November Blues Read Free Page A

salve on the deeply felt wounds of the school.
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    November hurried off the bus and into the school building. The fumes from the school bus made her feel ill. Eventhough it was almost April, the air was crisp and chilly, and she shivered as she walked into the main hall. A picture of Josh, the frame trimmed in black, still hung prominently near the main office. She automatically turned her head away so she wouldn’t have to see that infectious smile, those eyes that crinkled mischievously. Josh was the only person she knew whose school picture had actually captured his personality.
    She went to her locker, got her books out for the morning, and tried to get her thoughts together. She regretted the blueberry yogurt granola bar she’d eaten on the school bus; her stomach was churning. Just as she closed her locker, she felt her stomach heave. She covered her mouth, rushed across the hall to the girls’ bathroom, and made it to a stall just in time to throw up seemingly everything she had eaten since the third grade.
    â€œYou okay in there?” she heard a voice ask.
    â€œYeah, I’m fine,” November managed to reply. “I got the flu. That’s all.” November wiped her mouth with toilet paper and leaned her head against the cool surface of the bathroom stall. The smell was horrible, even after she flushed.
    â€œStinks,” the voice stated flatly.
    â€œWhy don’t you mind your own business?” November replied angrily.
    â€œI got breath mints if you need ’em,” offered the voice.
    â€œJust leave me alone,” November pleaded. She heaved once more and gagged on nothing.
    â€œYou want me to call the nurse?”
    â€œNo, please don’t. I’ll be okay.” November took a coupleof deep breaths and felt a little less queasy. “But thanks anyway.” She glanced under the stall door and saw the ugliest pair of shoes she’d ever laid eyes on. They were scuffed gray leather with rounded toes and faded blue laces. She waited until she heard the girl’s footsteps leave the bathroom, then opened the stall door. She looked in the mirror. She’d lost quite a bit of weight after Josh’s death, and she looked thin, unhealthy, and weak.
    â€œSchool mirrors always make you look bad, anyway.” It was that voice again.
    November whirled around, surprised that the girl had returned. The girl’s large brown face, pulled taut by tightly braided cornrows, was peppered with acne. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” November asked her.
    â€œAren’t you?” the girl tossed back.
    â€œI’m sick. I’m going home. What’s your excuse?”
    â€œI was worried about you.”
    November didn’t know what to say to that. She looked at the girl suspiciously. Finally she asked, “Me? Why?”
    â€œYou sounded pretty bad in there. I wouldn’t have slept tonight if you had dropped dead or something and I hadn’t come back and tried to help you.” The girl shrugged and tossed her book bag onto the floor.
    November smiled thinly. “That’s pretty cool of you. But I’ll be okay.”
    â€œWhatever.” The girl shrugged.
    â€œYou’re, uh, Olivia, right?” November made a face, trying to remember the girl’s last name. “I’m November Nelson.”
    â€œI know who you are. I’m in your first-bell American history class. Sergeant Fox, the king of worksheets and quizzes.”
    Embarrassed, November looked at the girl closely. “Uh, I’m sorry. I usually use that class to finish my morning nap.”
    â€œYou should sit in the back like me. Easier to catch those z’s.” She smiled. “I’m Olivia Thigpen. An unfortunate name, I must admit, since I’ve had to endure stupid boys saying ‘Oh-liv-in-a pigpen’ as they made oinking sounds.”
    Olivia was noticeably overweight, but compact, as if her clothes had