Page 210 of Finding Us

“So how’s everything going?” I ask her.

“I miss you, Garret.” She says this every time I call and she always sounds sad. It breaks my heart.

“I miss you, too.”

Jade comes running into the living room. I put the phone on speaker.

“Hi, Lilly,” Jade says.

“Hi,” she mumbles. It’s not her usual enthusiastic response.

“You don’t want to talk to Jade today?” I ask her.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s okay.”

Jade frowns.

“What’s wrong?” I ask Lilly. “Did you have a rough time at school?”

“I don’t like it. I got in trouble.”

“Why did you get in trouble?”

“Because I went to the bathroom.”

“Did you ask your teacher first?”

“No.”

“You have to ask the teacher first. You can’t just get up and leave.”

“Nobody told me that. I don’t like those rules.”

“I know, but school has lots of rules. I have rules at my school, too.”

“Do you have to ask the teacher if you can go to the bathroom?”

“Yes.” I smile at Jade. “And Jade does, too. It’s a rule for everyone.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Besides that, did you like your teacher?’

“Yes. She has blond hair and today she wore a pretty dress with flowers on it.”

“Did you make some friends?” Jade asks her.

“Nobody wants to be my friend. They already have friends.”

Jade gets closer to the phone. “It takes time to make friends. I haven’t made any friends at my school either.”

“Really?”

“Really. And today was my third day at school. You’ve only had two days. You need to give it more time. What about Jackie? I mean Jacqueline. Isn’t she your friend?”

“I guess she is, but I don’t really like her.”

Jade’s laughing and she motions me to talk.

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