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Simon glanced down, where one of those thugs had scrawled Rettard.
Then he almost smiled.
“That’s actually kind of ironic,” said Chris.
Simon took a deep breath and his shoulders loosened. Then he held out a hand and mimed a phone.
Gabriel patted his pockets, but he must have left his phone in his bag. “Chris, give him your phone.”
Chris did. Simon tapped out a text.
Thanks.
Chris glanced up. “I hate guys like that.”
Simon tapped a few more letters on the screen and handed the phone back to Chris.
Me too.
Gabriel pointed toward the showers. “If you want to go scrub at it, I’ll loan you a shirt when you’re done.”
Simon nodded and turned to walk then stopped short. He took the phone again and typed out another line.
Don’t tell Layne.
Gabriel stared at the words, then glanced up at Simon, who was watching him with pleading eyes.
“All right,” he said.
When Simon was safely in the shower, Gabriel dug through his bag for an extra shirt for Simon and a pair of socks for himself. Chris had followed him back to the bench and now just sat there watching him.
Gabriel sighed.
“You know,” said Chris, “that’s probably not going to come off with soap and water.”
Gabriel didn’t look at him. “That antiseptic crap in there will practically take your skin off, so maybe . . .” He shrugged. At least it was Friday, and JV wouldn’t practice again until Monday. Simon wouldn’t have to shower with the rest of the team until then.
And hopefully the words would have faded.
“Ryan Stacey is in my English class,” said Chris. “He’s an ass**le.”
“I got that, thanks. He pulls this again, I’m going to light him on fire.”
No response, but Gabriel could feel his brother watching him.
“Damn it, Chris. What?” He looked up. “What are you even doing here?”
“Wow. No ‘Thanks, Chris, for saving my ass ’”
“You did not save my ass.”
“Yeah, well, I probably saved you from a suspension. You think Mike’s on your case now ”
Gabriel glared at him. “I think you need to stay out of it.”
Chris didn’t back down, but then he wasn’t that type. “What happened with Nick?”
Gabriel looked back at his bag. The worst part was, he had no idea what had happened with Nick. He couldn’t even remember why he’d picked that fight.
