Eris took the last bite of her lunch and closed the lid of her box. "I'm done."
Beside her, Tyler pressed his pen down one final time and drew a small, deliberate period at the end of the sentence. "Me too."
She looked at him. "What, already?"
"Unfortunately, yes." He set the pen down and glanced toward Chris, a few desks ahead. "If someone didn't keep interrupting me, it would've been finished even sooner."
Chris looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah," Luna said, grinning, "someone really needs to learn how to control his mouth."
Chris looked at her, then at Tyler, and sighed. "Look, Tyler. I'm really sorry about that. I didn't want things to go that way. I know I messed up." He lowered his gaze. "And I don't really have an excuse for it."
Tyler studied him for a moment, then smiled. "Fine." He picked up the report and closed it. "Don't worry about small things like that."
Noah turned around from a few desks up. "See? Didn't I tell you? That he wouldn't say anything to us."
"About what?" Tyler asked, looking between them.
Luna opened her mouth. Chris cut her off before a word came out. "Nothing particular." He shot Noah a glance, and Noah got the message. Tyler narrowed his eyes slightly, but let it go.
He handed the report to Eris. She moved her lunch box aside, opened it, and scanned through the pages, eyes moving section to section until she stopped.
"You really completed it."
"What do you think?" Tyler said, sounding genuinely offended.
She didn't answer. He blinked. "Am I really that unreliable?"
She glanced sideways at him, then went calmly back to the report.
Nothing.
He waited. Still nothing.
"Am I getting ignored?"
"It's good to experience some new things," Luna said, around another bite of lunch.
Tyler looked at her, then at Eris, and sighed. "Anyway." He turned to Chris. "How did it go?"
Chris leaned back. "We did what we could." He glanced toward Oliver. "Now it's up to him."
"Good." Tyler paused. "Remember this as a lesson."
Chris nodded quietly.
Eris closed the report. "You did better than I expected."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
She gave him a sideways glance, and then her eyes landed on the lunch box still sitting closed on his desk. Her expression shifted. "It's still lunch break. You should eat something."
Tyler followed her gaze and smiled. "Eris, you know what? I had a premonition last night."
"A premonition."
"Yes." He didn't give her time to question it. "I saw that today, someone was going to complain about their hand hurting after writing all day." She was starting to see where this was going. He kept a straight face. "So I thought I'd do that person's work before they started complaining." He reached for the lunch box. "That's why..."
He opened the lid. Empty. He turned it upside down over the desk for good measure. Nothing fell out.
"I didn't bring anything today."
Eris stared at him, completely expressionless. "You done?"
"What do you think?" Luna said, delighted, jumping in. Tyler turned toward her. "I think I also have the ability to see the future." He pointed at himself. "Should I become a fortune teller when I grow up?"
Luna nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, definitely."
"Really?"
"I don't know about fortune-telling," she said, gesturing at him, "but with all your philosophical talks, you could probably earn a fortune anyway."
"That is a difficult choice," Tyler said, with the utmost seriousness, and glanced sideways at Eris.
She was glaring at him. She held it for a few seconds before a laugh broke through anyway.
She knew exactly what he'd done. If he'd simply told her he hadn't brought lunch because he'd spent the whole break finishing her report, she'd have spent the rest of the day worrying about him, probably eating less of her own food out of guilt. He knew that. So he'd turned it into a stupid joke instead, and let her be annoyed rather than sorry.
"Do you want some?" Chris asked from nearby, mouth already full.
"What did you bring?"
"Omelet rice."
Tyler glanced at what little was left in Chris's box. "No, thanks. I'm already full just watching you eat."
Luna pressed a hand to her cheek. "Aww. Look at the love between them."
Chris nearly choked. "Stop reading romance novels."
She was still laughing when the bell rang. Chris shoved the rest of his food into his mouth in one motion.
"Seriously?" Noah said.
Chris held up one finger, still chewing.
A few minutes later Mr. Parker walked in, and the noise slowly died down. Students turned their attention to the front, and the familiar rhythm of the school day resumed: pages turning, pens moving, questions answered, the classroom settling into its ordinary shape around them.
But not everyone was listening.
Oliver sat with his head lowered, not really taking in the lesson. Chris's words from earlier kept circling back.
Some secrets can't stay hidden forever.
He turned it over in his head. Secrets can't be kept forever, huh. He looked down at his hands. Well... it's true. He hesitated. But...
No. The thought came immediate and flat. There is no but.
Oliver, you can't keep letting someone control you.
His fingers curled slightly. But if I say anything, Danny will expose my secret. The fear returned almost as fast as the resolve had come. He clenched his jaw.
So what? Are you going to let him control you for the rest of your life, just because you're afraid of being exposed?
His breathing slowed. He thought about Chris. Noah. Kai. They hadn't done anything wrong, and they were still getting dragged into this because of him.
You're going to let them carry the blame just to protect yourself?
He shook his head slightly. What was their fault in any of this? Nothing. They'd only tried to help, had stepped in the moment Danny and the others started on him, hadn't known what they were walking into. And even after everything, they'd still told him they wouldn't force him into anything.
You can't keep going like this. He swallowed. You have to stand up now.
But the fear held on regardless. What happens if they expose my secret?
He stared at the classroom door. Middle school was almost over, and that thought had always felt comforting before: new school, new people, a chance to start over.
Then another thought landed. What if it follows me?
