They were the kids from the farthest edges of the city school district. They were a quieter crowd than the rest of the kids. Their lives weren’t filled every minute with something. Most of their lives, it seemed, were actually spent on the bus. Bay was usually the first one off, at Pendland Street, which she could easily walk to when she felt like it. It wasn’t that far away. But she needed the excuse to be here, because that’s what she’d told Josh she’d do in her note. And giving up would mean conceding that she was wrong, even though at this point she knew she was. She was just waiting for her heart to catch up. Everyone loved an October afternoon. Even the Wide Open Spaces kids were more lively than usual on the sidewalk. It was the kind of day everyone thought of as a quintessential fall school day—crisp air, letter jackets, plaid skirts. Something everyone says they once read in a book. She finished her homework, then brought out her copy of Romeo and Juliet. She’d read it hundreds of times.
