SEVEN

Downstairs, Lita’s Tejano music blared from the kitchen. “I’ll meet you outside,” Yadriel whispered.

Julian gave a salute, and Maritza ushered him toward the door while Yadriel went into the kitchen.

He was met with the smell of rice and beans cooking on the stove. A metal espresso maker perched on a burner, filling the air with the smell of brown sugar and coffee. Loud music poured from a boom box propped on a chair, the old speakers giving it a tinny edge. Every morning, Lita woke up, brewed café cubano, and made food while she listened to the same CD over and over again.

The normal routine felt strange in comparison to the very abnormal events of the last twelve hours.

Lita stood at the sink, washing dishes. Her operatic bellowing along with the song made Yadriel flinch. “¡Como la flor!”

The song echoed back.

“¡Con tanto amor!”

“Morning, Lita!” he called over the noise.

“Vas a estar tarde a la escuela,” she sang. For as old as she was, Lita’s feet were still quick enough to keep step with the music, her hips swaying in time.

“I know, I know,” Yadriel said. He made to grab some food, but Lita caught his wrist and pulled him to her with surprising strength. Holding him tight, she danced and continued to croon loudly. Yadriel cringed but let her drag him around the kitchen table for the length of the chorus. At least there were no witnesses this time.

Singing and dancing around the kitchen used to be a group activity led by his mom. It always involved laughter and, of course, whiny resistance from him and Diego. Though Yadriel secretly enjoyed it and had just put on a show so his brother didn’t think he was a dork.

But now, the close proximity and Lita’s tight embrace felt suffocating. He squirmed until Lita finally released him.

Yadriel grabbed the wooden spoon and scooped up some rice and beans. He took a large bite, but as soon as it touched his tongue, sharp pain lit up the cut. Eyes watering, he forced himself to quickly swallow it down. He was starving, but he also needed to hurry and get to Maritza and Julian, so he dug through the Tupperware drawer. He could eat on the way to school.

On the counter sat a small, ancient TV showing the local Spanish news station. Yadriel paused, staring intently at the screen and reading the marquee and list of upcoming topics. The box next to the news anchor showed a live car chase through downtown. For Los Angeles, live car chases were about as reliable as the hourly weather update.

There was no mention of Julian or park muggers.

Okay, maybe the latter happened a bit too often to make it into the top new stories, but shouldn’t a missing teenager raise some kind of alarms? He hadn’t even gotten an AMBER Alert on his phone. Hadn’t someone reported Julian missing by now? His friends? His brother?

And what about Miguel?

“Ay!” The sharp snap of a dish towel against his butt made Yadriel jump. “Get some food and hurry up!”

“Where’s Dad and Diego? Still out looking for Miguel?” Yadriel asked, yanking out a small, orange-stained Tupperware.

Lita sighed heavily, bobbing her head. “Sí, been looking all night.” She tutted, waving a hand through the air. “Todavía nada.”

Still nothing?

Yadriel frowned as he scooped some food into the Tupperware. How was that possible? Had the search dogs not picked up anything, either? How could Miguel die in their own neighborhood without anyone seeing or knowing at least something? Yadriel had so many questions he wanted to ask, but Julian and Maritza were waiting for him, and Lita was shooing him again.

Lita handed him a spoon and smiled a tired smile. “Here, now, go to school, and be careful, ¿claro?”

Yadriel forced a smile. “Yes, Lita.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and headed out, the sound of Lita’s singing followed him down the path. He didn’t see any brujx. Maybe they’d moved their search to beyond the walls of the cemetery.

Maritza and Julian waited for him by the main gate. Maritza scrolled through her phone, leaning against a weatherworn statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe as Julian paced back and forth.

When he saw Yadriel, Julian’s bright smile cut dimples into his cheeks.

Yadriel’s stomach did a little flip that he did not appreciate.

“We good?” Julian asked, dragging Maritza’s attention away from her phone.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before someone sees us,” Yadriel said, casting another furtive glance back toward the cemetery.

“Yes!” Julian agreed. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

Maritza opened the gate, and Julian rushed out as if he were being released from custody on good behavior.

“Don’t wander off!” Yadriel called after him.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” he said, leading the way down the street.

Yadriel scrubbed at his eyes, and Maritza fell into step beside him.

