She picks at her purple nail polish, which is already peeling. “I’m not mad. But it’ll probably just get worse now.”
Ten’s gaze ping-pongs between us. I can tell the moment he finally understands the reason for my apology, because he sits up straighter. “You’re mad at Angie because she went to talk with those girls?”
I lean against the table behind me. “She asked me not to make a scene, and I made a scene.”A lame one at that.
“It’s okay,” Nev murmurs weakly.
Breaths pulse out of Ten’s nostrils. “How long has this been going on?”
She shrugs.
“Nevada Dylan, how long—”
“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” She pulls on her hair as though she’s trying to tighten the fence around her face.
“Because you think I’m going to give you a choice? If someone’s bullying you, you have to tell me. I’m your brother. I’m here—”
“For now!” Nev’s voice is so sharp that Ten shrinks back. “You might be here for the next few weeks, but then—then you’ll be gone.” Her voice wavers, losing its bite but not its sting. “Just like Mom.”
Ten goes as still as a corpse.
A charged silence brews between the siblings and thickens the air.
Barely moving his lips, Ten says, “I’m going away to study. I’m not abandoning you. It’s not even remotely the same thing.”
“But it feels the same,” Nev croaks.
He palms his hair. “Fine. I won’t go, then!”
Her eyes fill up and leak big, fat tears that make her narrow chest heave.
Ten mutters something under his breath, then his chair legs scrape, and he leans over and envelops her in a hug.
How am I supposed to stay mad at someone who loves his little sister so damn much? I push away from the desk and start toward the door. I don’t feel like things are resolved between Nev and me, but I also don’t feel like I should be intruding on this moment.
“Wait for me outside, Angie,” Ten calls out.
I halt, cast one last look at Nev, then nod before leaving. I stand outside the door like a vigil. I check the time on my phone, figuring the first bell should ring soon.
I sigh. It will. In this school and in ours.
Five minutes later, the door to the classroom snicks open. I’m half expecting to see both Ten and Nev, but it’s only him.
“She decided to stay?” I ask, trying to glimpse her through the door, which Ten left ajar.
“Yeah.”
“Is she okay?” I murmur.
“Not really, but she doesn’t want me to take her home. She says it’ll just give them ammunition against her.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Fuck. I’m so pissed she didn’t tell me what was going on.”
I wonder if she told him everything. “She didn’t want to worry you.”
His hand stills on his taut neck. “But she told you after one weekend.”
“It’s easier to talk about certain things with strangers.” I want to go back in the room, but it’s probably best to leave Nev alone. I favor solitude when I’m processing emotional stuff. “We should head back. We’re going to be massively late.”
Ten glances over his shoulder, as though hesitant to leave his sister. In the end, though, he strides alongside me toward the school entrance, hands shoved deep in the pockets of his gym shorts.
