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"Hey there," he cried as I approached. "Where you coming from?"

"Theater building," I said. "I tried out for the school play?'

"Wow." He opened the rear door and I practically dived into the seat. I simply wasn't comfortable with all this special treatment. It made me feel like a phony.

Jake was just as talkative on the way home. He asked dozens of questions, but sometimes, before I answered one, he told me about his own school experiences.

I really expected Grandmother Hudson would be waiting to cross-examine me on my first day at Dogwood, but Merilyn told me she was taking her afternoon nap and would probably not be down until dinner. I went right to work on my homework and my efforts to play catch-up. I hadn't been totally honest with Mr. Bufurd. The classes at Dogwood all seemed to be quite a bit ahead of where I had been in public school. I was too ashamed to admit how inferior my education had been.

When the telephone in my room rang, I just stared at it for a moment. I had forgotten it was there.

"Hello?"

"Rain, honey?"

"Mama!" I screamed. "Mama, I tried to call you, but they said the phone was disconnected?'

"That happened the day you left, honey. Ken never sent in the last two payments and I forgot all about it. It didn't matter because I was packing up to go. I'm in North Carolina with my Aunt Sylvia. How you doing, baby?"

"Oh Mama. It's a big house and they're rich and everything and the school's beautiful, but I miss you something terrible and Roy, too. How is he? Where is he?" I rushed out my questions, starving for news.

"I haven't heard from him yet," she said. "You know Roy's not much for writing letters either, so if he doesn't get to a phone, it'll be a while. They making you feel at home there, Rain?"

I paused. If I told her anything terribly negative, she would only feel worse, I thought.

"It's all right, Mama. They're rich, but they're not as happy as you'd think."

"It's just for a little while, Rain, and then you'll be off to something wonderful, I'm sure."

She gave me her phone number and address and I promised to write regularly.

A

fter we finished talking, I sat on the bed, sucking back my tears. I had such a deep ache in my heart. Life seemed so unfair. I threw myself back into my work to keep from thinking and then I got dressed for dinner.

This time Grandmother Hudson was already in the dining room. For a moment I thought I was late. She was just as elegantly dressed as the night before, but she did look somewhat more tired.

I greeted her and took my seat. Just as Merilyn was beginning to serve, the phone rang.

"Should I get it, ma'am?" Merilyn asked.

"Yes, yes," Grandmother Hudson said petulantly. "Maybe it's your mother," she told me when Merilyn left the room. "She has yet to call me to see if you're alive or dead."

"She phoned me," I said. Her eyebrows went up.

"You'd think she'd have the courtesy to call me as well. Why do my children think everything is coming to them, that I owe them so much?"

I was about to offer an answer when Merilyn stepped back into the room to announce the phone call was for me.

"It's starting already?" my grandmother snapped. "Your girlfriends or boyfriends or--"

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hudson," Merilyn said with a tiny bow.

"Well?"

"It's not a girlfriend or boyfriend. It's her teacher, Mr. Buford."

"I told him she was at dinner and he said to give her this message?'