“Wow, you look like shit,” she said with a small laugh. “What happened?”

“Julian happened,” he grumbled, watching Julian’s back as he led the way, hands tucked into his pockets and whistling to himself, seemingly without a care in the world.

“So the sleepover went well, I take it?” Maritza smirked.

“There was very little sleep involved,” Yadriel murmured. When Maritza giggled, he shot her a glare. “Because he wouldn’t shut up.” He got a spoonful of rice and beans and blew on it before taking a large bite. It stung the cut on his tongue, but only a little.

A beat-up Honda full of teenagers drove by, music blaring from the crappy speakers so loud that each beat of the bass sent the license plate rattling. Across the street, a woman dug through recycling bins, pulling out cans and plastic bottles.

“Pretty sure spirits don’t sleep.”

“I’m gathering that.” He just had to summon the most difficult spirit possible, didn’t he? He was tired and frustrated, and the closer they got to school, the more tension worked its way into his shoulders.

“And he doesn’t seem to be the ‘sit there and be quiet’ type,” Maritza added, eyeing Julian up ahead.

“Definitely not.”

Julian wandered along, his head swinging this way and that, turning whenever something on the street caught his eye. When he came upon a beer bottle lying on the sidewalk, Julian ran up to it and swung his leg like a soccer player looking to score a goal. But his foot went right through it, knocking him off-balance and sending him tumbling through a lamppost. He landed on his back, a surprised look on his face before he broke out into laughter.

A laugh bucked in Yadriel’s chest. Did Julian just have zero impulse control? It was almost endearing. But only almost.

He gave a small shake of his head as Julian stood up and continued down the street. Yadriel toyed with the St. Jude pendant around his neck, considering the reckless boy ahead of him. He really seemed to not have a care in the world, didn’t he? Especially for someone who had just found out he was dead less than a day ago. As someone who was filled with anxiety nearly every waking moment, Yadriel didn’t understand it at all.

Julian was certainly a conundrum.

“I bet he’s a Scorpio,” Maritza said.

“Jeez, Itza, not that zodiac stuff again,” Yadriel groaned.

“Left!” he told Julian when he got to the end of the block.

Julian veered right.

“Your other left!”

Julian turned on his heel. “Got it!”

“It’s astrology, and it totally makes sense!” Maritza continued. “His big, obnoxious Scorpio energy is invading your cozy Cancer safe space!”

Yadriel didn’t know about all that. What he really wanted was to find out what happened to Miguel, satisfy Julian’s demands so he’d let Yadriel release him, and get a good night’s rest. His heartbeat felt like a ticking clock, counting down the seconds as Día de Muertos neared.

“Have you heard anything about Miguel?” Yadriel asked, steering the topic toward something useful. Maybe she’d heard news Lita hadn’t yet, though that was doubtful. Abuelitas somehow got word out even faster than teenagers with cell phones.

Unfortunately, there was no news to tell. “Mom said my dad went with Julio and his dogs to try to track down his body, but they just kept wandering around the cemetery.”

“I guess that makes sense?” he mused. “I mean, if he was last seen starting his graveyard shift, then he should’ve been there, right?” Yadriel offered Maritza the spoon.

“Vegan?” she asked.

He nodded, and she took a bite.

“But we can’t find any sign of him,” Maritza said as she chewed.

Yadriel’s stomach churned. “Where the hell is he?”

Maritza tugged on the gold hoop through her ear. “No spirit. No tether. No trace,” she murmured, staring off into the distance.

“Doesn’t make sense,” Yadriel said.

“Do you think Julian is somehow involved?”

At first, the question seemed completely out of the blue, but then again …

“Maybe.” Yadriel frowned. “They did die on the same night, maybe just a couple hours apart.”

“There could be some connection, but what?”

Miguel was a grown adult. He was a good man who helped take care of his elderly parents. Yadriel didn’t think he’d even gotten a ticket for speeding on his motorcycle before.

Then there was Julian, who—well, Yadriel didn’t really know much about him other than he got into trouble a lot at school. He was pretty sure Julian had been suspended at least once for getting into fights, and there were rumors that he was affiliated with one of the local gangs.

How could Julian’s and Miguel’s deaths be related?

With an aggravated groan, Yadriel scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know, but the sooner we get through today, the sooner we can take Julian to his friends.”

