"Well, okay." He seemed to realize that he was out of his depth with the girlie stuff. "It's a school night, though."

“嗯，好吧。”他似乎意识到他离少女的世界太远了。“不过，这是上学的晚上。”

"We'll leave right after school, so we can get back early. You'll be okay for dinner, right?"

“我们一放学就去，这样我们就可以早点回来。你要自己解决晚餐，没问题吧?”

"Bells, I fed myself for seventeen years before you got here," he reminded me.

“贝尔，在你到这儿来以前，我自力更生了十七年。”他提醒我。

"I don't know how you survived," I muttered, then added more clearly, "I'll leave some things for cold-cut sandwiches in the fridge, okay? Right on top."

“我不知道你是怎么活下来的。”我嘟囔着，然后更清晰地补充道。“我会在冰箱里留一点做冷餐三明治的食材，好吗?就在冰箱上层。”

It was sunny again in the morning. I awakened with renewed hope that I grimly tried tosuppress. I dressed for the warmer weather in a deep blue V-neck blouse — something I'd worn in the dead of winter in Phoenix.

这天早上又是晴空万里。我又燃起了新的希望，虽然我冷漠地试图把这种感觉给压下去。因为天气更暖和了，我穿上了一件深蓝色V领短打衫——这是我在凤凰城冬天最冷的时候才会穿的衣服。

I had planned my arrival at school so that I barely had time to make it to class. With a sinking heart, I circled the full lot looking for a space, while also searching for the silver Volvo that was clearly not there. I parked in the last row and hurried to English, arriving breathless, butsubdued, before the final bell.

我精确地安排着到校时间，这样我就能刚好赶上上课了。我心里沉甸甸的，满停车场兜着圈子找空位，同时也是在找那辆银色沃尔沃，但它显然不在。我把车停到最后一排，然后匆忙地跑去上英语课，上气不接下气地赶到了教室，然后在最后一声铃响前缓了过来。

It was the same as yesterday — I just couldn't keep little sprouts of hope from budding in my mind, only to have them squashed painfully as I searched the lunchroom in vain and sat at my empty Biology table.

今天和昨天完全一样——只是我没能保住心头萌发的小小希望之芽。当我徒劳地搜索着午餐室，当我坐到空荡荡的生物实验桌旁时，我只能痛苦地把它们扼杀掉。