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said.
    “Slightly was over fifteen minutes ago. You know the rules. You have to provide either a valid and truthful reason for your tardiness, or perform a dramatically told, yet believable story, or you have to go to the office for a late slip.” Ms. Cooper gestured for him to come into the centre of the circle and she retreated off to the side.
    “Okay, here’s my reason. I was heading outside for a smoke this morning and I ran into this guy, this guy I’d never even met , and he just handed me the keys to his car … an Audi TT … and he asked if I could drop something off in the car and return the keys to him later.”
    “So far, what’s the opinion of the audience … the judges … is he telling the truth, or at least providing a credible lie?” Ms. Cooper asked.
    People all around the circle, almost without exception, gave him two thumbs down. I didn’t do anything.
    “Tough room. I’ll continue,” Danny said. “But this guy, he said that if I wanted I could even take his car for a little spin, and I wasn’t going to, but it was an Audi and I’ve never even sat in an Audi, so I took it for a ride.”
    I couldn’t help but wince in reaction.
    “And man, you wouldn’t believe just how fast that car can go and how well it corners and—”
    “I think that’s about enough. Raise your hand if you think he’s lying?” Ms. Cooper asked.
    Every hand went up but mine.
    “I guess it’s unanimous … except for Evan.” She paused. “Evan, do you actually believe his story?”
    “Well …”
    “Could I at least finish my story?” Danny protested. He reached into his pocket and pulled out keys— my keys. “Here, Evan,” he said, and he tossed them to me.
    “That story is true?” Ms. Cooper gasped.
    Danny gracefully bowed from the waist. Ms. Cooper started to clap, and then the rest of the class jumped to their feet and began clapping and cheering.
    “I think there is no point in us trying to top that dramatic presentation!” Ms. Cooper called out above the noise. “And because of that you are all dismissed—now—for a very, very early lunch!”
    The cheering got even louder.
    “But remember, I’ll see you all tonight, right after school, in the auditorium … 3:30 sharp, and no excuses from anybody!”

Chapter Five
     

     
    T he thrill for the day, probably even the year, was that we got a new guy in drama, a senior. It was a major topic of conversation in the cafeteria at lunch. Ms. Cooper’s class was pretty well divided between grade elevens and twelves, and the girls in our class went hormonal when they got within spitting distance of a male who showers. It was a nuclear blowback when Evan Campbell stepped into Room 273. Not that you’d have caught me looking. I didn’t play that game. What was the point?
    But God, he was over six feet worth of wow. And apparently smart, too. And  … he drove an Audi! I’d spent the rest of the period looking, but not looking. Evan Campbell was yummy. Wait, who thought that thought? That wasn’t me. I didn’t think thoughts like that. This was where being invisible came in handy. No one could see me thinking thoughts that weren’t like my thoughts, and he certainly wouldn’t have even known I was in the room. I absolutely did not react to boys like that. And he was just another boy. But not.
    I’d concentrated on Ms. Cooper with renewed intensity. She was my version of a cold shower. Then Danny entered with that too-stupid-to-be-true true story.
    I couldn’t wait to tell Lisa. I mean, an Audi! Of course that in itself wouldn’t have impressed Lisa. Her parents had major money, and they would have bought her an Audi, or a small country, if she’d just promised to stay in therapy.
    “My, my, what a wonder to behold,” Travis said as he plopped onto a seat at my table in the cafeteria.
    “What’s a wonder?” I asked.
    “The new guy … the one you’re staring at from across the room.”
    “I’m not staring at