the hall she would suddenly feel like she was inside an airplane at ten thousand feet. Her inner ears would block up, all the sounds around her would become muffled, and her head would get hot. Then, as suddenly as it had come on, the discomfort would go away. But even still, there was a pressure, a pre-thunderstorm energy all around her, even though the skies were lovely and blue.
It got worse at lunch. She tore into her sandwich thinking that her headache was the result of low blood sugar, but she was wrong. Jerry had packed her favorite sandwich—smoked turkey, green apple, and brie on a baguette—but she couldn’t force herself to take more than a bite. She spat it out.
“Your dad make another dud?” Claire asked. When Jerry had first partnered up with Kate he’d started experimenting with creative lunches. The Vegemite and Cucumber Disaster of Freshman Year was legendary at their table.
“No, it’s good old number three. I just can’t eat it,” Helen said, shoving it away. Claire gleefully picked up the remainder and started eating it.
“Mmm, ’is really good,” she mumbled around a full mouth. “Us a ’atter?”
“I just don’t feel right,” Helen said.
Claire stopped chewing and gave her a worried look.
“I’m not sick. You can go ahead and swallow,” Helen assured her quickly. She saw Matt approaching and chirped, “Hey!” trying to make up for that morning.
He was deep in conversation with Gretchen and Zach and didn’t respond, but still came to his habitual spot at the geek table. Both Gretchen and Zach were so engrossed in what they were saying that they didn’t notice that they had wandered into geek territory.
“I heard they were movie stars in Europe,” Zach was saying.
“Where did you hear that?” Matt asked, incredulous. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I heard from at least two other people that Ariadne was a model. She’s certainly pretty enough,” Zach argued passionately, hating to be wrong about anything, even gossip.
“Please. She’s nowhere near thin enough to be a model,” Gretchen hissed bitterly, before catching herself and adding, “Of course I think she’s pretty, if you go for that exotic, voluptuous look. But she’s nothing compared to her twin, Jason—or her cousin! Lucas is just unreal,” she gushed.
The boys shared a knowing look but silently agreed that they were outnumbered by girls and should probably let it go.
“Jason is almost too pretty,” Claire decided solemnly, after giving it a moment’s thought. “Lucas, however, is an über-babe. Quite possibly the most beautiful boy I’ve ever seen. And Ariadne is a stone-cold fox, Gretchen. You’re just jealous.”
Gretchen gave an exasperated huff and rested a fist on her hip. “Like you’re not,” was all she had for a comeback.
“Of course I am. I’m almost as jealous of her as I am of Lennie. But not quite.” Helen felt Claire turn to her to see her response, but she had her elbows on the table and her head cradled in her hands, rubbing her temples.
“Lennie?” Matt said, sitting down next to her. “Does your head hurt?” He reached out to touch her shoulder. She stood up abruptly, muttering an excuse, and hurried away.
By the time she got to the girls’ room she felt better, but she splashed a little cold water on her face for good measure. Then she remembered that she had put mascara on that morning in an attempt to make an effort. She looked at her raccoon eyes in the mirror and burst out laughing. This was the worst first day of school ever.
Somehow she made it through the last three periods, and when the bell finally rang she gratefully made her way to the girls’ locker room to change for track practice.
Coach Tar was all fired up. She gave an embarrassingly optimistic speech about their chances to win races that year and told them how much she believed in them, both as athletes and as young women. Then she turned to Helen.
“Hamilton. You’ll be running with the boys this year,” Coach said bluntly. She told everyone to hit the trail.
Helen sat on the bench for a moment, debating her options while everyone else filed out the door. She didn’t want to make a fuss, but she was mortified by the thought of having to cross the gender line. The muscles in her lower abdomen started to spasm.
“Go talk to her! Don’t let her push you around,” Claire said indignantly as she left.
Confused and afraid she was going to get a bellyache, Helen nodded and stood up.