"Has anyone see or heard from Grace?" questioned the teacher. The silence of the class indicated that no one had heard or seen Grace. Then in the back of the class she noticed a hand and that gave the teacher a bit of relief. "yes Heather have you heard anything about Grace?" "Yea i heard her say that she wasn't coming to school because she couldn't bare be seen in her raggityclothes." Laughter rang through the classroom. But the teacher knew that the laughter was only to please Heather. Now her fear of where Grace was continued to grow. "Well i'm sure that she wouldn't want to be seen in your clothes Heather!" snapped Joe. an echo of 'ooos' and 'dangs' rang throughout the class. "OK thats enough class!" yelled the teacher. "open your books and review your disection notes before you start your frog disection." *** Grace looked in the reflection of her face in the window of the city bus. She woke up late and didn't have time to walk to school so she had to use her lunch money to take the city bus. In her reflection she saw an attempt to hide her bruises with makeup. She had a black eyeshadow on and put on a ton of powder. Even from the faint reflection she could see that it was an obvious attempt. Her clothes weren't brand name but they were in semi style. She wore a burgandy sweater twice her size and underkneath she had a pink tank top and she wore tore jeans. She wanted to cry but knew if she did so, the silent stares from everyone around her would only cause more attention to her. So she sucked it up and prepared herself for school. Walking up to the place where she felt no safer than in her own home, with her head hung low she opened the door and went to class.