[15: these things happen]

Leaning against the rock behind her stood a boy. Her age, she figured. He
had a rain slicker on that she thought looked rediculous, but then, she
realized, she was the one who'd marched across a large piece of moor in a
wool coat and her school shoes. 

"Hi."

She wasn't sure whether to glower or smile at him, so she made a face that
tried to do both at once.

"Hi. Name's Dick."

"Dick like Richard?" She felt herself compared to ask.

"No, like Spotted Dick. I'm part custard."

She screwed up her face, trying not to laugh, managed half a glower and then
felt her face dissolve into a smile. "You bastard. I had a perfectly good
funk going there."

"Sorry about that. These things happen. I didn't expect to find you here,
pounding on stones in the middle of my family's sheep. I figured I had to
distract you long enough to find out what got you all the way out here. In
school shoes no less."

"How'd you know?"

"Well, they're no hikers. And besides, I saw you at school this morning.
You're Meera, right?"

"Yeah." He was probably another one of those jerks from school, just not
trussed up in a shirt and jacket right now. She made another sour face.

"I'm sure you never noticed me. You always run between classes, and it looks
like you've got someone different taunting you every day."

"You watch me every day?"

"I watch everyone every day. I walk fast -- lots of time herding sheep --
and I carry all my books with me. It leaves a lot of time between classes to
watch."

"And why haven't I seen you?"

"You know the oak tree in the middle of the schoolyard?"

"Yeah..."

"Look up next time you go under it. On your way to composition."

"You are a rat!"

Meera realized she was smiling, possibly for the first time in weeks. Sama
hadn't been much company lately, and her friends had decided it was more fun
to join Raymond and Angeline in the taunting. 

"And you are getting soggy, and if you stay here much longer you might
become a bit of a bog."

"I know. I was just so angry. She felt tears well up, and she couldn't
decide whether to smile or cry, so she did a little of both, the tears
rinsing away in the blowing rain."

"You live down in the big house at the edge of the moor, right?"

"Yeah... "

"That's almost five clicks away. It'll be dark before we get there if we
walk now. How about you come back to my place and we'll call your uncle, and
maybe take a drive back to your place."

"Okay."

Dick whistled, and a black and white dog popped out of nowhere, happily
running around the sheep and nipping at one or two until the whole flock
moved. They were suddenly surrounded by bleating again, and Dick stuck out
his arm and winked at her sideways. "Shall we?"

Meera hauled herself up the last bit of hill clinging to his arm, and she
saw the path leading to a little house not far away as she reached the top.