October 2010. Homecoming Week.

  The entire school was losing its collective mind. A new photo-sharing app called Instagram had just unched, and suddenly, everyone was obsessed with capturing the "perfect" Homecoming aesthetic.

  For me, it was just another week of surviving until the bell rang. I had never gone to a school dance. It was an unspoken tradition that Alvin and I would boycott Homecoming, order two massive pizzas, and py Xbox at my house until our controllers broke.

  But this year, the tradition was dead.

  "Daeron, come on. Let’s just go to the Homecoming party, man. The crew really misses you," Alvin pleaded as we stood by my locker after the final bell.

  "Nah," I muttered, tossing my textbook into the metal locker. "I don’t feel like it."

  "Why are you being like this, man?" Alvin asked, his voice cracking with genuine frustration. "You shut us out all summer. Now you treat us like we’re the enemy."

  "I just don’t feel like going to a crowded gym to listen to terrible music, Al."

  Alvin pushed his gsses up his nose, studying me carefully. "Is this about Jessica? Are you avoiding the dance because she has to be there with the cheer squad?"

  "…. Look. If you want to go to the dance with Faye, just go, dude," I deflected coldly, smming my locker shut. "You already know I hate these events. Don't let me hold you back."

  "Fine," Alvin sighed heavily. "If you won't talk to me, at least talk to Tyson, man. He’s the only one still defending you. He always has your back, especially when those rumors about you blew up on Formspring."

  I stopped walking. I turned back to him, genuinely confused. "What rumors? And what the fuck is a Formspring?"

  Alvin stared at me in disbelief. "Oh, fuck. Sometimes I forget you live under a rock. It makes me wonder why you even bothered buying an iPhone 4 if you don't even know what the biggest social media apps are."

  "It’s a phone. I use it to text."

  "Sigh. Yeah. I know." Alvin adjusted his backpack, looking incredibly tired. "Formspring is an anonymous Q&A site. People have been saying... stuff about you. Just please talk to Tyson, okay?"

  "….." I watched Alvin walk away down the hall, the nagging feeling of paranoia finally beginning to creep into my chest.

  **

  Homecoming Night.

  The entire school had been buzzing about it for weeks. Because everyone was so eager to cram into the decorated gymnasium, the rest of the city felt beautifully, blissfully empty. It was the perfect excuse for me to escape. I grabbed my car keys, drove to a local café on the edge of town, and ordered a bck coffee, intending to bury myself in a novel for the rest of the night.

  The café was quiet, occupied only by a handful of older patrons escaping the autumn chill. I took the coziest booth in the back corner.

  I opened the novel, but I couldn't focus on the words.

  Sigh. I closed the book, staring at my ceramic mug. I was upset. I tried to pretend I didn't care, but the truth was, it stung that Jessica hadn't even brought up the idea of going to Homecoming with me. I felt like a dirty secret she was actively trying to hide from the rest of the school. Was she at the dance with Alphonse right now? I still hadn't gotten a straight answer out of her about the French forward. But... I forced myself to swallow the jealousy. I didn't want to dig too deep. As long as she still came to my car and spent time with me, I didn't give a fuck. I was perfectly content living in ignorance.

  But my idle brain needed a distraction. Alvin’s nagging words from a few days ago echoed in my head. Formspring. I pulled my ptop out of my bag, connected to the café's Wi-Fi, and pulled up the website. It was a chaotic, anonymous mess. I started typing in keywords, searching for our high school, searching for my own name.

  After a few minutes of scrolling, my hand completely froze on the trackpad. My eyes locked onto a thread.

  It was about the Regional Tournament.

  Dozens of anonymous users were debating the moment I ruined my life. It was surreal. Some kids were hyping it up, calling the brutal kick "badass." But the majority of the comments despised me. They called me a monster. A psycho who couldn't control his temper. They weren't entirely wrong.

  Bzzzzt! Bzzzzt!

  My phone violently vibrated against the table, snapping me out of the digital rabbit hole. I gnced at the caller ID. Cheeto.

  "Hello?" I answered, keeping my voice low.

  "Daeron! Where are you?!" Her voice was a frantic, terrified whisper.

  "I'm at a café. What’s up, Cheeto?"

  "Help me... please."

