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Show -117- Pepperrrint Monday one who had spread the news about my "jamies". He even looked a little guilty. I knew that look from Andrea. Every time anybody mentioned the science fair, Andrea's face looked just like Matt's did now. It was the Carson's guilty look. I looked right into Billy's bulging eyes, which wasn't easy. They always reminded me of frog eyes, except they watered more. "I don't know what babies are wearing this spring. Why don't you tell me?" Andrea smiled and I could sense her approval. She would have fell apart if Billy had talked that way to her. She would have got all flustered and started crying. That's exactly what Billy liked girls to do. I couldn't figure out why he kept bothering me. I never cried or got flustered. I just got sick if I looked at his frog eyes for too long. Billy snorted and made a pig grunt. He must not have been able to come back with a smart aleck remark, so he just grunted instead. His grunts weren't near as annoying. Everyone was used to them. I had trouble in my classes. It was almost impossible to keep my mind on my work. I kept thinking about Russ. I tried to imagine our house without him. I tried to imagine ma being happy knowing Russ was dead. It made concentrating on geometry principles and adjectives almost hopeless. I couldn't even enjoy our speech club meeting. Renae asked me in gym if I'd heard from Barton. She hadn't for two weeks and she was anxious. Ma had talked to Georgia three nights ago, but they were talking about Russ, not Barton. I told her I had no idea what Barton was doing. "I thought he might want to come and take me to the prom. I thought he might miss me by now." Renae's hair seemed to droop with the pitch of |