Conner spun around. "What the hell, man?"
Smirking, Adam slapped Conner and Trevor each on the stomach. "Caught ya off guard."
Lurching forward, Trevor swung his fist into Adam's shoulder.
"Ow, man. Go easy," Adam hollered as he rubbed his arm. "We got a game Thursday. Don't damage the goods."
Rushing down the concrete steps into the boys' locker room, the three approached a couple sophomores.
"Move aside, runts," Trevor announced.
The two younger boys stepped closer to the wall with annoyed expressions rather than the expected fear of upperclassmen.
At his gym locker, Conner dropped his backpack and then peeled off his T-shirt. "What do you think about Jared?"
Adam kicked off his sneakers. "It's effing crazy, man."
"No." Trevor groaned with slight irritation. "It's fing-cray."
"Fing-cray?" Adam stood with one leg in his jeans and one leg out. "Where'd you get that Asian slang from?"
"Asian slang? Dude, seriously? You're going to pull some bigoted crap with an African American dude?"
"Whatever, caramel-bro. I'll go fing-cray on your ass, real quick."
Conner slipped his gym shorts on as Trevor and Adam jabbed at each other. Then he pulled a tank top over his head. "Jared's dead."
The laughter abruptly stopped, and Adam appeared unnerved. "I don't know what to think about that. He was our buddy until—"
"He went off the deep end," Trevor finished.
Adam tousled his dark brown hair. "I kinda wanna know what happened. But there's a part of me that's like, just leave it."
Sitting on the bench, Conner said, "Even though he wasn't our friend in the end, I still feel bad for his sister and parents."
None of them spoke while the noise of clattering metal doors and voices filled the locker room. Then Trevor sat. "You think we should stop by his house?"
"I don't know."
"It would be kinda weird," Adam said. "They might be pissed that we didn't come around during the summer when Jared started acting crazy. And now we knock on their door?"
"Let's just wait and see if we hear anything else," Trevor said. "Then we'll decide if we should stop by."
In agreement, the three continued to dress for class and then rushed to the gym before the teacher blew his whistle.
* * *
Jared's death continued as the popular topic of discussion throughout the morning. No one knew what had caused his death, nor did anybody know whether he'd been sick or not. Leah had never hinted that her brother was experiencing health issues. Yet it was pointed out by many that she hadn't attended school the previous Thursday or Friday. Then, Jared died over the weekend, and she obviously wasn't at school on Monday or today.
Conner set his tray of food onto the table and then sat. Adam and Trevor arrived moments later, chatting about the upcoming basketball game Thursday night.
Looking from one end of the cafeteria to the other, Conner noted that everyone was carrying on as usual. "I thought maybe I'd see more sad faces or something."
"Really?" Adam asked before spooning pasta into his mouth. "A lot of people aren't sad, because he stopped being friends with them. It's not nice to say, but it's true."
Trevor agreed. "I'm like low-level sad. I probably would have cried or something when Miss Campbell told us. But I was more shocked than anything."
"Yeah, you're right," Conner muttered. "The only person I saw crying was Allison, and she wasn't even friends with him."
"My mom texted," Adam said. "She said I could go home."
"Why didn't you?"
"If the office didn't excuse it, then it would be on my transcript. My parents would be pissed if I screwed up my chances with college."
Trevor nudged Conner in the ribs. "Hey, stud, here comes Hailey."
Conner ribbed him back. "Knock it off."
Hailey Brooks headed their direction with her constant companion, Jasmine, and another friend of theirs, Miguel. All smiles and shining, shoulder-length blonde hair, she was one of the prettiest girls in the senior class. Sitting, Hailey purred, "Hey, boys."
"What's up?" Adam replied, sliding over so Jasmine could sit between him and Trevor.
"What's up?" she repeated with a trace of amused surprise. "How are you guys doing? You guys were really good friends with Jared."
"We're fine," Conner replied.
She set her hand on his and looked into his blue eyes. "I'm so glad. If there's anything I can do, let me know."
Trevor chuckled, and she shot him a disapproving look.
Conner dropped his foot on top of Trevor's, pressing down hard and causing Trevor to flinch with a subdued grunt.
She searched inside her pink purse. "If any of you need to talk—"
"That's what the counselors are for," Adam replied. "But I'm fine. How about you, Trevor?"
"All good."
"What about you, Conner? You need a helping hand?"
Trevor chuckled again.
Conner shot Adam a dirty look. Now everyone at the table was thinking about the night Hailey had given Conner a thirty-second hand job until she freaked out and explained that despite her occasional slutty clothes and flirtatious manner, she was a good Christian girl. Then she'd demanded to go home.
"A listening ear," Hailey stressed. "You're so gross."
"What?" Adam grinned. "What do you mean?"
Miguel blurted, "Ready for the big game, Thursday?"
"Hell yeah," Adam boomed. "We're gonna kick their asses."
"Lancaster's had a really good season so far."
"You gonna be there to cheer us on?"
"Maybe if Levi wants to go," Miguel replied. "He has a wrestling match on Friday."
"You guys dating now?"
"Ha," Jasmine scoffed. "More like hooking up."
Tuning out the voices at the table, Conner watched Hailey. She gazed into a compact mirror, applying lip gloss as an obvious ruse to avoid the discussion taking place. When she finally glanced at him, she smiled faintly and then turned her attention to her salad.
Trevor's laughter yanked Conner out of his daze.
"He do a screwlock and pin you to the bed?" Trevor teased.
"I wasn't putting up a fight," Miguel replied.
The table hooted with laughter again.
"Are you doing okay?" Hailey asked Conner.
"Yeah. I'm all right."
"You didn't know anything bad was going on with Jared?"
"No. Why? Did you hear something?"
She shook her head. "My sister said Leah seemed out of it the last