  I sat up straight, my heart spiking. "Whoa! What happened? Where are you?"

  "I’m on the street... near your old Dojo. Can you come here?"

  The air was instantly sucked out of my lungs. The Dojo. The one pce in the city I was permanently banished from.

  "What?..." I swallowed hard. "Okay. Wait for me right there."

  I smmed my ptop shut, shoved everything into my bag, and sprinted out to my car.

  I broke three speed limits getting across town. As I turned onto the familiar street, my headlights illuminated a disastrous scene.

  Jessica was standing on the sidewalk with two other girls in cheerleading jackets—Silvia and Hilda. They were aggressively arguing with a man standing on the Dojo steps.

  I smmed the car into park. Jessica immediately spotted my headlights, broke away from the group, and sprinted to my window.

  "What the hell happened, Jess?" I demanded, rolling the window down.

  "Silvia and Hilda got caught smoking weed and drinking in front of the Dojo! They thought the building was closed for the night!"

  "What the fuck?!" I looked past her. The man standing on the steps had stepped under the streetmp. It was Sensei. My stomach twisted into a painful knot. "Were you smoking too?"

  "No!! They called me the second they got caught! I drove over here to try and talk him out of calling the cops!"

  "Cheeto! Are you fucking stupid?!" I hissed, unbuckling my seatbelt and stepping out into the cold air. "You’re going to get caught in the crossfire! If the cops smell weed on them and you're standing right there, you’ll get expelled!"

  "....They’re my friends, Daeron. Please help me. You know the Sensei! He'll listen to you!"

  "Fuck." I ran a hand through my hair, feeling a massive headache forming. "We will talk about your complete ck of self-preservation ter, Cheeto. Keep your mouth shut while I talk to him."

  I walked up the pavement toward the steps. Sensei stopped arguing with the two stoned cheerleaders and turned his attention to me. His eyes, which used to look at me with pride, now held nothing but sharp, icy disgust.

  "Are you part of her delinquent gang now, Daeron?" Sensei asked. His tone was dead serious.

  "No, Sensei," I said softly, bowing my head out of habit.

  "Do not call me Sensei!" he roared, his voice echoing down the empty street.

  I flinched, the words hitting me like a physical strike.

  "Please, sir," I corrected myself, keeping my head slightly bowed. "I just came here to pick up my friend."

  "Pick her up?" Sensei scoffed, gesturing angrily at the three girls. "These three teenagers were smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol on my Dojo's property! I am going to report their behavior to your high school principal and the authorities tonight!"

  "What?! Three?!" Jessica panicked, stepping forward. "I wasn't smoking or drinking at your Dojo! I just got here! I was just trying to help my friends!"

  "I don’t believe you. For all I know, you just stepped away to take a stroll when I caught your two friends," Sensei gred at her. "I am reporting this! And I will report you too, Daeron, if you insist on involving yourself in this trash!" He pointed a thick, calloused finger directly at me.

  I stepped in front of Jessica, physically shielding her from his wrath. I looked him dead in the eye, sacrificing whatever tiny scrap of honor I had left.

  "Please. I don’t care what you do to those two," I said, nodding toward the guilty girls. "But I know for an absolute fact that Jessica is not part of their activity. You know me, sir. I have never lied to you."

  "…." Sensei closed his mouth. He looked at me, his stern eyes searching my face, remembering the disciplined boy I used to be before the tournament.

  "I know I made a horrific, unforgivable mistake on the mat," I continued, my voice steady despite the shame burning in my chest. "I still owe you a massive apology for that. But I beg you... do not let Jessica’s genuine care for her stupid friends ruin her entire future. Please."

  Sensei stared at me. The silence stretched for a long, agonizing minute.

  "...Fine," Sensei finally exhaled, his shoulders dropping slightly. "But I am not letting those two go. I am calling the police."

  "Thank you, Sensei"

  "Stop calling me that," he snapped, turning his back on me. "Take your girlfriend and get off my property. Before I change my mind."

  I didn't hesitate. I grabbed Jessica by the wrist and dragged her hard toward the passenger side of my car.

  "Daeron!! Wait! Please, you have to help my friends too!" she cried, dragging her heels and pulling against my grip.

