Blindfold Read Free

Magdalene?" the slim, dark-haired teacher had said in her office at the end of first semester last year. She had sounded exasperated. "You tried drama, and hated it. Then you worked on the school paper with Scout for what, all of six weeks? And quit. He said you were bored. Big surprise. The same thing happened with chorus. It's a good thing you like sports, but sporting events are not enough to keep your mind occupied. We need something else. Frankly, Maggie," the teacher added, "the only thing left for you to try is the peer jury."
    "Oh, lovely." Maggie, slumped in a leather chair opposite Ms. Gross's desk, her long, jeaned legs stretched out in front of her, had made a face. "Like I really want to be one of those geeky people who smacks a classmate's hand when he's been naughty. Now there's a super way to make friends!"
    "You already have plenty of friends," the teacher had responded sharply. "And if you were interested in collecting more of them, you'd have stayed in drama or on the newspaper or campaigned for an office. What gets me is, your peers don't seem to mind your inability to stick to anything for very long."
    "That's because they know I'm a loyal and faithful and true friend," Maggie joked, realizing she was straining the counselor's patience. She liked Ms. Gross. But the woman had deliberately returned to Felicity after college and taken a job
    here, when she could have moved to a big city to teach. Which meant she didn't mind being bored, so how could she possibly understand why Maggie hated it?
    And Maggie did hate it. Very much. She still faced two and a half long, dreary years in Felicity, where nothing much ever happened. They stretched out ahead of her like a jail term. Then she was out of here! On her way to college somewhere far, far away, then to a job in a huge, exciting city. She'd come home on holidays, of course, because it wasn't as if she didn't like her family. Her dad had a great sense of humor and was very generous with allowances, and her mother, when she wasn't so busy reshaping Felicity, was a lot of fun. Dog-face would come home from college, too, and maybe he'd have been magically transformed into a real human being by then.
    But it would take a holiday to drag her back to Felicity.
    'There are ten members of the jury, not twelve," Ms. Gross had continued, apparently unaware that Maggie wasn't really listening. "Sessions are held as often as necessary. They take place either in the morning before classes begin, or after school, whichever time is most convenient for jury members, and last anywhere from an hour to two hours, depending upon the problems presented."
    Maggie lifted her head. "You mean, depending upon the crimes presented. Horrendous offenses like stealing a candy bar from the vending machine or putting feet up on a desk or mouthing off to a
    teacher." She twirled an index finger in the air. "I don't know if I can stand the excitement, Ms. Gross."
    Ignoring the gesture, the counselor continued, "I must caution you, you'll be dealing with some students who are repeat offenders. They don't like being disciplined, and they especially don't like being disciplined by their peers. If anyone gives you any trouble, you must report it to this office or the principal."
    "This office"? Maggie hid a smile. Ms. Gross thought of herself as "this office"? That's what came of settling in Felicity. The woman didn't even see herself as a person anymore.
    "Many of the students who get into trouble are simply, like yourself, bored." The counselor's tone deepened, became stern. "I wouldn't want to see that happen to you, Maggie."
    "It won't," Maggie answered confidently. It wouldn't. Not because she was afraid of breaking the rules. She wasn't. But getting out of Felicity required going to college and going to college required a relatively unblemished transcript, no matter how screamingly, achingly bored she got. She wasn't taking any chances with that transcript. "Okay, so I'll take a shot at this