"It must have been awful when she died."
Flip nodded again.
"I don't think Gloria's mother loves her too much, but Glo doesn't seem to care. Well, it must be almost time for Call Over. Come on. We'd better go down and get in line. The holidays won't last too long and then I can come back to school." Erna gave her desk lid a slam and walked briskly to the door.
2
While she was brushing her teeth that night Flip thought more about Erna. It somehow had never occurred to her that anyone could really love the school. She herself was learning not to hate it, and was beginning to have fun, and to lose some of the dreadful shyness that had tormented her; but she hadn't even thought of really loving school so that she would be miserable whenever she had to leave. She felt a sense of warm companionship with Erna, now that each had witnessed and tried to comfort the other's unhappiness.
When she got back to the room Erna was already in bed, rubbing mentholatum on her chapped hands; Gloria was combing the snarls out of her hair; and Jackie was wrapping a towel around her hot water bottle.
"Hi, Pill," Jackie greeted her. "We've been wondering something."
Flip hardly noticed any more whether they called her 'Flip' or 'Pill.' When Jackie said 'Pill' it sounded like an affectionate nick-name, not a term of contempt, and only Esmée continued to use it in a derogatory manner. "What have you been wondering?" she asked.
"Well, you've been seeing Percy every Sunday for a while now. Have you learned anything about her private life?"
"Jackie has a crush on Percy, Jackie has a crush on Percy," Gloria droned.