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Kindergarten recess It was obvious There were only about thirty kids, and they were so small A pretty brunette woman in jeans and a red blouse supervised their play

Lexi got to her feet,the fence line

Grace was the last one to come out of the school She stood off to the side, alone She see to herself To the back of her hand, actually The other kids laughed and played and ran aroun

d Grace just stood there, talking to her watch

Sht Please

But Grace never s that ten-minute recess None of the kids talked to her, and she didn’t join into any of the games

No one likes her, Lexi thought, with a stab in her chest “Gracie,” she whispered, shaking her head

Across the playground, Grace looked up, although she couldn’t possibly have heard her name spoken aloud Lexi felt that look pierce her Unable to help herself, she waved

Grace looked behind her Seeing no one there, she turned back to Lexi Slowly, she s and she ran into the school

Lexi could have lied to herself then, could have made up stories or tried harder not to care, but she didn’t bother with any of that She didn’t want to rush to judgain—but neither could she ignore what she’d seen

Grace wasn’t happy

No

Grace

There would be an empty seat on the Florida-bound bus today

Twenty