The next day was Monday and Cotillion day. Jeanne realized very early in the morning that Jedrick and Paris would not be waiting at the corner for her to walk to school. It was an odd feeling—they had been doing this for years upon years. But she stood on their usual street and waited until long after the bells had tolled seven hours, and knew they had gone ahead of her.
She wasn’t hurt, not really. Just a little surprised. Still, things would go back to normal quickly; she believed in that.
So she walked to school herself, a little late, a little behind everyone else, arriving when most kids were surging through the double doors and into the building. She wasn’t used to so many people, and it took her by surprise. On occasion she could forget there were so many bodies, but for days at
