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He doesn’t want me to associate with you.
Like that was a surprise. But Ms. Anderson was looking at the class now instead of writing on the board, and he had to wait before he could write back.
What do you want?
Layne’s expression sobered when she unfolded his note. Then she wrote quickly.
I want to understand how you can do what you did.
He stared at those words for a long time and wondered how much she knew. How much she’d figured out. She was staring at him now; he could feel it.
Finally, he nodded, then put his pen against the paper.
Free period? Library?
She didn’t write back to that one, just unrolled it and nodded, then looked back at her work.
He’d caught up with the homework, but Gabriel couldn’t understand a word Ms. Anderson was saying. He kept sneaking glances at Layne, fighting to keep his hands still, wanting to reach out and stroke her hair, to touch her arm, to hold her hand and feel her steady presence balance him out.
Then the bell was ringing and Layne was gathering her things.
“See you,” she whispered. Her hand barely brushed his as she pushed past his desk.
“See you,” he said, gathering his things to walk out of the classroom.
But Ms. Anderson stepped in front of him. “I’m pleased to see your work has improved.”
“I have a tutor,” he said. When her eyebrows went up, he shrugged and said, “I wanted to get back on the team.”
Funny how basketball seemed so pointless now.
“Well,” said Ms. Anderson, “I hope this means you’ll do well on the makeup exam this afternoon.”
“Wait, that’s ”
“We agreed on today. You are free fifth period, correct?”
Christ, like he would have remembered a math test with everything going on. This lady couldn’t cut him some slack? He glanced at the doorway, but Layne was long gone. He wouldn’t even have a way to get a message to her. “I . . . look, I need to ”
“I want to give you more time,” she said gently. “I know you’re not focused today.”
He breathed out a sigh. “Yes. More time would be great.”
“I can’t. I’m already giving you a free pass by letting you make up the test.”
His hands balled into fists at his sides. “I don’t give a crap about the team anymore.”
“Do you care about graduating? Because right now you have a zero in the system. And with Friday’s events, the principal asked me about it. I said you were scheduled to take a makeup exam today.”
Gabriel wanted to hit something.
“Look,” she said. “Just take the test. I’ve seen your work over the last few days. You’ll do fine. And I can help you recover from a low score. I can’t help you recover from no score.”
“I can’t,” he said. “I need to be somewhere.”
“Where?”
Somehow he didn’t think I need to meet a girl would suffice here.
