Day 4

     Alice kept to her thoughts, musing even as they returned to gather their things from the library and unlock their bikes to ride home. Heather continued to bad mouth the Billy and his gang until Alice nearly ran into a mailbox. “Whoa, hey, Alice! Your head caught in the clouds?” Heather laughed. “Off to Wonderland again, huh?” Alice grinned sheepishly. “Sorry Heather, I just remembered that boy just joined our class. Nobody seems to like him much, what with his nickname and all?”

    “Ah, yes,” Heather nodded sagely. “ Witch-boy, am I right? I heard it was some girls giggling about his looks and next thing you know, all their lockers slam and nearly rip their hair out. Or the guy who tried to trip him and then fell down a flight of stairs for absolutely no reason? I’ve also heard he talks to himself all the time, I mean, actually has arguments with himself. Yeah, I’d say the kid’s weird.” Alice snorted. “ Are you sure they’re not just using him as a scapegoat for their own stupidity?” They stopped at a house on the outskirts of town, where Heather’s family lived. Alice could hear Heather’s grandmother clanging together dinner as Heather’s younger siblings crashed around where the grandfather was supposed to be watching them. Alice knew he was probably on the back porch, rocking in his chair and reading the town newspaper, as usual. Heather’s mother wouldn’t be home until she locked up the family’s bakery. How one family moved about like that, Alice would never know. She watched her friend disappear into the garage, and then set on her way home, the shaky pavement of the old town giving way to familiar, dusty red road as the sun began to set over the green blanket of crops that draped across the landscape.