Page 106 of Black Hollow: Awakening

“Laugh all you want,” Will replied, taking a few sips of his drink. “I bet half the school added you.”

“Not a chance, I don’t have that crap. Honestly, I don’t know much about that stuff. I can barely use this.” Liam pulled a phone from his jacket pocket and waved it in front of Will’s face. “This is enough for me. But I don’t believe that about the small number of friends. You’ve got a lot of guys saved in your phone.”

“Not from here, from Greenhill,” Will explained, thinking of the town where he grew up. “Besides, only a few of them are actual friends. Most are guys I met online and was supposed to meet up with, but nothing came of it… Or guys I did meet up with, and nothing came of that either. I should clean out my contacts.”

“Never anything?”

“Nothing.”

“Why?”

“I’m just… kind of… like… you know.” Will didn’t quite know how to put his thoughts into words. “Not very attractive. Not like Dan. I always told him, Danny, if you just cleaned yourself up a bit, everyone would be all over you. But Dan is Dan, he totally ignored me until KC took an interest in him. And now he looks like a heartthrob. God, don’t listen to me,” he mumbled, realizing he was trashing his own friend and sounding like a bitter, jealous asshole.

Fortunately, Liam diplomatically changed the subject.

“What was Greenhill like?”

“Good. To be honest, not much happened. I was looking for my place, but I couldn’t quite find it.”

“I think you’ve found it now, haven’t you?” Liam asked with a smile.

Will smiled back.

“Yeah. I think so.”

The situation with Norma had pissed him off, but he had to admit that overall, he felt good here. He could count on the people around him.

They kept talking. The first drinks disappeared, then the second, and soon they were on their third. Will was feeling very relaxed.

“Can I ask something that will probably ruin the mood?” he suddenly blurted out.

“After an intro like that, you have to. Otherwise, the curiosity will kill me.”

“Why did you pick on me?”

Liam froze, looking genuinely surprised.

“What?”

“I’m talking about the damn ball,” Will confessed with a hint of resentment. “And please, don’t tell me it was an accident.”

“It wasn’t.”

Good, at least Liam wasn’t going to treat him like an idiot.

“So why?” Will repeated, watching Liam carefully. That behavior didn’t fit the Liam he knew at all. “Why did you single me out?”

To be fair, Danny had gotten hit a few times too, but probably only because he was with Will.

“Do you remember the first time I hit you?”

“Was it any different from all the other times?” Will muttered, not sure what difference it made.

“Well, I remember. I was roughhousing with Kent and knocked the ball out of his hands, and it hit you. You picked it up, came over to return it, smiled, and said, sorry.”

“Okay.” Will still didn’t get where this was going. “And?”

“So when I saw you the next day, I threw it at you on purpose. You did the same thing again. You gave me the ball back and apologized with a smile.”