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She’s sitting cross-legged on her bed with her laptop, e-, dark hair is twisted into this thick knot on top of her head There’s one lock that didn’tneck Before I really knohat I’ for those rogue strands I settle in behind her, one of ht?"

She frowns, tilting her head slightly back toward me "We can wait for all that stuff until you’re fully recovered"

I lift ently "Hell no You’re on a deadline, after all Gotta get all your wild and crazy out before you graduate" She opens her mouth to respond, but then closes it And I wonder if she can hear the slight edge toNot that I have a right to be pissed about it, but I can’t help it I don’t like having a deadline I don’t like not having a choice about howso she doesn’t have tioing to be physically deh practice, I can definitely walk down some concrete tunnels And then who knows, maybe I’ll even feel up to some more physical exertion afterward"

I lean down to kiss her shoulder, but her back straightens, and she shifts to look back atto practice?"

"First I’ve gotta go lift" And I aht roohtmare But a necessary one "Then practice, yeah"

Her eyebrows furrow, and I can see her debating about saying so before she finally spits it out "So, you’re not telling your coach at all? Do you think that’s smart?"

It would be cute that she’s worried, if she weren’t voicing the thoughts I’ve done a lot of work to keep

"I told you I’ve had concussions before This one is so ood as neithin the next few hours"

"Yeah, but if you were to hit your head again shortly after your initial injury, it could cause serious dae You could die It could--"

I lowerher off For ame back, but not completely immune either After a few seconds she relaxes and one of her hands travels up to et a little lost in her ue The quickening of her breath

I pull back before I get carried away and give in to the urge to toss her coround and strip her naked

"I’ll be fine, Nell I know my li about nothing You and ht"

Her eyes flick over mine, narrow, but then finally she nods

DESPITE WHAT I told Nell, I don’t feel good as new in a few hours I take it easy during my workout They’re unsupervised--at least technically--so no one will callit easy, I’hto appear normal while my nerves feel more and more raw by the second

When practice starts, I very nearly spill to Coach But then I tell h to power through this My reasons for staying silent are the sauns and suffer through practice I think it’s obvious to everyone that I’m not up to par, but I hope they chalk it up to a bad day rather than to the fact that I’ tackled as much as possible