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eighteen

                  "SO, WE SAW YOU AND KAYDEN AT THE CRIME SCENE TODAY."

Kyle Becker looked up at his best friend Marcus Hall, who was leaning back on the couch watching him. The team, plus a few others, were all gathered at Kyle's house. The police had finally left after determining that Kyle was innocent. Now, they were all watching a muted news channel, their eyes half open from lack of sleep.

Kyle narrowed his eyes. "So?"

"So. . ." Marcus said, shifting his body on the couch. "Are you all back together or some shit?"

Kyle shrugged, picking up a random half filled beer bottle on the table in front of him and draining it all in one gulp. "We will be. She just needs to sort out her feelings."

Brandon Rogers laughed. "Yeah, well she was all over that fucked kid Aiden. So you might need to reel her back in."

Kyle put down the bottle. "What makes you think I have to reel her back in? All I gotta do is tell her, and she'll come. That's how we operate. Little bitch can't say no, cause she knows what'll happen to her if she does."

Marcus folded his arms. "What does O'Conner think about that?"

Kyle's face twisted. "O'Conner doesn't matter. She's in love with me, cause I have her under my thumb. I'm gonna get him out of the picture, just watch and see. She deserves better than him."

"Yeah," Brandon said, getting off the couch and going into the kitchen. "He's a freakshow. D'you know he got suspended last year? I don't think a lot of people do. Pretty boy made up some excuse about being sick, and no one ever knew the difference. The school was really into keeping it quiet cause they didn't want anymore bad publicity."

"What?" Kyle asked, sitting up, his eyes alert. "O'Conner was suspended?"

Brandon nodded, coming back into the room with a glass of water in his hand. "Fuck yeah he was. I made sure of it."

He had Kyle's full attention now as he grabbed another beer off the table, cracking it open. "Explain."

"Well," Brandon said slowly, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "I don't know if this is the first time he's ever done anything like this, but I think the dumbass has anger issues. Like, and I mean scary anger issues. And sorry about this shit, Kyle, but I think he's always had a thing for your girl."

"For Kayden?" Kyle asked incredulously. "And you never told me this before now?"

Brandon looked sheepish. "This was a long time ago, man. Like the beginning of sophomore year. I didn't know he was still, like, in love with her or whatever."

He went on, "Well, I made this comment about how he was a faggot- cause he is. And I said he was too pathetic to ever get Kayden and how he was never gonna amount to anything in this town. And this was like the fifth time that week that I had ragged on him, so he just fucking snapped. He grabbed me around the neck and threw me to the ground, beating the shit out of me. I've never seen anyone that angry in my life."

He raised his eyebrows. "Next thing I knew, the counselor was there and telling us to get to the office. They asked me what happened, and of course I bullshitted. I told them I had just been standing there when he started punching me, how I didn't even know what was happening. So they told me not to tell anyone what had happened, and I got off scot-free."

He grinned. "Not so much for O'Conner, though. After that, me and my friends waited around for him the rest of that year after school and ganged up on him. That fucker was so torn apart by the time when got finished with him he could barely walk. He's got this huge scar on his ribcage, cause Clayton Verner about ripped it open."