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the time. About ten o’clock, she decided to go to bed.
    Tonight I’ll use my imagination. Much better than TV
.
    She built her cozy fort in her room and closed her eyes.

CHAPTER
7
    S unday morning.
    Dad must’ve come home late, if he came home at all. I was awake for a long time but didn’t hear him come in
.
    Jules went to his room.
    Still gone
.
    She didn’t know the telephone numbers for his friends. Didn’t know what she’d ask them if she could phone.
    Dad would get mad at me
.
    Her grandma was thousands of miles away in Vancouver, and Jules had met her only twice in her life. That had been enough. And there was no one else.
    She started to think back over the last few months. Her dad had been drinking a lot more and was unhappy most of the time. She always tried to pushthose thoughts away to another part of her brain and pretend that things were okay. She had to shove the scary thoughts out or she’d explode.
    He’s been away before, weeknights or whole weekends. This is no different
.
    She went back to her bedroom and looked out the window for a long, long time. Houses ran along either side of the small park. They were all the same size and shape, even though each family tried to make theirs look unique by painting the outside a different color, adding shutters to the windows, or growing unusual plants and shrubs in the small gardens. Each yard was about the same size. In summer, the street became a stamp collection of green lawns. Jules always thought everything looked much more beautiful in winter, even though the snow covered the yards in the same way. It didn’t make sense, but maybe the ugly sameness of everything wasn’t as obvious.
    The sky was always changing, though. In winter, the only skies she hated were the gray, gloomy ones, when it didn’t snow and the sun didn’t come out and the whole world looked sad.
    She went downstairs to the kitchen. She wasn’t hungry, but her dad would probably get mad if the food he’d bought wasn’t being eaten. She just didn’t have much of an appetite anymore.
    She ate a small bowl of cereal and didn’t bother to clean up.
    I’ll have to push myself outside today
.
    It seemed to take forever to put on the extra layer of clothes she’d need to keep warm. She kept forgetting something, but finally went outside.
    The blast of icy air that hit her was a shock. Jules didn’t think she’d be able to feel anything.
    Okay, okay. What’ll I do? Where’ll I go? No stores open. Damn!
    She decided to walk up to Wedgewood School. There was an outdoor skating rink beside it, an official one that was looked after by the city. She wouldn’t take her skates, but there’d be skaters and she could watch them. If kids from school were there, they’d be playing hockey, break the whip, or ice tag.
    She wanted to stretch out the time it took to get there. She couldn’t go up Martin Grove – it would have gotten her there faster, but she couldn’t risk meeting Patsy or someone from Patsy’s family. She had to walk farther along Bloor and cut across Charleston, the street where Jerry Chambers lived. He was a mean, ugly kid who acted like a big shot. If she bumped into him, he’d make her feel worse than she already did – but that was a chance she’d have to take.
    She could hear the sound of skaters’ voices before she got to the rink. It was Sunday, so moms and dads were with their kids. Bullies don’t push, trip, or chase anybody when parents are around. She should’ve remembered that.
    Jules stood behind the boards surrounding the rink. She watched as a young couple put skates ontheir little boy as fast as they could, to prevent his little feet from freezing.
    When his skates were done up, he held on to his parents’ hands and tried to walk on the ice as if he had shoes on, not skates. That was funny. His upper body couldn’t catch up with his feet, and he fell on his behind. He started to cry, but Jules could tell he was just surprised, not