One of the guards nodded and touched his radio.
Ruby’s shoulders relaxed a little.
Nathaniel turned toward her.
Up close, he did not look quite like the photographs Ruby had seen in newspapers.
Those photographs always showed him standing at podiums or beside enormous buildings, his silver hair perfect and his expression serious.
Now he looked tired.
And frightened.
Not frightened of Ruby.
Frightened by something he had seen.
He pointed gently toward her backpack.
“May I ask what that pink paper is?”
Ruby looked behind herself as if she had forgotten it was there.
“Oh.”
She pushed the eviction notice deeper into her bag.
“It’s nothing.”
Nathaniel’s eyes remained fixed on it.
“It isn’t nothing.”
Ruby’s cheeks burned.
She hated when people found out about the rent.
At school, she had once overheard two girls whispering about a boy whose family had been evicted. They had spoken as though being poor were something contagious.
