Sleepy was perhaps the most interesting, however. Not that he woke up. Please. But he sat at one of the picnic tables with his eyes closed and his face turned to the sun. Since I can see this at home, this was not what interested me. No, what interested me was what was going on beside Sleepy. And that was an incredibly good-looking boy who did nothing but stare straight ahead of him with a look of abject sadness on his face. Occasionally, girls would walk by – as girls will when there is a good-looking boy nearby – and say hi to him, and he’d tear his eyes away from the sea – which was what he was staring at – and say, ‘Oh, hi,’ to them before turning his gaze back to those hypnotic waves.

It occurred to me that Sleepy and his friend might very well be potheads. It would explain a lot about Sleepy.

But when I asked Cee Cee if she knew who the guy was, and whether or not he had a drug problem, she said, ‘Oh, that’s Bryce Martinson. No, he’s not on drugs. He’s just sad, you know, ’cause his girlfriend died over the break.’

‘Really?’ I chewed on my corn dog. The food service at the Mission Academy left a lot to be desired. I could see now why so many kids brought their own. Today’s entrée had been hot dogs. I am not kidding. Hot dogs. ‘How’d she die?’

‘Put a bullet in her brain.’ Adam, the kid from the principal’s office, had joined us. He was eating Cheetos from a giant bag he’d pulled from a leather backpack. A Louis Vuitton backpack, I might add. ‘Blew the back of her head away.’

One of the horsy girls turned around, having overheard, and went, ‘God, Adam. How cold can you get?’

Adam shrugged. ‘Hey I didn’t like her when she was alive. I’m not gonna say I liked her now just because she’s dead. In fact, if anything, I hate her more. I heard we’re all going to have to do the Stations of the Cross for her on Wednesday.’

‘Right.’ Cee Cee looked disgusted. ‘We have to pray for her immortal soul since she committed suicide and is destined to burn in hell for all eternity now.’

Adam looked thoughtful. ‘Really? I thought suicides went to Purgatory.’

‘No, stupid. Why do you think Monsignor Constantine won’t let Kelly have her dumb memorial service? Suicide is a mortal sin. Monsignor Constantine won’t allow a suicide to be memorialized in his church. He won’t even let her parents bury her in consecrated ground.’ Cee Cee rolled her violet eyes. ‘I never liked Heather, but I hate Monsignor Constantine and his stupid rules even more. I’m thinking of doing an article about it, and calling it “Father, Son, and the Holy Hypocrite”.’

The other girls tittered nervously. I waited until they were done and then I asked, ‘Why’d she kill herself?’

Adam looked bored. ‘Because of Bryce, of course. He broke up with her.’