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meadowlark, proceeded to warble the old cowboy song about death and sadness. She had a sweet pure voice, just the kind that was made for folk songs.
    The auditorium had been built before microphones were commonplace, so its acoustics provided a natural amplification that enhanced a good singer’s voice. Sadie’s carried to the last slat of the last seat of the last row. When she was finished, we all applauded. It seemed to come from us spontaneously, as if we weren’t in control of our hands. At least that’s the way I felt as I smacked my hands together. Or maybe I was making up for the guilt.
    Mrs. Williston, too, was impressed. She stood up and asked Sadie to come talk with her privately.
    “What a nice voice,” Hilary murmured from down the row. Call me crazy, but I don’t think Hilary was all that happy about Sadie’s nice voice. Until this moment, Yum-Yum was hers for the taking.
    With no one left to audition, we all stood getting ready to leave. Sadie continued talking with Mrs. Williston while the rest of us aimlessly tried to make conversation.
    “I was thinking of having a Halloween party,” Kerrie chirped. This was news to me. “Costumes and all. My folks said it was okay.”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Sadie swiftly walking up the aisle. Instead of joining us, her new friends, she rushed out of the auditorium with the same red-faced look she’d worn coming into the cafeteria earlier. Despite my desire to stand alarmingly close to Doug, I broke away and ran after her.
    “Be right back,” I murmured to my circle.
    I caught up with Sadie outside the big double doors to this wing of the school. She stood shivering in the cold, her arms wrapped over each other. Her face was mottled from unshed tears.
    “Sadie!” I called over, trying to sound casual. “You were terrific!”
    She smiled shyly. “Thanks.”
    “We’re talking about a Halloween party,” I said lamely. Then again, blurting out “what’s the matter with you” didn’t seem like the right thing to say either. “Kerrie’s house.”
    “Oh. . .”
    “I’m sure she’ll invite you.” After I told her to, that is.
    “Thanks.”
    “Do you want to go inside? We were just kind of hanging out.” To make a liar out of me, Doug and Kerrie and Hilary and Nicole came out the door just then. Doug handed me my jacket and backpack, a small gesture of kindness that nearly made me hysterical with joy. But I controlled my emotions.
    “There you are!” Kerrie said to me, then turned to Sadie. “What a voice. You’re full of surprises, Sadie.”
    “I was just telling Sadie about your party,” I said.
    “Well, yeah, I have to pick a date. It’ll be a weekend.”
    “Make it a Saturday,” Doug chimed in. “I have to work on Friday nights.” Did he look at me when he said this? Was this a message intended for me? I took it that way, mentally filing it away under “why Doug won’t call on Friday nights.”
    “A costume party, right, Kerrie?” I asked, trying to divert attention away from Sadie, who still looked troubled.
    “Uh-huh,” said Kerrie, smiling at me and nodding in Doug’s direction. I think she was trying to tell me that this was my chance to have some soulful conversation with the guy. “I gotta get going, Bianca. Give me a call,” Kerrie said, running off towards the parking lot in back of the school. She was getting a ride home with a senior who would leave without her if she was too late.
    Hilary and Nicole also said hasty good-byes and went off to catch their rides and buses. That left an awkward trio of me, Doug, and Sadie.
    Doug shuffled a little, looked at me, then at Sadie, and my amazing new mind-reading powers led me to believe he was wondering if I was going to ditch her so we could talk. I’m ashamed to admit that, if given half the chance, I would have thrown Sadie into the bushes then. But something happened that threw us all for a loop.
    A large black car, expensive-looking with