Read Dawn for Free Online Page B

first class.
    By the time we reached the gymnasium, I knew that she was very good in math and science and only fair in history and English. Her daddy was a lawyer in a family firm that went back just ages and ages, and she had two brothers and a sister who were still in grade school.
    "Mrs. Allen's office is over there," Louise said, pointing. "She'll assign you a locker and give you a gym suit and a towel for your shower." With that, she hurried off to change.
    Mrs. Allen was a tall woman about forty years old, "All the girls must take showers after class," she insisted as she handed me a towel. I nodded. "Come on," she said. She looked stern as we walked toward the locker room. The loud chatter eased up when we entered, and all the girls turned our way. It was a mixed class with girls from three different grades. Louise was already in her uniform.
    "Girls, I would like you all to meet a new student, Dawn Longchamp. Let's see," Mrs. Allen said, "your locker is over there"—she pointed across the room—"next to Clara Sue Cutler."
    I gazed at the blond girl with the chubby face and figure who was standing at the center of a small clique. None of them were in uniform yet. Mrs. Allen's eyes narrowed as she led me across the locker room.
    "What's taking you girls so long?" she asked and then sniffed. "I smell smoke. Have you girls been smoking?" she demanded with her hands on her hips. They all looked at one another anxiously. Then I saw some smoke coming out of a locker.
    "It's not a cigarette, Mrs. Allen," I said. "Look." Mrs. Allen squinted and moved to the locker quickly.
    "Clara Sue, open this locker immediately," she demanded.
    The chubby girl sauntered over to it and worked the combination. When she opened it, Mrs. Allen made her stand back. There was a lit cigarette burning on the shelf.
    "I don't know how that got in there," Clara Sue said, her eyes wide with what was obviously fake amazement.
    "Oh, you don't, don't you?"
    "I'm not smoking it. You can't say I'm smoking," Clara Sue protested haughtily.
    Mrs. Allen lifted the burning cigarette out of the locker, holding it between her forefinger and thumb as though it were a cylinder of disease.
    "Behold, girls," she said, "a cigarette that smokes itself."
    There was some giggling. Clara Sue locked very uncomfortable.
    "All right, everyone get dressed and quickly. Miss Cutler, you and I will have a talk about this later," she said, then pivoted and left the locker. The moment she was gone, Clara Sue came at me, her face red and bloated with anger.

"You stupid idiot!" she screamed. "Why did you tell her?"
    "I thought it was a fire," I explained.
    "Oh, brother. Who are you, Alice in Wonderland? Now you got me in trouble."
    "I'm sorry, I . . ."
    I looked around. All the girls were glaring at me. "I didn't mean it. Honest. I thought I was helping you."
    "Helping?" She shook her head. "You helped me into trouble, that's what you did."
    Everyone nodded and the group broke up so everyone could finish dressing. I looked to Louise, but even she turned away. Afterward, the girls were very standoffish in the gym. Every chance she got, Clara Sue glared hatefully at me. I tried to explain again, but she wasn't interested.
    When Mrs. Allen blew the whistle to end the period and send us to the showers, I tried to get Louise's attention.
    "You got her in trouble," was all she would say.
    Here I was only an hour or so in a new school and already I had made enemies when all I wanted to do was make some new friends. As soon as I saw Clara Sue, I apologized again, making it sound as sincere as I could.
    "It's all right," Clara Sue suddenly said. "I shouldn't have blamed you. I just lost my temper. It was my own fault."
    "Really, I wouldn't have pointed out the smoke if I'd thought you were smoking. I don't tattletale."
    "I believe you. Girls," she said to those nearest, "we shouldn't blame Dawn. That's your name, right? Dawn?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
    "A brother,"