He looked back down at his desk. If Danny could control him now, what was stopping someone else from doing the exact same thing later? His fingers tightened around his pencil. And what if more people join them? He pictured walking into high school already carrying the same fear, always wondering who knew, always wondering who might find out, always hiding.
His expression hardened. No. I don't want that.
He knew what could happen. People might laugh, might make fun of him, treat him differently. He might have to deal with things he wasn't ready for. But if that happened, at least it would be his to deal with. His choice, not Danny's.
He took a slow breath. Middle school was almost over. If I have to, I can go to a different high school. Not a pleasant thought, but still better than letting someone else decide how he lived his life.
But if I don't stand up now, this won't stop.
The final bell rang. Chairs scraped, books closed, conversations picked back up around him. Oliver stayed seated a few extra seconds, looking down at his hands, then up toward the front of the room. There was no more uncertainty in his expression.
He didn't know exactly what he was going to do, or how hard it would be. But he knew he couldn't keep letting fear make every decision for him.
The bell had barely stopped ringing when Lucas got up. His mood was already sour from everything earlier, but the plan still stood: get Oliver out of the classroom, get him home, keep him away from Chris, Noah, and Kai, at least until they figured out what came next.
He crossed to Oliver's desk. Oliver was still sitting there, staring at the page in front of him without reading it. Lucas dropped a hand on his shoulder, casual. "Come on. Let's go."
Oliver didn't move.
"What are you waiting for?"
Oliver looked at the hand on his shoulder, then up at Lucas, and something in his face had changed in a way Lucas hadn't caught yet. He reached up, closed his fingers around Lucas's wrist, and pushed the hand off.
Lucas blinked. Oliver stood.
"Stay away from me."
The words came out quiet, but not quiet enough. Several nearby students heard every one of them.
"What?"
"I'm not going to do what you say anymore."
The classroom, full of the ordinary noise of bags zipping and chairs scraping a moment ago, went quieter by degrees. One student froze halfway through packing a book away. Another turned to look. More eyes drifted toward the two of them.
Lucas caught the shift in the room fast, and forced a casual smile. "What are you talking about? We're helping you," he said, glancing around like the whole thing was absurd.
Miles dropped his face into one hand. Here we go.
"Yeah, Oliver," Jacob said, stepping closer. "Lucas is only trying to help you. You're not exactly in good shape."
Oliver touched the skin around his bruised eye. "I'm not in good shape?"
Jacob nodded.
"Then who do you think is responsible for that?"
"What?"
"Who do you think did this?"
Jacob glanced toward Lucas, then Chris and Noah. "Chris and Noah. You already said that."
"When did I ever say it was them?"
A murmur spread through the room, whispers passing desk to desk. Lucas felt the situation slipping. "Oliver's not in the right state of mind." He reached for him again. "Let's just go."
Before he could grab him, Daniel stepped forward. "Wait."
Lucas stopped.
"Let's hear him out," Daniel said.
"What?"
"He never actually said Chris and Noah did it." He nodded slightly toward Lucas. "You were the one spreading that around."
Lucas's jaw tightened, but he kept his voice level. "Daniel, I know you've had a grudge against us. Don't try to change things now."
"I'm not changing anything. I'm saying we should hear Oliver out."
Lucas looked like he wanted to argue. Instead he stepped back. "Fine." He looked straight at Oliver, his voice going almost calm. "If that's what you want. Tell them what I said is the truth."
Oliver froze. Lucas's smile carried no warmth at all, and Oliver understood exactly what it meant. Say the wrong thing, and Lucas would expose his secret right there.
His hands started to tremble. His heart picked up speed. For a second, days' worth of fear came rushing back all at once.
Then he remembered what he'd spent the whole afternoon thinking. You can't let yourself be controlled by others.
His fists slowly closed. He looked at Lucas, then Danny, then Miles and Evans.
"No."
Lucas's smile vanished. Oliver's voice shook, but he didn't stop. "You're lying." He pointed at Danny and the others. "It wasn't Chris and Noah." His finger moved from one to the next. "It was you four."
Miles let out a long breath.
"Danny was the one who pushed me," Oliver said.
Danny leaned back in his chair and said nothing. Ever since Tyler's hand had landed on his shoulder earlier, he'd understood exactly how much distance stood between them, and he had no intention of doing anything stupid enough to close it.
His finger shifted to Lucas. "And you're the one who did this," he said, gesturing to his bruised eye.
"What are you saying?"
"It was you."
"No. Oliver, it was Chris."
"No." His voice came out clearer now. "It was you. And I'm not going to lie anymore."
The room went almost completely silent.
Lucas's expression shifted. "You really want to go that way?"
Oliver's confidence wavered.
"Alright." Lucas raised his voice, enough for the whole room to hear. "If that's what you want." He smiled. "Oliver wears Remmy merchandise from the Power Girl show. Under his uniform."
A burst of laughter broke out somewhere. Oliver's face went red.
"He even carries her figurine around with him."
The laughter grew louder. Oliver's shoulders tightened.
"You're into 2D girls, Oliver?" someone called from the back.
"I always thought he was an otaku," another voice added.
"Did you already make Remmy your waifu?"
The classroom erupted.
Even Daniel laughed, before catching himself. "Is that true?" he asked, looking at Oliver.
Oliver stood frozen, his face burning. For a moment, regret hit him full force. I shouldn't have said anything. Maybe he should have kept quiet. Maybe Lucas had been right. Maybe keeping his head down really was easier.