Chapter 5 Part 1

Injustice and Mr. Rueben

If Mrs. Top's class were a dish of peas, it would have had coating of film over the top from not being stirred for long time. Suddenly the film was punctured with, not a spoon but a bell."Well then," Said Mrs. Top's lulling voice. "I suppose class is over then. Where did all the time go? We were just getting to the interesting part-malfunctions in the brain stem."Claire blinked and looked over her shoulder to Trudy who was looking right back."Thank goodness!" She whispered, sliding out of her desk and gathering her things.Claire stood up and walked out with her. As she exited the room and began walking down the hall to the door, she thought about how nice she must look in her new hat. Her mother had mailed it to her just the day before and it was a lovely storm blue with a white ribbon.But poor naïve Claire! She scarcely noticed when suddenly she felt no ribbon on the back of her neck, and in a flash the hat was whisked off her head and a lanky figure blew past her."Pete Jinkins! You give that hat back this instant!" Trudy, ever alert, said in a threatening voice. "Claire is the daughter of a governor!"But Pete was already at the door. He held it open for the other students to trickle out and made a mocking bow with the hat so low that Claire considered simply tipping him over."M'lady." He said before he popped back up red in the face and grinning."Please Pete." Claire said, putting her small hand out for the hat.She was so serious, so sober and sincere! Her eyes were big and sad and begging.For a moment, Pete Jinkin's eyes nearly matched. His dark animated eyebrows fell and he looked at Claire as if he were ashamed. But then he pulled the hat over his crow hair and dashed outside toward the cafeteria skipping and singing "la la la" in a gross attempt of portraying a female. Trudy rolled her eyes and walked out after him, expecting Claire to follow.But Claire stood there for a moment. Jokes were one thing, but she had asked for her hat in all seriousness. How could he be so ungentlemanly?Once seated at the long table, Claire borrowed Trudy's hand mirror and patted down her un-hatted hair."Where's your new hat Claire?" Judith asked as she sliced her lamb chop."Pete Jinkins stole it from me." Claire said, looking up from her own meal with testy eyes."Oh, I should have guessed." Judith said. "Hey Marie, are you going to eat your roll?"Claire felt a pang of sadness. Was this a common occurrence? She looked around.One long table with fifty plus girls all dining and chatting and giggling and sipping.There were the nice girls and the girls whom Claire had been warned of.But beyond that there were other categories. Headmistress Victory referred to the table as "The Family Table." She was proud that all of her girls sat in peace together like sisters. Claire had been happy to see this during her first meal at Beekman, but now she saw it differently. They may have all sat at the same table, but they did not sit together. Claire was told to sit on the end toward the door which is where Trudy, Judith, Jacqueline, Marie and a couple other specific girls sat every day. Toward the middle was where Malvina and Regina and Charity and Yvette sat gossiping about boys. Then there was the group in the very middle which is where Mabel and Wanda and Tilly and Paddie sat. They hardly spoke at all but simply stuffed their faces. Then there were the girls who Trudy called "The Whizzes." They were the girls who cared for nothing but good grades and college. They sat and discussed papers and ways to get extra credit. This included Agatha, Sara, Ingrid, Poppy, Rebbecca and Viola. Then there were a few trouble makers and hoydens who wore their hair in plain styles and lived life for the sheer love of recess when they could run around and entertain themselves like boys by climbing and jumping and wrestling (though never in front of Headmistress Victory.) And then there were the girls who were in their own group simply because they didn't belong to any other group. The other girls refereed to them simply as "The Odds." This included Betsy, the poor farm girl who struggled in nearly ever class, Opal, the artist who nipped every friendship in the bud with a morbid or disturbing comment, Rosa May who spoke to no one at all but drummed on the table and stared, Etta, who was so heavy that she had to pull up her own, larger chair at lunch and fell asleep sporadically every day (and was dozing at this moment with her head on her own soft shoulder), and Hurma who was from Russia and spoke poor English but cried often in loud foreign voice for "Papa.""May I be excused?" Claire asked Mrs. Inches who stood at the end of the table behind Judith and observed lunch every day. She nodded, having learned long ago that Claire Winters could be trusted. Claire slipped out of her chair leaving her food untouched and tip-toed out the door.