介绍:
Chapter Two
（读错三个地方 medical的e开口太大，grinding读错了，还有一个啥忘了，大家注意听一下。抱歉！）
This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong; but my memory of it is that my approaching Tommy that afternoon was part of a phase I was going through around that time–something to do with compulsively setting myself challenges–and I'd more or less forgotten all about it when Tommy stopped me a few days later.
I don't know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham we had to have some form of medical almost every week–usually up in Room 18 at the very top of the house–with stern Nurse Trisha, or Crow Face, as we called her. That sunny morning a crowd of us was going up the central staircase to be examined by her, while another lot she'd just finished with was on its way down. So the stairwell was filled with echoing noise, and I was climbing the steps head down, just following the heels of the person in front, when a voice near me went: “Kath!”
Tommy, who was in the stream coming down, had stopped dead on the stairs with a big open smile that immediately irritated me. A few years earlier maybe, if we ran into someone we were pleased to see, we'd put on that sort of look. But we were thirteen by then, and this was a boy running into a girl in a really public situation. I felt like saying: “Tommy, why don't you grow up?” But I stopped myself, and said instead: “Tommy, you're holding everyone up. And so am I.”
He glanced upwards and sure enough the flight above was already grinding to a halt. For a second he looked panicked, then he squeezed himself right into the wall next to me, so it was just about possible for people to push past. Then he said: “Kath, I've been looking all over for you. I meant to say sorry. I mean, I'm really, really sorry. I honestly didn't mean to hit you the other day. I wouldn't dream of hitting a girl, and even if I did, I'd never want to hit you. I'm really, really sorry.”
“It's okay. An accident, that's all.” I gave him a nod and made to move away. But Tommy said brightly:
“The shirt's all right now. It all washed out.”
“That's good.”
“It didn't hurt, did it? When I hit you?”
“Sure. Fractured skull. Concussion, the lot. Even Crow Face might notice it. That's if I ever get up there.”
“But seriously, Kath. No hard feelings, right? I'm awfully sorry. I am, honestly.”
At last I gave him a smile and said with no irony: “Look, Tommy, it was an accident and it's now one hundred percent forgotten. I don't hold it against you one tiny bit.”
He still looked unsure, but now some older students were pushing behind him, telling him to move. He gave me a quick smile and patted my shoulder, like he might do to a younger boy, and pushed his way into the flow. Then, as I began to climb, I heard him shout from below: “See you, Kath!”
I'd found the whole thing mildly embarrassing, but it didn't lead to any teasing or gossip; and I must admit, if it hadn't been for that encounter on the stairs, I probably wouldn't have taken the interest I did in Tommy's problems over the next several weeks.
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