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I swore I hadn't been smoking and I started to cry,

which was enough for Sister Louise, the principal, to

judge me innocent, but Sister Margaret was relentless. "'All right, if you didn't smoke, you were right

in it and certainly close enough to see what was going

on. Who was smoking?' she demanded.

"The thought of telling on girls I had just gotten

to know was terrifying, almost as terrifying as being

caught myself. I shook my head and she grabbed my

shoulders and shook me so hard, I thought my eyes

would roll out. The sisters could hit you, too," I told

them.

In anticipation of what I was about to describe,

Star's eyes widened with anger.

"She made me put out my hands and slapped

them with a ruler until the tears were streaming down

my cheeks and my palms were nearly cherry red and I

couldn't close my fingers."

"I'd have kicked her into her precious heaven,"

Star said.

"What did you do?" Misty asked.

"I told her again and again I didn't know who

was smoking. 'I don't know everyone,' I lied. I closed

my eyes expecting lightning to strike me or something

because I was lying to a nun.

"'Then you'll point them out,' she decided and

marched me back to the cafeteria.

"The moment we entered, all the girls knew why I had been brought back. They stopped talking and looked up at me. You could almost hear them breathe. The two girls who had been smoking were very frightened. They looked down quickly, probably

reciting Hail Marys at the table.

"'They're not here,' I said.

"'What do you mean? They have to be here.