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there, on the screen, was the exact text to John, word for word. Kevin gaped at it. Why ? How? He didn’t even know John’s phone number. It just wasn’t possible.
    Kevin’s mouth fell open, but nothing came out. Simon growled and lifted Kevin’s toes off the ground. He pushed Kevin, sending him crashing into a nearby table and chairs. He struck it hard, knocking everything over, and found himself on his back, an embarrassingly girly cry of pain escaping before he could stop it.
    “Jesus, Simon! You didn’t have to do that!” John sounded truly alarmed now.
    “Get out!” a man in an apron shouted, coming over from behind the counter. “Out before I call the cops!”
    Simon and John took off.
    Kevin let his head fall back to the floor. His jaw stung badly where it had struck a chair, and his back was killing him.
    “You okay, kid?” the man asked, bending down and looking concerned. “Should I call an ambulance? The police?”
    “No,” Kevin said hurriedly, thinking of the ambulance bill. “Please don’t. I’m fine.”
    He wasn’t though. He wasn’t fine at all. But he was able to make his way slowly to his feet. Nothing felt broken but everything hurt.
    “You’re bleeding,” the man said, motioning to Kevin’s face. “Let me get some ice.”
    “No, I’m okay.” Kevin swallowed down latent tears of fear and stress. His hands were shaking as he put his laptop back in his bag. “Thanks, though.”
    Kevin limped out the door. He noticed blood dripping onto the linoleum as he pushed his way out into the street.

Chapter Ten
     
     
    K EVIN WAS still bleeding when he got to his room. He thought about stopping in the bathroom to clean up, but his back was killing him. All he wanted to do was take some aspirin and lie down in the dark and maybe give in to the shaking that his body wanted to do.
    He’d never been physically attacked before. The pain hurt, but the shock of it was worse, the violence of it. He felt violated, and he didn’t even know why it had happened.
    Why was that message sent from my phone? The only person who ever got close to his phone was Chuck, and Chuck didn’t know anything about John. Had Kevin done it and forgotten? Was he losing his mind?
    As he opened the door to his room, Kevin realized his mistake. He’d totally forgotten that Randy and Chris were there. They had chairs pulled up to Kevin’s bed and were playing cards on a TV tray, beer bottles and all, while the drone of a football game played in the background.
    As one, they turned to look at Kevin.
    Fuck. Not now. He just wanted to lie down.
    “Hey—what happened, Kevin? You’re bleeding.” Chuck sounded concerned.
    “I—I’ll, uh….” He couldn’t think.
    “Yeah, what happened, Kevin?” Randy huffed. “You get hit by a gay pride truck?”
    Chris laughed as though that was hilarious. “Word of advice. If you’re going to suck dick, it goes inside your mouth!”
    Randy howled with laughter.
    Kevin stood frozen in the doorway, his eyes growing hot. Do not cry. Not in front of them, not now. But it was the last straw. He couldn’t take one more shitty little shove by life. Not one more.
    He turned to go, feeling dead inside.
    “Kevin, stop right there!” Chuck yelled, in a voice that Patton himself wouldn’t disobey. Kevin stopped. He didn’t turn around.
    “Randy, Chris? I am gonna kick your collective ass when I get out of this fucking cast!” Chuck sounded furious.
    “What crawled up your butt, dude?” Randy sounded nervous. Kevin couldn’t resist turning around to see his expression. Randy blinked at Chuck like he’d lost his mind.
    “You did, dickhead! Kevin has been dragging my books back from class, getting me food, doing all sorts of shit for the past two weeks while you guys were too busy to give a rat’s ass. You come over here, you treat him with respect. R-e-s-p-e-c-t. T as in, I will fucking tie your testicles to your tonsils if you don’t! Do I make myself clear, or do I need to