Risking It All by Nina Darnton

Author:Nina Darnton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

22

Marcia had insisted that Danny wear his school uniform, but she couldn’t control how he wore it. As soon as he arrived at school he pulled out his shirt, threw his school blazer into his locker and went looking for Raul. He didn’t see him in the school yard, the hallway or the bathroom and the class bell had already rung, so he slipped into his seat in his homeroom hoping to catch up with him there. Raul was in his usual place in the third row. He looked particularly neat today—Danny was surprised to see his shirt tucked in, his blazer buttoned and his hair cut short. Raul saw him come in but didn’t nod at him and Danny was puzzled as he took his seat. The teacher was going over the week’s schedule, announcing that auditions were going to be held on Thursday for the school choir. Danny’s mouth curled into a sneer. The choir! They never sang anything worth listening to. They performed kid songs, stuff he’d heard when he was eight, and oldies that the teachers liked. Why didn’t they do something cool like form a rock band? He didn’t play any instrument well enough, so he couldn’t be in it, but it would be fun to hear them. He balled up a piece of paper and pitched it at Raul’s head to get his attention, but Raul ignored it. What was with him? He tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and scribbled a note: Hey, what’s up? Gotta talk. He folded the paper into a small packet and handed it to Joey Fontana, who sat next to him. He didn’t even have to say pass it to Raul, because Raul was the only person Danny ever sent notes to, and Joey and everyone else in class knew that. Joey passed it to Dawn, who sat in the row ahead of him, and Dawn gave it to Harlan and finally it reached Raul. Danny watched as Raul took it and put it in his pocket without reading it. Danny couldn’t figure out what was going on.

When class ended, Danny walked up to Raul as they filed out of the room.

Raul looked uncomfortable and upset. His eyes kept flicking around, not settling on Danny but looking beyond him.

“What’s up?” Danny asked. “You okay?”

“No. My ma heard about what happened.”

“What happened?”

“I mean here. With you.”

“Oh yeah. I gotta talk to you about that. They’re throwing me out of school.”

“I know. My ma says I can’t hang out with you anymore. I’m on scholarship. She thinks I’ll get in trouble if they see me with you. She thinks you’re a bad influence.”

Danny didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected this but now that he heard it, he felt stupid not to have known. Why wouldn’t it happen? Everyone he cared about disappeared. Now it was Raul’s turn.

“You gonna listen?”

“I gotta.”

“So you can’t come over to my house anymore?”

“No. And you can’t come to mine.”

“But we can sit together at lunch, right?”

Raul looked miserable.

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