It’s Friday and I'm fidgety and in a bad mood. Part of it may be that I haven't had a chance to confirm with Crispin. Saving him from bullying is mostly keeping Jay and them distracted from that crowd, which means a lot of clowning and talking loudly about random shit whenever Crispin or one of his friends walk by. I can't get close to him, but I have this hyper-sensitivity to his presence. It's fucking exhausting. I keep...

He doesn’t know I’ve been watching him back. I feel badly about it most days; I watch him get shoved out of the way, I watch his books get smacked out of his hand, and I watch his underwear get pulled so far out of his pants it’s a wonder the fabric doesn’t rip. Part of me wants to interfere and consequences be damned, but the other part of me gets irritated. Why does he have to be such a pushover? It’s not as though he’s...

He doesn’t email me before 4th period but I go to the library anyway, slipping away from my usual crowd before it can even form. I’m neither the ringleader nor the clown, so no one will come looking for me. I’m sitting in the farthest corner next to the math reference books, pretending to read a history of the early great mathematicians. “Aaron,” I hear a whisper. “Aaron?” “Here,” I respond in library voice. Crispin round...