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“Yes, you are!”

“I’m afraid of you”

His words knock all the air out ofsilence in my ears and the look of his downcast, watery eyes are all I know

Toby takes a breath, picks at so on his tunic, then attempts to meet my eyes with his “I was … I was blinded the first tiurt In the lunch roo The yelling The fire alarain, this next part too difficult to say to ht, just now … I wasn’t blinded I actually saw your rage All of it I sa you could have ripped off Julio’s head if Tanner hadn’t stopped you …”

“Toby”

“I know you were defendingyou It’s just that …” He closes his eyes Then at once, an anger of his own takes him over “Don’t you realize that’s s My friends froes and turning the town upside-down, but …” He frowns, his eyes ith passion “But not like that”

My anger is gone Every last drop of it All that sits in me is a heavy, dark dread of what I’ve done “Toby, I’m sorry”

“I know I just …” He sighs, then meets my eyes “I just think I want to stay here”

“Okay So … what am I supposed to do?”

“You can go hoet a ride back into town from Kelsey, Tamika, Frankie, or … anyone, really”

Anyone except me My insides tremble My body is hollow I’ve never felt so insecure about so in my life “Will I … Will I see you later?” I sound so pathetic, so desperate “After the party? I can co deal I’ll do it”

“Let’s just call it a night, okay? I’ll see you at …” He shuts his eyes, appearing to fight off some emotion “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”

“Toby …”

He heads back before I can say anything else, his feet softly crunching on the gravel I watch hih, the party having returned to norravel driveway, I can’t help but bet that every single conversation in that house is about me: the weirdo outsider, the disruptive dery city boy who has no business in their town …