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I pulled my arm free.

"I'm going," I said, my eyes so full of fire my cheeks felt singed.

"You're wasting your time," she called after me. "And it's not worth it! This place isn't worth it!" she screamed. I walked faster and entered the art room just at the bell. One look at Miss Stevens's face told all: She knew and she was very upset for me. She was so upset she put the others to busy work and pulled me aside at the rear of the room, where she asked me to tell her everything.

"I'm not guilty, Miss Stevens. These are trumped-up charges. I couldn't have been at the boathouse last night. Mrs. Gray is mistaken."

"Why couldn't you be?" she asked.

I told her about my visit with Louis.

"Only they say Mrs. Clairborne won't testify for me and they won't let Louis do it either," I explained.

She shook her head, her eyes dark with troubled thoughts. "I can't see Mrs. Gray as part of any underhanded conspiracy to have you thrown out of Greenwood. She's a fine woman, a very kind person. Don't you get along with her in class?" she asked.

"Oh yes. I think I have an A-plus in her class."

"She's been like a mother to me," Miss Stevens said, "advising me, helping me right from the start. She's a churchgoing lady too."

"But I wasn't there, Miss Stevens! Honest. She has to be mistaken."

Miss Stevens nodded, thoughtful.

"Maybe she'll realize that and recant her testimony."

"I doubt it. Mrs. Ironwood looked too pleased and too assured of herself, and with Buck already fired and gone, it's going to be my word against Mrs. Gray's and that fiction they made Buck sign," I moaned.

"Why is Mrs. Ironwood so adamantly against you?" Miss Stevens wondered.

"Because of Louis, mainly, but she never liked me from the start and made that perfectly clear the first time we met in her office. My stepmother put a dark cloud over me here immediately. I don't know why she would do that, except to make sure my stay here would be horrible. She wants me to fail, to look bad, just so she will have reason to get rid of me . . and Gisselle," I said.

"You poor dear. Do you want me to come to the hearing with you and testify about your talents and success?"

"No. That won't matter, and it would only bring you into this dirty mess. I just want to go there and spit back in all their faces."

Miss Stevens's eyes filled with tears. She hugged me and wished me well and then returned to the front of the class to give instruction, but I heard nothing and saw nothing. After school I returned to the dorm, floating in a daze and not even

remembering the walk. As soon as I was back in my room, I began to pack some of my things. When Gisselle arrived, she was ecstatic.

"You've decided to take my advice and give up? Good. When is the limousine coming?"

"I'm just preparing for what I know is

inevitable, Gisselle. I'm still attending the hearing, which will begin in an hour. Do you want to come along?"

"Of course not. Why would I do such a thing?"

"To be with me."

"You mean to be embarrassed with you. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll wait here and start packing my things too. Thank goodness we'll be able to tell this place and everyone in it good riddance," she said, not caring that some of the girls would overhear.

"I won't be so happy about it, Gisselle. Daphne will have some other torment awaiting us. You'll see. We'll be shipped off to another school, a worse place, just as she threatened."

"I won't go. I'll tie myself to my bed!"

"She'll have the movers pack the bed too. She's determined."

"I don't care. Anything is better than this," she insisted, and spun away to begin her packing. I returned to my own packing and then took the time to fix my hair so I would look as presentable and as selfassured as I could.