The Lottery (30 page)
Authors: Beth Goobie
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #School & Education, #Social Issues, #Adolescence, #Bullying, #JUV000000
“Allow me to make you and your mom the two best cups of hot chocolate in Mountain Standard Time,” she said.
Taking his hand, Sal pulled her moaning brother to his feet and helped him lug his aching body up the basement stairs.
Epilogue
The note progressed, hand to hand, along the back of the room. Sal kept it in her peripheral vision, vaguely curious, wanting to maintain her Pony Express techniques by proxy, if only for nostalgic reasons. At the front of the class, Ms. Demko turned from the chalkboard to pick up a textbook and the guy across from Sal froze, crumpling the all-important missive into his fist. As the teacher turned back to the board, he slid the note onto his desk and scanned it. His eyes darted surreptitiously toward Sal, flicked away, then returned. Her heart began a slow painful thud. Was the note for her? Had Shadow Council finally recovered from the Chris Busatto tragedy and begun moving back into high gear?
Suddenly, the guy was leaning across the aisle and shoving the note into her hand. Wrinkled and moist from so many sweaty palms, the back was plastered with the usual graffiti. Flipping it to the front, Sal read the original salutation: THIS NOTE IS INTENDED FOR THE EYES OF GILLIAN SPADA ONLY.
It wasn’t for her. Sal’s heart quickened, and her stomach gave a brief acid surge. Fixing her eyes on Ms. Demko’s
back, she leaned forward and slid the note into the waiting hand of the girl seated in the desk ahead of her. The girl caught the eye of the guy across the aisle and nodded, then sent the note onward. Unable to believe what had taken place, Sal glanced at the guy across from her, but he was keeping his gaze riveted to the chalkboard. Slowly, she let her eyes trail across the rest of the class.
The wall was alive. It could think, breathe, learn. Brick by brick, it could change and choose, just as she’d changed and chosen. Dusty was right. Anything could happen, it had just happened, and it would continue happening for the rest of her life.
Smiling, she leaned back in her chair and hummed a quiet blue song.
Also by award-winning author BETH GOOBIE:
Before Wings
In Adrien, Beth Goobie has created a memorable character — intelligent, strong, irreverent, stubborn, funny, independent, fragile — who learns to confront the reality of her own death and to “believe” in life.
“Beth Goobie just might be the best YA writer in the country ...” – T
IM
W
YNNE-
J
ONES
• CLA Young Adult Book Award Winner
• Saskatchewan Book Award Winner
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