“Totally.” Berry sprang up. She glanced at her watch. “If we run, we can make it to the sign-up sheet before Math.”

So we ran, sprinting past classrooms, slowing briefly past Lynde’s office and my mom’s office, then picking up speed. Berry’s boots clomped on the tile as we rounded the corner to what I was pretty sure was my destiny.

I slid a little, rounding the corner to the hall by homeroom, and spotted the sheet, which was still there, taped up on the wall by Mr. Davidson’s classroom. Berry, who is fast like the wind, picked up speed and got to the list before I did. She looked triumphant for a half second, before her eye caught the names on the list, and then her face fell. In what felt like slow motion, she stepped toward me, hands out, eyes big, pools of worry.

She caught my shoulder with her hand. “Uh, change of plan.”

“Hey!” I laughed. “What’s wrong?”

A nervous laugh escaped her lips. “Um. I forgot. I heard this weird rumor Davidson was thinking of doing some modernized musical based on Jerry Maguire, so maybe this is a good year to skip theater?”

“What’s Jerry Magu ire?”

Berry dropped her hands, “You know how many albums Donna Summer recorded, but you don’t know the movie Jerry Magu ir e?”

“They’re totally different things.”

Berry was shifting her weight from foot to foot, bobbing her head back and forth, so I couldn’t see the list.

“Berry. What are you doing? We’re going to miss Math!” I moved my head to see past her. “What is going on?”

“Fine.” Berry’s face crumpled, and she stepped out from in front of the list.

So I could see.

It was full.

Sarah, Gilly, and Tanner’s names were still there. And a few other kids. And then the rest of the twenty spots were. . .

. . . other names.

“ ‘Debbie McDyke,’ ” I read aloud, “ ‘Harry Homo. Lucy Slut.’ ”

“Fuck them.” Berry put her hand on my arm.

“ ‘Ferris Faggot. Mabel Mustache.’ ”

At the very bottom of the list, in bright red letters, someone had just written BYE BYE, ANNE! GO HOME! My heart hammered in my chest.

“Did you know they would do this?” I tried to keep my voice from cracking.

“When you said the Gilly thing I was worried that something was going on, but also I hate Gilly so that’s bias, so I wasn’t sure?” Berry looked panicked. “I mean, I thought, maybe they would give you shit somehow but—”

“Need a pen?”

Tanner, Gilly, Sarah, and John all stood in the hallway. Sarah waggled a pink marker in between her thumb and forefinger. She must have busted out of Gym class. She was still in her uniform.

Had they filled out the sheet before Gym? Did they get Gilly to talk to me to stall?