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Normally I would have ignored her. I guess I should have. But I didn’t.”
    â€œWhat did she say?”
    Jana studied me for a minute, like she was trying to decide if I was really interested. Or maybe she was trying to decide if she wanted to stand there and talk to me when she could have been hanging out with her millions of friends.
    â€œAlicia did some community service at a seniors’ center,” she said finally. “She was telling everyone how much she hated it. She said old people were a waste of space. We got in an argument and...” She shook her head. “I’ve never slapped anyone before. But she wouldn’t stop. It’s like she thinks if you’re old, you’re useless, and, well, I guess it got to me because my grandma is in the hospital.”
    Oh.
    â€œI’m sorry,” I said. “Is she sick?”
    â€œSomeone pushed her down and stole her purse,” she said. “She hit her headreally hard. She’s seventy-five years old.” Her eyes started to fill up with tears again. She wiped at them with the back of her hand. “Here I go again,” she said. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I just wanted to tell you that. And if you ever need help with math or anything, you can ask me.”
    She turned then and ran down the hall to the girls’ bathroom. I watched the door close behind her. I wondered where her grandma lived. I wondered what the chances were.

chapter eight
    No way, I told myself. It’s a big city. It was just a weird coincidence that someone had stolen Jana’s grandma’s purse.
    But I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
    I watched for Jana in the hall that afternoon, but I didn’t see her anywhere. So at the end of the day, I went up to a girl who I knew was a friend of Jana’s and I asked her where Jana’s locker was. The girl looked at me like I was crazy—like, why was a guy like me even thinking about Jana, letalone looking for her locker? She told me, but the way she said it, she made it sound like it was a waste of her breath and would be a waste of my time to go to Jana’s locker. I told myself that I should forget it. I didn’t want to run into that girl again. But I had to find out.
    I headed down the hall the girl had told me. Sure enough, there was Jana. There were some other kids in the hall too, taking stuff out of their lockers and putting stuff in. But none of them were anywhere near Jana. I took a deep breath and started toward her.
    Jana didn’t notice me at first. She was busy putting books into her backpack. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just stood there and watched her. She jumped when she finally turned around and saw me.
    â€œHey, Kaz,” she said. That surprised me. My school is big, but it’s not that big, so I guess it didn’t mean anything that she knew my name. But I had never heard her say it before. There was something about a girl like Jana knowing my name and saying it that made me feel good.
    â€œI was thinking about what you said about your grandmother,” I said.
    Her cheeks turned pink.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said. “I told you I didn’t like to cry in front of people, and then I burst into tears all over again.”
    â€œYou don’t have to keep apologizing,” I said. “When people are sad, they cry.” My mom sure did. “It’s natural. Anyway, I was wondering about your grandmother. Is she going to be okay?”
    â€œShe didn’t break anything when she fell,” Jana said. Anger flashed in her eyes. “I mean, when she got knocked down. But she hit her head on the sidewalk, so they’re keeping her in the hospital for observation. They want to make sure that there’s no permanent damage.”
    â€œDid she see who did it?” I hoped it sounded like a normal question that anyone might ask.
    â€œI’m not sure,” Jana said. “We went to the