Semua Bab Off The Ice Rink: Bab 11 - Bab 14

The film room empties like water draining out of a basin, fast and quiet, everyone suddenly very interested in being somewhere else. Coach had told me to wait behind and the way he said it in front of everyone gave the impression I was in some kind of trouble.Rohan goes last, and the look he throws me over his shoulder on the way out is the kind of look that says "I'll be right outside" and "Please don't die" simultaneously.Then it's just me and Coach Reyes, and the hum of the projector on standby, and the particular silence of a room where something important is about to happen whether I'm ready for it or not.Coach pulls a chair around and sits on it backward, arms folded across the top, and looks at me the way he looks at game footage, patient and thorough, not missing anything."Sit down, Liam."I sit. I keep my face exactly where I've trained it to stay for eighteen years of people looking at it and deciding things."I'm going to ask you something," Coach says, "and I want you

I find Cassidy between fourth period and lunch the next day, which requires waiting outside the east wing science corridor for eight minutes, which Rohan describes as lurking and I describe as strategic positioning.She sees me coming and her posture changes, not dramatically, just a slight squaring of the shoulders, the automatic adjustment of someone who has decided to be prepared."Liam," she says."Cassidy. Do you have two minutes?" She looks at me for a moment, assessing. "Two minutes," she agrees.We step into the alcove beside the water fountain, out of the main corridor traffic, and I keep my voice easy and my body language open because this conversation only works if she doesn't feel cornered."I'm not here to argue about the complaint," I say. "I just want to understand something.""Okay.""The person who approached you, who made you aware of the situation..." I watch her face carefully. "Did they have a reason to know what was in Kai's scholarship file?" Something shifts