“Maybe they’ll have some answers,” Maritza added, but she didn’t sound very convinced.

The closer they got to school, the more crowded the sidewalks got. Julian veered toward a boy and girl leaning against a wall, chatting. He waved his hand between their faces. They continued to talk to each other, not even so much as blinking. Julian laughed.

Yadriel hitched his backpack higher on his shoulder and quickened his pace. “Julian,” he hissed.

Maritza snickered behind his shoulder.

“Hey!”

Julian finally turned. “What?”

Yadriel cut his hand through the air, motioning for him to come close. “Would you knock it off? Get back here,” he snapped, trying to not draw the couple’s attention.

Reluctantly, Julian retreated.

Maritza laughed.

“You’re not helpful.” Yadriel glared at her, and Julian wound his way back to them.

“Hey, he’s your ghost.”

“I ain’t never been this excited to go to school.” Julian beamed as he fell back into step next to them.

“You need to stay close,” Yadriel told him sternly. “I don’t want people thinking I’m talking to myself.”

“Gotcha.” Julian hovered right behind Yadriel’s shoulder.

Cold pressed from Yadriel’s neck down to the small of his back. He shivered. “You don’t have to stand that close.”

Julian took a step back. “Got it, got it, got it,” he said, bobbing his head along in a nod as they melded in with the sea of people heading through the front doors of the school. It was a large cement building that was two stories tall and a dull shade of beige.

Maritza bumped her shoulder into Yadriel’s. “We’ll figure it out; don’t worry so much,” she told him.

“It’s like you don’t even know me.”

She laughed and gave him a shove.

Walking through the halls, it was impossible not to be jostled every few feet by other people. There were too many students, and the school was too small.

“This is really weird,” Julian said as a girl walked right through him. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. The good thing was that, this time of year, someone running into Julian would just think it was the late October chill. Even though it was only in the high sixties, it was cold enough for students in Los Angeles to be walking around in puffy coats and fur-lined boots.

They reached the turnoff for Maritza’s class. “All right, you two behave,” she said, heading down the hall. She grinned over her shoulder and waved. “Be good and learn something!”

Julian moved closer to Yadriel’s side. “I don’t actually have to pay attention in class, do I?”

“No,” he murmured quietly, trying to move his mouth as little as possible to not attract attention, but everyone seemed quite content to ignore him, just like any other day.

“Good,” Julian said. “’Cause I can’t sit still for that long.”

“I’m shocked.”

Yadriel ducked into his first class, and Julian chased after him.

Turned out, sitting still for “that long” meant all of five minutes before Julian was up and roaming the classroom. While Yadriel did his best to take notes on the judicial branches of the United States government, Julian passed the time staring out the window and moving people’s pens when they weren’t paying attention.

At one point, Julian crouched in front of a boy and shouted in his face as loud as he could.

Of course, the boy didn’t move. Unlike Yadriel, who jumped so hard he knocked his textbook to the floor, then everyone turned to look at him. Yadriel face burned crimson. “S-sorry.” He scrambled to pick up the book and shot Julian a glare.

Julian clamped his hands over his mouth, dark eyes wide. “I’m so sorry,” he said, but Yadriel could see his smile peeking around the edge of his hands. Saw the way the corner of his eyes crinkled, not to mention his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

When the lunch bell rang, Maritza met them behind the science hall. There was an open-air hallway that was always deserted, since half the students went off campus for lunch, and the rest of them hung out in the quad. It was a good place for some privacy.

And for Yadriel to lecture Julian.

“You’re going to get me in trouble!” Yadriel told him.

Maritza sat against the wall, eating a bag of Doritos Blaze, her eyes pinging back and forth between the two.

“I wasn’t trying to!” Julian said, holding his hands up defensively and clearly trying very hard to keep a straight face.

Yadriel glared. “It’s not funny!”

Julian pressed his lips between his teeth, but laughter escaped through his nose.

Yadriel turned to Maritza. “Will you do something?” he demanded.

Maritza licked the Doritos dust off her fingers and rubbed her palms together. “Should I curse him now?” she asked, wiggling her fingers at Julian.

Julian scrambled back “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The sudden panic on his face was satisfying, Yadriel had to admit.

