JERICHO SAT IN HIS LAST-PERIOD CLASS, trying not to fall asleep, praying the bell would ring soon. The math teacher droned on in the front of the room—something about polynomials and negative numbers. How can a number be less than nothing? I don’t get it. If I don’t get out of here, my head is gonna explode! It was all Jericho could do to stop himself from screaming, “Shut up, man! I really don’t care! Just let me out of here!” at the top of his lungs. Josh had always been good in math classes and had helped Jericho endure the calculations and details of geometry and algebra by cracking jokes and drawing cartoons of the teacher on his homework. Now it was all one giant lump of meaningless information without Josh there to help him make sense of it all.
Spring had finally decided to show up, and the warm sun reached Jericho through the closed classroom windows. He raised his hand. “May I be excused, please?”
Mr. Bormingham, who all the kids called Boring Man, looked over his glasses at Jericho and rolled his eyes. “Please hurry, Jericho. We will truly miss all your stimulating input into our classroom conversation.”
Nothing worse than a sarcastic teacher, Jericho thought as he hurried out of the room. No one else was out of class, and he breathed in the silence and the glorious emptiness of the moment. He didn’t really have to go to the bathroom, so he took his time as he walked down the hall, baggy jeans dragging on the floor. He listened to bits of laughter from one classroom, a video playing in another, and a teacher having a lively conversation with her class in another. He felt himself relax.
Coming at him down the hall he could see Luis Morales, one of the guys who had pledged with him for the Warriors of Distinction. Luis had lettered in both track and football, and he walked with an easy stride. Jericho had watched how the girls hovered around Luis like he was hot caramel fudge in a muscle shirt.
“What’s crackin’, dude?” Jericho asked as Luis approached him.
“Ain’t nothin’ to it, man. I’m aight. Track’s keeping me pretty busy. Makes these last days of the school year go faster. Then I go right into football.”
“I hear you. Man, I’m so ready for school to be out. I feel like I got fire ants in my veins. I had to get out that class for a hot minute.”
“I feel ya. You got Boring Man?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Had him last year.” Luis glanced down the empty hall, then back at Jericho. “You handlin’ this—you know, the stuff about Josh?”
“Just barely. But I ain’t got no choice but to keep on steppin’.”
“It sucks, don’t it?”
“Even the halls feel different with Josh not in ’em. Every morning me and Josh and Kofi would sit right here in the main hall, just waiting for Arielle, Dana, and November to walk by.”
“I hear you, man—the Delicious Divas,” said Luis. He slapped palms with Jericho. “And they knew it too. The three of them walked in together every morning, soaking it up like sunshine.”
“Like fine wine, my man!” Jericho looked at his watch and wondered how much longer he could stall before going back to class.
“Miss Arielle had you runnin’ around like one of those hamsters in a wheel!” Luis reminded Jericho with a laugh.
“What can I say—I was dumb,” Jericho admitted. “Not that it matters now that she’s hooked up with Logan.”
“Well, since it looks like you’re gonna have some time on your hands this summer, why don’t you come on out for football? Conditioning starts in a couple of weeks.”
Jericho looked thoughtful. “I heard you got the quarterback spot for next season, man. That’s tight.”
“I’ve been working for that position since ninth grade. It’s good to be a senior,” Luis told him with a grin. “We could use you, Jericho.”
“I don’t know if I can be goin’ back to football as a senior.”
“It’s not like you never played before. I remember back in middle school—you were one tough little hard-nosed lineman. And didn’t you play on the freshman team for part of the year?”
“Yeah, but I quit so I could concentrate on my trumpet. Music is smooth and easy. Football meant sweat. You feel me?”
“You could get back in shape pretty easily,” said Luis earnestly.
“Maybe. It’s been a while,” Jericho said doubtfully.
“As big as you are, all you have to do is stand there and block!” Luis laughed, slapping Jericho on the back. “Seriously, man, you ought to come out for the team. We’ve got a pretty good backfield—Roscoe is a good little scatback, but we need some beef on the line.”
“Truth? I’ve actually been thinkin’ about it. ’Specially since I’m not doing marching band this year.”
“Just let Coach Barnes know. He’ll do backflips.”
“Now that’s something I don’t want to see!” Jericho grinned, then wondered how long he’d been in the hall. He’d better be getting back to class.
But then Luis asked, “Hey, have you talked to Josh’s parents recently?”
Jericho paused. “I guess it’s been a couple of weeks. His mother, my aunt Marlene, is seriously depressed—won’t get out of bed at all some days—and my uncle Brock has taken up karate, spends hours at it. Kinda off the deep end, if you know what I mean.”
“I guess you gotta do something to fill up that hole in your life,” Luis said. “When my grandfather died, my father knocked out walls and built a new room on our house. From scratch. He hardly ever slept. When the room was done, it seemed like he got closer to normal. At least whatever passes for normal for a man who thinks nylon shirts and bell-bottom jeans are still in style.”
Jericho grew pensive. “It’s kinda weird to talk to Josh’s folks. I don’t know what to say, anyway. I know they blame me for what happened.”
“No, they don’t. Parents always blame themselves. When I was ten, I totaled my bicycle and almost busted my stupid head, doing wheelies on a ramp I made out of garbage cans and a refrigerator box. Instead of yelling at me for being dumb, my parents blamed themselves for not watching me better. Trust me—Josh’s folks think that somehow it’s their fault.”
“You might be right,” Jericho said, but without conviction.
“Yo, the bell is about to ring. You better get back to class before Boring Man sends out the troops for you! I’ll catch you on the field, man.” Luis disappeared down the hall and Jericho reluctantly returned to class.