“’S’okay with me,” he says. “I’m really just going home to get homework done.”

Still, I shake my head. “I’d better take a rain check,” I tell Camille. “I’ve got a few classes to catch up on, too.”

Something about the way Julian is standing makes me worry.

“You guys were fantastic tonight. Celebrate hard,” I tell her.

I watch the group of them load up into Nate’s car and wave goodbye as Nate pulls out of the parking lot.

“You could’ve gone with them. I wouldn’t mind,” Julian says, his voice tight behind me.

“Don’t think I’m up for a crowd just yet,” I say, watching him pull his backpack onto his shoulder, a slight wince on his face. “Thanks for doing this, by the way.”

“For doing what?”

I shrug. “Including me.”

· thirteen ·

JULIAN

We manage to make it almost all the way home before the sky opens up and the rain soaks everything. Our shoulders and hair are drenched by the time I get the door unlocked and we get into the house. My ribs are burning again, and I know I’m going to have a massive bruise in the morning if I don’t already. I can’t believe I managed to get hit in the same exact place twice in one week. What are the odds?

“Man, what a mess,” I say when we get through the front door. I grab two towels from the linen closet and throw one at Elijah as I head toward the kitchen. “I’m going to go dry off real quick and then I’ll make us something to eat, okay?”

I head toward the bathroom without waiting for an answer. I run my hand over my side on the way down the hallway, and I know I’ve done some real damage. Just the feel of my wet T-shirt clinging to my ribs hurts. I close and lock the bathroom door behind me and lift up my shirt. A bright red spot is spreading along my left side. The beginnings of a nasty bruise are already starting to darken the skin near my ribs, on top of the healing bruise I got at practice a couple of nights ago.

I go into my room across the hall, grab a dry T-shirt, and head back into the bathroom. With every step, my side thumps with pain. There’s got to be something else in the medicine cabinet that I can take. Ibuprofen isn’t going to cut it this time. There’s no way I can win this weekend if I can’t even walk without wincing. The only thing worse than missing the first game would be losing it to a team like the Stephens City Spartans all because of my performance.