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slumped farther down in my seat and hoped she wouldn't call on me again. Didn't she realize I was just visiting here?
    After social studies and English, the bell rang for lunch, and Dawn and her friends, Terri and Karen, walked to the cafeteria with me. Although I could smell hot dogs and spaghetti and maybe a little sauerkraut, today's meal was pizza, green beans, bread, and cherry Jell-O.
    As soon as we sat down, Dawn leaned toward me. "Do you have a picture of your mother?"
    I handed her a picture Roger had taken last summer at the beach. Liz was wearing a bikini, and her long hair blew in the breeze. I was standing next to her, squinting into the sun and hugging Roger's dog, Sandy.
    "She's beautiful." Dawn showed the picture to Karen and Terri. "You don't look at all like her," she added.
    "I take after my father." I slipped the picture back into my wallet and pretended I didn't hear Karen whisper, "Too bad."
    "So is she really going to be a star?" Terri asked.
    Before answering, I took a deep breath. "She might get a part in Richard Gere's new movie," I said. "He's seen her photograph, and he's really interested in her."
    "Richard Gere?" Dawn choked on a mouthful of pizza. "Are you serious?"
    I nodded. In my imagination I saw Liz in a studio, the lights shining on her golden hair as she and Richard played their parts. The scene was so real to me, I felt as if I were gazing into a crystal ball and truly seeing the future.
    "The movie's called
The Island,
" I began, "and it's about a beautiful woman who's on a honeymoon with her new husband, Richard Gere. She has a daughter by a previous marriage, but she leaves her with a cruel aunt while she goes off to the Caribbean."
    As I talked, I could see the whole movie unfolding before my eyes: The daughter would be played by a girl even prettier than Dawn, but the aunt would look like the witch in
The Wizard of Oz,
and everyone in the audience would feel sorry for the girl.
    "First you see how happy the mother is, laughing and swimming and having a wonderful time, hardly ever thinking about her daughter," I continued. "And then you see how miserable the daughter is. She has to sleep in a cold room, and she can't watch TV or go to McDonald's or even drink coffee, all because the aunt hates the girl's mother so much."
    "Get to the interesting part," Dawn interrupted, apparently not realizing that I was right in the middle of it. "Will your mother get to kiss Richard Gere?"
    She and Terri and Karen all giggled and stared at me. "Sure she will," I said. "It's an R movie, you know." I poked my spoon into my Jell-O and it quivered all over as if it were alive.
    By the time we went back to class, I had myself believing Liz was about to become the biggest star in America. While Mrs. Duffy droned on and on about U.S. history and other boring subjects, I daydreamed about my future in Hollywood. In my imagination Liz and I were walking along a beach. "I've missed you so much, Talley," Liz was saying as the Pacific Ocean washed gently over the sand and swirled around our ankles.
    Then Richard Gere came along and offered to give me a part in the movie, too. "Talley's a wonderful actress," Liz told him. "She has this amazing natural talent She might not be able to do fractions, but wait till you see her on the screen." Then she gave me a big hug, and I almost cried right there in school thinking about it.

Chapter 7
    W HEN THE DISMISSAL BELL finally rang, I hurried out of the room. I didn't want Mrs. Duffy to catch me for a fraction lesson, and I didn't want to tell any more stories about Liz and her movie career.
    As I crossed the street, though, I heard somebody call me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Jane DeFlores, with her brothers at her heels, running to catch up with me. Although she hadn't sat with Dawn and her friends at the lunch table, I'd caught Jane staring at me several times.
    "Mind if I walk with you?" she asked. I nodded while the boys stared at me as if I had just dropped