INICIAR SESIÓNChapter 175The knock came again, sharper this time.Leon froze with one hand still on the window frame and one leg already halfway toward the sill. The evening air from outside brushed the side of his face. For a split second he considered ignoring it, swinging the rest of the way out onto the roof slope, and disappearing before whoever stood on the other side of the door could call his name. The thought died as quickly as it formed. The knock had the particular weight of someone who already knew he was inside.He pulled his leg back, eased the window shut as quietly as he could, and crossed the attic floor on careful feet. The dark jeans and black shirt he had just put on suddenly felt like evidence. He stopped at the door, hesitated, then opened it only far enough to stick his face out into the narrow hallway.His mother stood there, the tired lines around her eyes more pronounced than usual. She took in the limited view of him—just his face and the edge of one shoulder—and her exp
Chapter 174Leon walked the twelve blocks home with his head down and his backpack straps cutting into his shoulders.The afternoon light had already started to thin by the time he turned onto his street. Ordinary houses lined both sides—neat lawns, porch lights beginning to click on, the distant sound of a television through an open window. None of it touched the noise inside his head. The fight in the hallway kept replaying in fragments: Aaron’s split knuckles, the blood on Damian’s face, the unfinished warning, the flat way Aaron had said *don’t say I didn’t warn you* before walking away. Then the nurse’s office. Damian’s rough voice changing the plan. *We should go out tonight. Pick you up at 8.* And Leon’s own answer, still sitting in his mouth like something he couldn’t fully take back.*I’ll go out with you tonight, Damian.*He pushed open the front door of the modest white house and stepped into the familiar smell of lemon polish and whatever his mother had simmering in the ki
Chapter 173The crowd thinned in uneven waves once Aaron’s back disappeared through the stairwell door.Phones lowered. Conversations broke into smaller clusters. A couple of juniors still hovered near the dented lockers, replaying the video they had just taken, but most of the students drifted off toward their next classes or the main exit when it became clear the fighting was finished. The two guys who had jumped in earlier managed to get upright and disappear without looking at anyone. The smell of blood and sweat lingered in the hallway air. A teacher finally arrived at the far end, voice raised and asking what had happened, but by then the center of the storm had already moved.Leon kept his hand under Damian’s arm and guided him down the corridor toward the nurse’s office. Damian walked with a noticeable limp in his breathing, one arm still pressed against his ribs, the swelling around his eye worsening with every minute. Blood had dried in dark, cracked lines down his chin and
Chapter 172Aaron’s mouth closed around the unfinished sentence.The words he had been about to say—*He’s going to expose you, he’s using you for a bet, the whole senior class is watching*—died in his throat the second he registered the look on Leon’s face. It wasn’t just anger. It was the particular kind of closed-off hurt that meant any further explanation would only dig the knife deeper. Leon’s eyes were bright and hard, jaw set, the careful walls he usually kept around himself slammed into place so fast it was almost visible. Telling him the truth about Damian’s plan, about the pot money and the “little holy gay” comments and the deliberate setup, would gut him right here in front of half the school. Aaron could already see how it would land. Leon would not thank him for it. He would only feel smaller, more exposed, more like the exact punchline the bet had been designed to create.So Aaron stopped talking.Blood still ran in a thin line from the cut on his lip. His split knuckles
Chapter 171Leon pushed through the edge of the crowd before the last echoes of the fight had fully died.Students packed the hallway in a rough, shifting circle, phones held high, screens already recording from every angle. The air smelled of sweat, metal, and the sharp copper tang of blood. Someone near the lockers kept repeating “holy shit” under their breath like a broken loop. A junior on the far side shouted for a teacher. Another voice answered that security was already on the way. None of it slowed Leon down. He shoved past a pair of seniors who were still filming, ignored the hands that tried to pull him back, and locked onto the figure slumped against the blue metal lockers.Damian.Blood ran in thick lines from his split lip and nose. One eye was already swelling shut, the skin around it turning dark and tight. His shirt hung twisted and stained red where it had been grabbed and yanked. He sat half-collapsed against the dented locker door, one arm braced on the floor, the o
Chapter 170Damian spit blood onto the floor and came at me.He swung first—wide, angry, aiming for my jaw. I slipped the punch, stepped in, and drove my fist into his ribs. The air left him in a sharp grunt. He staggered but didn’t go down. His next swing clipped my shoulder. I answered with a straight right that caught him clean on the cheek. His head snapped back. Another punch followed, shorter, harder, landing against his mouth again. More blood.“You piece of shit—” Damian swung wildly. I blocked it with my forearm and shoved him hard into the lockers. Metal rattled. Someone in the gathering crowd yelled. Phones were already up.The two guys from earlier—the ones who’d been talking about the bet—jumped in.“Get him!” the first one shouted. He grabbed for my arm. I twisted free and hit him square in the face. His nose cracked under my knuckles. He stumbled back, hands flying up. The second one came from the side and wrapped an arm around my neck, trying to drag me off Damian. I d
Chapter 3The ice bath had left Leon trembling throughout the night. When morning reached, the cold has turned into a burning fever than clung on to his skin. His head throbbed with a dull ache, and every joint in his body hurt like he had run a marathon race in his sleep.For a moment, he consider
Chapter 2The computer turned on with soft hum that sounded deafening to Leon’s ears. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, his nails digging crescent moon shapes into his skin as he braced for impact. He was expecting his father’s voice to thunder in the room. He expected scriptures to tear from his
Chapter 1Leon was hunched over his desk, the blue glow of his computer reflecting on his sweet filled face. His room was filled with silence and the only sound slicing through the air was him clicking away at his keyboard. The words he typed didn’t register in his eyes. Instead, they took form, i
Chapter 5By the time Leon had walked through the front door of his house, the world began to spin. The fever had not subsided. If anything, it had gotten worse. His face burned as the hallway seemed to titled as he walked through it. The familiar scent of Oakwood drifted through the house, mixing







