“Help her out how?”

“I thought maybe I could get her homework and then, you know, pass it on to her.”

Mrs. Friedman had been cleaning off the blackboard. Most teachers used a Smart Board, but as Mrs. Friedman liked to joke, she was “old-school-literally.” She stopped and looked at me. “Did Ashley ask you to get her homework?”

“Well, no.”

“So you just took it upon yourself?”

This was a dumb idea. Even if she did give me the homework, where would I bring it? I didn’t know where Ashley lived. “Never mind,” I said. “Thanks anyway.”

She put down the eraser. “Mr. Bolitar?”

I turned back to her.

“Do you know why Ashley Kent has been absent?”

My heart started doing a slow thud. “No, ma’am.”

“But you’re worried.”

I didn’t see any point in lying to her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“She hasn’t called you?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“Strange.” Mrs. Friedman frowned. “All I can tell you is that I got a note saying that I shouldn’t expect Ashley back.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“That’s all I know,” Mrs. Friedman said. “I guess she moved away. But…”

Her voice trailed off.

“But what?”

“Never mind, Mr. Bolitar.” She started wiping the blackboard again. “Just… just be careful.”

At lunchtime I waited on line at the cafeteria.

I always figured that there would be more drama to a high school cafeteria. Yes, it was full of cliques. The jocks here were called “Lax Bros” (Lacrosse Brothers). They all had long hair, big muscles, and started every sentence with the word Yah. There was a table for the “Animes”-white kids who think they’re Asian. They loved manga comics and video games that matched. The pretty girls weren’t so much pretty as skinny with too-high heels and expensive clothes. Then there were the gamers, the hipsters, the skaters, the druggies, the geeks, the theater kids.

There didn’t seem to be much class warfare here. These kids had been together for so long that they didn’t really notice. The so-called outcasts who sat alone had been sitting alone for so many years that it wasn’t so much cruelty as habit. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.