“Not really. Just said she wanted to date more interesting guys.”

“Oh.”

He took a snapshot out of his wallet.

“Here’s a picture of her.”

It was apparently the girl’s prom picture because she was wearing a gown, holding flowers, and standing in front of a maroon velvet curtain. It looked as if she didn’t have a date, or, possibly, he was just embarrassed to stand beside her. One thing was for sure, she was one of the ugliest wenches I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Boy,” I said, “she’s quite a looker.”

“Unfortunately, she knows it.”

I nodded.

“She can get anybody she wants so what does she need me for?”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “That’s a pussy attitude. You can get any girl you want, too, Irv. You’ve just got to believe in yourself a little more.”

“Oh yeah, sure. I can get any girl I want.”

“That’s right. You can get any thing you want for that matter. Because you’re smarter than one hundred percent of the people in the world.”

“Dunph … that’s impossible. A hundred percent of the people would have to include me. How can I be smarter than myself?”

I thought about this. “See?”

I finally bumped into S.D. after one of my classes up at the Girls School. Tried to apologize but she said, “Drop it.” She asked me to join her for lunch in the Girls Dining Hall.

We sat at a table that included a Top Ten member named Courtney Kingswood, two other seniors, two freshmen, and a junior named Jane Weston. I had heard locker room moanings about Jane Weston’s beauty (for instance: “I’d swim a mile in shark-infested piss just to hear her fart over the phone.”) but I’d never gotten a good close-up of her.

Jane was about five feet seven inches with shoulder-length, thick brown hair and amazing blue eyes. Her smile was warm and happy, and her skin had that golden glow that children get from playing outdoors in the winter. She had a strong voice—with a trace of a southern accent—which always sounded on the verge of a wonderful laugh. Her body was slender and athletic, and she had the nicest set of cupcake tits I’d ever seen. But the killer was those eyes; the bluest I’ll ever see.