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She had everybody else in their gy Eleanor Bozo, but Tina had already head and Bloody Mary ‘Cuz it looks like your whole head is on the rag,’ she’d explained today in the locker rooyym was an extension of hell, and Tina was definitely a demon A weird, miniature de of lesser deyyht it had sucked that they had to wear gys even more than she hated the rest of her body) But at North they had to wear gym suits Polyester onesies The bottom was red, and the top was red-and-white striped, and it all zipped up the front

‘Red isn’t your color, Bozo,’ Tina had said the first tihed, even the black girls, who hated Tina

Laughing at Eleanor was Dr King’s mountain

After Tina pushed past her, Eleanor took her tiot to her seat before that stupid Asian kid Which et up to let him have his spot by theWhich would be aard It was all aard Every tiuy’s lap

Maybe so and she’d be able move away from him

At least he didn’t ever talk to her Or look at her

At least she didn’t think he did; Eleanor never looked at him

Sometimes she looked at his shoes He had cool shoes And so …

Always co to read on the bus She didn’t want Tina, or anybody else, to catch her with her head down

Park

It felt wrong to sit next to somebody every day and not talk to her Even if she eird (Jesus, was she weird Today she was dressed like a Christmas tree, with all this stuff pinned to her clothes, shapes cut out of fabric, ribbon …) The ride hoet away from her, away fro to eat dinner alone in his room, but his little brother wouldn’t let him Josh stood in the doorway, already dressed for taekwando and inhaling a chicken leg

‘Dad’s going to be here, like now,’ Josh said through the druonna shit if you’re not ready’

Their mom came up behind Josh and thumped him on the head ‘Don’t cuss, dirty mouth’ She had to reach up to do it Josh was his father’s son; he was already at least seven inches taller than their mom – and three inches taller than Park

Which sucked

Park pushed Josh out the door and sla his status as older brother despite their growing size differential was to pretend he could still kick Josh’s ass

He could still beat hiot impatient with any sport where his size wasn’t an obvious advantage The high school football coach had already started coed into his dobak, wondering if he was going to have to start wearing Josh’s hand-me-downs pretty soon Maybe he could take a Sharpie to all Josh’s Husker football T-shirts and make them say Husker D&uuht never get any taller than five foot four He row out of the clothes he had now

He put on his Chuck Taylors and took his dinner into the kitchen, eating over the counter

His ravy out of Josh’s white jacket with a washcloth

‘Mindy?’

That’s how Park’s dad caht, like the dad in a sit-com (‘ Lucy? ’) And his mom would call out from wherever she was, ‘In here!’

Except she said it, ‘In hee-ya!’ Because she was apparently never going to stop sounding like she just got here yesterday froht she kept the accent on purpose, because his dad liked it But his mom tried so hard to fit in in every other way … If she could sound like she grew up right around the corner, she would

His dad barreled into the kitchen and scooped his ht, too Full-on make-out sessions, noPaul Bunyan rabbed his brother’s sleeve ‘Coo’ They could wait in the Impala Their dad would be out in a iant dobak

Eleanor

She still couldn’t get used to eating dinner so early

When did this all start? In the old house, they’d all eaten together, even Richie Eleanor wasn’t co to eat with Richie … But noas like their mom wanted them all out of the way before he came home

She even rilled cheese, and Richie would get steak Eleanor wasn’t corilled cheese either – it was a nice break from bean soup, and beans and rice, and huevos y frijoles …

After dinner, Eleanor usually disappeared in-to her room to read, but the little kids alent outside What were they going to do when it got cold – and when it started getting dark early?

Would they all hide in the bedroom? It was crazy Diary of Anne Frank crazy

Eleanor cliot out her stationery box That duain She pushed hih her stationery She keptto write letters to her friends frooodbye to anybody when she left Her mom had shown up out of the blue and pulled Eleanor out of class, all ‘Get your things, you’re co home’

Her mom had been so happy

And Eleanor had been so happy

They went straight to North to get Eleanor re-gistered, then stopped at Burger King on the way to the new house HerEleanor’s hand … Eleanor had pretended not to notice the bruises on her mom’s wrist

The bedroo the cat

‘Mom wants you to leave the door open,’

Maisie said, ‘for the breeze’ Everyin the house was open, but there didn’t seem to be any breeze With the door open, Eleanor could just see Richie sitting on the couch She scooted down the bed until she couldn’t

‘What are you doing?’ Maisie asked

‘Writing a letter’

‘To who?’

‘I don’t know yet’

‘Can I come up?’

‘No’ For theher box safe She didn’t want Maisie to see the colored pencils and clean paper

Plus, part of her still wanted to punish Maisie for sitting in Richie’s lap

That never would have happened before

Before Richie kicked Eleanor out, all the kids were allied against him Maybe Eleanor had hated him the most, and the most openly – but they were all on her side, Ben and Maisie, even Mouse Mouse used to steal Richie’s cigarettes and hide them And Mouse was the one they’d send to knock on their s …

When it orse than bedsprings, when it was shouting or crying, they’d huddle together, all five of them, on Eleanor’s bed (They’d all had their own beds in the old house)

Maisie sat at Eleanor’s right hand then When Mouse cried, when Ben’s face went blank and dreamy, Maisie and Eleanor would lock eyes

‘I hate him,’ Eleanor would say

‘I hate him so much I wish he was dead,’

Maisie would answer

‘I hope he falls off a ladder at work’

‘I hope he gets hit by a truck’