been in trouble, and she hadn’t bothered to find out why. Could it have been related to this? She didn’t want to go talk about it with the counselors, but she confessed to Grace.

“Don’t do a guilt trip on yourself,” Grace said. “You couldn’t know then what would happen now. It was ages ago and probably some minor nothing.”

“I know all that,” Rose said, sounding ungrateful.

Grace never got ruffled by other people’s bad tempers. “Well, maybe you should talk to a professional person. I’ll go with you, if you like.”

“The gym will be crawling with kids from her class. Let’s not make fools of ourselves.”

She had this nagging feeling, like someone softly breathing on the back of her neck. Once or twice she had to turn around, expecting to see someone there. In fact, once she thought she actually saw Nancy in the crowded hall: a glimpse of straggly blonde hair, a pink jacket. It gave her a funny feeling deep down inside. The kind of feeling you get when you think something bad is going to happen. It was crazy, but she was getting spooked. She wished they’d find Nancy, or at least find out what had happened.

At lunch, she phoned Mom to ask if there was news.

“No,” Mom said. “But I’m sure I’ll hear first thing from Barney.” Barney — Mrs. Barnes — was their neighbor and the local Big Mouth. “Was Nancy a special friend? I didn’t realize you knew her that well.” Mom sounded worried.

“It’s just that everybody’s talking about it here.” “Don’t let that imagination run away with you, Rose,” Mom said.

“Nothing new,” Rose told Grace when she hung up, and Grace said, “Well, no news is good news.” “Look, let’s stop talking about it and thinking about it, okay?”

“Sure I’ll stop talking, but I don’t know if I can stop thinking,” Grace said in her reasonable way.

“It has nothing to do with us. We weren’t her friends. We didn’t give her a single thought before; why are we upset now? We’re just being sentimental.”

Grace sighed. “You’re probably right. People are always sorry after the fact.” She looked at Rose earnestly. “But I’d be pretty upset if you disappeared.”

“If I plan to vanish, I’ll let you know.”

Grace dragged her upstairs to the cafeteria. “Let’s see if Gregory and Company are there.” “They’re always there, Grace.”

Grace was in love with Gregory Paschek. He acted as if she didn’t exist, although he had been known to make eye contact on occasion. In fact, he sat on her beach towel twice last summer — without saying a word — and looked at her in the hall on September 11th and October 19th. Grace remembered these events, she took notes.