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Eleanor looked down at the toilet Even though she knehat she was going to see there, it still felt like a wet slap in the face Her new jeans and her cowboy shirt were in a dark pile in the bowl, and her shoes were crammed under the lip Somebody had flushed the toilet, and there ater still spilling over the edge Eleanor watched it run

‘Here,’ Mrs Burt said, handing Eleanor a yellow Food 4 Less bag ‘Fish ’e away She couldn’t wear them anymore anyway

Everybody would know those were her toilet clothes

‘Well, you can’t leave them here,’ Mrs Burt said ‘Fish them out’ Eleanor stared at her clothes ‘Come on,’ Mrs Burt said

Eleanor reached into the toilet and felt tears slipping down her cheeks Mrs Burt held the bag open ‘You’ve got to stop letting thee the out her jeans over the toilet She wanted to wipe her eyes, but her hands et

Mrs Burt handed her the bag ‘Come on,’ she said ‘I’ll write you a pass’

‘For where?’ Eleanor asked

‘Your counselor’s office’

Eleanor took a sharp breath ‘I can’t walk down the hall like this’

‘What do you want from me, Eleanor?’ That was obviously a rhetorical question; Mrs Burt wasn’t even looking at her Eleanor followed her to the coach’s office and waited for the pass

As soon as she got out to the hallway, the tears cah the school like this – in her gymsuit In front of boys … And everybody In front of Tina God, Tina was probably selling tickets outside the cafeteria Eleanor couldn’t do it Not like this

It wasn’t just that her gyly

(Polyester One-piece Red-and-white stripes with an extra-long white zipper) It was also extreht

The shorts just barely cleared her underwear, and the fabric was stretched so tight over her chest, the seaedy in that gy up for the next gyirls looked at Eleanor, then started whispering Her bag was dripping

Before she could think it through, Eleanor turned the wrong way down the hall and headed for the door to the football field She acted like she was supposed to be walking out of the building in the /half-dressed/drippy-bag mission

The door clicked locked behind her, and Eleanor crouched against it, letting herself fall apart Just for a ht outside the door, and she got up and hurled the Food 4 Less bag into it She wiped her eyes with her gyet it together Don’t let theet to you Those were her new jeans in the trash And her favorite shoes Her Vans She walked over to the trash and shook her head, reaching down for the bag

Fuck you, Tina Fuck you to the

There were no classroo her She stuck close to the building, and when she turned the corner, she walked under a ros

She thought about walking right hoer

If she could just get to the front door, the counselor’s offices were right inside Mrs Dunne would help her Mrs Dunne wouldn’t tell her not to cry

The security guard at the front door acted like girls andering in and out in their gylanced at Eleanor’s pass and waved her on

Alht Don’t run, just a few more doors …

She really should have expected Park to walk through one of them

Ever since the first day they’dhim in unexpected places It was like their lives were overlapping lines, like they had their own gravity Usually, that serendipity felt like the nicest thing the universe had ever done for her

Park walked out of a door on the opposite side of the hallway and stopped as soon as he saw her She tried to look away, but she didn’t do it soon enough Park’s face turned red He stared at her She pulled down her shorts and stu the last few steps to the counselors’ offices

‘You don’t have to go back there,’ her mom said after Eleanor had told her the whole story (Alht for a o back to school Stay here all day? And then what?

‘It’s okay,’ she said Mrs Dunne had driven Eleanor hoy into the bathtub and started rinsing out the clothes, wrinkling her nose, even though they didn’t smell

‘Girls are so mean …’ she said ‘You’re lucky to have one friend you can trust’

Eleanor must have looked confused

‘Tina,’ her mom said ‘You’re lucky to have Tina’

Eleanor nodded

She stayed hoh it was Friday, and Park’s family alatched movies and made popcorn in the air popper on Fridays

She couldn’t face him

All she’d see was the look on his face in the hallway She’d feel like she was still standing there in her gymsuit

CHAPTER 41

Park

Park went to bed early His ht?’

‘She running late?’ ‘You get in fight?’

Every tio hot

‘I can tell that soht? Did you break up again?’

‘No,’ Park said ‘I think maybe she went hoirlfriend now,’ Josh said, ‘can she start co’

‘I’irlfriend can coive up your Nintendo’

‘What?’ Josh was stricken ‘Why?’

‘Because I said so,’ his dad said ‘Is it a deal?’

‘No! No way,’ Josh said ‘Does Park have to give up Nintendo?’

‘Yep Is that okay with you, Park?’

‘Fine’

‘I’m like Billy Jack,’ their dad said, ‘a warri-or and a wise-man’

It wasn’t much of a conversation, but it was the most his dad had said to Park in weeks

Maybe his dad had been bracing for the entire neighborhood to swarm the house with torches and pitchforks as soon as they saw Park with eyeliner …