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eclipse situation
The girl just looked like exactly the sort of person this would happen to
Not just new – but big and aard With crazy hair, bright red on top of curly And she was dressed like … like she wanted people to look at her Or et what a mess she was She had on a plaid shirt, aaround her neck and scarves wrapped around her wrists She reminded Park of a scarecrow or one of the trouble dolls histhat wouldn’t survive in the wild
The bus stopped again, and a bunchinto her, and dropped into their own seats
That was the thing – everybody on the bus already had a seat They’d all claimed one on the first day of school People like Park ere lucky enough to have a whole seat to theive that up now Especially not for soirl She was just standing there
‘Hey, you,’ the bus driver yelled, ‘sit down’
The girl started ht into the belly of the beast God, Park thought, stop Turn around He could feel Steve and Mikey licking their chops as she got closer He tried again to look away
Then the girl spotted an empty seat just across from Park Her face lit with relief, and she hurried toward it
‘Hey,’ Tina said sharply
The girl keptHis friends fell in a few seconds behind him
‘You can’t sit there,’ Tina said ‘That’s Mikayla’s seat’
The girl stopped and looked up at Tina, then looked back at the empty seat
‘Sit down,’ the driver bellowed froirl said to Tina in a firm, calm voice
‘Not irl rocked back to keep fro Park tried to turn the volume up on his Walkman, but it was already all the way up He looked back at the girl; it looked like she was starting to cry
Before he’d even decided to do it, Park scooted toward the
‘Sit down,’ he said It cairl turned to him, like she couldn’t tell whether he was another jerk or what ‘Jesus-fuck,’ Park said softly, nodding to the space next to hiirl sat down She didn’t say anything –
thank God, she didn’t thank him – and she left six inches of space on the seat between thelasand waited for a world of suck to hit the fan
CHAPTER 2
Eleanor
Eleanor considered her options: 1 She could walk home from school Pros: Exer-cise, color in her cheeks, time to herself Cons: She didn’t know her new address yet, or even the general direction to start walking
2 She could call her mom and ask for a ride
Pros: Lots Cons: Her mom didn’t have a phone Or a car
3 She could call her dad Ha
4 She could call her grand on the concrete steps at the front of the school, staring out at the row of yellow buses Her bus was right there No 666
Even if Eleanor could avoid the bus today, even if her fairy gode, she’d still have to find a way to get back to school to
And it’s not like the devil-kids on the bus were going to wake up on the other side of their beds toed their jaws the next tiirl in the back with the blond hair and the acid-washed jacket? You could practically see the horns hidden in her bangs And her boyfriend was possibly a irl – all of them – hated Eleanor before they’d even laid eyes on her Like they’d been hired to kill her in a past life
Eleanor couldn’t tell if the Asian kid who finally let her sit doas one of them, or whether he was just really stupid (But not stupid-stupid … He was in two of Eleanor’s honors classes)
Her mom had insisted that the new school put Eleanor in honors classes She’d freaked when she sa bad Eleanor’s grades were frorade ‘This can’t be a surprise to you, Mrs Douglas,’ the counselor said Ha, Eleanor thought, you’d be surprised what could be a surprise at this point
Whatever Eleanor could stare at the clouds just as easily in honors classes There were just as many s
If she ever even caot home
Eleanor couldn’t tell her mom about the bus situation anyway because her mom had already said that Eleanor didn’t have to ride the bus Last night, when she was helping Eleanor unpack …
‘Richie said he’ll take you,’ hertoto make peace, Eleanor You promised that you’d try, too’
‘It’s easier for me to make peace from a distance’
‘I told him you were ready to be part of this family’
‘I’m already part of this family I’m like a charter member’
‘Eleanor,’ her mom said ‘Please’
‘I’ll just ride the bus,’ Eleanor had said ‘It’s not a big deal I’ll ht now Giant, dra to leave soon A few of the other buses were already pulling away Somebody ran down the steps next to Eleanor and accidentally kicked her bag She pulled it out of the way and started to say sorry – but it was that stupid Asian kid, and he frohen he saw that it was her She frowned right back at hiht The children of hell shan’t go hungry on my watch
CHAPTER 3
Park
She didn’t talk to hi to think of how to get away froirl He’d have to switch seats That was the only answer But switch to what seat? He didn’t want to force hi seats would catch Steve’s attention
Park had expected Steve to start in on hiht back to talking about kung fu again Park, by the way, knew plenty about kung fu Because his dad was obsessed with martial arts, not because his mom was Korean Park and his little brother, Josh, had been taking taekwando since they could walk
Switch seats, how …?
He could probably find a seat up front with the freshmen, but that would be a spectacular shoeakness And he alirl at the back of the bus by herself
He hated hi like this
If his dad kneas thinking like this, he’d call Park a pussy Out loud, for once If his grandma knew, she’d smack him on the back of the head ‘Where are you manners?’ she’d say
‘Is that any way to treat somebody who’s down on her luck?’
But Park didn’t have any luck – or status – to spare on that duh to keep himself out of trouble And he kneas crappy, but he was kind of grateful that people like that girl existed Because people like Steve and Mikey and Tina existed, too, and they needed to be fed If it wasn’t that redhead, it was going to be so to be Park
Steve had let it go this o …
Park could hear his grand yourself a sto nice while other people atching?’
It wasn’t even that nice, Park thought He’d let the girl sit down, but he’d sworn at her When she showed up in his English class that afternoon, it felt like she was there to haunt him …