Cindy voted to stay home from school due to how late we were up but I went, trying to soak up the human contact. Sophomore year I lived for attention but, even though I was better than last year, I still wasn't comfortable about attention all on me.

On my way to lunch I ran into someone I hadn't seen since the court day when they imprisoned my cousin. "Kennedy!" he called with a big smile. "I heard you were back. Good to see you."

I stopped and decided to talk to him for a while, "Hey, Crowley. I can't believe I'm saying this but it's good to see you too."

"Oh, I go by Steven now. I've changed a lot since sophomore year."

I could tell. If he were the same person as he was back then, he would have already told everyone the entire story behind my disappearance. But, from the rumors I've already heard, that wasn't the case.

"And, Dee, I really am sorry about how I treated you in the past. It was really shitty of me. To be honest, I was trying to impress my father so I blindly believed what he believed. Which isn't an excuse, but I just want to say sorry." he gave me a sad smile.

"Are you only sorry because of what your cousin did to me?"

He shook his head and his eyes widened. "No, I swear it. His actions helped me realize how shitty I was to people but I'm apologizing for myself, not for him."

I nodded then made my way to a lunch table, he followed. "Sit with me?" we both sat down and he smiled. "I forgive you, Steven. But I forgave you a year ago."

He gave me a confused look, "I didn't apologize a year ago?"

I shrugged, "sometimes you have to apologize to people who aren't sorry. I forgave him for what he did to me even though he probably wouldn't be sorry if he were still alive." I hoped Steven realized who I was talking about. "Having grudges doesn't affect the other person at all, it just makes you bitter."

"That's a good way to put things. And, I know that forgiving doesn't mean you want to be my friend but... would you?"

I nodded. He offered half of his Subway sandwich, noticing I had no food. I flinched at a distant memory, Subway quickly became a trigger for me after the first time Steven's cousin hit me. I claimed that I ate lunch at home.

"You've gotten pretty thin, Kennedy." this boy was going to hit every trigger I had before this conversation was over. But I couldn't get mad at him, he didn't know. Nobody knew.

"My meds. They're really weird." I half lied. My meds did weird stuff to me and, thankfully, "appetite or weight change" was a side effect. Nobody needed to know my appetite change was my choice. "Does your family hate me?"

Steven thought for a moment then nodded sadly. "His parents never really liked you. So, when everything came up they assumed that you falsely accused him of everything as an excuse for your cousin and friend killing him. My dad doesn't think you falsely accused him but he does think you deserved it all." He noticed me flinch and lightly placed a hand on my arm. "Which is another reason I rethought my moral values."

By this time the lunch bell rang and he got up to leave, "thank you so much, Dee. Have a good day and give my regards to your dads." and, this time, his comment and smile were both genuine.