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‘Eleanor,’ Mr Stessman said ‘What a powerful name It’s a queen’s name, you know’
‘It’s the name of the fat Chipette,’ sohed
Mr Stess poetry today, Eleanor,’ Mr Stesset us started’
Mr Stesse and pointed ‘Go ahead,’ he said, ‘clear and loud I’ll tell you when to stop’
The new girl looked at Mr Stess When it was clear that he wasn’t – he alry all the years,’ she read A few kids laughed Jesus, Park thought, only Mr Stess on her first day of class
‘Carry on, Eleanor,’ Mr Stessht was a terrible idea
‘I had been hungry all the years,’ she said, louder this ti, drew the table near,
‘And touched the curious wine
‘T’was this on tables I had seen,
‘When turning, hungry, lone,
‘I looked in s, for the wealth
‘I could not hope to own’
Mr Stessman didn’t stop her, so she read the whole poem in that cool, defiant voice The same voice she’d used on Tina
‘That onderful,’ Mr Stess ‘Just wonderful I hope you’ll stay with us, Eleanor, at least until we do Medea That’s a voice that arrives on a chariot drawn by dragons’
When the girl showed up in history, Mr Sanderhoff didn’t make a scene But he did say,
‘Ah Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine,’ when she handed him her paperwork She sat down a fes ahead of Park and, as far as he could tell, spent the whole period staring at the sun
Park couldn’t think of a way to get rid of her on the bus Or a way to get rid of hiirl sat down and turned the volume all the way up
Thank God she didn’t try to talk to hiot hoood because she wasn’t ready to see theain It had been such a freak shohen she’d walked in last night …
Eleanor had spent soabout what it would be like to finally coht they’d throw her a ticker-tape parade
She thought it would be a big hugfest
But when Eleanor walked in the house, it was like her siblings didn’t recognize her
Ben just glanced at her, and Maisie – Maisie was sitting on Richie’s lap Which would have ht up if she hadn’t just promised her mom that she’d be on her best be-havior for the rest of her life
Only Mouse ran to hug Eleanor She picked hiratefully He was five now, and heavy
‘Hey, Mouse,’ she said They’d called him that since he was a baby, she couldn’t re, sloppy puppy – always excited, always trying to jump into your lap
‘Look, Dad, it’s Eleanor,’ Mouse said, ju down ‘Do you know Eleanor?’
Richie pretended not to hear Maisie watched and sucked her thuht now, but with her thumb in her mouth, she looked just like a baby
The baby wouldn’t re on the floor with Ben Ben was eleven He stared at the wall behind the TV
Theirwith Eleanor’s stuff into a bedroo rooh for a dresser and soet the top bunk,’ he said, ‘and Ben has to sleep on the floor with me Mom already told us, and Ben started to cry’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ their mom said softly ‘We all just have to readjust’
There wasn’t room in this room to readjust
(Which Eleanor decided not to mention) She went to bed as soon as she could, so she wouldn’t have to go back out to the living rooht, all three of her brothers were asleep on the floor
There was no way to get up without stepping on one of them, and she didn’t even knohere the bathroom was …
She found it There were only five rooms in the house, and the bathroom just barely counted
It was attached to the kitchen – like literally attached, without a door This house was designed by cave trolls, Eleanor thought So a flowered sheet between the refrigerator and the toilet
When she got home from school, Eleanor let herself in with her new key The house was possibly even y and bare – but at least Eleanor had the place, and her mom, to herself
It eird to co in the kitchen, like … like nor onions Eleanor felt like crying
‘Hoas school?’ her ood first day?’
‘Sure I mean, yeah, it was just school’
‘Will you have a lot of catching up to do?’
‘I don’t think so’
Her mom wiped her hands on the back of her jeans and tucked her hair behind her ears, and Eleanor was struck, for the ten-thousandth tiirl, she’d thought her mom looked like a queen, like the star of some fairy tale