She looped one arm around him and another around Marwan, and Ilanka stepped in between him and Marwan on the other side, and now Eli felt the tears come, too. He imagined himself in Sims world and wondered what bubble would appear over his head. “Successful interaction with a new friend”? What?

Was he crying about Aizel or his grandfather or just everything?

“You okay, man?” Marwan said, and Eli nodded and pulled everyone tighter for a second and said, “Yeah.”

Their phones all buzzed, and their group hug dissipated as quickly as it had formed.

It was a message from Principal Lambert: I NOTICED THE FOUR OF YOU WERE NOT IN SCHOOL TODAY. I EXPECT TO SEE ALL OF YOU IN MY OFFICE TOMORROW 8 AM.

Ilanka was the first one to laugh, and it seemed so out of character that Eli did a double take of her; then they all started laughing and it rose up into the air where Eli imagined it bouncing off a cell tower and another and another and another until there’d be no way to even pinpoint where it all began or how it was possible there’d been a time mere days ago when they didn’t even know each other or what they were capable of.

Powering_down

Powering_down

Eli

ELI

Walking into the principal’s office, he tensed because usually he was in trouble for being a wiseass when he was here. He had no idea if the others were all going to show up but didn’t want to risk being the only one not to. He’d leave right after, to go back home and get ready for the wake.

Eden came in next and said, “Hey,” and took a seat.

Eli sat, too, and they waited.

“What are we going to say?” Eden said.

“No idea.” Eli smiled.

Ilanka had come in and now said, “I know what we’re going to say.”

Marwan slid into the room just in time.

“We’re going to tell the truth,” she said.

“What?” Eden said. “No.”

Lambert came in then and sat down. “Now,” he said. “Between the music room and the app hack and you all being out yesterday—after a bomb scare—I know something’s going on and I expect one of you to tell me what it is.”

Eli studied a Mets bobblehead on the desk—its player immortalized in hard hair and a creepy smile—watching to see if it would move.

“Where were you yesterday?” Lambert asked.

“We took a mental health day,” Ilanka said.

Eli almost laughed.

“All of you?” Lambert asked. “Together?”

“The weather’s about to turn, and also Eli’s grandfather died and Marwan’s family’s restaurant has been vandalized twice recently, and then, as you know, there was the bomb threat, and we thought we just needed a day.”