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She smiles a tired half smile "I’ll be fine Please I don’t think I can stand up if I don’t get so to eat soon That was much, much worse than I expected"

He hesitates, and then removes his arm from behind her shoulders "I’ll be back" He sprints off the bus She watches hih lane and taps on the microphone Janie s full of breakfast sandwiches, several orders of hash browns, coffee, orange juice, milk, and a chocolate shake "I wasn’t sure what you’d want," he says Janie struggles a little and sits up She pours the juice down her throat and ss until it’s gone She does the sa beer like that?"

She se behavior "I’ve never tried it with beer"

"That’s probably wise"

"Have you?" She takes a bite of a sandwich

"I don’t really drink"

"Not even a little, here and there?"

"Nope"

She looks at his?"

He hesitates a split second "Nada"

"Wow Well, you sure looked like hell for a couple years"

He is quiet He smiles politely "Thank you" He nods at her sandwich

"Sorry"

He stares at the seat in front of them while she eats She hands him a sandwich and he takes it, unwraps it, and eats it slowly They sit in silence

Janie belches loudly

He looks at her Grins "Jesus, Hannagan You should enter a contest"

They share the chocolate shake

8:35 am

The other students board the bus in twos and threes Soarettes 8:41 aain

"Nohat?" asks Cabel He has a look of concern around his eyes He coain

"If it happens again, don’t worry" She shrugs helplessly "I don’t knohat to tell you--I promise I’ll explain this all when I can Where are we, by the way?"

"We’re getting close"

She rues around in her pocket and produces a ten-dollar bill "For breakfast," she says He shakes his head and pushes it away "Let me think of this as our first date, will you?"

She looks at hi moment Feels her stomach flip "Okay," she whispers