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Gates closed his eyes When they popped back open the turone

"I love you, Will," Gates said

Will remained perfectly still Gates walked to him and placed his bloody hand on Will’s shoulder Gates backed hiripped in his hand

"You love ht?" Gates said

Gates’s desperate eyes flicked over Will’s face His face ay too close to Will’s A thumb’s width away Every direction that Will tried to move his head to look away, Gates would move his face there

"Come on," Gates said "Say it back"

"Uh …" Will’s throat had gone dry with fear

"I need you to say it It’s not so hard," Gates said "Friends say it all the time"

"They don’t," Will said, but he didn’t knohy he was bothering to talk sense into Gates The guy was sick There was solitch in his brain, but this dude’s brain had a fatal error

"You’re stalling, Will Just say it Don’t make it weird," Gates said

Gates’s pupils were bottomless He blinked and scratched at his red eye

"You’d do it for David," he said "Do it for iven you everything!"

The air around them was still and silent Will started to sweat all over He could feel Gates’s breath on his face His stomach flip-flopped

"You’re not mad atas he had that box cutter, Will had to say whatever would calm Gates down

"’Cause it seems like you’re mad at me," Gates said

"No," Will said

"You swear," he said

"Yeah, Gates, I swear"

"But you do love ht?"

"Eh …," Will said He’d never felt so uncomfortable in his life

"Just say it!" Gates screamed

Gates clocked his went jelly His ass hit the floor and his head s Will, almost immediately

"No-no-no, I’m sorry," Gates said "That was a ht? I didn’t mean it"

Tears streamed down Gates’s face Will was dizzy and discoed him even harder His wet cheek pressed into Will’s, and their skin slid across each other’s Beyond Gates, Will could see Pruitt on the floor He’d stoppedpool of blood extending out froive me," Gates moaned "That wasn’t ive , psychotic, ed to say

"You do?" Gates said and he pulled back from Will Desperate hope lit up his face

Will nodded, his eye swelling with pain by the second

"And you love ed He didn’t want to die Not here Not at the hands of this nored the alar in his head, the itch in his blood, the intuitive sense that this was a titanic mistake

"I love you," Will said

Gates’s tears doubled, but they were happy They dripped around his s lips and off his unbrushed teeth

Gates continued to cry, and to hug Will, for a long ti hiave hie, Gates seemed convinced that Will did love him, and wasn’ta friend and having a breakdoere apparently exhausting

"I’m tired," Gates said

"You knoe should do, buddy?" Will said

"What?"

"We should go ho so hard"

"Yeah That sounds good" Gates nodded "We shouldslanced down at the box cutter He wasn’t out of the woods until he stepped out of that classrooo home," Gates said, and started off toward the hall

Will followed steadily, with no suddenacross his forehead, and the ripping pain of Gates tugging his scalp off his skull