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“It’s extraordinary you’re taking such an interest in schoolactivities.”
I sneak a look at him out of the corner of myeye.
Sometimes I’m not sure how this man createdme.
Physically, there are similarities. The shape of our eyes, ourchins.
It’s the rest that bafflesme.
“I thought you’d be happy,” I say at last. “You always wanted me to take school moreseriously.”
I turn back to the stage and watch Beck’s secondround.
* * *
“Brought down by cloning,”Wes groans in agony after Baden loses. “I wrote my undergrad thesis onit.”
“Sorry, Dr. R,” Beck says, slinging a jacket around hisshoulders.
I pack up the garbage as Wes reaches for his bookbag.
“We’re going out,” one of the other kids says to my brother. “You want tocome?”
“I’m grounded,” Beck saysglumly.
“Ask Dad,” Isay.
My brother’s brows draw together. “What? He’shere?”
“He’s…” I scan the gym. He left the front row seat twenty minutes ago, and I haven’t seen him since. It’s a relief. “Err. I was sure I saw him. Tell you what, if you can get yourself home by ten thirty, you have myblessing.”
Judging by recent events, I have zero authority to authorize these things, but Beck blows me a big fake kiss anyway. “You’regold.”
My brother turns back to Wes and signs something to him. Wes grins and signsback.
The final two teams take the stage behind Beck, and my brother flips them off before starting down the aisle toward the door. Wes and I exchange alook.
“Sportsmanship has never been his strong suit,” Ioffer.
“It’s good to have things to workon.”
We walk through the back of the gym and out into thehallway.
It’s bright, and I blink a few times. The floors are white tile instead of linoleum, the near-empty halls lined with blacklockers.
“I see why Beck thinks the sun rises and sets out of your ass,” I say. “You’re nerd cool. The signing? It’s like you knoweverything.”
“Careful. That might go to myhead.”
“I thought we’d reached steady ground with the complimenting thing. But in that case, I’ll stop complimentingyou.”
Wes’s brows draw together. “That seems extreme. How about you warn me? So I can guard against the egorush.”
“Deal.”
As we pass a trash can, he holds out a hand, and I pass him the garbage. He tossesit.
I check my phone. “It’s almost nine. Decide how you’re going to celebrate yourvictory?”
