Shooting Stars: Chapter 7

I’m all alone.  Alone in this cramped hallway.  Although throngs of girls surround me, I’m alone.   Alone in my thoughts.  Alone in my misery.  There are shouts, exclamations of surprise.  Of course — play parts!  We waited for this moment with bated breath.  And the lists are finally being posted.  I direct a quick glance at the creased paper making its rounds.  Not now.  This isn’t the time for this.  Not when. . . Uncle Dani is who-knows-where (I overheard my grandparents saying something about prison!) and Ima’s hooked up to an IV.  Not now!  These girls have no clue what it means to endure so much.

I need to get away.  Fast.

Only suddenly, crowds of onlookers surround me, lifting me up on their shoulders.  What’s going on?  I don’t even pretend to know what this is all about.  I break out of their grasp and . . . flee.  To somewhere quiet.

I chance upon the vacant computer lab and slump into one of the hard plastic chairs.  I place my head into my hands.  It’s so heavy.  And then they come.  The tears.  They roll down my pale cheeks, hot, salty tears.  And for a while, I just feel the slow beating of my heart.

“Dafna?” I glance up abruptly.  I’m too exhausted to care about my red eyes and wet cheeks.  Ayelet.  It’s only Ayelet.  I breathe a sigh of relief.  “Why did you disappear like that?  The entire school is looking for you!”  Gulp.  Really?  The entire school is looking for me?  “Why?”