wendy

wendy was surprised when classes started again after winter break. adelaide simply wasn't there. not that they'd been close or anything, well at least not since grammar school, but still... wendy o'rouke, adelaide osterman, that's how it had always been. it was a small town and a small senior high school and besides, there weren't that many names that started with o, so wendy and adelaide had sat side-by-side since kindergarten. during the first assembly of the new year, when wendy realised adelaide wasn't there, her immediate thought was that adelaide had killed herself. it's just what you thought with girls like adelaide.

"short girl, bushy hair, glasses." it was tommy pritchett describing adelaide to some kids in the hall. he was flinging his arms around to suggest bushy hair. "moved away," he said.

who moves away during winter break? gypsies. fugitives. people in witness protection. not adelaide osterman. wendy couldn't decided if she was ashamed for having thought adelaide'd offed herself, pissed at adelaide for not saying goodbye, or simply sorry their friendship had dissolved. a fourth option - that she envied adelaide for having escaped this ice-encrusted hell hole - didn't surface in wendy's mind, because girls like wendy didn't acknowledge envy. what she did know was that adelaide's being gone had thrown her off balance but she knew how to fix that. oh, yes, if there was one thing wendy knew, it was how to restore her precious balance.