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Life was good

I shook myself out of my pleased recall and focused back on Miserable John

John looked slightly down at me from his six feet four plus and said, "I love her, jackass And I wasn’t there I could’ve helped" I nodded, any noruy could have tipped the scales Those jerks had been lying in wait for her like predators Hell that’s what they were Now Carson was doin’ a nice stint in Juvy Yeah

"He’ll still get to graduate though Daddy saw to that happening," John said in aI didn’t know if I had anything helpful to say "She’s seeing so soone low in uncharacteristic anger, his hands clenching, bony and large, I got a glirow into that frame

Suddenly he turned to

"Just tell me Caleb I know Jade knows Did that fucker rape her?"

What was rape, exactly? Rape was violation, brought on by violence Did Carson have to penetrate Tiff with his dick for it to be rape? It wasn’t a fine line for me It didn’t matter if he put his dick in her or not

He touched her without permission; that it was sexual made it doubly worse That it had been driven by violence and stee well, it was about the lowest a dude could go

But it wasn’t mine to tell, and pillow talk with Jade wasn’t fair to repeat

I thought about how many tearful conversations we’d had about what Jade had seen what she’d narrowly avoided because I’d luckily gotten there before Diego had done anything to her

Yeah, I kinda knew It e with the nearwhat Jade and I shared in love in hate

No, I couldn’t think about it So I answered John the best I could

"It’s her story to tell man She’ll talk when she’s ready"

His shoulders sluain at the spot where she’d been walking

The bell chi for class, discordant and raw,us both flinch

"Yeah," he said softly Then his next words I’ll always remember, "I want him dead"

I pretended not to hear that

Soreed

Silence was acceptance

Bry neverup his sister His wary eyes would scan the short distance froh

He was a tiger waiting for prey

When he caught sight of Diego a couple of weeks after what happened to Tiff he ran after hier and pain were still fresh wounds for Bry

"Weller!" I bellowed

Not that it ed and the Body ran, giving a running tackle at Bry

"Why? Let ainst a uy alive

"Look at his face, u as her brother lost it in front of a hundred students

Students ouldn’t say jack about another Diego beating Yeah, he was Mr Popularity here at KPH

Finally Bry cal dual bruises underneath eyes as a result of what Gramps affectionately called pancake nose

Translation, someone had done a stomp-o-matic on his face

I wonder who

I was pleased as hell at the result though: he didn’t even look at Jade

It suited o’s face, his sullen glare going froh "Looks like soo flicked his eyes towisely silent

Weller looked atthat was beyond words, a silent Guy Communion if you will

Yeah, he knehat I’d done And it had passed o, I won’t bust his chops," Bry said Alex’s hands fell away and I exhaled hard

Shit that was close

"Oh! Too bad" Jonesy hed and Tiff came to him quietly and Bry put his arm around her shoulders

She accepted it with reluctance as he led her away

Tiff didn’t look back at us

winter

senior year

An uneasy rhythroup Tiff’s ed the dynamic and ere set adrift, the easy cauilt

Randi was guilty because she knew the truth about the bruise fro and hadn’t realized how serious it was All the guys would’ve It’s like girls’ self-preservation alaret over that They needed protecting, period WhyIt was as natural to

Except the Carsons of the world He was broken in a different way

John was guilty because he had feelings for Tiff She ounded from an attack that he felt he should have been able to prevent He reasoned that if he had laid his claim on her before the event then somehoould have been with her

John was the most rational person I knew but sole where Tiff was concerned His logic got sucked into whatever nothingness was there He wouldn’t have been able to do dick Tiff had been using a bathroom pass from a class they didn’t share in the middle of the period

It didn’t have to be rational for John to feel the guilt though After all, humanity wasn’t rational And love sure as shit wasn’t

Jade felt bad because she was shy about going to a teacher first and saying the words: one of ht be in trouble in the hall

Horrible trouble