Lev and his sister left right after Evan’s match, but I didn’t think much about it. Maybe they had a curfew, or homework.

The Glenmont Gators were fired up after Evan’s win. Every match went their way. When Dad drove me home, he told me the kid Evan beat was a Gators captain, and their wrestlers wanted revenge.

I’ve always been proud that Evan’s my big brother. Guys on his team treat him like he’s some kind of hero. But tonight, I noticed the way the Glenmont kids looked at Evan after the match. They were angry, and afraid.

It isn’t until I get home and text Lev Cavs lost that I wonder if something is wrong. He doesn’t text back.

I’ll talk to him at practice tomorrow, I tell myself.

The next night, Josh, Isaiah, and I are carrying wrestling mats to the gym. Lev’s father usually helps the team dads roll out the mats and tape them to the gym floor. But Mr. Sofer doesn’t show, and neither does Lev.

“Did Lev say he was going to be late?” I ask Josh and Isaiah.

“We don’t talk much outside of wrestling,” Josh says. He shrugs. “Maybe he’s sick.”

“Maybe,” I say.

Lev’s face was pale when the Glenmont wrestler got hurt. I thought it was because of the blood. Ever since Josh bit his tongue a few weeks ago, even a little bloody nose makes Lev nervous. He chews his headgear strap, or the collar of his T-shirt, which I told him is disgusting.

“Chainsaws! Chainsaws!” Coach Billy calls after warm-ups. He lines us up in weight order, from little Devin to the eighth-grade heavyweights. Once Coach is satisfied with the line, we count off, “One, two. One, two.”

“Ones, you’re on the bottom. Twos, on top.”

With fifty kids in the room, it takes us a while to figure out who’s going where. “If I hear talking, you’re running laps,” Coach yells. “How many guys got a spot at States?” About six hands go up. “That’s what I thought. We’ve got work to do, men. Set up in three rows straight across. Lightest guys, you’re in this corner.”

Cody warned me about chainsaws. In this drill, I’ll end up wrestling every guy in my row, even kids who have ten or more pounds on me.

Milo is my first partner. We set in referee’s position, with me on the bottom. There’s no music. No talking. The wrestling room is silent. We wait for the whistle. Where’s Lev?

Tweet!

We wrestle for one minute. When Coach blows the whistle again, all the top men move to the left and work with a new partner. I stay in my spot and wait for the next top man.

Each guy tries to break me down, but I won’t give. Sweaty armpits clamp around my middle. I hold my position. I wish Lev were here. I think about Trophy Girl, sitting in my room, and I smile.

“You think this is funny, Delgado?” Coach says.

“No, sir.” I look down at the mat.

Josh is my next partner. We’re friendly now, but not enough to talk when Coach is like this. Josh wraps his arm around my waist. His chin digs into my shoulder.

On the whistle, my left hand clamps Josh’s wrist against my belly. I put my right hand on the mat, as far as I can reach, then shoot my hips away from him and push Josh to the ground. I know what to do: twist my shoulder to face him, get him in a front headlock. Josh flops like a fish on dry land.

The whistle blows.

Coach shouts. “Way to be, Delgado. Top men, move down!” Josh pats my shoulder and moves to the next guy. I’ve proved my point. Again. I’m as good as my teammates. If Lev were here, he’d flash me a thumbs-up.

Matches speed by. I keep looking at the door, waiting for Lev. When Coach reverses us and all three rows of bottom wrestlers switch to the top position, I know practice is halfway over. Lev is not coming.

I don’t win all my matchups, but I wrestle hard, trying to push Lev’s voice out of my head. Evan got him in the face. I try not to see the Gators coach scowling at my brother, like he’d done something wrong. I wrestle hard. I don’t care what anyone thinks about my brother, or anything else.

But when practice is over, and we’ve rolled up and put away the mats, I open my phone and see Lev’s message.

Evan broke that kid’s nose.

I sit on the floor and type: Accident. Where are you? You missed chainsaws.

I saw him, Lev texts.

ACCIDENT.

He doesn’t answer. I know Evan acts like a jerk sometimes, but Mom says that’s boys being boys. Besides, if Evan hurt that kid on purpose, the ref would have disqualified him.

I’m glad the next day is a school day. It gives my mind a break from wrestling. I try not to think about Evan, Lev, and all the worries swirling in my head.

At lunch I tune out Kenna and Lalita’s conversation. Lalita notices I’m not listening. “Are you mad at us?” she asks.

Why does everyone think quiet equals mad? I shake my head and pick at the carrot sticks in my lunch. “Rough practice,” I say. “I didn’t tell you, Kenna. Last weekend, I almost qualified for States.” It feels good to brag a little. To forget that my wrestling partner isn’t answering my texts. Or that my brother clocked a kid in the face and maybe broke his nose.

Kenna puts down her yogurt and hugs me.

Lalita says, “That’s amazing, Mikayla! This calls for a cookie celebration. I’m buying!” She jingles her Hello Kitty coin purse at me and runs off to the lunch counter.

Kenna tells me all about the beginning hip-hop class Lalita found for us. “As soon as you’re done with wrestling, we can start.”

Lalita comes back with three chocolate chip cookies. They are gooey and delicious, the one thing our cafeteria is awesome at. All of a sudden, I’m blinking back tears. Kenna hands me a napkin from her lunch bag.

“Lev and I had a fight, I think.”

“Oh, no,” Lalita says. “The way you talk about him? It’s precious.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Uh-huh.” Lalita smiles at me.

Kenna slides closer. She gives me a look that means You can tell me.

“Later,” I say.

It’s not Kenna I need to tell, but Mom. If I let her know what happened at the meet, that Lev thinks Evan hurt a kid on purpose to win a match, she’s going to flip. I can picture her shouting, How could you say that about your brother? Delgados are supposed to stick together.

I call Kenna after school and fill her in. “What am I going to do?” I ask. “Mom and Cody and me, we’re finally getting used to living together, without Evan. If I tell Mom what happened, it’s going to pull everyone in our family apart.”

“You’ll do the right thing,” Kenna says. “Whatever that is.”