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The Locker At The End Of Her Bed Had No Lock, And One Of The Hinges Was Busted. She Opened It Up. There Was A Thing In It. The Thing Might Have Been A Sandwich At Some Point, Or An Animal, Or A Human Hand...but What It Was Now Was Fuzzy And Putrid. A Minute Later, Ginny Was Down The Stairs, Out The Door, And Gone.

-Maureen Johnson

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The Locker At The

Maureen Johnson

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The Locker At The End Of Her Bed Had No Lock, And One Of The Hinges Was Busted. She Opened It Up. There Was A Thing In It. The Thing Might Have Been A Sandwich At Some Point, Or An Animal, Or A Human Hand...but What It Was Now Was Fuzzy And Putrid. A Minute Later, Ginny Was Down The Stairs, Out The Door, And Gone.

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Top Trumps Appeared To Be A Game In Which You Got Cards, And The Cards Had A Picture (in This Case, Of A Horse), And Told You All Kinds Of Stats For That Horse, How Fast It Was, How Big It Was, Etc. Whoever Had The Better Horse Won Both The Cards. You Repeated This Until Someone Had All The Cards. So, Basically It Was Exactly Like High School, Except It Only Took Three Minutes. Which Was Really A Bit More Humane, If You Thought About It.

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People Were Freaked Out, But They Showed It In Weird Ways. Back Home, People Would Have Been Weeping And Doing A Lot Of Very Public Group Hugs. At Wexford People Just Aggressively Pretended Nothing Had Happened.

No One Hid Their Interest When I Walked Into The Room. I'm Not Sure If It Was The News About Boo Or My General Appearance. At Home, People Would Have Asked. People Would Have Been Crawling All Over Me For Information. At Wexford, They Seemed To Extract What They Wanted To Know By Covert Staring.

She's Gone. Been Gone For Ages. They Split Up Right After You Left. That's Why The Grass Out Front Started Growing Again." "he's Got A New Girlfriend?" She Said Quietly. "thank God. You Must Be Happy." "yeah. He Does. It's A Relief. She's A Lot Nicer. But Then, Your Average Angry Snake Is Nicer Than Fiona. I'm Sure She's Happier Wherever She Is Now, Burning Orphans Or Whatever She Does With Her Time.

The Essay I Had To Read Was Called, "an Essay On Criticism" By Alexander Pope. The First Challenge Was That The Essay Was, In Fact, A Very Long Poem In "heroic Couplets". If Something Is Called An Essay, It Should Be An Essay.

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Debbie Had To Get Up And Slice Me A Thick Piece Of Cake Before She Could Answer. And I Do Mean Thick. Harry Potter Volume Seven Thick. I Could Have Knocked Out A Burglar With This Piece Of Cake. Once I Tasted It, Though, It Seemed Just The Right Size.

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I Envisioned Huge Piles Of The Elf Hotel Flying Off The Belt, Taking Down Everybody In Sight. I Had Seen Pictures Of That Elf Hotel - It Had Sharp Candy-cane Spires That Could Easily Impale Someone. If Anyone Was Ever Going To Be Killed By An Elf Hotel, It Would Be My Parents.

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Being An Author Means, Almost By Definition, That You Make Up Characters And Then Complicate Their Lives. That's It, Really. You Make Up Characters And Give Them Problem After Problem After Problem.

I Could Pretend, At Least, And If I Pretended Long Enough, Maybe I Could Make It Into A Reality.

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We Heard Her Come Halfway Up The Stairs, Where She Must Have Seen The Bedroom Light On. Again, The Normal Parent Reaction Would Have Been To Say Something Like, "you Had Better Come Out This Moment Or I Am Releasing The Tiger!" But Debbie Was Not A Normal Parent, So We Heard Her Gigle And Creep Away, Saying, "shhh! Rachel! Come With Mommy! Stuart Is Busy!

With That, I Splashed Some Water On My Face, Fixed On A Smile, And Stepped Out. I Would Find Jerome. I Would Make Him Explain To Me What I Was Missing. We Would Laugh, Then We Would Kiss With Tongue, And All Would Be Well.

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The Locker At The End Of Her Bed Had No Lock, And One Of The Hinges Was Busted. She Opened It Up. There Was A Thing In It. The Thing Might Have Been A Sandwich At Some Point, Or An Animal, Or A Human Hand...but What It Was Now Was Fuzzy And Putrid. A Minute Later, Ginny Was Down The Stairs, Out The Door, And Gone.

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Sometimes I Even Felt Like He Dated Me As Part Of His Plan, Like They Were Going To Have A Checklist On The Application, And One Of The Things To Tick Off Was Going To Be, "do You Have A Reasonably Intelligent Girlfriend Who Shares Your Aspirations, And Who Is Fully Prepared To Accept Your Limited Availability?

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One Question," I Said. "did You Tell Me All That Because You Think I'm Going To Die?" "no," He Said. "it's Because You're Doing Something Brave, And I Felt I Should Too." "i'll Take That As A Yes," I Said.

