I was still thinking about Jonah as the class ended and the bell rang.
“Hey,” I said to him. “Do you want to walk me to my next class—”
But at just that moment, all the kids rushed from their seats and my voice was drowned out. He couldn’t hear me and when the crowd cleared away, I lost sight of him.
I shuffled into the hallway. It was the widest school hall I’d ever seen and it was completely packed, all the kids crammed in. There must have been thousands of kids in these halls, a sea of faces stretching endlessly.
The noise was terrible, bouncing off the walls, and I wanted to cover her ears. I felt claustrophobic.
Hundreds of kids stood there, clamoring, screaming, and shoving each other. It looked like a prison yard. It was all too loud. These kids laughed too loud, cursed too muc
