“Well,” Grady said, stepping out from behind his desk. He needed to crane his neck to meet Jamal’s gaze. It would hurt by the end of the night, and he longed for that pain. “Shall we begin?”
* * * *
“I was wondering if I could ask you a question,” Jamal said.
The two of them had toured the school, visiting his old homeroom and then the science lab, before bumping into the VP Mr. Damon in the hallway, who seemed shell-shocked that Jamal was here, and now they were rounding the hallway to the gym itself. They were taking the back way, closer to the staff room, since people were being let into the gym for the talk through the front entrance. They would go in through the backdoor, close to the change rooms, when the time came for Jamal to take the stage. But that was still twenty minutes aw
