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"I can't say I'm not rooting for her," Beau said, laughing. "If she gets you both kicked out, you'll be back here."

"Don't count on it. If we don't last here, my stepmother will surely find somewhere else to send us, and maybe next time it will be twice as far away. How's school for you?"

"Boring without you, but I keep busy with the football team and all. What's it like there?"

"The school's nice and so are most of our teachers. I'm not fond of the principal. She's a tyrant made of cold stone, and Daphne has already filled her ear with tales about my evil Cajun background. She thinks I might be Annie Christmas."

"Who?"

"The flatboat bully who could chew off a man's ear." I laughed. "She just thinks I might be a bad influence on her preciously perfect young Creole ladies."

"Oh."

"But I am enjoying my classes, especially art."

"And what about. . . boys?"

"There are none here, Beau, remember? When are you coming? I miss you."

"I'm trying to work it out so I can get there weekend after next. With these weekend football practices and all, it's hard."

"Oh, please try, Beau. I'll be half mad with loneliness if you don't come."

"I'll come . . somehow," he said. "Of course, I've got to do it on the sly, so don't let anyone know . . . especially Gisselle. It would be just like her to get it back to my parents somehow."

"I know. Her mean streak has gotten even thicker since the accident. Oh, I've made friends with one of the girls in my quad, but I'm not sure I want you to meet her."

"What? Why not?"

"She's very pretty."

"I have eyes only for you, Ruby," he said. "Hungry eyes," he added softly.

I leaned against the wall and cradled the receiver against my ear as if I were pressing a precious little baby to my cheek. "I miss you, Beau. I do," I said.

"I miss you, Beau, I do," I heard Gisselle mimic, and I spun around to see her behind me in the corridor with Samantha and Kate at her side, all of them smiling.

"Get away!" I screamed. "This is a private conversation."

"It's against the rules to say sexy things on the telephones in our dorm," Gisselle quipped. "Read page fourteen, paragraph three, line two of our handbook."

Kate and Samantha laughed.

"What's going on?" Beau asked.

"Just Gisselle, up to her usual self," I said. "I can't talk anymore. She's determined to spoil it."

"This is too much of a tease anyway. I'll call you again as soon as possible," he said.

"Try to come, Beau. Please."

"I will," he promised. "I love you and miss you." "Same here," I said, flashing a look of anger toward Gisselle and the girls. "Bye."

I hung up the phone sharply and spun around.

"Just wait. Just wait until you want some privacy," I told her and marched passed the three of them.

Being angry at Gisselle did little good. If anything, she enjoyed seeing me upset. It was better to simply ignore her. She didn't mind; she had the girls in our quad, who seemed just as comfortable spending most of their time around her during the times before homeroom, between classes, and in the cafeteria. Rushed along by Samantha, with Kate and Jacki at her sides, Gisselle and her entourage quickly became a separate entity, a clique that moved so tightly through the building they all looked attached by invisible wires emanating from Gisselle's wheelchair.