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stopped talking. Jean heard her shift her weight in her chair. She scooted it back, then scooted it forward again.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I think you put the pan on the wrong burner.”
    A cloud descended, black as ever. “Oh.” She moved haltingly when she stood up to change it. “No wonder I didn’t feel the heat yet.” She couldn’t help her voice cracking.
    They were quiet while the cocoa was heating. She heard Lorraine move in her chair again and wished she would say something. When the cocoa was ready, Jean brought it over to the kitchen table slowly. “It’s good,” said Lorraine. Jean’s mouth made nervous little movements she couldn’t control. She felt public, naked. It was as if she were a cripple and Lorraine had stepped into her bedroom uninvited when she was wrestling to get upright and out of bed.
    “Don’t feel bad, Jean. It’s not so important. You always handle everything else so well.” Jean warmed her hands around her cup and tipped her head down, as though she was looking at her cocoa. “In fact,” Lorraine added, “I don’t see how you do what you do.”
    Her voice sounded so earnest that Jean thought she had aged in the space of a few minutes. She didn’t know what to say but wanted to talk more and about something else. “Lorraine.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why do you think Miss Jennings chose you to tutor me?”
    “I’m not sure, but she lives near my aunt over on the other side of town, you know, by the river. I guess because of that, she knows my background a little. Maybe she thought it would be good for me, build up my confidence.”
    “I can’t believe you need to feel better about yourself. You already have two boyfriends.”
    “That doesn’t mean anything, really. I don’t have the things I—the things you have, here. Not things exactly, but advantages. My family isn’t like yours, Jean.”
    Jean took a sip of cocoa and felt it warm going down, felt its comfort. “You know, at the beginning of high school when you walked me to school, I didn’t quite trust you. That was stupid of me. I mean, I didn’t know why you were—”
    “I know. It’s okay.”
    “But why did you come all the way over here to walk with me?”
    “I was curious, I guess. About how you did things. How you got along. It was just interesting to me. I thought it would be nice to have a friend who was different.” Her voice became softer. “At the time I thought maybe you could come to need me. But actually, I guess I needed you.” It was a courageous thing to say.
    “Funny. I always felt I was the one who constantly needed someone else.”
    Jean felt Lorraine’s arms around her. Something turned liquid inside her. She hadn’t been hugged by anyone for a long time.
    After a few moments Lorraine tapped her cup gently against the saucer. “Can I have some more cocoa?”

Chapter Five
    Jean went to bed that night feeling a rare contentment, as if for those hours, in spite of the trouble with the cocoa, some burden had been temporarily lifted. She had grown to like Lorraine even though she wasn’t part of the Hill. In fact, she felt more comfortable with her than with Louise Barnes or any of the Hill crowd except Tready.
    It was puzzling. Cousin Tready had style, sophistication, and Lorraine obviously didn’t. It occurred to her that she never really knew how Lorraine dressed. It probably wasn’t stylish, like Tready. If it weren’t for other people, she would enjoy being with Lorraine just as much, but Lorraine wasn’t popular. Tready was. And fun, too. Anyone on the Hill could be sure a party would be lively if Tready would be there. And if Tready were invited, Jean probably would be, too.
    It wasn’t that Jean wasn’t invited to Hill parties on her own. She was, sometimes, but she knew why. The girls’ mothers made them ask her. She could tell when a voice carried the barely discernable off-key tone of obligation. She felt it as the sour taste of insincerity. What was worse, Mother