LITMIR.BIZ

      ‘It’s not that bad,’ I lied.

      I could see the soles of Allison’s saddle shoes poking out from under the pink stall door, toes to the ground. Classic puking position. But she wasn’t sick anymore — she was dead silent. I poked at the sole of one of her shoes with my foot. Nothing.

      ‘People will forget,’ I added. ‘They’re all too busy.’

      Nothing.

      ‘And not everyone saw it.’ I was talking stupidly now, relentlessly, just to fill the air. Everyone saw it. Everyone would remember it for all time. It would be written into the fossil record.

      I heard voices outside as people left the assembly and started to repopulate the halls. I heard cries of excitement. Just outside the bathroom door, freshmen were showing each other rings. Outside, there was joy. It was at that moment I realized I also hadn’t gotten a little. The shock and awe of what happened to Ally had stunned me briefly. But now, now I saw it — and it hit me harder than I imagined it would.

      Help Ally, my good inner Jane told me. You didn’t really care that much about getting a little.

      ‘You want me to run down to the café and get you a ginger ale?’ I asked.

      Finally, a reply.

      ‘I want you,’ she said, ‘to kill me.’

      The bathroom door opened, and a very tall girl slipped inside. She was long. Easily six feet, one of which was all neck. The blue stripe on her blazer pocket told me she was a sophomore. The blazer looked very squeaky-new, and I’d never seen her before. She was the kind of person you would remember if you saw.

      ‘Hey,’ the girl said. She didn’t look like she’d come in for any real purpose — just one of those time-killer visits. She stood in front of the mirror and minutely adjusted the bands that held her two rust-red ponytails in place. Then she turned and looked at Ally’s shoe bottoms.

      ‘That was an interesting assembly,’ she said to the mirror. ‘I didn’t think anything cool would happen here, but that was pretty good.’

      Together we looked down at Allison’s shoes. They did not reply, but the left heel did sink towards the ground a bit.

      ‘I’m new,’ the girl said. ‘That’s why I was there. I’m Lanalee. Lanalee Tremone.’

      The warning bell rang. The shoes didn’t budge. I got down on my knees and peered under the door. Ally was resting with her head on the seat and a blank look on her face.

      ‘Shouldn’t she go home?’ Lanalee asked.

      ‘They don’t really let us go home here,’ I said, poking my hand under the door and stroking Ally’s ankle in a pathetic attempt to comfort her. ‘You pretty much have to be dead. And even then I think they’d just keep your body in the front office until the end of the day.’

      The shoes shifted a little and drew themselves out of reach.

      ‘Do you think you can make it to English, Al?’ I asked. ‘We have to go or we’ll be late.’

      One hoarse word of reply:

      ‘Go.’

      ‘I don’t want to go without you. Sister Charles will freak.’

      ‘Go.’

      ‘Can you come out?’

      ‘Go.’

      I got to my feet. The girl leaned down and addressed the opening under the door gently.

      ‘Did you get a little?’ she asked.

      I heard a slight shifting from inside the stall, but no answer was forthcoming. I shook my head.

      ‘Well, you can have me,’ she said brightly. ‘I didn’t get a big. There!’

      This was an amazingly generous offer, considering. I’m not proud to say that it only highlighted the fact that I was still little-less.

      ‘I’ll stay with her,’ the girl offered. ‘I wasn’t planning on going to next period anyway.’

      I didn’t really want to leave, but there wasn’t much I could do. Sister Charles had never actually killed anyone, but she did leave you with the feeling that she was capable of some deeply frightening behavior.

      ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll go and tell her you’ll be late. Okay, Al?’

      Nothing.

      ‘Go on,’ the girl said. ‘Really. Let me bond with my big.’

      And so I left the bathroom, just as the second bell rang. I got a demerit from Sister Rose Marie for running in the hallway between classes for my trouble.