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The boy punched her in the shoulder and said something emphatically. It took Gabriel a moment to work out the words.
“Tell him, Layne.”
Layne sighed again and looked up. Her voice was flat. “He said that was f**king awesome.”
Gabriel grinned. “You can take them next time, buddy.”
He’d spoken without thinking, but before he could glance at Layne to translate, the boy grinned back and held out a fist.
Gabriel bumped it with his own.
“This is my little brother,” said Layne. Her hands signed while she talked. “His name is Simon.”
Gabriel bent and began helping them catch the loose papers.
“Freshman?”
“Yeah.” She paused, and then signed while she spoke. “It’s Simon’s first year at a real school.” She stopped signing and covered her mouth. “In case you couldn’t tell, it’s not going well.”
hat was with her and the old turtlenecks?
Gabriel watched her a moment too long, hoping she’d feel the weight of his eyes and turn her head. But she didn’t, and he finally felt like a freak and turned back to the front of the class with a sigh.
Taylor Morrissey turned around in her seat and flicked a piece of paper his way.
He caught it and unfolded it under his notebook.
Pink gel pen, scripty letters.
Why are you staring at, lesbo?
Because Layne had helped him. Because he was intrigued. Because he’d learned when his parents died that it wasn’t human nature to help, not really. It was human nature to seek out vulnerability and squash it.
That’s why he didn’t buy this bullshit with the Guide.
Taylor glanced over her shoulder, hair and lip gloss equally shiny.
Gabriel gave her a confused look and shrugged, like he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Gabriel Merrick.”
Oh, shit.
He snapped his eyes forward, surprised at how fast his palms went damp. “What?”
Ms. Anderson gestured to the board. “Do you care to tackle the next problem?”
He gave her half a smile. “Not really, no.”
Three girls near him giggled. Ms. Anderson didn’t even crack a smile. “Humor me.”
He stared at the board. There was a triangle there, numbers written along two of the three sides, another number tucked into one of the angles.
“Solve for the missing side,” said Ms. Anderson. “We’ve been doing this the whole period.”
That didn’t mean he’d been listening for the whole period.
“Just look at the previous one,” Layne hissed under her breath. “It’s the exact same formula.”
