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The remainder of the week she avoided Mike. Whenever he came
along, she took pains to be actively engrossed in someone else's con-
versation. She couldn't stand to look at him, to see the questioning

in the once peaceful and serene eyes.
She knew he hadn't yet asked anyone else to the dance, because

that would have been a crowning success for one of the other girls
to announce that Mike Farrell had asked her to Homecoming. She
wished he would ask someone else, she wanted him to forget her. She
didn't like to see the pain in those eyes, it only proved that she had
been right in feeling that she and Mike were getting too serious.

On her way back from the library late Friday afternoon she saw
Audie coming across the lawn, looking as though she'd burst if she
didn't soon spill her news to someone. She wasn't in the mood for

Audie, but it couldn"; be avoided.
"Honestly, Cindy, I'm so angry with you. I realized something

was wrong, by the way you've acted lately, but I thought it was grades,
and that sooner or later you'd let me in on your troubles. But I just
left the Varsity Shop, and the kids there confirm the report that you're
avoiding Mike. How corne? I thought I was going to be shouting out
the "best wishes" anytime now, and then you go and get snooty!

What's wrong for heaven's sake?"
"Audie, there's nothing wrong. Mike and I are no longer dating.

Period!"
"Look here, girl. I've learned a lot about you in the past weeks

that we've been rooming together, and one thing I noticed was that
you disappear when things start getting thick. I don't mean to nose
around in something that's none of by business, but I really thought
we were getting along well enough that we could confide in one an-
other. You let me tell you all my tales, but you never say anything of
real value about you and Mike or about you and your family. Look,
we both have a free afternoon. Let's go over to the park and hash

this thing out."
Here it was. The time had come when Cindy would find out how

true a friend Audie really was. Full of misgivings and unable to be
sure what Audie's reaction would be, Cindy confided to her roommate
the sordid story of her early life. When she had finished, her throat
was dry and her eyes were hot from burning tears that had been held
back too long. Audie hadn't spoken for several minutes, when she
finally took Cindy's perspiring hands into her own and begged her to

stop crying.
"Cindy, go to Mike, tell him what you've told me and then de-

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