Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard Read Free Book Online Page A

He raises his eyebrows, amused; he has seen the whole thing. He is still watching when Miss Dovecott folds her napkin neatly by her plate and excuses herself before the bell has rung to dismiss us. She hurries down the long aisle of the dining hall as six hundred eyes crawl over her like black bugs.
    Vermin
    Right after dinner, Glenn tracks me down. He finds me standing at the library water fountain. He whispers in my ear to meet him in the bathroom in the basement, so I do. There is one toilet, one sink, and a bolt lock on the door, which he slides shut.
    “What’s going on, Stromm? What did she say during your little talk?”
    “Nothing,” I tell him. “We haven’t talked yet.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Don’t worry. There’s nothing she could possibly know because she didn’t get there in time to see anything.”
    “Not unless you told her,” says Glenn.
    “Now, why would I do that?”
    “Because your brains are in your crotch.”
    “I’m not going to do anything stupid. My dad would kill me for getting kicked out of here.”
    “Mine, too,” he says. “But what if Miss Dovecott got there sooner than we think she did? What if she was spying on us the whole time?”
    “Then she would have said. We’d have been kicked out by now if she’d gotten there earlier. Don’t you think?”
    “Yeah, but there’s something about her I don’t trust. Markmy words: she’ll turn Ferenhardt and Brummels in for what they did at dinner.”
    “I bet you five dollars she won’t,” I say. “She won that round.”
    Glenn holds out his hand. “I’ll take that bet. You’re going to owe me some money when the demerit sheet gets posted tomorrow.”
    We shake on it. “I’ve got homework to do,” I say, unlocking the door. But inside, my brain is screaming at me, Whatever you tell her, don’t mention the vodka, don’t bring up Glenn’s name. Because whatever happens, Glenn won’t rat me out, just as I won’t rat him out. It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t live here day in and day out, but the situation with Clay was different. Glenn and I are friends, and you don’t tell on friends. It is the real Birch code of honor, the one the students truly embrace, and we will follow it to the end.

Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror .
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1:20 P.M .
    Me too,
Her
-man. Horror is everywhere. It’s not like I can run away, unless I want to hitchhike or climb a few mountains like the Trapp Family Singers. After Thomas dies, the only way I can escape is by doing my homework, every last bit of it. Who knew I could be such an excellent student? Now I dot every “i,” cross every “t.” My teachers applaud my attention to detail. And voila, I am in the spotlight.
    Rock, Paper, Scissors
    19. Thomas is drunk, way more drunk than Glenn and I.
    20. We take off our shoes (but leave our shorts and boxers on).
    21. We climb onto the rock. Glenn and Thomas have grown up pulling stunts like this. Being a cautious only child, I just pretend that I have. There are no guys from my hometown around to call my bluff.
    22. Glenn jumps.
    23. Thomas and I do Rock, Paper, Scissors.
    24. Thomas dives.
    25. Before I even realize it, I jump, too.
    As If the Top of My Head Were Taken Off
    Miss Dovecott tells us that Emily Dickinson posed for the daguerreotype when she was seventeen. She passes it around the classroom Friday morning and asks us to stare into Emily Dickinson’s eyes. When it gets to Auggie van Dorn, he starts giggling. Emily is homely. She has fat lips, a bunch of moles, and hair that looks oiled to her head. She is seriously unattractive.
    Except for the eyes. They are black, they are deep, they know all.
    After the Walt Whitman failure, Miss Dovecott knows we will protest Emily Dickinson and her poems. We will say she is a crazy woman who never leaves her attic; we will say she aches for the Grim Reaper to sneak into her bed at night and ravish her. Miss Dovecott knows she is