  "Shut. The. Fuck. Up!" I whirled around, gring at her with a look so stern it instantly silenced her. "I am driving you home! And you are going to stay the hell away from those two!"

  "But they could get expelled!" she whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

  "Don’t test my patience tonight, Jess," I warned, my voice dropping to a dangerous rumble. "Do not make me regret throwing away the st piece of my dignity to save you."

  "….."

  She shrank back, finally realizing the gravity of what I had just done for her. She climbed into the car without another word. I smmed the door shut, got into the driver's seat, and sped away from the Dojo. The entire night was an absolute, miserable disaster.

  *

  The drive away from the Dojo was agonizing. The heater was bsting, but the silence inside the cabin was freezing.

  As I turned the steering wheel, routing us into her quiet, suburban neighborhood, I finally broke the silence.

  "Are your parents awake?" I asked, my voice ft and authoritative. "Because I need to go inside and talk to them about what just happened."

  "What?!" Jessica whipped around in the passenger seat, absolute panic fshing across her face. "No! Daeron, are you crazy?! I’ll be completely grounded! My dad will kill me!"

  "Good! Because what you did tonight was incredibly stupid, Jess! Don’t you get that?!" I raised my voice, gripping the steering wheel tight. "You walked onto a crime scene! If the cops had shown up while you were standing there trying to py the hero, you would have gone down with them!"

  "DAERON!!!!" she shrieked. It wasn't an angry yell; it was a desperate, terrified scream that echoed in the confined space of the car.

  I instinctively hit the brakes, pulling the car hard against the curb and throwing the gearshift into park. I turned to face her, fully prepared to y down the w.

  But my anger evaporated the second I looked at her.

  She had her hands over her face, her shoulders shaking violently as she sobbed. Hot tears were spilling through her fingers.

  Fuck. My chest tightened painfully. I could take punches, kicks, and the hatred of the entire school, but I couldn't stand seeing her cry. My resolve crumbled into dust.

  I unbuckled my seatbelt, reached across the center console, and pulled her shivering body into a tight embrace. "Shhh. It's okay. I'm sorry," I murmured, rubbing her back. "I just want to keep you safe, Jess. That's all I care about."

  She let out a ragged sob and hugged me back tighter, burying her wet face deep into the colr of my jacket as if trying to hide from the world.

  "Please," I whispered, resting my chin against the top of her head. "Don’t ever do something this reckless again. I know you meant well tonight. I know you're loyal to your friends. But you have to consider your own well-being first. I can't always be there to pull you out of the fire."

  She nodded weakly against my chest. "Thank you, Daeron," she sniffled, her voice thick with emotion. She took a trembling breath. "I’m sorry… for everything."

  I froze. My eyes stared bnkly out the windshield into the dark street.

  I'm sorry for everything. It was the exact same heavy, sorrowful phrase she had whispered to me in the empty cssroom way back in March. Why did she always phrase it like that? She wasn't just apologizing for tonight; it sounded like she was apologizing for a massive, unforgivable sin. But before I could overthink it, she pulled back and wiped her eyes, offering a weak, watery smile.

  I let it go. I put the car back in drive and crept down the street to her house. I kept the headlights off and the engine idling, watching her walk up the driveway. I didn't leave until the front door clicked safely shut behind her.

  *

  By third period the next day, the high school rumor mill was operating at maximum capacity.

  The news had broken: Silvia and Hilda, two prominent varsity cheerleaders, had been caught smoking weed and drinking at a martial arts dojo. The principal was already drawing up the expulsion paperwork.

  But the most fascinating part of the morning was watching how their social circle frantically spun the narrative to protect their own egos. They needed a scapegoat. So, they shifted the entire bme onto the easiest target in the school: me.

  By lunch, the accepted story was that I had been caught trespassing with them, and to save my own skin, I had thrown the girls under the bus and snitched to my old Sensei.

  I sat alone at my desk, listening to the whispers as cssmates walked past the open door. I was already the "psycho" who broke a kid's arm. Now, I was a cowardly snitch.

  I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. I didn't give a single shit. Let them talk. Let them hate me. As long as Jessica’s name was kept entirely out of the crossfire and her spotless reputation remained intact, I would gdly py the vilin for the rest of the year.