Julian walked into the front office. “Julian?” asked Ms. Trish. He nodded. “Mr. Clous wants to see you.” She pointed to the office in the back. He walked to it, and saw Mrs. D. and Mr. Klous. Mrs. D. smiled warmly, which helped him a little. Mrs. D. closed the door behind him as he sat in the chair. He focused on the bald shine of Mr. Clous’s head. “Do you know why you’re here?” he asked. He nodded. “You know that showing affection in the halls is against school rules.” Julian nodded again. There was a silence as no one said anything. “…Please don’t call my parents.” Julian begged, but kept his eyes firm on the ground. “Mark,” Mr. Clous looked at Mrs. D. “Don’t you think this is unfair? I mean, boys and girls kiss in the halls, and we do nothing.” Mr. Clous put his hands in his lap. “Yes but…” he trailed off. “Don’t you think my sister would find that unfair too?” Julian tried not to smile. She was standing up for him. “Don’t bring Abby into this. Stay on topic, Debrah.” She smiled and tucked her foot behind her ankle. “But my sister..” she looked at the left out Julian. “…Your wife, wouldn’t like that. Our uncle was gay. She was very close to him.” Mr. Clous frowned. “Go back to class.” He waved his hand to the door. “Don’t…tell my parents. I don’t.. they don’t know yet and… Im not really ready for them to know.” Mrs. D. Held up her clipboard. I’ll talk him out of it. She said, smiling. Julian forced a weak smile back and left. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. He was deffenantly going to go see her later in the day. He got back to the table, they all looked up at him. “You okay?” asked Damond, standing up. “Yeah. Mrs. D… she’s going to try to talk him out of calling home for me.” Damond put his hand on Julian’s shoulder. “She seems pretty cool.” Julian nodded and sat down next to Faith on the green bench. “Cara, let me see the notebook again?” Julian reached out his hands. “Thanks a million. I’m no good with this stuff.” She handed it to him as Damond sat next him, so close their arms touched. “Who’s that for again?” Damond asked, leaning over to the notebook. “Cara’s crush. Jake.” Damond ran his finger down the lined paper. “Oh!” said Cara. “Shouldn’t I write it? Handwritting and all.” She waved her hands drastically around. “Yeah. Didn’t think about that.” He handed it back to her. She hovered her pen above the paper. “I just want you to talk to me, let me know more about you. You’re closed and I feel my feelings are one sided, but I hope they’re not. So please, just tell me.” Julian stopped. “….Erase that hurt at home part. Just forget it.” She held up her pen. “Cant erase.” He shrugged. “…Rewrite?” she smiled. “I will oh and Faith,” Faith looked up from the green table she’d been drilling holes into with her eyes. “Don’t hate me. I really want to start hanging out with you guys more. I really don’t see why so many people hate you… You’re all pretty cool.” She said and smiled. Julian noticed a slight change in Faith’s face. “You.. Want to come over after school? I could help you with homework.” Faith offered. “Yeah, because she’s in all the advanced classes. With the nerds.” Julian laughed as Faith tried to put him in a head lock. “Damnit, Julian! I am not a nerd!” she said, smiling. Cara and Damond laughed, then the bell rang. “Ah, dang.” Said Cara standing up, shoving her notebook into her Hollester bag. “I’ll see you guys later?” she paused. “Faith, what bus do you ride?” Faith shook her head. “Parents take me to and from.” Cara smiled. “Okay. I’ll call my mom after school and ask.” She waved. “Bye.” Julian leaned into Faith’s face, who leaned away from him. “Chummy much?” she scowled. “Thank you, but no. I don’t like her. She’s like the people I hate, but nice.” Julian put his finger up. “ ‘Don’t hate. Hate caused the Columbine incident.’ “ he mocked one of the signs that was hung all over the school. He and Faith had always found it funny that their school, only miles away from Columbine where the shooting had happened, was less precautious than schools in Florida, where everyone had to where school I.D.’s around their necks to prove they went there. She laughed. “Kiss up.” She said, and grabbed her bag. “Nerd.” Julian threw back at her. Julian jumped and shrieked as Damond poked him in the side. Damond looked surprised for a second, then laughed. “I didn’t know you were ticklish.” Julian scowled. “I don’t like that.” Faith smiled and said, “Last time I did that, I got hit.” Julian looked at her. “That was accident! It’s called reflex.” She laughed and started walking away. “Come on.” Julian said and started to folllow her, but Damond pulled him back. “Hey… um…” He dropped his arm. “I’m thinking of moving out of my parents place.” Julian looked up him. “Why?” Damond shrugged. “I’m just… Its different, like I said last night. I don’t like it. They just finished building some lofts downtown that I want to look at.” The bell rang for the beginning of their next class, but they didn’t leave. “Why are you telling me this? You should be talking to your parents about it first.” Damond shrugged again. “I know, just… to