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She blinked as if co off my circulation "I’ather his books Sonized soainst bullying, a the helpers At least not all of humanity was doomed

"Are you okay?" I asked Ash

His head drooped "My dignity has dropped to an all-ne"

I saw Nyte, his neck glowing red, hurrying away "I’ll see you later," I said to Elyssa and kissed her on the cheek, then rushed to catch up with Nyte before he did so stupid He entered the boys’ roo Nathan in there The results would not be pretty

Nyte was alone at the back of the bathrooht and sobbing I didn’t knohat to do I wasn’t sure I’d want anyone bothering ood ht better of it and snuck back out I stood in the hallway trying to decide what to do when he burst out of the bathroom, his face composed, but his eyes red

"You okay?" I asked

"No Not even a little bit I have never wanted to physically harm anyone in my life But I want to kill Nathan I want to stab him with a sword"

"I can’t let you do that, but I can show you how to stab people with fake swords"

He cocked an eyebrow "How?"

"Maybe you guys would like to join s and Castles this weekend I don’t have a squad anyister you guys and we can build some weapons and kick some butt"

"I’ve heard of that tournament Maybe it would be fun to pretend-ed "I’ll probably suck"

"We all suck at so is to have fun" Those words sounded strange co had been the only i to me insofar as K&C was involved, but Elyssa see that had been such a vital part ofand already she was changing me Was this what true love did to a person? Could it even be love yet? Probably just hormones

Lunchtime arrived and I told Ash and Elyssa about K&C "The tournaure we could whip up souys want to come over after school" That, of course, depended on whether Ms Foreo at a decent hour Maybe she’d have s and Castles? Oh my God, you are such a nerd," Elyssa said

"So are you"

She nodded "Yep Sign e path we’d taken toeach other, na poo on Ash but I’d intercepted hiive up?"

She shrugged "I don’t know It looked like ement"

"You felt sorry for o, but I guess I kind of admired you for what you did You protected someone you didn’t even know from a bully"

"You admired me?" I was a bit shocked at her adirl

She sighed "Oh, I just knew this wouldfor your britches It was only a little bit of adave her a hurt look "Only an itsy-bitsy teeny bit?" I held hed "Yeah"

Seeing her smile filled me with desire I wanted to kiss her I didn’t even care if the entire lunch roo devotion to her But the bell rang and the moment passed

That afternoon, Elyssa and I kept our o at five Even the Devil wanted her Friday evening free, I figured

I ordered pizza on the way ho at the house when I arrived, and the pizza showed up a fewlike a chainsaw in his bedrooe phone call thatbut noas not the time My friends looked at the mess of beer bottles Dad had littered around the house Rather than ask the obvious questions, however, they grabbed the garbage can and scooped theElyssa showed up and pitched in I was really worried she’d freak out thanks to my alcoholic father, but apparently her crazy family life had prepared her not to bat an eyelash

The sour odor of beer saturated the den but I’d take that odor over high school grease traps any day Afterward, I grabbed weapon- swords It was the es

Ash held up a sword he’d ra," Elyssa said with a laugh