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Surprising both of them with her burst of strength, Jolie grabbed Bobby’s arm and swung him around. “You haveno ideaabout the consequences of your carelessness. And now things are really tough for poor Bobby Maxwell. Right?”
“I can see you don’t care, either.” He glared at her, his chest heaving.
She glared right back. “You’re wrong. I do care. Come back and talk to me when you’re ready to grow up, Bobby. The family coddled you from the day you were born. That’s not your fault.” She lowered her voice and emphasized each word. “But now it’s your choice whether you act like a man and take responsibility, or just whine and sulk about how tough your life is.”
Stepping out of his way, she let him leave.
He marched down the alley, heading toward the fairgrounds with his head high and shoulders rigid.
All pride and no sense,Jolie thought sadly.Maybe not even a heart.How much more harm would he cause before he finally decided to grow up?
MIDDLE SCHOOL IS ABUMMER,Annie thought glumly, doodling pictures of princesses and gossamer-winged fairies down the side of her notebook. The lunch menu looked yucky. There were still three and a half days until the weekend. It was way too warm in here, and she was too tired to even listen anymore.
Worse, the math teacher was boring and...
Silence fell. The kind of expectant, tense silence before something really awful is about to happen to someone—when everyone holds their breath and is glad it’s notthem.
She froze, looked up toward the front of the room. And found the teacher staring straight at her.Oh, no. Did she ask me a question?
“Annie. Are you okay? Do you need to go to the nurse’s office?” Mrs. Porter’s forehead creased with concern. “You look pale. Do you need some help?”
She knows.Dad must have brought that doctor’s letter to the school or talked to her teachers already! Horror washed through Annie.Don’t say any more. Please, no more!
The entire class swiveled in their seats to look at her with open curiosity. The kind reserved for major accidents on the highway and truly horrible social disasters.
“No...no, I’m fine.Really.” But with embarrassment clogging her throat, she choked on the words.
Mrs. Porter started threading her way through the casually arranged tables, heading straight for Annie’s.
Clint Heath sat at the next table, like always. He hadn’t said much of anything to her since the day she’d bumped into him in the school hallway, but now he looked from the teacher, to the other kids, then to the mortification that must have shown on Annie’s face.
He stood up abruptly and moved to Annie’s desk, took her arm and hauled her to her feet. “I’ll take her out into the hall, Miz Porter,” he announced. “It’s hot in here.”
Stunned, Annie blindly followed him out the door.Clint Heath had come to her rescue!
From behind them, the teacher called out, “Thank you, Clint. Go straight to the nurse’s office. I’ll call her to say you’re on the way.”
Out in the hallway, Clint shut the door, then made a fist and drew it sharply downward in a gesture of satisfaction. “Yesss! We’re outta there!”
Back in the classroom, a buzz of excited whispers rose until Mrs. Porter’s voice sharply ordered silence.
He peered at her more closely. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I...I’m fine.”
Except she did feel crummy...sort of queasy, with a headache starting to pound at her temples. It was hot, even out here in the hallway. She lifted a wrist to wipe at the cold perspiration on her forehead. “Thanks for helping me out of class.”
He shrugged. “You’re a friend of Sara’s, right? She’s my second cousin. Anyway, I hate math.”
“Maybe I should go back in.”
“Mrs. Porter is the most boring teacher in the whole school. You sure won’t miss much.”
Great. Now he probably thinks I’m boring, too, for even thinking about going back.She tried to think of something cool to say, but her thoughts grew fuzzy at the edges, as if wrapped in cotton wool.I want to go home to Chicago. I want everything to be like it was last week, before I ever heard about blood sugar and insulin and syringes...
Way down the hall, past the principal’s office, a curly gray head of hair popped out into the hallway.
Clint sighed. “There’s the nurse. Come on.” He eyed Jolie uncertainly. “Should I tell her to come down here?”
