Debutante Hill Read Free

things. But it can mean something else. That is, if you want it to.”
    â€œWhat?” Lynn asked, almost afraid to hear his answer because she knew what it was she wanted so much to hear.
    â€œThat you’re my girl. That we’ve got something between us worth hanging onto. That—oh, darn it, Lynn, you know what I’m trying to say.”
    Lynn nodded, letting her fingers curl around the ring.
    â€œYes, I know. And I feel that way, too, Paul. I want your ring. It will give me something to kind of hang onto, as you say. Maybe I won’t miss you as much.”
    â€œWell, you’d better miss me some ,” Paul exclaimed, “or I’m coming back for that ring in a week’s time!”
    He grinned, and Lynn did, too, and at that moment Ernie turned back from the car.
    â€˜Well, are you two through with the fond farewells? Because I’ve got a girl of my own to say good-by to before we take off.”
    â€œI know,” Lynn said, “and she’s probably about to burst by this time. She told me she was going to be out in the front yard, waiting, at eight o’clock and I think it’s closer to a quarter of nine. She’ll be sure you’ve forgotten her.”
    â€œNo, she won’t,” Ernie said easily. “Nancy knows better than that.”
    They are so sure of each other, Lynn thought, so completely sure. But then, Paul and I are, too, now—now that he’s given me his class ring.

    Ernie gave her a brotherly hug and climbed into the car.
    â€œI’ve already said my good-bys to the family. Come on, old man, let’s get going. I’ll look the other way, if you want to make the grand gesture.”
    â€œYou’re a noble guy,” Paul said. He turned back to Lynn, but he did not kiss her. She did not expect him to. Paul was not the kind of boy who made a show of things in public. He simply held her hand a moment and then released it and gave her chin a little tap.
    â€œChin up. I’ll be back soon. Don’t you lose that ring now; it took my whole allowance for three months straight.”
    â€œI won’t lose it,” Lynn promised. ‘I’ll never lose it!”
    And then, sooner than it seemed possible, they were gone.
    Now, walking along beside Nancy toward the high school, the whole world had a kind of emptiness about it Last year, she had started toward school in the morning with an excitement burning inside her, with the knowledge that “in just ten minutes . . . seven minutes . . . four minutes . . . I’ll see Paul.” He would be waiting there by the front steps, maybe talking to some of the boys, for Paul always had friends around to talk to, but his eyes would be wandering off in the direction of the Hill Road, watching for Lynn. Or sometimes she would get there first and watch for him to come. It did not matter which way it happened.
    But this year it won’t be either way, Lynn thought as the street turned and the building came into view. It’s going to seem so lonely!
    Nevertheless, there were plenty of greetings as the two girls approached the building. Rivertown High was a public school, but all the young people from the Hill went there.
Occasionally, some family would decide to send their children to a private school, but that was not the usual procedure, for the high school was a good one. Of course, other people went there, too, but the Hill crowd was a crowd of its own, set a little apart from the rest of the students.
    It was not a conscious snobbery, and there were members of the Crowd who did not live on the Hill. Most of them had become part of the Crowd because of Paul. Paul had been president of the senior class and captain of the football team, and he had been friends with almost everyone in school. Paul was the sort of boy whom everybody liked, probably because he himself liked everyone.
    Lynn had known about him for years before she met him. He was only a year ahead of