happened so he doesn?t mark you late. And you should eat
something. You didn?t eat any lunch yesterday,? he reminded her.
Helen was a little surprised he remembered that, but Matt was
good at details. He wanted to be a lawyer, and she knew that
someday he would be a great one.
Claire drenched Helen in the girls? room, dumping cold water all
the way down her back when she was supposed to just wet her
neck. Of course they wound up having a gigantic water fight, which
seemed to calm Claire down because it was the first normal response
she?d had out of Helen in a few days. Helen herself felt like
she had passed an exhaustion barrier and now everything had become
funny.
Her
gie wrote them hall passes, so the two friends took their time
getting to their first classes. Having a hall pass from Mr. Hergeshimer
was like getting one of Willy Wonka?s golden tickets?a student
could go anywhere and do anything for a full period and not
one teacher would put up a stink.
In the cafeteria they got oranges for Helen?s low blood sugar, and
while they were at it they split a chocolate chip muffin. Helen
choked it down and miraculously started to feel better. Then they
went and stood in front of the six-foot-tall fan in the auditorium to
40/395
cool down, taking turns singing into the whirling blades and listening
to each other?s voices get chopped into a hundred pieces until
they were both laughing their faces off.
Helen felt so giddy after playing hooky on a Hergie hall pass and
eating raw sugar on an empty stomach that she couldn?t even remember
what class she was supposed to be going to. She and
Claire were casually strolling down the wrong hallway at the wrong