OK, Mel, I thought. Here's your big chance to own up.

　　"Oops, sorry, Miss. I was miles away," I muttered. And coward that I am, I floated to the front on my jelly legs.

　　"I knew it," Lola burbled. "The minute I saw you,

　　KNEW we were going to be in the same class. That's Mr AIIbright over there. The guy in the hat. Isn't he a duck?"

　　With his tufty hair and beaky nose, our teacher did look amazingly like a duck. A sweet, absent- minded little duck. "Did you have to put that duck idea in my head?" I hissed. "I'm going to die laughing every time I look at him."

　　I knew it was dumb, to try and make Lola like me when I was only passing through. But I couldn't help it somehow.

　　"1 only meant he's cute," Lola was saying. Then she slid her eyes in Mr AIIbright's direction and collapsed in hysterics. "Omigosh," she squeaked. "He really does look like a duck!"

　　By this time, cute Mr AIIbright was heading briskly out of the hall. Our class started to follow him. Not knowing what else to do, I followed him too.

　　"Are you OK?" Lola asked, as we walked across the school campus. "Because back in the hall, I thought you didn't look OK."

　　She looked so concerned, I was tempted to tell her everything. But until I'd worked out what I was going to do about this bizarre angel situation, I couldn't take the risk.

　　"The thing is," I said, choosing my words carefully, "the actual thing is, I can't quite get my head round this angel stuff." I wasn't exactly lying. But I still felt like a total fraud.

　　Lola groaned. "1 forgot. You only just got here, poor thing. Did you whizz down a tunnel? I didn't get a sniff of a tunnel. I felt totally cheated."

　　"Uh-uh," I said. "No tunnel. But I heard some really cosmic sounds."

　　"Me too!" cried Amber, her eyes sparkling. "Isn't it amazing how you don't even feel scared?"

　　"It is actually," I agreed. I was quite impressed at myself for being able to talk about my death in such a mature way. Plus, I couldn't help noticing Amber had a tiny blue jewel in the middle of her forehead. I wondered if it was her own personal jewel, or some kind of funky angel accessory, and if so, where you got them.

　　Don't be silly, Mel, I told myself. You're not staying, remember.

　　现在不说，可就再也没有机会说了。

　　我鼓足了勇气：

　　“噢——对不起，小姐。”

　　我深吸一口气，继续说：

　　“对不起，我坐得太远了，没听见您喊我的名字，我现在马上过来！”

　　我的天，怎么话一出口，变成了这个样子？

　　美兰妮，你真是个不折不扣的胆小鬼！

　　我一边鄙视着自己，一边屁颠屁颠地跑到了前面。

　　罗拉站在我的旁边，她凑着我的耳朵说：

　　“从我看到你的第一眼起，就知道我们会被分到一个班。那边那个是我们的老师全光明先生，那个戴帽子的，看到了吗？他长得是不是很像只鸭子啊？”

　　乱蓬蓬的头发加上个鹰勾大鼻，我们的这位老师，看起来还真是像鸭子呢—— 一个可爱的，有点心不在焉的小鸭子。

　　我拼命忍着笑，说：

　　“你，非得把这个鸭子的比喻塞到我脑袋里去吗？以后每次我看到他，都会被笑死的。”

　　罗拉和我实在太投缘了，我喜欢她。

　　她的眼睛一边跟着全光明先生，一边尖声笑着说：

　　“实在是太像了！他好可爱啊！”

　　这会儿，可爱的全光明先生已经迈着轻快的步子，领着大家往外面走了。

　　全班同学都跟在他的后面。

　　我该怎么办呢？看起来除了跟着他们，再没有别的选择了。

　　走到校园里的时候，罗拉问我：

　　“你还好吗？刚刚坐在大厅后面里的时候，我觉得你看上去不太好啊！”

　　她满脸关切的神情，让我好想一古脑儿地把所有的事情都告诉她。可是，现在我还不能冒这个险，这个地方实在太奇怪了，我不能贸然行事。

　　我小心翼翼地说：

　　“是这样的，实际上，我还没有完全适应这个地方呢！”

　　这不完全是假话，不过我觉得很内疚，好像自己在欺骗罗拉一样。

　　罗拉叹了口气，说：

　　“我差点忘了，你刚刚到这里来呢，可怜的小家伙。对了，你死的时候，有没有通过一条隧道？我反正没见到，我们是不是上当了？以前听人说，一定会通过隧道的啊！”

　　我点点头：

　　“我也没见到什么隧道呢，不过，好像听到了一些天上的声音。”

　　“我也是啊！”

　　阿贝大声叫道，眼睛里闪着光，“我在那个时候，竟然一点都不害怕，那种感觉，实在太神奇啦，你们说呢？”

　　我使劲点点头：

　　“是啊是啊，真的很神奇呢！”

　　能这么成熟地讨论自己的死亡，这太让我吃惊了！

　　除此之外，我不能不注意阿贝的额头，她额头的正中间，有一个很小的蓝色饰物。不知道那是她自己的东西，还是天使们专用的装饰品，它非常时尚。如果是天使饰物的话，在哪里能买到它们呢？

　　不过，还是算了吧，我可不想在这里安居乐业。