Melody (Logan 1)

The bell rang. I stared at the three of them for a moment and then stood up.

"Where do we dump our trays?" I asked.

"Just follow Theresa. She knows how to clean off tables," Janet told me.

I rushed from their annoying laughter. It was making my blood boil. I followed the others to an opening in the wall where trays and dishes were placed. Theresa waited for me there.

"Making new friends?" she asked dryly.

"More like new enemies," I responded. Her eyebrows lifted. I thought I even detected a small, tight smile on her lips.

"English is next," she said. "We're reading Huckleberry Finn."

"I read it."

Theresa paused and turned to me. "You did? Good. Then maybe you can help me for a change."

"I'd love to," I shot back, my voice as tight and firm as hers.

She stared a moment and then she smiled warmly for the first time. Her pearl black eyes brightened and she laughed. I laughed, too.

Betty, Janet, and Lorraine stared at us with amazement as they walked past and down the corridor.

"Do the witches from Macbeth have English now, too?" I asked Theresa.

"Witches?" She gazed after Lorraine, Janet, and Betty.

"Oh. Yes."

"Good," I said firmly.

We walked on, Theresa talking more freely now about our teachers, our classes, and the way things were.

Cary waited outside the school building at the end of the day. He looked up sharply when I appeared.

"My mother wants you to walk home with May and me," he explained. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I do," I said. He started walking quickly.

"Are we walking or running?" I asked, keeping up with him.

He glanced at me.

"I don't like to be late for May," he said.

"She doesn't know how to get home by herself?" I asked innocently. He stopped and spun on me.

"She's deaf. She might not hear a car when she crosses the street."

"I bet she would look carefully first," I said. "She's a bright girl."

"Why take chances?" he said.

"She needs to feel she can be on her own," I told him. "She's only ten. There's plenty of time for that.

Besides, we're wasting time standing here and arguing." "We're not arguing," I said keeping up with his pace.

"We're only having a conversation."