The day let out under a low, washed-out sky, the kind that made the parking lot feel bigger and emptier than it was. Most kids streamed toward buses or their parents\u2019 cars, but Gabriel and I cut down the side path toward the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was quieter than usual \u2014 not tense, just thoughtful. I could feel it in the way he walked, a little taller than he had a month ago. He noticed things now: who was behind us, where the sound of a voice carried from, when someone\u2019s footsteps sped up. He didn\u2019t flinch at it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Halfway home, two guys in varsity jackets came out of the gas station on the corner. I recognized one \u2014 a smirker who liked to spit words over his shoulder at easy targets. His gaze landed on Gabriel, and I saw the flicker of interest. That look always came before trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel noticed it too. I saw the smallest shift in his posture \u2014 a squaring of the shoulders, his chin coming up just enough. He didn\u2019t stare the guy down, but he didn\u2019t look away either. Just kept walking like the sidewalk was his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The smirker hesitated. His friend said something under his breath, and then they turned toward the parking lot instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel didn\u2019t say anything until we were past them, but the edge of his grin told me he\u2019d felt the win. \u201cGuess some people just\u2026 lose interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I let out a low chuckle. \u201cYeah. Sometimes all you need is to not look like an easy mark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He glanced over at me. \u201cYou\u2019ve been doing that for me since day one, haven\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t answer directly, just let my silence do the talking. By the time we reached his street, he was lighter on his feet. Whatever happened in the hallways, whatever I was teaching without teaching \u2014 he was carrying some of it now. And I liked the way it looked on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The day let out under a low, washed-out sky, the kind that made the parking lot feel bigger and emptier than it was. Most kids streamed toward buses or their parents\u2019 cars, but Gabriel and I cut down the side path toward the neighborhood. He was quieter than usual \u2014 not tense, just thoughtful. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}