Page 12 of The Locker Room

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him, and he almost felt bad for his friend. “Omigod!” He sounded like a

little kid. “Xander, I don"t even know where you live!”

The Locker Room

11

Xander"s bruised lip quirked up, and the entire swollen side of his

face gave an enthusiastic throb of pain.

“You think there might be a reason for that?” he asked simply, and

Chris clapped his hand over his mouth.

“You never said,” he muttered, devastated. “It was so bad, and you

just showed up at my door, and you never said—”

Xander yanked his shoulder around protectively and shoved his

stolen glasses up on his face. “You"ve got a good life, Christian. You"ve

got a good family. Didn"t want them to think I was too much trouble,

"kay?”

“No!” Christian was honestly in pain, and Xander didn"t know

what to do. His hands actually fluttered, until they ended up on his

friend"s shoulders, and he looked around anxiously. He and Chris always

went early, but there was always the chance that someone would catch

them acting like fags on the street corner, and there would go… well,

basketball. He couldn"t imagine playing basketball and having that sort

of thing bouncing around. There would go his teachers" respect and all of

the shit he"d worked for so hard the year before. No. No. He would just

calm Chris down, and they could go back to walking, side by side, on the

way to school.

“Look, man,” he whispered, furiously. “Just calm down! Calm

down! Usually I"m smarter, okay? But I got home late, and he spotted

the money in my backpack, "cause I got paid last night, and, well, I don"t

know what the fuck to say! I was stupid! I got caught! It won"t happen

again!”

But somehow, that just made Chris cry more. “You weren"t

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