Giants and Ogres by Madeline Smoot Page A

him. We just stare at each other.
    â€œVerity!! Over here!”
    I turn to Kelsey.
    She scoots over—a BIG scoot—and pats the seat next to her. Across from her are twins with short bangs and hair held in weird clips. And they’re looking at me like I’m a freak. One of them obviously gets kicked under the table.
    â€œThis is Jenna and Jessa,” Kelsey explains as I sit carefully at one end of the table. I know balance and tipping like, really well.
    â€œHi,” the twins say in unison.
    â€œOh my God! You guys totally said that together,” Kelsey giggles..
    Kelsey’s pretty easily amused.
    â€œYou weren’t at Wollston Middle, huh?” Jenna talks while she’s opening her yogurt. She licks the top.
    â€œNo. I was homeschooled last year.”
    â€œâ€™Cause our brother goes there, and he would have mentioned you,” Jessa jumps in.
    â€œYeah, I guess so,” I pivot. “It must be awesome being twins.”
    I smile and they smile and Kelsey launches intosome stories about the twins and tricking boys on the phone. And I feel like I could maybe actually fit in. We aren’t talking about Tanner, even if that’s how I ended up at this table. We’re talking about dumb stuff. And I love it. It’s great. It’s normal. I feel like I’m a regular high school girl with friends and gossip and a life!
    But only for a minute. Because then I remember. I have to kill an ogre. Tonight.
    After lunch, instead of going to Spanish, I hide out in the bathroom near the west entrance to the school. That’s closest bathroom to the cafeteria, and where I figure I’ll see the ogre leave.
    My heart is beating fast. I can feel it. My hands are sweaty. But I just keep shutting my eyes and picturing Tanner. I even think of him when we were little, and he’d jump on my back even though he was older. By the time I was one I could pick him up with one arm and hoist us out of the crib. We’d escape, and he’d ride on my back down the stairs, sometimes outside, and to the tree in the front yard. He’d always make some noise, and I was afraid we’d get caught, so I’d lift him up to my back again and gallop on all fours back inside and up the stairs. These were our little secrets that ourparents never knew about.
    And this will be my little secret that not even Tanner will know about.
    I hear a heavy metal door slam. I look out the window. It’s him. The ogre.
    I take a deep breath, open the window, and slip out of the bathroom and onto the grass. I look around, but fifth period is just starting and no one is bored enough yet to be looking out the windows.
    I watch the ogre. He lurches when he walks, dragging one foot slightly as he goes. Maybe from an injury? I hope.
    I keep my distance as he walks out of the school gate. I don’t have any problems walking. Or doing much of anything—except maybe fitting into normal-sized desks. I’m big, but I’ve always had good balance. I know I’m lucky. I’ve read in groups online about how awful it is to be a klutzy ogress.
    I decide to move. The road has lots of trees on either side, and I think that I can track him and hide as I go.
    I make sure he’s about thirty yards up the road, and I start to cross. I stop, though. There’s some dirty paper towel blowing in the road. I get a closer look—it’s covered in makeup. Tons of it. That must be howhis weird skin coloring doesn’t show up.
    I’d usually feel sorry for someone who felt so self-conscious that he had to wear tons of makeup every day. And he’s older, too! But this guy isn’t a nice guy. This guy wants to eat my brother.
    I pick my way up the hillside, and I can see his hulking mass moving slowly down the road. We’ve twisted and turned for a while now, and we’re maybe a mile from school. And that’s when he veers sharply off the road.
    I lose sight of him. And in the