me you’re more important.” Julian bit his lip. “Talk to your parents about it first, okay?” Julian said. Damond looked at him confused, he was expecting Julian to say something back. “Okay.” He said, forcing a smile. Julian smiled back. “Anyways, I have to go to photography two. I’ll see you later?” Damond nodded. “See ya.” Julian walked down the hall to the photography room, and checked in with the teacher. “Can I go see the counselor?” Mr. Dwarner looked at him. “Alright. But I want to see you during your off period to catch you up on what you miss.” Julian nodded and took the hall pass off the small ledge by the door. He walked out and went down the hall, and took a left into the counselor’s office. He went up the the receptionist. “Is Mrs. D. in?” He asked as he wrote his name, the time, and what class he was coming from on the sign in sheet. “Yes. She just finished up a meeting with Mr. Clous.” Julian smiled. “Is she available?” The recpetionist – Karen – nodded. “She’s in her office, I believe.” Julian walked down the hall into her office. “You mind?” he asked as she noticed him and looked up from her computer. She smiled. “Not at all.” She spun in her chair to face him as he closed the door. “Things going better at home?” He sat in the same chair from before. “…Not so much. My mom, I told her what Mark did.” Mrs. D. looked at him, expectant. “And what did she do?” Julian took a sucker, mystery flavor, from the wicker basket. “Nothing. Just said, I don’t know what to say to that, and told me to go help our new neighbors unpack.” She frowned. “Have you talked to your dad at all about it?” Julian shook his head. “He wont talk to me now that I’m not dropping charges.” He unwrapped the sucker and put it in his mouth. Coconut. He ignored it, even though he didn’t like it. “And your step mom? Brenda, is it?” Julian nodded. “I haven’t gone back to my dad’s house yet. I haven’t talked to her.” Mrs. D. looked hesitant before asking, “Julian it seems to me hey neglect you?” He looked up at her. “What? No. They don’t…” he trailed off. Neglect? Now that she says it… He stopped the thought. “How old are your shoes?” she asked, pointing with her pen. He looked down. “I’ve had them for a year or two. What does that have to do with anything?” he looked back up at her. “And how often do your step siblings get new clothes and shoes?” He shrugged, not sure what she was getting at. “More often then I do.” He said. “Julian, that’s neglect.” He crunched the sucker. “How?” she looked at the carpet. “Neglect is in a few ways. Not providing what the child needs,” she gestured to his shoes. “Not paying much attention to them, not caring for them.” She paused. “And the list goes on.” He shook his head and straightened up. “They don’t… I mean I’m not…” he couldn’t hide the doubt in his voice. She spun in her chair and pulled up a document on her computer. “ You said last time that you were here that your father doenst give you affection, attention, or anything like that. That your step mom has gotten more attention from him in one year than you have in your life.” She scrolled down the page. “I was just—“ she cut him off. “You said your mom only complains, saying you can do better.” She turned and looked at him. “Julian. Really. When was the last time you heaed them say I love you to you?” He opened his mouth, but closed it. He couldn’t remember. “I’m not neglected.” He said weakly. She leaned forward and looked at him. “Julian. Please. Just… talk to me about it.” He swallowed hard and looked at her ankles again. “Theres nothing to talk about.” He said and tooka watermellon flavored sucker. “What would you do if I called family services?” He dropped the sucker and looked at her, his mouth open. “What? No. You can’t..” he picked up the sucker. “You don’t need to. Theres nothing to call about.” She put her hand on his, but he pulled away. “No. Okay? No.” He stood up and put his bag on and opened the door. He stopped and said, “Theres nothing to call about, because nothing happens.” He walked out and signed out, walking back to photograhy two. He stopped just down from the classroom. What if she really does call? His stomach churned. He felt sick. She couldn’t call. He turned around and went down stairs, to D wing and into his science class. Mr. Lugin looked up from essay’s they’d had to write days before. “Julian? What’s wrong?” He stood up and bent down to Julian’s height. “Mrs. D… she might call family services.” Mr. Lugin motioned for him to sit down. “For what?” Julian shrugged. “She says I’m neglected.” Mr Lugin knelt down on the tile floor of the science room. “Are you?” he asked. Julian looked up through his hair. “I… don’t know. But she says I am and she looked at what I said las time and she wants to call I don’t know if she is or not and I just…” he put his his face in his hands. “She can’t call.” Mr. Lugin shool his head. “Julian if you are neglected, she has to call. Its part of her job.” Julian looked through his fingers at Mr. Lugin. “Julian, really. Let her call. It’d be for the better.” Julian let his head drop. Everything is getting messed up.