Terra carried her tray over to the table and smiled brightly at Tracy. “Hi, there!”
Tracy nodded briefly, digging in a lunch bag. “Hi.”
Terra felt a little flustered. She felt as though the kids at the next table were all staring at her. “Oh, uh, we met earlier today,” said Terra. “Glenn introduced us?”
Tracy nodded and shrugged. “Yeah. I remember.”
“Well . . . is it okay if I sit with you guys?”
Tracy’s eyes flickered to the empty seat beside her. She looked over her shoulder at the other girls in line, then back at Terra. “Sorry,” she said flatly. “They’re all saved.”
“Oh,” said Terra, embarrassed. “Uh, sure . . .”
Tracy resumed her examination of her lunch, and Terra backed away, almost running into a huge senior carrying an overflowing tray. “Hey, careful, kid,” he growled.
Terra fled to the other side of her room and dropped into the first empty seat.
“Aren’t you going to ask me if that seat’s taken?” a dry voice inquired mildly.
Terra, still flushed, blinked. She took in the long brown hair and the gum chewing. “You’re in my math class,” she blurted out.
The other girl raised an eyebrow.
Terra swallowed. “I’m sorry, is this seat saved?”
“Naw.” She shrugged and smacked her gum.
“Oh. Good. Um, my name’s Terra.”
“Yeah, I heard that in class.”
“So . . .” Terra ventured. “What’s your name?”
The girl paused her chewing. She looked Terra up and down, still with a raised eyebrow.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, she smiled. The effect was dramatic. She looked almost friendly. “Blaine. How d’ya do?”
Terra had to step over a small pile of wood to make her way into the kitchen.
“Mom!” she yelled. “This place is a mess!”
“Oh, don’t you worry. Before long, everything will be just beautiful,” said a deep but mild voice behind her.
Terra shrieked and spun around.
“Oh,” she said, with her hand at her throat. “Fred! I didn’t know you were still here.”
He blinked at her. His red beard was pale, spotted with sawdust. “Just heading out for the evening. Your mom’s up in her office.”
“So how long is all this going to take?”
“Oh, not long, not long. But then again, it’s hard to know.” Fred shook his head, almost sorrowfully. He peered at her from under his bushy eyebrows and grinned. “So how’s school going?”
“Not so good,” Terra frowned and shrugged. “I miss my friends at my old school. The kids at this school don’t seem all that nice.” ’
“No?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, give them a chance. I’m sure there’s got to be somebody you’ll like.”
“Yeah.” She looked at the floor, and then back up at Fred. “But what if they don’t like me?”
“Oh,” Fred laughed and waved his hand at her. “Don’t worry about that! What’s not to like?”
“Yeah,” she repeated, unconvinced. “What’s not to like?”
Her father unwittingly echoed the same topic over dinner.
“Hey, Terra . . .” He pushed some wood aside and took his place at the dining room table. He smiled at his wife and daughter and said the grace.
“Well, Terra, how do you like your new school?”
She shrugged.
Her parents looked at her expectantly.
“Well . . . it’s okay.”
“You don’t like it, Terra?” her mom asked. Her voice had a worried tone.
Her father paused, mid-bite, waiting for her answer.
“The classes seem okay,” she added, “but I don’t really know anybody, so it’s not all that fun.”
“So make some friends,” said her father bluntly.
Terra frowned, but her mother interjected. “Jack, you can’t just order her to make friends—that’s not how it works.”
“It wasn’t an order,” he protested. “Just a suggestion.”
“Well, I’m sure she’s trying!” Her mom turned an anxious eye in Terra’s direction. “You are trying, aren’t you, dear?”
Terra sighed.
“Because sometimes you can be kind of grumpy.”
“What?” said her dad. “No way. Terra’s the friendliest sort there is.” He reached over and touched her on the shoulder. “Right, kid?”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Terra, squinting at her mom. Grumpy?
“So you’re going to make some friends?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Her mom watched her worriedly.
“That’s my girl,” said her dad with an approving nod.
Terra glumly pushed her food around, while her father enthusiastically finished off his plate.
Lisa too tried to be encouraging when she phoned later that evening.
“Oh, you’ll make friends at your new school, Terra. Didn’t you have lots of friends here?”
“I guess. But we all grew up together.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. I’m sure the kids there will think you’re just as nice as we do.” Lisa had that familiar teasing, cajoling note in her voice.
Terra rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, settling in a big armchair for a prolonged chat-fest.
But it wasn’t to be. “Hey, I can’t talk long,” Lisa said. “I just wanted to say a quick hello. Some of the girls are coming over to work on a biology project.”
“Oh,” said Terra. She felt a bit of a pang, because she wasn’t one of the girls going over to Lisa’s.
“We’re doing experiments on bean sprouts.”
“Yeah, well . . . I’ll see you,” said Terra. She hung up the phone, lay on her bed and stared at her ceiling for a long time.
Dear Diary:
My parents don’t understand what they’re putting me through. Basically they just uprooted me, and they expect me to be happy about it.
The kids here aren’t very friendly. I tried to talk to a couple of them, but I didn’t get very far.
I miss my old friends, especially Lisa. She phoned me tonight and told me the people who bought our old house are painting it pink. Pink! What was wrong with off-white, I’d like to know!
I got an A on today’s surprise math