Me Too *Mcpriceley*

Chapter 23 - The End

An alarm started beeping in Kevin's ear and his eyes flashed open as he sat straight up in his bed. He quickly turned off the alarm and fell back in his bed with a heavy sigh as he tried to regain his breath. He hadn't had a nightmare like this since he was about five. As he breathed, he felt how stiff his face felt. When he gingerly touched his fingers to his cheeks, feeling the dust from tears, he remembered last night. He remembered the silent sobs, he remembered the sound of his bedside drawer opening, he remembered the shine of the moonlight on the small piece of metal, and he remembered closing the drawer again. Letting his nightmare and the screams replaying in his head slip away, he smiled. Only seconds later, the smaller boy in the bed across from his shot up and bounced up and down excitedly.

"Good morning, Arn," Kevin laughed, watching his roommate rush around the room excitedly. "What's got you so hyped up?"

Arnold stopped what he was doing and dropped the handful of ties he had in his hand. "You seriously don't remember? TODAY IS THE OUTING!" He screamed, probably waking up the boys in the next room over.

Kevin realized that in all the drama with Steve, he had completely forgotten about the outing today. He had always pictured being able to walk hand-in-hand with Conner at the zoo, but he now knew that that wouldn't be the case today. As the boy stood up and got himself ready for the day, he did his best not to think about that fact. Instead, he just tried to be excited to be leaving the home and going somewhere for the first time in two months.

~

On the bus ride to the zoo, tensions were lower than many of the boys expected.  Even Kevin was smiling and laughing with Arnold and Micheals as they watched cars pass them on the highway. He stole the occasional glance at Connor and Steve in the back of the bus, but they each were smiling and seemed to be having a lively debate about something. Once, he even saw Connor poke Steve in the ribs as he blew a raspberry. Upon seeing this, the boy decided to take this one day to focus on his own happiness rather than the chaos involving the new boy. Just for one day, he would let himself smile and enjoy himself. 

The bus ride took about an hour and the whole ride was comfortable and happy. When the bus finally parked, though, all the boys shouted with excitement and practically fell on top of each other as they formed a line at the front of the bus after Mafala. As they started their trek through the parking lot, however, Mafala stopped and did a head-count. 

"Does anyone know where Steve and Conner are?" He asked worriedly. 

Everyone looked around but there was no sign of the two boys. No sign, at least, until a voice called from a few feet behind them. "R-Right here, sir! I dropped my camera under a seat so Steve helped me find it." Conner called as he jogged up to the group. Kevin met his eyes and sighed sadly, knowing that he was lying about why he took so long. The glares he saw Steve direct at the ginger boy as he slowly walked towards the group as well confirmed his suspicions. He was about to turn away as per the plead he saw in Conner's eyes but his gaze fell before he did and he was met with the sight of a fresh red mark on his wrist as if someone had held him tightly by it. When Conner seemed to notice Kevin's gaze, he quickly hid his wrist behind his back and moved to walk ahead of the group.

Once the group had their tickets and were let into the zoo, Mafala smiled. "Now, boys. I know this isn't what we usually do on our outings but you all seem to be doing so well that, as long as you meet back here at three, you do not have to stay with the group." The boys erupted into a cheer as they began whispering and muttering to their friends about where they wanted to go first. It didn't take long after the man had finished speaking for the boys to go off on their separate ways in groups of two or three. Kevin ended up wandering on his own for a while. After having seen the look in Conner's eyes and the mark on his wrist, he needed some time to himself to think. He couldn't just stand by and watch as the person he loved was hurt and used.