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hugged me.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd said, ‘Silly billy teepums, time to go to sleepums.’”
    I shook my head. “No wonder you’re weird.”
    â€œI thought I could find out how to do it from my How Girls and Boys Are Different book. There’s all kinds of stuff in there, but nothing about kissing. Then I looked up kissing in the dictionary, and all it says is something about touching lips.”
    â€œYou can practice when we get home — on a cushion.”
    â€œI’ll suffocate.”
    â€œOkay, a balloon. I’ve got some left over from Grandad’s birthday.”
    â€œIt might burst. It could blow my head off.”
    â€œGirls know more about kissing than boys,” I said. “We’ll ask Julie to help.”
    Toby blushed.
    When Julie joined us later, I said, “Toby’s got a problem.”
    â€œOnly one?” said Julie.
    â€œHa, ha,” said Toby.
    â€œHe wants to know how to kiss,” I said. “He needs someone to practice on.”
    Julie looked at Toby. “Someone like me, I suppose.”
    â€œCan you show him how?” I pleaded.
    â€œYou better be careful, Toby,” she warned. “I don’t want you slobbering all over my face. Okay. Close your eyes.”
    Toby closed his eyes.
    â€œPut your lips together and push them a little bit forward.”
    Toby obeyed again.
    Julie crossed silently to him, kissed him, and said, “That’s all there is to it.”
    â€œThat’s easy,” he said.
    Conrad arrived to visit Grandad and give Toby a ride home. He came straight in the house and called, “Anyone home?”
    I called, “Grandad’s watching television. We’re up here.”
    â€œHi, guys,” Conrad called. “What are you doing?”
    â€œToby’s kissing Julie,” I said.
    â€œThat boy’s out of control,” Conrad muttered.
    * * *
    The next day, they kissed in the cafeteria, while the rest of us clapped. Toby thanked Julie for helping him.
    â€œHow was it?” he asked.
    â€œYours was lovely …” said Julie.
    Toby blushed.
    â€œHow was mine?” she pressed.
    Toby put his hands over his heart and said, “It was like being kissed by a cloud.”
    Julie stuck her finger down her throat and pretended she was going to throw up. Then she turned to me. “Now what rule do we have to break?”
    â€œNext — we do drugs,” I said.

7
Ice
    But I don’t do drugs,” said Toby.
    â€œI don’t know anything about drugs and I don’t want to,” Julie added firmly.
    â€œNeither do I,” I admitted. “But the Code says no drugs, so if we’re going to break every rule, we have to find some. I know who to ask.”
    â€œWho?” asked Toby.
    â€œIce,” I said.
    Ice was already in Grade 6 when we started kindergarten. Now he was at the high school. I knew him — sort of — because just after I’d started kindergarten, I got lost on my way to class and ended up down by the gym, where the Grade 6 students used to hang out in the changing rooms. One of them came out and said, “There’s a baby in the hallway.” Another looked out and said, “Bring him in here. Give him a smoke.” One took my hand and started to lead me into the changing rooms when Ice came out and said, “Quit it.” They let me go immediately. Ice bent down to me and said, “I guess you’re looking for Miss Little’s room. Go down there and turn right — you know which is your right? — and you’ll see it in front of you.” He watched me walk uncertainly back down the hallway. When I reached the place he’d told me to turn right, I looked back, and he gave an encouraging nod. After that, although we never spoke, whenever he saw me he’d give a tiny wink of his eye. When he went to high school I saw him only occasionally, around the town, or watching our