When Maritza laughed, Julian scowled. “Y’all play too much; that’s not funny.”

“Oh, we play too much?” Yadriel threw his head back. “Hah!”

“Wait.” Julian squinted at Maritza and tipped his head to the side. “I thought you said you couldn’t do magic?”

“I said I wouldn’t do magic, not that I couldn’t,” she clarified.

“Because of the vegan thing?”

“Yup, because of the vegan thing.” She nodded.

“It’s at least locally sourced—the Lopez family runs the local butchery, and they supply the community with animal blood,” Yadriel pointed out.

“That doesn’t make it better.” Maritza scowled.

“Why don’t you use your own blood?” Julian asked.

“It’s forbidden.”

Julian looked to Yadriel. “Why?”

“It’s too powerful,” he said, leaning his back against the wall as he let out a heavy sigh.

Julian arched an eyebrow. “And that’s a problem?”

“It’d be like trying to light birthday candles with kerosene,” Yadriel tried to explain. “It’d be overkill. The candles would catch on fire, and then the cake would burst into flames,” he listed off. “But then the kerosene is tied to your life force, so you end up using all your energy and magic reserves just to light some dumb birthday candles, and then you’re dead.”

“That seems like a bad metaphor.”

“It’s an analogy.”

Julian waved him off. “Can we just go find my friends now?” he asked. “I told you they wouldn’t be at school.”

“I still have to take my math test,” Yadriel told him for the hundredth time.

Julian opened his mouth to complain, but a voice cut him off.

“Hey!”

Yadriel jumped and turned.

Patrice stood at the end of the hall, giving him and Maritza a curious look. “What are you guys doing?” She was one of their friends, or, well, she was mostly Maritza’s friend. During lunch, Yadriel sat with Maritza and her group of friends, which was always some level of awkward. Maritza had way more friends than him, most of them fellow members of the girls’ soccer team. Yadriel used to play soccer, too, but not anymore.

“Oh, you know, just plotting,” Maritza said casually.

Yadriel glanced from her to Patrice, once again wondering how she could remain so calm and lie so easily under pressure when he always broke out into a cold sweat.

Patrice just laughed and shook her head. “Okay, weirdo.” She smiled before waving at them to follow. “Come on, we grabbed one of the picnic tables in the quad.”

“Coming!” Maritza scooped up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She gave Yadriel a shrug.

He sighed but followed her lead. There was no reason not to, and, besides, ignoring Julian for the next twenty-five minutes sounded like a good idea.

Julian groaned his protest but trudged after them anyway.

The girls piled up on a picnic bench in the quad, laughing and talking together while Yadriel sat on the edge, forcing himself to eat the sandwich he’d bought from one of the snack stands on break.

Julian leaned against the tree that provided the table with shade, arms crossed and expression surly, but his dark eyes continuously searched the crowds of students as they walked by.

“Is everyone going to the Halloween bonfire at the beach?” Alexa asked the group, and it exploded into excited chatter.

Yadriel rolled his eyes, which caught Julian’s attention.

“What, you don’t like bonfires?” he asked with an amused grin.

Yadriel gave a small shake of his head as he took another large bite of turkey and white bread.

“Or do you not like parties?”

The flat look Yadriel discreetly cut to Julian said, Both.

The Halloween bonfire was a tradition. Students from all the local high schools ended up there. It was a game of cat and mouse with the cops, on account of the loud music, huge crowd, and, of course, illegal substances. A secluded part of the beach was chosen last minute and sent out via a wildfire of text messages.

Maritza was always trying to talk him into going, but Yadriel avoided it like the plague. The last thing he wanted to do was hang out with a bunch of drunk and high idiots running around near fire and riptides.

Not to mention, Día de Muertos started at midnight on Halloween, so he had his own tasks and responsibilities with his family back at the cemetery.

Julian chuckled and wandered over to Yadriel’s side. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Do any of you know Julian Diaz?” Maritza suddenly asked, interrupting the conversation about Halloween costumes.

Yadriel sat up straighter but tried to not look too interested in the topic.

Meanwhile, Julian appeared all too eager to listen to what a group of girls thought about him.

Alexa, who always wore high-end hair extensions and a permanently sour expression, made a disgusted sound at the back of her throat. “Ugh, yes,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He’s got a hot face—”

Julian’s smug grin was unbearable.

