With the lights out and lying in bed on the crinkly plastic surface, Jordan decided to call her friend Alex. They had, of course, hung out since 9/11 and she had seemed to recover from her meltdown that day but Jordan had still felt awkward around her. Although Jordan had been afraid Alex was going to be suspicious of all the school she missed the week of 9/11, as it turned out, Alex missed the rest of the week as well for her own reasons.

Jordan didn’t really know what to say about what had happened – or even if Alex had remembered what happened. The two talked for a long time that night: about the mood of the school, about how things had changed after the attack, about the coming competition and Jordan’s entry, about Joe Michael, and Alex’s Volleyball team.