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The fewer connections you have to the world, the easier it is to leave

We need to turn back to Harry and Craig We need to see the warive off ainst Harry’s back, and we re tothe heartbeat beneath Touching his back and feeling his spine Breath against our necks The chill of pulling away The furnace of wrapping together

Twenty-seven hours and fivetime to kiss So is twenty-seven hours and sixon around the itself The nated cheerleader--if the supporters grow too quiet, he gives them a rise After football practice ended, there was an additional buzz of dissent--not all the players, but sorew bored There’s notYou have to be devoted to stay

Tariq’s consciousness is warping under sleeplessness He starts , to keep his thoughts in sequence Smita hears him and starts to do it, too When Mykal hears this, he turns it into a cheer

We two boys together clinging!

One the other never leaving!

Power enjoying!

Elbows stretching!

Fingers clutching!

Ar!

Harry and Craig hold on to each other Each of the can you hold on to a body?

We want to tell the They don’t understand It is natural for another body to become as yours as your own It is natural to have that connection, that fas, but ays keep the same approximation, and in this e can be known And held

Hold on to his body, ant to tell each of the takes it He doesn’t even flinch

Neil sits next to Peter as Peter plays video ga next to Neil

Peter doesn’t knohat to say, so he leans Only a few inches, but now their shoulders are touching Now they are in soether

Avery is happy to meet Ryan’s friends, but also a little at sea It’s not that Ryan doesn’t introduce them, but once he does, it’s like he’s checked out of the conversation Hisin his own helpless anger

Ryan’s best friend, Alicia, senses so is off Avery wants to tell her, It wasn’t me I swear it wasn’t me But sheto Avery, trying to tell hi-up stories to make him feel less isolated In fact, of the four friends that are sitting around the table in the coffeehouse, only one of the to figure out what’s under Avery’s shirt

Finally, Ryan tells theist of it Avery is relieved, figuring that this will allow Ryan to release it, get over it Certainly, everyone’s sy an almost endless list of synonyuys

But it’s not enough for Ryan to turn it into a story At the end he says, "I really should have done so Smashed up his car Called the police to report theuess it’s not too late"

"What do you mean, ‘it’s not too late’?" Alicia asks, in a way that Avery doesn’t feel he can

"I mean, it’s not like I don’t knohere he lives"

Alicia nods But then she says, "Ryan, I get that you’re mad But I think you need to take it down a notch"

"Easy for you to say You weren’t there Right?" With this, he looks at Avery

Avery doesn’t know exactly what he’s being asked The question appears to be whether or not Alicia was there, and they all know the answer to that Ryan wants souys arepoints from everyone but Ryan

We see how unsatisfied Ryan is with this With Avery With Alicia With all of the well There were tie--it didn’t feel like so that was outside of us, all around us, closing in After so er, it was powerful to acknowledge it, to allow it to fuel us, to harness the rage into outrage, taking the thing that felt outside of us and then shooting it back out fro But the other part--the part that was sometimes hardest for us, especially in our pain--is the er is so intense that you will shoot it everywhere Even when, in truth, you should only ever shoot your anger at the people you are truly angry at, the people who truly deserve your rage Ryan, so fixated on his hatred of Skylar, doesn’t even realize that he’s letting the hatred spill over, scattershot

Alicia asks Avery about his pink hair and how long he’s had it, then asks old Really, what she wants is for Avery to go to the restrooet Ryan alone and tell him to remember what this day was supposed to be about, to reather people to meet this boy who’d fallen into his life But Avery doesn’t leave the table, and Ryan goes unwarned by his best friend

"What are you going to do now?" she asks when the conversation has run its course

"I’m not sure," Ryan says But she can see it, clearly His e