The fucking audacity this boy has.

First, he is so careless to almost die in the snow.

Second, he didn't thank Micah for saving him, or for the clothes, or for the chocolate milk.

And now he's going to send mails to us, begging for a spanking?

I just don't know whether to report him or give him what he wants.

He flinches when Stansley leaves us alone, grumbling something about rules. My eyes narrow on the small boy, who oddly enough looks even smaller than three days ago.

The two sons of Stansley go away too. They seem little jerks, but not as disgusting as the boy in front of me.

Micah's eyes narrow, too. We don't say anything as we wait for him to explain.

He doesn't.

He stares down at the floor, not showing his face. His hands are hidden in Micah's hoodie.

I grunt, "So?" He slumps even more. Keeps his mouth shut.

I look at Micah, who's fuming. Same here. "Bright," he snaps, lowly, to not cause any drama.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I see it's Aiden and pick up, eyeing the boy.

"Whitlock! What's up?"

Finally, Aaron looks up. I'm surprised by the sight of tears shining in his eyes.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with that boy?" Aiden huffs, and I hear footsteps echoing down the hall.

"I have no fucking idea what went up his ass," I tell him, making it obvious to Aaron I'm talking about him.

Micah snorts. "Despite his request, it won't be my dick up his ass."

Ada is near Aiden, because I hear her through the phone. "Now, wait. You are going hard on the boy when you have no idea what happened. Because who on earth would call himself a fag?"

I switch from the calling app back to the screenshot of the mail, seeing he did call himself a fag. Frowning I show it to Micah, who seems to hold back on his anger too.

I hang up on Aiden, because I know he'll be here in a few minutes. "Aaron, this is the time you explain yourself," I tell him, voice low with my anger on the background.

The boy breaks.

His hands appear from inside his—Micah's—hoodie, hiding his face as he lets out sobs. "I didn't send those mails! I've been running after my phone for almost an hour before they gave it back and told me to check my mails. When I did, you had just opened them."

My eyes swap from him to Micah, who shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Who is them?"

Aaron shuts down, his mouth snapped shut as he averts his big blue eyes. His cheeks are stained with tears. I can't stand the sight.

So what do I do? I reach to wipe them away. I would have, if the boy didn't flinch from my touch.

I freeze. Aiden and Ada choose that exact moment to join us. Micah immediately takes them away, though, to a distance to explain everything.

Aaron keeps sobbing in front of me. He tries to stop, I can tell by the way he sucks in deep breaths each time his chest goes up and down.

Fuck. I've never been good with emotional people. The aftercare is nothing for me, and the only time I see someone cry is when I see myself in Ada's eyes.

So I do the thing that's most likely the worst to do right now. I grab his chin, forcing him to look at me."

"Aaron. Look at me." He sobs again, struggling to get out of my hold. "Look. At. Me," I grunt. His eyelids flicker and then, those big blue eyes look up at me.

"Stop crying," I tell him. His hands tighten around his stomach. "I-I'm trying," he whispers, clearly doing exactly so.

I give him some time. My friends join us back, Micah stepping closer to Aaron. "Who are them, Aaron?" His voice almost feels . . . possessive.

"N-no one," the boy chokes out. Ada cocks an eyebrow at him. "So you're saying you did send those mails?"

One look at the boy and anyone can see he did not do it. Ada knows that too, but the them he's talking about need to be punished.

I can see the struggle in his eyes. He doesn't want to snitch, but he also doesn't want to get in trouble for something he didn't do.

"Were they the same as who locked you outside Friday?" Micah asks, and I can hear his brain working.

Slowly, the small boy nods. Aiden pulls out his phone, switching to his notes app. He has every group written in that, so it'll be easy to find who did this.

Aaron notices too. His eyes widen before they fill with desperation. "W-wait—" "Stansley's sons?" Aiden frowns.

The boy flinches harshly, and I know we got it right.

Of course he doesn't dare to tell us. They're the principal's sons, they can't do anything wrong in Stansley's eyes.

I lift his chin again, until our eyes meet. "I'm gonna fix this, Aaron. This is not an innocent joke." His eyes flicker with confusion, but he tries to hide it.

He's uncomfortable.

I understand that. I wasn't the nicest to him Friday, and I'm sure our dads glaring at him didn't help that.

So, I apologize. "I'm sorry for Friday night, Aaron. I had no right to snap at you like that, especially when I didn't know what had happened."

My eyes scan his face as he looks from one of us to the other with a wary expression. "N-no, I'm the one who should say sorry for Friday. I just appeared all of a sudden," he whispers, and a shudder goes over his spine.

My eyes widen as I look to Micah and Aiden. Something doesn't add up with this boy. He apologizes too much, thinks everything is his own fault.

"Don't feel sorry for Friday or for the clothes," Micah tells him, but I can see from his face he'll do it anyway.

"We will take care of those two," Aiden nods at the two boys laughing behind Aaron's back, "and you don't have to worry about it, okay?"

But he does. The boy bites his lip, averting his eyes once again. "I-it's fine, y-you don't have t-too," he stutters.

Jesus Christ. Who hurt this boy?

Ada scoffs. "We don't have to? Aaron," she adds, softening her voice when she sees him flinch again. "This is unacceptable. Both the mails and the locking you outside your house. It doesn't matter they're Stansley's sons, this behavior just can't be accepted."

He gives a little shrug. "Please don't tell the principal. I-I'll talk to them." His voice sounds defeated. As if he doesn't want to be helped.

Stansley's sons run past us, shouting something at Aaron before one pulls off his hoodie-cap and the other take a picture. It sounds like, "Yo, Sullivan, smile or you're a fag!"

Aaron's surprise is immediate, his eyes wide as he tries to put his hoodie back on as soon as possible.

Sullivan? As in that monster?

Micah's eyes grow wide. "Why is your hai—" He stops himself before he continues that sentence. "Aaron, don't tell me they did this."

The boy doesn't even dare to object and just gives a small shrug. "I was asleep, they were awake, so it must have sounded funny."

What the fuck?