Darcy refused to look in Jamee’s dresser drawers, but she did look in the trash can, which was full to overflowing. Sheets of newspaper were wrapped around something bulky, and Darcy carefully unwrapped it. She found a framed photograph of Bobby Wallace. Scrawled on the bottom was “To my girl, Jamee, Your Bobby. ” The glass over the photo had been smashed into splinters. The photo itself was defaced by a black felt pen. There were discarded clippings from school newspapers describing Bobby’s triumphs on the football field. Jamee had carefully clipped out every story, however briefly Bobby was mentioned. Now she had torn the clippings into shreds.

Darcy returned everything to the trash can, wrapping the newspapers around the shattered picture as Jamee had done. Darcy felt guilty that she had poked around among Jamee’s hurtful memories, though she felt relieved that Jamee had seemed to cut ties with Bobby. Poor Jamee. She was wounded by Dad’s leaving, Grandma’s drifting away—and now she was hurt again.

On Saturday afternoon, Cooper and Tarah picked up Darcy for the trip to the tidal pool. Cooper drove an old pickup truck with a camper shell on the back.

Darcy brought along a thick notebook and her camera. All the way to the tidal pool, Tarah and Cooper were exchanging good-natured insults, then roaring with laughter.

“Girl, you so fat, every time you leave the all-you-can-eat restaurant, they close down for a few weeks!” Cooper said, laughing at his own joke.

“Coop, you so dumb, you went to a movie and the man at the ticket window said ‘Under seventeen not admitted,’ so you went home and brought back sixteen of your friends,” Tarah shot back. Rocking side to side with laughter, she almost squeezed Darcy right out the door. “Darcy, girl, Coop’s the most stupid guy at Bluford,” Tarah added. “He thinks the school was named Bluford because the guy who built it had a blue Ford!”

“So, Einstein,” Cooper said, looking at Tarah, “who was the school named for?”

“A guy named Bluford, you dummy. Some famous old guy named Bluford,” Tarah answered.

Cooper roared again with laughter. “See? She don’t know from nothing who Bluford is. If you so smart, you ought to know who this Bluford dude was. ”

“I do know,” Tarah said. “His name was Jim Bluford, and he was a great football player who won the Super Bowl five times in a row. ”

Darcy smiled. Tarah was faking, of course. She had no more idea than Cooper did who Bluford was.

“A football player?” Cooper bellowed. “What kind of crazy answer is that, girl? You must be trippin’! Nobody would name a school after some jock! Not even after Michael Jordan. No way! Bluford has to be some big-time politician or something. ”

“Actually,” Darcy said, “the school was named for Guion Bluford, the first African American to go up in space. He rode one of the space shuttles. ”