Page 26 (1/2)

I stress about this onwhat Kyle’s reaction will be if I see hiain As I head distractedly to the cafeteria, I aht this ed]" she exclaims

Here it comes, I think Infinite Darlene has no doubt heard she’s on the sarieved

"It’s not my fault," I say defensively

"How could it be?" Infinite Darlene asks, shootingJoni’s heart And now all my fears have been realized He is an awful, awful, subhuoodness, haven’t you heard? Truck and I had so of an altercation yesterday, and I’m afraid the truth ca that I’m still in the dark, she resua like a pit bull because he felt I’d called the wrong plays Please note that on the ga that set him off--I honestly can’t recall what it was -- and he said so like, ‘Well, maybe ould have scored more if you’d made more passesto be rin popped onto his face and he said, ‘Well, I’ you can do to stop it’ I said, ‘So is that why you’re doing this?’ He grinned even wider His eyes were pure spite And I knew That’s what this is all about Not Joni Not love He’s getting back atto hurt one of my friends, and it will be my fault unless I stop it He hates us, Paul Make no mistake"

Even for Infinite Darlene, this seems a little far-fetched "Don’t you think Joni could see through hi this out of spite?"

Infinite Darlene puts a hand on my shoulder and looks me deep in the eye "C’mon, Paul," she says "We all know love h all her layers Beneath the mascara and the lipstick and the chicken pox scar on her lower lip, beneath the girl and the boy to the person within, who is concerned and confused and sincere I wonder if she can see through h my badly held peace to all of the love confusion underneath There’s no way she can know I kissed Kyle unless she sees it in ible as hers

"We have to do so," she says "We have to stop him"

"How?"

"I don’t know First and fore

"You wantout with her is to get back at you?"

"Not in those exact words, but yes"

"And you think she’ll listen toto you, then that’s a bigger proble else"

I know this much is true

"Fine," I say I expect Infinite Darlene to be relieved by this, but she doesn’t look relieved

"They’re over there," she says, pointing to Joni and Chuck in the cafeteria, soood a time as any"

Naturally, I want to look for Noah (don’t I?), but I can’t find a way to say no to Infinite Darlene I head over to Joni under her watchful eye

Joni doesn’t even detach herself froe She lets hie to e

"What’s up?" she asks She sounds defensive, so the e must be noticeable