Chapter 79: Ollie’s Bad Day At School

OLLIE I didn’t understand what was happening with Riley. From the moment I saw him into our classroom that morning, it was like he’d become a completely different person, even going as far not to reciprocate the hug I gave him. The boy who had shared stories and laughed with me during our sleepover, who had seemed so excited to finally have a friend and was eager to learn things, was gone. In his place was someone cold and distant, someone who looked at me like I was a stranger or worse, like I was his enemy. I tried everything I could think of to reconnect with him. Maybe I had done something wrong during the sleepover and I wanted to make it up to him. When Mrs. Henderson asked us to partner up for our morning math activity, I literally bounced out of my seat to claim the spot next to Riley. But he just stared straight ahead, keeping his face blank and pretending that I was invincible and when I tried to make a conversation about the problems that we were given to solve, he on