November Blues by Sharon M. Draper

centuries.”
    â€œDo you think any less of November now that you know she’s pregnant?”
    â€œOf course not.”
    â€œIs it because Josh was your nephew, and this baby will be related to you?”
    Jericho’s father started to answer, but the phone rang and interrupted their conversation. “I’ve got to get to the station,” he told Jericho after he hung up. “A semi hasturned over on I-71, and the whole interstate is shut down.” He hurried down the stairs.
    Jericho thought about November as he got dressed—how her world was just about as messed up as that semi.

CHAPTER 18
NOVEMBER
THURSDAY, MAY 13
    â€œGIRL, YOU PICKED THE WRONG DAY TO skip school,” Dana said excitedly the instant November answered her cell phone.
    â€œI didn’t skip. I just didn’t feel good. My body said go back to bed, so I did.”
    â€œWhen my body tells me stuff like that, my mother makes me get up anyway,” Dana said with a chuckle.
    â€œMy mom is still in the guilty phase—like me being pregnant is somehow her fault. So she let me stay home.”
    â€œI’ve been trying to call you since lunchtime.”
    â€œI just turned my phone back on. What happened?”
    â€œAre you ready for this? Logan Holbrook got arrested!”
    â€œShut up!”
    â€œPrime time, girlfriend. Right in the middle of lunch. In front of everybody in the cafeteria!”
    â€œAnd I missed it? No way! What did they get him for?” November made herself comfortable on the living-room sofa.
    â€œDrugs!”
    â€œUsing or selling?”
    â€œProbably both, but they found out he’s been selling drugs to little kids at the elementary and middle school.”
    â€œLogan? I can’t believe it.” November’s thoughts reeled. Logan, the captain of the basketball team. Logan, the National Merit Finalist. He was one of those kids who had a path of gold already paved for him. It didn’t make any sense. Why would he get caught up in that stuff?
    â€œI feel you. One of the teachers actually fainted . But most of them looked either shocked or kinda teary-eyed.”
    â€œNo way! Who passed out?”
    â€œMiss Veneterri—teaches computer math.”
    â€œOh, she’s so fake. She tried to act like she was gonna faint at Josh’s funeral, but nobody paid her much mind, so she pulled herself together. But you still haven’t told me how they busted Logan.”
    â€œSome kid in the fourth grade finally spilled her guts.”
    â€œJust like that?”
    â€œWord is her mom found some strange pills in the kid’s backpack, and the little girl told her mom that Logan had given them to her.”
    â€œHow would Logan ever even come in contact with a little kid like that?” November asked in disbelief.
    Dana reveled in telling November the juicy gossip. She told the story with drama and flair. And she took her time. “Logan had an after-school job.”
    â€œYeah, I know. He always had lots of spending money. He once donated a hundred dollars when we were collecting money for the hurricane victims in New Orleans. Where was he working—McDonald’s?”
    â€œNope. He drove the ice-cream truck.”
    â€œOh that’s right, I remember. Jericho’s little brothers used to break their necks when the truck came down their street.”
    â€œSo did I,” Dana said with a giggle. “But it turns out that Logan was selling more than popsicles and ice-cream bars. He had a huge stash of pills in the back of the truck.”
    â€œNo way!”
    â€œYes way!” Dana’s voice rose in excitement. “He told the kids that the pills came from the health food store and would give them lots of energy. He gave them the first pill, then sold them any more they wanted. And they always wanted more.”
    â€œBut fourth graders are only nine!”
    â€œNo kidding. That’s what made them easy prey.