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“regular girls” as Eleanor thought of them, and the “misfits.” Eleanor was a misfit. Midge, who’d fought weight issues as long as Eleanor had known her, was a misfit. So was Aubrey, who was only slightly less shy than Eleanor and wore a web of scars on her back no one had ever dared ask her about. Everyone else in the class was accepted and rejected regularly into teenage society circles and got along well enough for teenage girls.
    â€œBarbara’s a fox, but Alexi is the catch,” said Robby to David. “She wasn’t here when you were before. Her father is some kind of millionaire. She has a car already, a red Range Rover, custom painted. She’s snobby sometimes.”
    David nodded agreeably and chewed his pizza. Eleanor saw that the rest of the cafeteria watched Robby and David. She could feel the sea change. Robby’s acceptance of David Venn was the cue to end their hazing.
    â€œWhat’s with Russell?” asked David. “He keeps giving me the stink-eye.”
    â€œHe’s the class bully,” Robby said. “Best to just keep clear of him.”
    â€œDid he have a broken arm once back in second or third grade?”
    â€œI don’t remember,” said Robby.
    Eleanor did. Russell’s father had broken it in a drunken fit.
    â€œIf that’s the same guy I remember, he was a real jerk.”
    â€œSounds like the same guy,” said Robby. “So what do you do for fun?”
    â€œVideo games,” said David. “But we don’t have internet right now. Next month.”
    â€œDo you ride?”
    â€œBikes?”
    â€œHorses.”
    â€œNo. Not much call for it on an army base. I’m not really a cowboy.”
    â€œShame. There’s a rodeo coming up,” Robby said. “County High School Rodeo. The Wild River Shoshone are coming up, along with the Dubois kids. It’s not too late to enter.”
    â€œExcept I can’t ride a horse,” said David. “Well, I guess I can maybe. The right stirrup is for ‘go’ and the left is ‘stop.’ Am I right?”
    Robby laughed.
    â€œHorseshoes,” said Robby. “If you can throw horseshoes you can get out of class to practice for the rodeo with the rest of us. The school will empty out next week with everyone practicing for Jamesford pride.”
    â€œSeriously? Horseshoes?”
    â€œThey’re trying to make it a broader competition. The Rez has better horsemen so they wanted more competition to give other schools a chance.”
    â€œI can shoot,” David said.
    â€œPerfect,” said Robby. “There’s like five different events around guns.”
    â€œOkay. Sounds like fun. Who do I talk to?”
    Robby told him to talk to Principal Curtz after lunch. “Don’t be fooled when he says there’ll be try-outs and all that. We’ve never had a full team of anything as long as I’ve been here. If you want in, you’re in.”
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œNo problem.”
    When they’d finished lunch, Brian Weaver invited them outside for a game of two-on-two basketball with Eric Collins. Eleanor watched them slip out the door into the sunlight.
    The teachers sensed the change in attitude toward David and began to include the newcomer. They’d avoided calling on him out of courtesy, but now that the embargo was lifted, they made use of David’s different educational experience.
    â€œDid they not teach you science in Georgia?” asked Mr. Graham in a rare moment of student involvement.
    â€œNo, sir,” David said. “Not chemistry.”
    â€œNothing? Well, you’re only a few weeks behind. Take a book home and study,” he said and went on lecturing. David would have to find his own answer about chemistry.
    September slipped away in yellowing aspen leaves, and October heralded “rodeo practice release” time, but Eleanor didn’t go for anything. The