Rio caught up with me on the way to the library after lunch.
He didn't announce himself just appeared at my shoulder the way he sometimes did, unhurried, hands in his jacket pockets.
"Hey," he said. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," I said, not slowing down.
He kept pace easily. "Everything okay?"
I focused on the corridor ahead of me. "Fine."
He nodded once, slow. I could feel him deciding whether to push it and deciding not to that particular quality of silence he had, the one that felt like an open door rather than a wall.
I didn't walk through it.
We reached the library junction, and I turned without a word. He didn't follow.
I told myself that was the right thing.
.......
The football match against Brewster High was on Friday.
The whole school had been buzzing about it for days in
