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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cliques Are Made to Be Broken

“What do you think?” I ask The Mouse, tapping my pen on the table

“Attacking Donna LaDonna in your first piece for The Nutotten her side yet”

“Not for lack of trying,” I counter, which isn’t exactly true I did follow her around for a bit, but I didn’t really try to confront her What I actually did was drive by her house three ti new house, which is also strikingly ugly It has two columns, one wall made of brick, one wall ning the house couldn’t decide what they wanted and chose everything instead Sort of the way Donna LaDonna is about boys, I figure

On two occasions, the house was deserted, but the third ti out, followed by Donna Just before Toe for her, like he was trying to kiss her, but she pushed hihed While To, another car pulled up—a blue Mercedes—and a tall, really good-looking guy got out, walked right past Tommy, and put his arm around Donna’s waist Then they went inside without a backward glance

When it co life

“Why not start with so less controversial than Donna LaDonna?” The Mouse asks now “Get people used to the idea that you’re writing for the paper”

“But if I don’t write about Donna, I have nothing to write about,” I complain I put reat thing about Donna is that everyone is scared of her I h school inspires such universal distress?”

“Cliques”

“Cliques? We’re not even in a clique”

“In the sense that we’ve been hanging out with pretty much the same people for the last ten years, maybe we are”

“I always thought of us as the anti-clique”

“An anti-clique is a clique, isn’t it?” asks The Mouse

“Maybe there’s a story here,” Iall the way back in s slide out and I fall over, knocking down several books in the process I land with the chair on top of my head, and when I peek around the seat, little Gayle is bending over me