The rain started during the sixth period and didn't stop.
By the time the final bell rang it had turned into the kind of downpour that made the parking lot look like a shallow lake, gray and relentless, drumming against the gym roof loud enough that Coach Ramirez had to shout over it during afternoon announcements. My bike was chained behind the maintenance shed, exactly where it always was and that was where it was going to sit getting soaked through because there was no version of this weather that involved me riding home in it.
I stood under the overhang by the east doors, camera bag pulled tight against my chest, doing the math on how miserable a walk home would actually be.
"You're not seriously thinking about walking."
I turned only to see Kai was jogging up under the overhang, h
