Tamar looked around guardedly, but no students seemed to be in the office. She breathed; her life still wonderfully, blessedly secret

When she opened her eyes in the morning, Tamar couldn’t remember where she was for a minute. The quiet and calm washed over her. Yesterday the Weisses had given her the day to herself, and she had used it to its utmost — spending almost the whole day in her own company. Within seconds, her calm turned to panic. Today was the day she was starting a new school.

What am I going to tell the kids at school? They’re for sure going to ask why I switched to their school. No way can I tell them the truth. But she couldn’t think of any good, foolproof lie. With a sigh, Tamar got up and made her bed. At home she hadn’t always made her bed, but this wasn’t home.

Tamar and Devorah walked to school in the crisp autumn air, their altercation still hanging between them.

“Here’s the school,” Devorah said, breaking the silence for the first time since they left home. “Your classroom is on the second floor, but the secretary said to go to the office before you go upstairs.”

Tamar nodded silently.

“Hi, Devorah,” said a girl with curly blonde hair, walking into the building with them. She looked at Tamar questioningly, but Tamar was too busy looking around for the office. There it was, to the right. As Tamar turned toward the office, though, she could hear the blonde kid say in a fairly loud voice, “Who is that?” Tamar strained her ears, but they were already too far away for her to hear the answer. Please, Devorah, she begged mentally, please don’t say anything. Please keep my life quiet. Give me a chance to be a normal kid in this school. But from what she’d seen of Devorah, Tamar wasn’t so optimistic.

She was standing in front of the office door now, but before she could so much as lift her hand to knock, the door swung open and a tall, broad woman came barreling out, bumping straight into Tamar. “Oh,” she said, sounding surprised. Addressing someone behind her, she called, “Mrs. Roberg, there’s a student here for you. You can go in,” she added, turning to Tamar and opening the door.

Stepping carefully through the door, Tamar found herself in a small, cluttered office. Immediately in front of her was a large wooden desk which, along with a mammoth-sized copy machine, took up most of the room. The woman behind the desk was staring at her, seemingly waiting for Tamar to begin.

“Um…” Tamar started, not exactly sure why she was supposed to see the secretary.

“Yes?” the secretary prompted her.

“I’m, um, starting school today? Tamar Dayan?”