cassie was left standing alone The girl had never even glanced her way
On FridayCassie stopped in front of her locker She didn’t want to open it But it exerted a bizarre fascination over her She couldn’t stand feeling it there, wondering as in it and not knowing
She dialed the coht
The locker door opened
This ti, straining as wide as the stuffed owl’s Her asp Her stomach heaved The ser Raw and red like flesh with the skin torn off, darkening to purple where it was going bad froeration Pounds and pounds of it It smelled like
Like meat Dead meat
Cassie slaer that was oozing out the botto over
A hand grabbed her For an instant she thought it was an offer of support Then she felt her backpack being pulled off her shoulder
She turned and saw a pretty, sullen face Malicious dark eyes A motorcycle jacket Deborah tossed the backpack past Cassie, and auto it
On the other side she saw shoulder-length blond hair Slanted, slightlyuys - the Henderson brothers
"Welco He threw the backpack to Deborah, who caught it, singing another line
Cassie couldn’t help turning around and around between the
Tears flooded her eyes The laughter and singing rang in her ears, louder and louder
Suddenly a brown arht the backpack in hter died
She turned to see through a blur of tears the cold, handsouy who had stood with Faye that o? He earing another T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves and the same worn-in black jeans
"Aw, Nick," the Henderson brother coame"
"Get out of here," Nick said
"You get out," Deborah snarled fro and me were just - "
"Yeah, ere only - "
"Shut up" Nick glanced at Cassie’s locker, with globs ofout of it Then he thrust the backpack at her "You get out," he said
Cassie looked into his eyes They were dark brown, the color of her grandany furniture And like the furniture, they seehts back at her They weren’t unfriendly, exactly Just - uniuy
"Thank you," she said, blinking back the tears
Soany-dark eyes "It’s not much to thank me for," he said His voice was like a cold wind, but Cassie didn’t care Clutching the backpack to her, she fled
It was in physics class that she got the note
A girl na to look as if she were doing nothing of the sort She went right on walking and took a seat on the other side of the rooht burn her if she touched it Her naed to look pompous and prim at the same time
Slowly, she unfolded the paper
Cassie, it read Meet , second floor, after school I think we can help each other A friend
Cassie stared at it until the writing doubled After class she cornered Tina
"Who gave you this to give to ly "What are you talking about? I didn’t"
"Yes, you did Who gave it to you?"
Tina cast a hunted look around Then she whispered, "Sally Waltht? But she told o now"
Cassie blocked her "Where’s the old science building?"
"Look - "
"Where is it?"
Tina hissed, "On the other side of E-wing In back of the parking lot Now let o!" She broke away froht sarcastically If Sally were really a friend, she’d talk to Cassie in public If she were really a friend, she’d have stayed that day on the steps, instead of leaving Cassie alone with Faye She’d have said, "Thanks for saving my life"
Butdidn’t look as if it had been used for a while; there was a padlock on the door, but that had been sprung Cassie pushed on the door and it swung away from her
Inside, it was diht-dazzled eyes But she could see a stairway She cliuide herself
It hen she reached the top of the stairway that she noticed so soft Al at the moved in the room in front of her
"Sally?" She took a hesitant step forward Why wasn’tin the s? she wondered She could see only glohite cracks here and there She took another shuffling step, and another, and another
"Sally?"
Even as she said it, realization finally dawned on her exhausted brain Not Sally Whoever, whatever was out there, it wasn’t Sally
Turn around, idiot Get out of here Now
She whirled, clu for the deeper blackness of the stairwell -
And light shone suddenly, strea, wrenching noise and h athat had been boarded up, Cassie realized So a piece of wood
She turned toward the stairway again But soht shone into the rooirl stepped forward
"Hello, Cassie," said Faye "I’m afraid Sally couldn’t make it But maybe you and I can help each other instead"