“But he’s so obnoxious,” she added.

Yadriel’s sharp laugh made him choke on his sandwich.

Julian scowled. “Tch, whatever,” he huffed indignantly. “The important part is I’m hot.”

“He used to play on the boys’ team with that other guy, Omar, right?” said Letti as she juggled a soccer ball between the toe of her shoe and her knee. “They’re like best friends or something.”

Omar? Yadriel tried to conjure up the face that matched the name in his head, but failed. He could remember seeing Julian around school, but he couldn’t remember what his friends looked like.

“Ooh, that was him?” Maritza said, looping her rose-quartz rosary around her finger idly.

“Yeah, he was really annoying,” Patrice agreed as she braided a chunk of Maritza’s pink-and-purple hair. “Always messing around and kicking balls over to our side of the field.”

“That doesn’t sound like me,” Julian grumbled petulantly.

“He beamed me right in the back of the head once and then laughed about it,” Alexa said.

“Okay, that does sound like me.”

Yadriel did his best to turn his laugh into a cough, but Alexa noticed and sniffed indignantly, sticking her pointy nose in the air.

“Why do you care about Julian Diaz?” Patrice asked.

Maritza shrugged. “Yadriel was curious about him.”

All four sets of eyes swung to him.

Heat flooded his cheeks. “Uhhh.” He looked to Maritza for help, but the amused flash in her eyes said she was enjoying watching him squirm. “We, uh, we got assigned a group project together,” he finally managed to lie. “And I haven’t heard from him.”

“Good luck with that.” Alexa snorted.

Julian scowled. “I don’t like this one,” he said.

“He, like, never shows up to class,” she explained.

“That’s only half true,” Julian tried to defend himself.

“Hasn’t he flunked out by now?”

“I heard he got sent to juvie.”

“Hey!” Julian tried to interrupt. “I’ve only been arrested once, and that guy totally dropped the charges after my brother offered to fix his car!”

“I was going to try to get his number from one of his friends,” Yadriel cut in, trying to steer the conversation toward something useful.

Letti caught the ball and shook her head. “Nooo, you don’t want to go messing with them,” she warned. Unlike Alexa, she actually sounded sincerely worried.

Yadriel frowned. “Why not?”

“They’re, like, in a gang.”

Julian balked. “What?”

Yadriel looked to Maritza, who frowned back. Yadriel remembered hearing rumors about Julian and his group of friends. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, hearing them all listed off. Julian was clearly getting worked up, but was that because the rumors were true?

“He and his family are from Colombia,” Alexa went on, in a way that suggested a double meaning, but when everyone just stared at her, she added, “You know what they export from Colombia, don’t you?”

“Coffee?” Maritza guessed in a bored tone.

“Crack,” Alexa answered.

Julian let out a string of colorful curses.

“Don’t you mean cocaine?” Patrice asked, giving Alexa a dubious look.

“What’s the difference?”

“I’m half Colombian on my mom’s side, and none of us are drug dealers,” Letti pointed out.

Alexa waved a hand dismissively. “You don’t count. They’re street kids.”

Julian seethed and Yadriel tensed.

“His older brother took over the family drug trade,” Alexa went on. “He runs it out of his mechanic shop.”

“Rio is not a drug dealer!” Julian barked, but, of course, they couldn’t hear him.

“Yeah, I don’t remember his name, but he was really hot, too.”

“Too bad he’s a drug dealer preying on high schoolers.”

Julian stepped forward. “No, he isn’t!”

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t mess with those guys,” Letti said to Yadriel, her delicate eyebrows drawn together in concern.

Julian turned to face him. “This is complete bullshit!” he said, throwing his hands up.

Yadriel sent him a furtive glance. This was escalating too quickly, but he couldn’t find his voice to put a stop to it. Julian was losing his temper, which Yadriel couldn’t really blame him for, but he also didn’t want him to do something stupid.

With everyone around, he couldn’t exactly say something to Julian to calm him down.

“I think his parents are in jail,” Patrice added, thoughtfully tapping a finger against her cheek.

“No, his mom is in jail, pendeja.”

“I thought his mom ran off when he was, like, a baby?”

Julian visibly paled.

Oh no. That was a step too far. “Uh—” Yadriel tried to come up with something to derail the conversation, but they were off and running.

