Gabriel’s face crumples. This angel has fallen so far, he’s in hell.
The bell rings. Noah claps his hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “I have to go. You two going to be okay? We’ll sort this, I swear. The police don’t place much stock in social media nonsense.”
Gabriel nods miserably. I know exactly what he’s thinking – it doesn’t matter what the police do when the court of social media has already found him guilty.
As we duck into homeroom, he seems to perk up a bit. His dark expression washes over with his classic Gabriel charm. He leans across his desk and doodles a big dick on the cover of my folder.
“This will be okay, Claws. It’ll blow over. You’ll see.” He smiles, although it’s a little wobbly. “It’s not as if I’m the first rockstar to ever get drunk and say something stupid on social media. I’ll call Dylan’s family, make sure they’re okay—”
He’s cut off as two police officers step into the room. They fix eyes on Gabriel, whose cocksure grin has frozen on his face.
“Gabriel Fallen, you need to come with us.”
26
Claudia
Every minute of the school day drags for hours.
After the police escort Gabriel off the grounds, Tiberius drags me into his classroom and tells me Antony forbids me to follow him to the station. “There’s going to be enough media attention on that boy without Mackenzie Malloy putting herself in the firing line.”
He’s right, but I hate that he’s right. I also hate that Antony sent him to deliver this message instead of finding myself. We’re only supposed to be pretending we don’t know each other – he’s still my cousin.
I sit through two classes and I can’t take it any longer. I can’t sit here reading about the civil rights movement while Gabriel’s locked in a jail cell. I lean over Ms. Drysdale’s desk. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“You know we don’t allow students out during classes.” She searches my face, and I feel that strange sense of loyalty to her – like I don’t want to disappoint her.
“Please. I just got my period. I promise I’ll be right back.”
And there I go, manipulating her with the girl code. I’m a terrible feminist. She’s the only teacher I feel bad about lying to, but Gabriel is more important. She scribbles a hall pass for me and I grab my bookbag and make a run for it. I turn into the hallway leading to the gym lockers, figuring I’ll cut through there and run behind the bleachers. I run smack into Noah.
“Ooof.” I rub my head. “I thought I hit a brick wall but no, it’s just you and your ridiculous muscles.”
“You know what they say – if a fish swam into me, it’d say ‘dam.’” Noah curls his fingers into a fist and punches his palm.
I groan. “You’ve been hanging out with Gabriel too much.” I try to push past him, but he blocks my path.
“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be in history class. I expended a lot of effort to pull your grades up to passing, and you’re destroying my hard work.”
“And you’re supposed to be in geography, Mr. Valedictorian.” I shoot back.
“Not while Gabriel’s in trouble.” Noah’s eyes darken. “I was going to talk to your cousin, see if he could pull some strings for us.”
I make a face. “Antony already sent his patsy Tiberius to inform me we were staying well out of it. I don’t think he cares if Gabriel rots in prison alongside Eli’s father.”
Noah’s shoulders heave as he sighs. “Okay, I have to tell you something. And you’re not going to like it. But I need you to keep cool and remember we’re trying to help Gabriel here.”
I lean against the bank of lockers. “What the fuck now?”
“I know something about Antony you don’t. Something I was hoping to use to make him help Gabriel.”
“I very much doubt you know anything about Antony that could surprise me.” I fold my arms. “Go on. Out with it.”
Noah runs his fingers through his hair. “Okay, here goes. After Felix died, I was a bit of a mess. You know this, right? Eli did everything he could to try to help me. One of his sensible Eli suggestions was that I find an outlet for my grief. He kept stuffing pamphlets for art therapy classes and meditation seminars into my locker, can you imagine?”
My heart squeezes against my ribs. That’s so wonderfully, perfectly Eli. “I can