Without giving her any more time to decide, I grabbed her things and pushed her out of the bathroom. There were still kids in the hallway, mostly those who waited until the last second to get to their classes. We mingled among them and then I guided Lavi around a corner and through a side door. We turned the block and lost sight of the school within minutes. As we neared the park, I saw two of my backrow friends smoking cigarettes beneath a tree. They waved to us and Lavi moved closer to me.

“So what do you want to do?” The wind lifted itself gently through her hair.

“I don’t know. Maybe we could go in there.” I pointed to a storefront.

“You mean Royal’s? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Don’t worry so much, Lavi. It will be fun.”

A bell attached to the doorknob ringed in our arrival. An older woman at the counter looked up. At the same moment, her bifocals slipped off her nose and dangled precariously from their chain. She retrieved them and slipped them back over the bump on her nose.

“Hello, Laverne. Who is your little friend?” She raised her eyebrows, making the skin on her forehead ripple.

“This is Matilda. A friend from school.”

“What brings you girls in today?” Her voice pierced the air. She reminded me of someone, but I could not think of whom.

“Matilda just moved here.”

“Take a look around.” Her arm swept across the counter and I could see blue spidery veins running from her wrist to her fingertips.

I left Lavi staring intently at a display of neon-colored thermoses and inched my way toward the back, stopping occasionally to touch a rubbery pink eraser or look at a new board game. The shelves were crammed with random things and it took some time to make my way. I could hear their voices in the front of the store where I had left them.

“How is your mother?”

I pictured Lavi head down, hands searching for her elbows.

I hurried farther down the aisle. I passed photo albums, colored pencils, and a display filled with pastel-colored stationery.

“And your brother? We haven’t seen him around much.”

For a moment I even wondered if Lavi was still there, but then I heard Mrs. Royal again. “Tell your mother to stop in some time and see me.”

“How much for this thermos? The one with the footprints all over it,” Lavi said.

I lingered by the stationery for another minute. And then I saw it. A box filled with paper the shade of purple so perfect it made your eyes glaze over when you looked at it. Without hesitation, I slipped the stationery into my backpack and quickly headed back to the front of the store. Mrs. Royal handed Lavi a bag just as I walked back up the aisle.