Chapter One

“So. . . what’s the deal?”

I looked at her

and said

nothing.

 

I wasn’t

about to

spill my guts

to some

stranger.

 

Okay,

maybe she

wasn’t a

total

stranger,

but she was the

vice principle.

 

I was sure

anything I said

could

and

would

be held against

me.

 

“You have to talk

sooner or later,”

she

said.

 

I just shrugged.

 

We’d passed

fifteen

minutes

in

complete

silence.

 

Another fifteen

flitted

by.

 

And

another.

 

“Maybe next time?”

 

I shrugged

again,

meeting her gaze.

She didn’t

scare

me.

 

Mrs. Topek

sighed

and

closed her

notebook.

 

“One of these

days,”

she said,

“You’re going

to half to

talk,

Kera.”

 

I just

blinked,

then left her

office,

quiet

as

a

mouse.