went straight to my room. By the time I got to the window to see if he was going
to come outside, the bag was already gone.
That’s when I knew he’d been watching me. I’m kind of nervous now that
he knows I know he’s staying there. I don’t know what I’ll say to him if he tries
to talk to me tomorrow.
—Lily
Dear Ellen,
I saw your interview with the presidential candidate Barack Obama today.
Does that make you nervous? Interviewing people who could potentially run
the country? I don’t know a lot about politics, but I don’t think I could be
funny under that kind of pressure.
Man. So much has happened to both of us. You just interviewed someone
who might be our next president and I’m feeding a homeless boy.
This morning when I got to the bus stop, Atlas was already there. It was
just the two of us at first, and I’m not gonna lie, it was awkward. I could see
the bus coming around the corner and I was wishing it would drive a little
faster. Right when it pulled up, he took a step closer to me and, without looking
up, he said, “Thank you.”
The doors opened on the bus and he let me walk on first. I didn’t say
You’re welcome because I was kind of shocked by my reaction. His voice gave
me chills, Ellen.
Has a boy’s voice ever done that to you?
Oh, wait. Sorry. Has a girl’s voice ever done that to you?
He didn’t sit by me or anything on the way there, but on the way back from
school, he was the last one getting on. There weren’t any empty seats, but I
could tell by the way he scanned all the people on the bus that he wasn’t looking
for an empty seat. He was looking for me.
When his eyes met mine, I looked down at my lap real quick. I hate that I’m
not very confident around guys. Maybe that’s something I’ll grow into when I
finally turn sixteen.
He sat down next to me and dropped his backpack between his legs. That’s
when I noticed what Katie was talking about. He did kind of smell, but I
didn’t judge him for that.
He didn’t say anything at first, but he was fidgeting with a hole in his
jeans. It wasn’t the kind of hole that was there to make jeans look stylish. I
could tell it was there because it was a genuine hole, due to his pants being old.