That was one of the reasons he didn’t want to be on this trip—because it was fake, a vacation dressed up as saving the world, a vacation without the fun, paying resort prices to stay in some insect-infested eco-camp.

Then there were the people—thirty-nine other kids, three teachers, one teacher’s wife. He supposed the other kids were okay, interesting in their own ways, probably friendly, certainly friendly enough that they were friends with each other. It was just that Tom wasn’t really one of them.

Once, when he was a little kid, he was given a jigsaw puzzle as a gift, a complex picture of a castle, and one wet weekend he’d completed it, only to find there was one piece left over. It wasn’t a duplicate, either, but an odd piece that had crept in from some other puzzle.

Tom had kept it, and still had it at home. At the time he hadn’t been sure why he’d kept it, but in the years since, he’d come to think that he was that jigsaw piece. He was shaped right. He looked right. At first glance, most people might have imagined him a perfect fit. But he didn’t fit.

Whichever picture he belonged in, it wasn’t this one, the one that was his life right now. And he was fine with that, because he realized that the spare piece he’d found in his jigsaw had probably been a missing piece from some other person’s jigsaw, and somewhere—maybe at college, maybe later—there’d be a picture that he would fit into.

It wasn’t just Tom who thought this way about him, either. The other kids knew that he was different, detached, playing the game by his own rules. Even the teachers saw it, and unfailingly mentioned it in his school’s uniquely lengthy report cards (which Julia never read), the most recent one being no exception.

Tom’s academic record speaks for itself and I have to commend him on it. I only wish he would make more effort to become an active part of our homeroom group. As it is, he’s aloof to the point of being unfriendly, which is a great shame because I feel he could contribute enormously to the group if he chose to do so.—Mr. Glenister, Homeroom.

Well done, Tom, on an impressive junior year! As you know, I’ve urged you to throw yourself just a little more into the life of Hopton High and I hope your involvement with the forthcoming trip to Costa Rica is an indication that you’ve heeded my advice and will take the chance to bond with your peers!!—Principal Rachel Freeman.