The Alliance Read Free

anymore. Threatened his life, even. You’re wrong. That kind of thing
can
be stopped. And it
should
be stopped.”
    Ren got quiet. He looked around to see if anybody else on the team was listening, then leaned in.
    â€œDude, don’t you have enough to do already? You’re already in, like, six clubs already. You’ve got football now, baseball in the spring. You’re on track to be valedictorian. You go starting a new club, you won’t have time to study. You’ll blow it all … why? Just because some perverts are getting picked on? Not worth it, dude.”
    Ren punched me on the shoulder before grabbing his backpack and leaving. I don’t know why I bothered trying to talk to him about it. At least it showed me that I had a lot of work ahead of me. And there was one bright spot: trying to explain it to the rest of the school could never be as hard as trying to explain it to Jon Renquist.
    â€“ – – – –
    Cory met me outside the locker room. She threw me a toothy smile and handed me a mango smoothie, like she did every day after practice.
    â€œYou’re the best,” I said. I downed half the cup immediately.
    Cory linked her arm with mine, and we walked down the halls. “Are you feeling better?”
    â€œNot really. I can’t stop thinking about Jamie.”
    â€œWould you like to come with me to church on Sunday? You could talk to Father Erikson. I always talk to him when I’m sad or confused.”
    I didn’t want to offend her, but religion was never really my thing. “Thanks, but that’s okay. I was doing some research online last night, and I think I know one thing that might make me feel better. Do you think the office is still open?”
    â€œI doubt it. School got out an hour ago. Why?”
    â€œI need to get the paperwork to start a new club.”
    Cory’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that sounds fun. What kind of club?”
    I explained to her about the GSA I wanted to start in Jamie’s memory. She smiled and nodded.
    â€œThat’ll be a lot of work,” she said. “Are you sure you’ll have time for it? What about your grades?”
    Ugh. Something was wrong with the world when my girlfriend was asking the same questions as Ren.
    â€œI’ll
make
time for it. This is really important to me. I feel like I should have been there for Jamie. I feel like I let him down.”
    Cory drew me close and kissed me hard. She pulled back slowly so that only our foreheads were touching. She looked me right in the eye.
    â€œI bet you anything that if you could ask him, Jamie would say you never let him down. I’m sorry that, for whatever reason, he didn’t think he could tell you about everything that was going on. But it wasn’t your fault. You were such a good friend to him.”
    I really wanted to believe that. Some nights, I stared at the ceiling and got mad at Jamie. It seemed so selfish for him to kill himself and not even give me the chance to help him. But then I turned it around and got mad at whoever made him feel like his life wasn’t worth anything. Like suicide was the only way out. I didn’t know what I’d do if I ever found out who did that to him.
    â€œLet’s go,” I said. “I can stop by the office in the morning. First thing tomorrow, we lay the groundwork for Southside’s new GSA.”
    Cory’s lips pulled back. It looked like she was smiling, but I couldn’t really tell. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought she was biting her tongue.
    â€œSure,” she said. “Tomorrow.”

I
    couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. Mr. Olson gave me his dirtiest look ever. And he’d given me plenty since school started. From the minute I walked into his class, his looks told me exactly what he thought of me. When Ma looked at my clothes, she just hated that they weren’t her style. When Olson looked at me, his eyes