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Which Is Both Gross And Breathtakingly Romantic. He Could Always Have Just Gone Upstairs And Brushed His Teeth, But He Stayed And Lurked By The Fish For Me.

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I Remember How, At First, I Had Felt The Tension In His Lips, As If He Was Trying To Make A Barrier Between Us - Then They Had Relaxed, Parted Slightly. And That's When I Had Known He Wanted To Kiss Me, Wanted To Give In. That Little Parting Of The Lips, The Little Sigh That Came Out... I Would Hear That Sigh Forever. That Little, Little Sound When The Whole World Seemed To Open Up.

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There Is Nothing About A Bad Situation That Fourteen Hyper Cheerleaders Can't Worsen.

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Leisure Activities

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The Kids I Talk To Are Readers, And The Craziest, The Most Dedicated Readers You Will Ever See.

It's Us," Stephen Said. "oh, Thank God," Said A Voice. Callum Emerged From Behind The Dumpster. Even With All That Was Going On, It Was Hard Not To Take Notice Of This: He Wore Only His Underpants And His Socks And Shoes. ...i Don't Think I Hid My Staring Very Well Either. "go Ahead And Change," Stephen Said, Handing Me The Bag. "i'll Go And Get The Car." "please Be Quick," Callum Added. "this Is Not As Fun As It Appears.

Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want," He Said. "braiiinnnnssss," We Said In Unison.

I Had Always Assumed The Weekend Was A Holy Tradition, Respected By Good People Everywhere. Not So At Wexford.

Stuart, Who Had Just Witnessed Me Go Through An Entire Rainbow Of Emotions And Experiences. There Was Parents-have-just-been-jailed Me, Stuck-in-a-strange-town Me, Insane-and-can't-shut-up Me, Kind-of-snarky-to-the-strange-guy-trying-to-be-helpful Me, Breakup Me, And The Extremely Popular Jump-on-top-of-you-unexpectedly Me.

It Was Almost Funny. Life Seemed Downright Accidental In Its Brevity, And Death A Punch Line To A Lousy Joke.

We Learn That Many Great Thinkers Were Convinced That The Bible Contained The Ancient Mysteries, But Not In The Literal Words—that The Words On The Pages Were Codes, And That The Bible Is Comprised Of Heavy-handed And Useless Story Covering Up Something Much More Important And Interesting. I Get The Feeling That [dan Brown] Is Trying To Tell Me Something, But I Am Not Biting, Reader.

Can I Tell You Something You Really Don't Want To Hear? He's Going To Break Up With You. - Stuart

Even Though She Had Been Warned, She Tripped Over The Bike. She Probably Tripped Because She'd Been Warned And Was Telling Herself Not To Trip Over The Bike. She Did That Sometimes. It Was Often Easier Not To Know What Obstacles Were In The Way.

Money Is For Doing Things, My Love. Don't Sit On It Like A Hen Sits On An Egg. It Doesn't Hatch. I Should Know. I've Made Enough Of It.

I Feel Warm And Reassured," I Whispered. "he's Like Santa.

Walk Really, Really Carefully. It's Not Complicated, But If You Mess Up, You'll Die, So Pay Attention.

I Decided To Deflect Her Attitude By Giving A Long, Southern Answer. I Come From People Who Know How To Draw Things Out. Annoy A Southerner, And We Will Drain Away The Moments Of Your Life With Our Slow, Detailed Replies Until You Are Nothing But A Husk Of Your Former Self And That Much Closer To Death.

Mouth Guard. And I Think We'll Start You In Goal." Goal Sounded Like A Special Job. I Didn't Want A Special Job, Unless That Special Job Involved Sitting On The Side Under A Pile Of Blankets.

All Right. Normal Rules Apply." "right." The Man Walked Off, Leaving Us. "what Are The Normal Rules?" I Asked. "he Walks Away And Has A Tea Break And Doesn't Ask Any Questions.

Dr. Everest, Got Up And Gave Us A Little Pep Talk. Mostly It Boiled Down To The Fact That It Was Autumn, And Everyone Was Back, And While That Was A Great Thing, People Better Not Get Cocky Or Misbehave Or He'd Personally Kill Us All. He Didn't Actually Say Those Words, But That Was The Subtext.

Fear Can't Hurt You," She Said. "when It Washes Over You, Give It No Power. It's A Snake With No Venom. Remember That. That Knowledge Can Save You.

It's Always Easier To Say Good-bye When You Know It's Just A Prelude To Hello.

Nothing Was Quite Like It Was Supposed To Be.

No One In History Had Ever Done Less And Yet Been So Wrong.

I Dumped Out The Bag And Found What Had Been Inside Was A Bunched-up Police Uniform, Complete With The Vest. "where Did You Get This?" Boo Asked. "it's Callum's," He Said. "what's He Wearing?" "at The Moment, Not Much Of Anything. Put It On." I Noticed Book Perk Up A Bit At This Piece Of Information.

One Person's Crazy Is Another Person's Sane, I Guess.

