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CHARADE

My first funeral My first funeral was for the first guy to ever see ht

It wasn't for a grandparent or for a friend's elderly aunt rinkles so deep you could stash stuff in them, but for Thomas Thomas Pearson The first classmate I had met at Easton Acadeeous, mysterious, intense Thoinity to

Sothemselves in my mind, and no matter what I did, I couldn't seem to h the fog to tell me that Thomas was dead The oing to be all right, and how stupid I felt now to have believed it The lasto I didn't even live there anys Now he never would Because noas lying

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cold and dead in a coffin In the ground somewhere, in a coffin The family had opted for a private burial, so I didn't even knohere he was I just kneas down there so

Every tiasped for breath

"What is it?" Noelle Lange asked me

We were standing next to the hugerooms in the Pearsons' co-op on the Upper East Side of Manhattan A few kids fro at onefor the nervous breakdown they were sure I was going to have But so far I hadn't even cried in their presence I wouldn't give the fear to pass before answering

"Nothing," I told her "That just keeps happening"

"You're still in shock," Ariana Osgood whispered, her voice soothing "It's perfectly normal"

Noelle nodded and put her hand onThat was a new one Mostly she just opted for sarcastic andShe also looked softer than usual today Less threatening Her light-gray cashmere crewneck and simple black skirt were perfect, of course, but her brown hair was product-free and fell around her face, fraentler She had also forgone the mascara and subtle eyeliner she alore Without it, she ale Like she was my equal

I looked around the spacious roo numb now and

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