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2:38 PM

DESS

When Jessica finally collapsed behind a desk for her last class of the day, she was completely exhausted She cra if she was in the right roo onto the floor All day it had been gaining weight like a new employee at Baskin-Robbins

No first day of school was ever easy But at least back in Chicago, Jessica had had the same old faces and familiar halls of Public School 141 to look forward to Here in Bixby everything was a challenge This school round level, a e of classes had been trau late She alore a watch, which she set at least ten irl, she&039;d dreaded having to creep into a class late, everyone&039;s eyes on her, looking sheepish and too duain The bell hadn&039;t rung yet Jessica had ed to be on time the whole day

The class filled slowly, everyone looking end-of-the-first-day frazzled But even in their weariness a few noticed Jessica They all knew about the new girl fro city, it seemed At her old school Jess had been just one student out of two thousand But here she was practically a celebrity Everyone was friendly about it, at least The whole day she&039;d been shepherded around, smiled at, asked to stand up and introduce herself She had the speech down pat now

"I&039;o We caot a job at Aerospace Oklahons planes Not the whole plane, just the shape of the wing But that&039;s the part that makes it a plane, Mom always says Everyone in Oklahoo My thirteen-year-old sister cried for about teeks before wenuts because he hasn&039;t found a job in Bixby yet, and the water tastes funny here Thank you"

Of course, she&039;d never said that last part out loud Maybe for this class she would, just to wake herself up

The late bell rang

The teacher introduced himself as Mr Sanchez and called the roll He paused a little when he got to Jessica&039;s na at her for a second But he must have seen her weary expression He didn&039;t ask for the speech

Then it was tihed The textbooks Mr Sanchez was piling onto his desk looked dauntingly thick Beginning trigonouidance counselor into starting Jessica in all advanced classes here, dropping back to a norestion had been flattering, but after seeing the giant physics textbook, the stack of paperback classics for English, and now this doorstop, Jessica realized she&039;d been suckered Moet her into advanced classes back in Chicago, and now here Jessica was, trapped in trig

As the books were being passed back, a tardy student entered the rooer than the others in the class She was dressed all in black, wearing dark glasses and a lot of shiny enuinely pleased

"Glad to see you, Desdeirl sounded as tired as Jess felt, but with ust Mr Sanchez was practically bea at her, as if she were some famous onoe your life

He went back to passing out books, and the girl scanned the classrooe happened She pulled off the dark glasses, squinted at Jessica, and made her way purposefully to the empty desk next to her

"Hey," she said

"Hi, I&039;irl said, as if that were terribly obvious Jessica wondered if she&039;d already met her in some other class "I&039;m Dess"

"Hi" Okay, that was hi twice But as she supposed to say?

Dess was looking at her closely, trying to figure soht for her Her pale fingers played with the translucent, yellowish beads on one of the necklaces, sliding them one way and then the other They clicked softly as she arranged them into unreadable patterns

A book arrived on Jessica&039;s desk, breaking the spell that Dess&039;s fingers had cast

"When you get your book," Mr Sanchez announced, "carefully fill out the form attached to the inside cover That&039;s carefully, people Any dae you don&039;t record is your responsibility"

Jessica had been through this drill all day Apparently textbooks were an endangered species here in Bixby, Oklahoe, noting everyat the end of the year for anyone crie their books Jessica had helped her dad do the sa every nail hole in the walls, checking every electrical socket, and going into detail about how the autoo up the last foot and a half

Moving had been annoying in all kinds of unexpected ways

She began going through the textbook, dutifully checking every page Jess sighed She&039;d gotten a bad one Underlined words, page 7 Scribbles on graph, page 19

"So, how do you like Bixby so far, Jess?"

Jessica looked up Dess was leafing through her book distractedly, apparently finding nothing Half her attention was still on Jess

The speech was all ready Everyone in Oklahoo But somehow she knew that Dess didn&039;t want the speech