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"Please, Claude. We're right in front of my house!" He shrugged, brushing off the reprimand as if it were a mosquito on his shoulder.

"Well, the day has arrived. Our release from prison," he declared.

"Is that what you thought school was, Claude?"

"Hey, we won't have adults looking over our shoulders as much from now on. To me, that's a release, and tonight"--he smiled--"is our time to howl, right?" He tried to kiss me again.

"I guess so," I said, stepping toward the car and away from him. Claude's exuberance frightened me a little. He was like a young man ready to march through locked doors.

"Don't look so sad," he said. He opened the car door, and I slipped in quickly. "Only a few others will be at Lester's tonight," he told me after getting in beside me. "No deadbeats. And we might have a little more than booze," he added and winked.

"More than booze? What do you mean?"

"You know." He winked again.

"I know what I don't want to see you do, and you know what I won't do," I added firmly. We had had this discussion before. Claude stopped smiling.

"Ease up. You only graduate from high school once," he said.

I pressed my lips together and swallowed back the words that would surely cause an argument. For now I had more important things on my mind-namely, my speech.

There was so much excitement at the school when we arrived. I joined Catherine and some of our friends in the girls' room for a last minute puttogether. Girls were borrowing lipstick, spraying on cologne, dabbing their cheeks with makeup, and many were smoking. Diane offered me a cigarette, and I refused, as usual.

"Right. The little doctor doesn't want to poison her lungs," she quipped, and the other girls laughed.

"That's true, Diane. The fact is, just standing in here and breathing the secondhand smoke is dangerous. That's already been proven."

The girls around me looked glum for a moment.

"That's so stupid. What do you think, you're going to live forever?" Diane retorted. Her friends smiled.

"No, but I know what it's like to get lung cancer. It isn't pleasant," I said sharply.

"Miss Goody Two-shoes. Just listen to her. What a drag. I hope your speech isn't depressing. This is supposed to be a happy occasion." Everyone was looking at me.

"It's not depressing," I said defensively. "Excuse me a moment," I said. "I've got to use the bathroom."

Laughter followed me into the stall. I heard them suddenly quiet down and start filing out. When I emerged, there was no one left. Confused, but happy that I didn't have to argue anymore, I left too. It wasn't until I had slipped my graduation gown on and put on my cap that I realized I must have left my speech in the bathroom. In a panic, I ran back. But it wasn't there!

Maddeningly frantic, I ran up and down the corridor, questioning every girl in the line, but no one knew anything.

"What's up?" Claude asked.

"My speech is missing. Someone took it when I went to the bathroom," I told him.

"No kidding. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

I turned to Catherine. She looked as if she wanted to say something but was too afraid. I spun around, desperate. Mr. Stegman, the teacher in charge of the procession, was ordering me to get in place.

"I can't find my speech!" I told him. "I had it with me when I went into the bathroom, but it's not there!"

"Oh, dear," he said and went to fetch Dr. Foster, the principal.

"Did you look real good, Pearl? Go back and check once more," he suggested. "I'll hold the procession back a few more minutes."

I gazed at Catherine.