‘Hey,’ I couldn’t help blurting out. ‘What happened? Did she – I mean, did something else happen? Are you hurt?’

He grinned a bit sheepishly. ‘No. Well, unless you count this wicked splinter I got under my thumbnail. I was trying to brush all those little pieces of wood off my pants, you know, and one of them got under there, and—’ He held up his right hand. A large bandage had been wrapped round his thumb.

‘Yikes,’ I said.

‘I know.’ He looked mournful. ‘She used Mercurochrome, too. I hate that stuff.’

‘Man,’ I said. ‘You have had a rotten day.’

‘Not really,’ he said, putting his thumb down. ‘At least, not as bad as it would have been if you hadn’t been here. If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead.’ He noticed that I’d come through the door marked PRINCIPAL and asked, ‘Did you get in trouble, or something?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Father Dominic just wanted me to fill out some forms. I’m new, you know.’

‘And as a new student,’ the novice said severely, ‘you ought to be made aware that loitering in the halls is not allowed. Both of you had better get to your classes.’

I apologized and took back my pass. Bryce very chivalrously offered to show me where my next class was, and the novice went away, seemingly satisfied. As soon as she was out of earshot, Bryce said, ‘You’re Suze, right? Jake told me about you. You’re his new stepsister from New York.’

‘That’s me,’ I said. ‘And you’re Bryce Martinson.’

‘Oh, Jake’s mentioned me?’

I almost laughed out loud at the idea of Sleepy mentioning much of anything. I said, ‘No, it wasn’t Jake.’

He said, ‘Oh,’ in such a sad voice that I almost felt sorry for him. ‘I guess people must be talking about me, huh?’

‘A little.’ I took the plunge. ‘I’m sorry about what happened with your girlfriend.’

‘So am I, believe me.’ If he was mad that I’d brought the subject up, you couldn’t tell. ‘I didn’t even want to come back here after . . . you know. I tried to transfer to RLS, but they’re full. Even the public school didn’t want me. It’s tough to transfer with only one semester to go. I wouldn’t have come back at all except that . . . well, you know. Colleges generally want you to have graduated from high school before they’ll let you in.’

I laughed. ‘I’ve heard that.’

‘Anyway.’ Bryce noticed I was holding my coat – I’d been dragging it around all day since I couldn’t use my locker, the door having been dented permanently shut when I’d knocked Heather into it – and said, ‘Want me to carry that for you?’

I was so shocked by this civility that without even thinking, I said, ‘Sure,’ and passed it over to him. He folded it over one arm, and said, ‘So, I guess everybody must be blaming me for what happened. To Heather, I mean.’