Lies Are A Tremendous Karmic Setback. Keep It Up And You'll Come Back In The Next Life As Something Without A Spine. You're Not Fine. And You Don't Have To Be Fine.

The Funny Thing About Stop Signs Is That They're Also Start Signs.

I'm The Last Of The Mad Ones.

When They Separated, The Freckleless Spot Between Pete's Eyes Was Bright Red. Before Anything Else Could Be Said Or Done, May Grabbed Her Bike And Hopped On. She Waited Until She Was Six Houses Down To Turn And See If He Was Still Standing In The Driveway Watching Her. He Was. She Stopped For Just A Moment, And They Caught Each Other's Eyes. Then He Slowly Started Walking Backward Toward The House. May Couldn't See That Well, Considering That Her Eyes Were Still A Little Blurry And He Was Far Away, But It Looked Like He Was Smiling.

Do You Ever Sing In The Car?" "generally Not. But I Am Driving A Police Car." "i Think People Would Like A Singing Policeman. Makes Life Seem More Like A Musical. Like Foot-tastic." "you Can Talk For A Long Time About Nothing." "i Certainly Can, You Charming Man!

I Miss You So Much It's Giving Me A Pain In My Pancreas.

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Student Council

I Like You Because You Were Mad. And You're Pretty. And Pretty Sane For A Mad Person.

Hey! Jack The Wanker! Over Here! I Want Your Autograph!

They Weren't Pressed Together As Closely As Normal, But His Shoulder Bumped Hers, Then Remained There. It Was Very Subtle, And Possibly Even Accidental, But It Was Enough.

But We Made Our Own Fun, Mostly. I Recall A Time, Many Years Later, When American Children Seemed Unable To Amuse Themselves Without A Fortune In Electrical And Electronic Equipment. We Had No Fancy Equipment And Did Not Miss It.

One Thing," I Said, When We Had Broken Apart And The Swirling Feeling In My Head Subsided. "maybe...don't Tell Your Mom Too Much About This. I Think She Has Ideas." "what?" He Asked, All Innocence, As He Put An Arm Around My Shoulders And Led Me Back Toward His House. "don't Your Parents Cheer And Stare When You Make Out With Someone? Is That Weird Where You Come From? I Guess They Don't Get To See It Much, Though. From Jail, I Mean." "shut It, Weintraub. If I Knock You Down In The Snow, These Kids Will Swarm And Eat You.

Sometimes People Graduate But They Don't Leave. They Hang Around For Years, For No Reason. I Would Think Of Ghosts Like That, I Decided.

Before I Take You Into The Beating Heart Of The Story, Let’s Get One Thing Out Of The Way. I Know From Experience That When It Comes Up Later, It Will Distract You So Much That You Won’t Be Able To Concentrate On Anything Else I Will Tell You. My Name Is Jubilee Dougal. Take A Moment And Let It Sink In.

These Houses Had Been Plunked Down With An Alarming Randomness -- Unevenly Spaced, On Crooked Lines, Like Whoever Had Designed The Place Had Said, "we'll Just Follow This Cat, And Wherever He Sits Down, We'll Build Something.

I Don't Know If There Is Actually More Rain Here In England, Or If It Was Just That The Rain Seemed To Be So Deliberately Annoying. Every Drop Hit The Window With A Peevish "am I Bothering You? Does This Make You Cold And Wet? Oh, Sorry.

Having Your Back Scratched Is Not The Only Reason To Be Married, But It Is A Good One, Especially For Those Spots That Are So Hard To Reach By Yourself.

Tired, But Not The Kind Of Tired That Sleep Fixes.

You Could Wear The Same Outfit Every Single Day And No Guy - Who Isn't Gay - Will Notice.

English Rain Feels Obligatory, Like Paperwork. It Dampens Already Damn Days And Slicks The Stones.

It Was Clearly One Of Those Mornings When I Was Particularly American.

She Introduced Herself To My Parents With One Of Her Mighty, Bunny-crushing Handshakes. (i'd Never Seen Claudia Crush A Bunny, To Be Fair, But That's The Approximate Level Of Pressure.)

Claim Whatever You Want. Say You Only Want A Happy Family Or A Successful Career Or A Big House. I Say: No, That's Not What You Want. You'll Settle For Those Things, But You Really Want A Monkey That Does Your Evil Bidding. Pullman Is A Genius Just For This.

This Kind Of Thing Always Amazed Ginny--people Who Just Walked Away From Institutions. People Who Left School When They Didn't See The Point. Aunt Peg Had Done That. Ginny Knew She Never Would. That Either Made Her Someone Who Worked Hard And Finished Things, Or Someone Who Didn't Have The Guts To Break Away From The Pack. Maybe Both.

This Pool Is A Triumph Of Imagination. That's How You Win At Life, Gin. You Have To Imagine Your Way Through. Never Say Something Can't Be Done. There's Always A Solution, Even If It's Weird.

Some Nutter's Gone And Pulled A Jack The Ripper.

Jack The Ripper

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