ka pun neage: The door at the front of the room opened and Mrs. aio ee in. There was a quick rush for seats, then everyone was sheepishly over my shoulder and caught a quick look at Annie going walked across the front of the room, ae) ee aa ay en y ee clicking as they slipped off her heels with each step. between was streaked with gray. She slid her short plump frame | d sat down. i The recess bell rang, ic. arithmet our finished we as a sabi ai ‘ ney ee ae as ne Sore and I could hear the slamming of BOE, . Pee 7 : saic out, way the on papers your in “Hand Closec ce. I hated to hear her talk because it hurt my ears. 1 1 his friends with g groupin started e Everyon desk. my a it Panna etd uit the door to the hall. Hie ne ae ni eareart any windows in the hall, et a rater the walls n hooks along j i ie : seconds before nearonly1 a ma tter of a ee It was the floor. onGe oes bn Se boots below them ou was tugged on his coat and boots and ! a esi a oe ae (ak one to get her coat. I watched her hehe ee was thin a hook as 1 finished buttoning my own. He gray coat ee back. i ala aan ee have a hat or ots qa thought . eae eta at. out of aethe bac f b j hat around my ears and pulled my braids white a Jan?’ I heard Lori call from the doorway. ming, a I turned and ran toward the door. The ce ee # T called ee Aa Darel See aes eam rushed against my face as I ne ; cae and nearly tell as 4 sta r i could hardly see. I slipped rail to catch myself. The metal was like ice < he : : from my decehed the bottom of the stairs and pulled my sey‘ Ae te han ocket They felt warm and soft as I slipped them on my in the sno circle a out g stompin , together were girls the of Most F parr an ihe bee is it!” called Marci to me as I ran toward OTe ee Hl a and smile quick a me gave She feet. my under ng snow crunchi her ta framed hair red soft Her cheek. each on dimple ing a large | hat. chased each other See ciect ten minutes went fast as we laughed and . ae 1”? T heard ag a Se to hear, but set idn’t seem others didn’t Annie around, pulling at hasine chem but missing them ae oo ae ae a someone bape eee ree looked.ee d and 7 I stoppec the tear in her coat. every time. The more she swung the more more one of the boys grabbed at her coat and tore it a few thought. . “They won't liswas somethiing I could do, ” TI thoug there only inch “Tf I turned to my friends and ae “Mestee Mrs. Anderson can help.” ten back in a minute.” vis stairs. . el} the playground toward the school and up the me it hl aia how feel could I school, the to door the As I opened squeaked as 1 w side. It was dark, and I could hardly see. My wet boots : the hall and into her room. wn : Anderson was sitting at her big desk correcting our eg " gt hair. curly papers. Her head was turned so all I could see was her ae 34 “Mrs. Anderson.” “Yes?” she said without looking up. ~Can I talk to you for a minute?” “Why yes,” she said, putting down her red pencil and looking up at me. “What’s wrong?” fo “Can’t you do anything about the way Larry and those other boys treat Annie? I know they won’t listen to me, but maybe they'll listen to you.” “Tl talk to them if you’d like,” she said in her high voice, “but there isn’t a lot we can do. I’ve talked to the office about Annie, and they know she has a problem; but they think being in a regular class will help her. I understand how you feel, and I’ll do my best. Now run outside and play.” The air seemed even, colder now as I opened the door. As I crossed the glistening playground I ¢ould see Larry out of the corner of my eye, scooping up a snowball. I pretended not to notice and walked a little faster. He’d better not throw that,” I said to myself, but I knew he would. There was a sharp pain as the snowball exploded on the back of my head. My eyes blurred with tears, but I wouldn’t cry, and I WOULDN’T look back. | , I didn’t feel much like playing “fox and geese” now, so I just watched. I couldn’t help thinking about Annie. I looked around and saw her standing on the top step on the school. She had a far-off look in her eyes as though she weren’t really there at all. Her straggly hair flopped over one eye. I'm sure glad I’m not like that,’ I thought to myself. Mrs. Anderson came out the door and held up her hand as a signal for us to come in. “Time to go in!” someone shouted as they ran for the building. I saw Mrs. Anderson stop Larry and his two friends as they started through the door. I walked on past and went into the building. The floor in the hall was wet and slippery where everyone was track- ing in snow. We all hung up our coats and went into the room. After we were all in, Mrs. Anderson came to the door. “Marci, will you pass out the arithmetic papers? I’ll be in in a minute.” It seemed like hours to me before they came back into the room. The three boys entered first, followed by Mrs. Anderson. They all had their heads hung as they shuffled to their seats. “Maybe that did some good,’ I thought. I looked over at Larry and caught him hiding a smile as he looked toward his friends. They all chuckled but then caught themselves. “I guess Mrs. Anderson was right when she said there wasn’t much we could do.” “It’s time for art now,” Mrs. Anderson squeaked. “Everyone quietly get your projects from the counter. You can work on the tables at the back of the room.” I could hear the excited laughing and talking as chairs were shoved into the desks. I saw Annie sitting quietly at her desk. She looked around as if trying to find out where everyone was going. She must have seen some of the girls pick up their projects because she quickly ran over and snatched up her own crude bowl. She took it over to the table where some of the more popular girls were sitting. “Look at mine!” Annie said excitedly. “Qo-oh, yes!” said a girl in a red dress sarcastically. “Yours is REALLY good!” giggled another girl tossing her black curls. 35