“He turned into a real asshole, like, a year ago, right around when he stopped playing soccer,” Letti went on, setting the soccer ball down by her feet. “Always getting into fights and starting trouble in class. Remember when he broke Pancho’s nose in biology?”

Julian snapped out of his daze. His face went from white to bright red in a matter of seconds. A cool gust of wind kicked up the fallen leaves that littered the ground.

“Oh yeah.” Patrice nodded. “I almost forgot about that!”

“That’s because—” Julian started, seething between his bared teeth.

“The violent gene must run in the family,” Alexa told them, flicking her hair back over her shoulder. “Apparently his dad was a sicario. He ran away to Los Angeles, but they found him anyways and killed him in the middle of the—”

Julian’s shout drowned out the rest of her words. “SHUT UP!”

Yadriel and Maritza both jumped. The other three didn’t seem to notice, but then Julian moved, and a gasp caught in Yadriel’s throat. There was a sharp gust of wind as Julian swung his leg. His foot connected with the soccer ball, and it went flying across the quad. Yadriel couldn’t see where it landed in the sea of students, but he did hear the disgruntled shouts in the distance.

Alexa, Letti, and Patrice all gasped, looking around wildly for an explanation of what had just happened.

Julian stormed off toward the field, leaving a rush of cold wind in his wake.

“What the hell was that?” Alexa demanded, trying to comb out her wind-tangled hair with her fingers.

Yadriel leaped up from his seat. Maritza looked at him, eyes wide with surprise.

“I gotta go,” he said.

As he rushed after Julian, he heard Maritza say behind him, “Must be those Santa Ana winds! It is that time of year.”

“They’re so crazy!” came Letti’s voice. “One time, they blew through and knocked my tío right off the roof when he was cleaning the gutters!”

Yadriel chased Julian out to where the blacktop met the field. He slowed to a stop where Julian crouched by the bleachers, his arms folded over his knees and shoulders hunched up to his ears. He pressed his mouth into the crook of his elbow, obsidian eyes staring out over the football field. Tiny gusts of wind swirled around him, sending leaves and cigarette butts rustling.

“Are you okay?” Yadriel asked gently after making sure there was no one around to overhear him.

“Yes,” Julian snapped, his voice muffled against his arm.

It was entirely unconvincing.

Yadriel shifted his weight between his feet. “Do you … want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Yadriel wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder, but Julian was a spirit, and his hand would just pass right through. Instead, he sank down and sat, at least offering Julian his company, even if he didn’t have any words. He fiddled with blades of grass, stealing glances at Julian from the corner of his eye.

His heavy brow was bunched, deep lines pressed into his forehead as he continued to stare off into the distance. This close, Yadriel could see the frayed edges around the neck of his white tee. Julian’s buzzed haircut was uneven and a bit sloppy, like maybe he’d done it himself. He had a scar that curved through his dark hair behind his ear, down to the nape of his neck.

Everything the girls said about Julian, his friends, and his family bounced around in Yadriel’s head. He wasn’t sure he bought it—that Julian was part of some gang and dealing drugs, one step away from ending up in jail. He thought about Julian’s reaction. That look on his face, and his burst of anger. Sure, Yadriel barely knew him, but the guy in front of him just didn’t fit their description. Julian told him he didn’t have any parents, but that didn’t mean they were in jail or killed by a rival drug cartel. If it was just rumors, well, Yadriel knew plenty well what that was like.

And even if the rumors were true, did that matter? Would Yadriel change his mind about wanting to help him because he was a gang member or drug dealer? It did make him a little anxious, but still.

Right now, Yadriel could see him as he was; just a dead boy who was worried about his friends. He wanted to make sure they were okay, and probably wanted nothing more than to go home.

Yadriel could at least help him with one of those.

In the distance, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

“Hey,” Yadriel said.

Julian’s eyes finally flickered to his face.

“Let’s get the rest of school over with so we can go find your friends,” Yadriel told him. “Okay?”

Julian stared at him, and for a moment, Yadriel was convinced he wasn’t going to budge or even reply. But then he dragged the back of his hand against his mouth and stood up. “Yeah.”

Yadriel stood up, too, and jerked his head back toward the school. “Come on, math class is this way.”

Julian followed without protest.