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of my whole life.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Velveeta ignored Travis all day Tuesday. She didn't jab him in the neck one time during social studies, and when Ms. Gordon said they'd be working on projects the next day, she didn't say a word.
    He'd figured the social studies project would ruin everything, but he wasn't ready for it to happen quite so fast. She didn't look over at him during reading.
    She sat with a bunch of girls at lunch, and he sat alone, with Amber Raleigh at the other end of the table, reading. At least in Salisbury he ate with the other dumb kids, not all by himself.
    After school, Travis couldn't bring himself to go back to the empty house. He turned off Main onto a shady street. A block down, a gravel alley on his right opened into a park. Trees scattered shade over rusty playground equipment, and beyond that, wooden bleachers flanked a baseball diamond behind the Main Street taverns.
    He threw his backpack on the grass and sat on an ancient merry- go- round.
    The surface radiated warmth, and
    Travis pushed the old metal loose from its rust. The unbalanced weight made it dip- squeak as it went around. He pushed again, and the toe of his white sock, sticking out of the hole in his sneaker, came up brown from the dust. Once he got some motion going, he lay back and watched the green leaves overhead swirl against the deep blue backdrop.
    "Hey, Travis."
    He sat up sharp. Bradley Whistler stood looking down at him. Travis dragged his foot to brake. Bradley went to the other side of the merry- go round and kicked a few times to get it going again. The change in weight took out the dip motion, but it still squeaked every time Travis passed the slide.
    "Whatcha doing?" asked Bradley.
    "Nothing," said Travis.

    They squeaked around a few times, and then Bradley said, "So, I was wondering, did you know Velveeta before?"
    "No, why?"
    " 'Cause you two are tight and it's only the second week. She sits by you every day at lunch."
    Every day till now. Bradley must not have seen him sitting alone.
    "How do you know her?"
    "I don't, really," said Travis.
    "Sure seems like she likes you."
    She only liked him because of Bradley's shoe, and that was over now, anyway.
    The merry- go- round's squeaks grew louder in the silence, slowed, then ground to a stop.
    Bradley got off, grabbed the hand bars, pushed a few steps to get it going again, and jumped back on.
    "People say a lot of stuff about her," he said.
    "Like what?"
    "Lots of stuff . Like she gets drunk every night and her brother's a drug dealer.
    And she does the wild thing with older guys. I don't think it's all true, though."
    Travis dug his heel into the dust and stopped the circling. He shifted sideways to look at Bradley.
    "If you don't think it's true, why are you saying it?"
    Bradley blinked and cocked his head.
    "Hm. Why did I say it? Roger roger, that's a really good question."
    He looked down at his feet for a long moment, then back up at Travis.
    "You know how sometimes you don't know something is stupid until it falls out of your mouth and then it's too late?"
    Travis didn't have an answer for that one, since he usually kept his stupid thoughts in his own head. He pushed with his foot to get the squeak going again.
    "I think Velveeta is smart," said Bradley. "I used to think she was dumb."
    "Why'd you think that?"
    "She wore the same clothes all the time and got in fights and stuff . You know how that can make someone seem dumb. So, are you going out With her?"
    "No."
    "Not doing the wild thing?"
    Travis shot Bradley a look.
    "Kidding," said Bradley, putting his hands up. "Sorry."
    "I gotta go." Travis dragged his foot to stop the spin.
    Bradley was starting to make him twitchy, and he didn't need a twitch right now. "Later, Brad."
    "Bradley."
    "Okay, Bradley," said Travis.
    He picked up his backpack and started walking.
    Bradley followed him.

    "I'm sorry. That wasn't funny, about you and Velveeta and the wild thing. I meant it to be funny. I like Velveeta, but I'm