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anyone had ever given me had been when they saw me and thought of a way to hurt or humiliate me—peers and parents alike. To have someone think about me outside of that, to miss me, is beyond imaginable. I study him, trying to decide if he’s just teasing me, setting me up for some elaborate prank, but honestly, he seems sincere.
    “ Then I saw you that first day and you ran away, and I’ve been trying to talk to you since. You don’t seem very open to conversation,” he says somewhat wryly. He looks at me, waiting for me to say something. I sigh.
    “ Things change,” I say. He cocks his head, trying to understand what I mean. “Life here isn’t the same. I’m not the same.”
    He nods, accepting this. He comes and squats in front of me.
    “ Yeah, you’re a lot taller,” he says gravely. I look up at him, and see his downturned mouth, then he glances up at me through his lashes and I see the gleam there. I can’t help it—I laugh. This brings a smile to his face and I quickly cover my mouth to stop the sound. His smile falls, and he reaches up to pull my hand down.
    “ You shouldn’t do that. I had forgotten what a great smile you have.”
    I spin away from him, tears threatening again. “You shouldn’t say things like that,” I mumble, rolling my pants back down—a gesture not without pain.
    “ Yeah? Why not?” He sounds genuinely curious.
    “ You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the way things are at school. I’m everyone’s favorite loser. There isn’t anyone more fun to pick on than me.”
    He’s silent so long, I finally turn back toward him, and see anger on his face again, jaw clenching. I’m taken aback, worried that he’s angry with me. I glance at the bank on the other side of the stream again, wondering if I can make a run for it with my knees so sore. I know I can, of course I can. I’ve had to run other times with worse pain than this.
    “ Yeah, I’ve noticed. It really makes me mad.”
    I choke out a strangled laugh at that. He’s mad about that? I shake my head.
    “ I want to be your friend,” he says, and my stomach tightens.
    “ You can’t be my friend. No one can be my friend. It’s social suicide.”
    He reaches out and brushes his finger lightly over the bandage knotted on my hand, leaving an improbable trail of fire.
    “ I can honestly say that even if that is true, I don’t care.”
    I let out a frustrated groan. “Of course you care. Everyone cares. Do you want to be treated like me? Trust me when I tell you that you don’t.”
    “ Trust me when I tell you I don’t care. I think you give both yourself and some of these people too little credit. Besides, if they’re that immature, who cares?”
    “ Spoken like someone who’s never lived in my shoes.” I look off to the east, staring at the rugged mountains.
    He’s silent for a minute, head down. “You’re right. I haven’t been there. I’m not asking for a sacrifice by either one of us. I’m just asking for a chance to be your friend.” He gazes back at me, compelling me to meet his eyes.
    “ Why?” I ask, barely above a whisper. “You don’t even know me anymore.”
    He smiles, and I feel my resolve weaken. “Yeah, but I’d like to.”
    I shake my head and grimace. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
    “ I’m not asking for anything. I won’t expect any more than you want to give. Mostly just for you to not ignore me during photography.”
    The corners of my mouth lift a little at that. “I was kind of wondering how I was going to do that when we had to partner for labs.”
    He grins.
    I look at him dubiously. “I don’t know about the friend thing, though…”
    “ Yeah, you might be right. You might not like me too much when you get to know me,” he teases.
    Fat chance.
    “ Or you me,” I return, dead serious.
    “ I doubt that,” he’s smiling, but his voice is solemn. “But we won’t know if we don’t give it a chance, right?”
    A thousand reasons why we