“Leo and I have been having a good talk,” she said. “About Angela . . . about everything.”

“She helped me remember stuff,” said Leo. “Like being on the team with you. Playing football with the football star’s son.”

“Yeah, well my dad wasn’t a football star where I come from.”

“Too bad,” said Leo.

“Not really.”

The fact that they had been talking about this without me present was a good thing. Three heads were better than one, and with both of them on board, I didn’t feel so alone.

“So how did the world change?” said Katie. “Out with it.”

Interesting choice of words. “The world didn’t exactly change,” I told them.

“Bro, it’s a yes or no question,” Leo said. “Either it did or it didn’t.”

“Okay, yes. Yes, there was a change.”

“And?” prompted Katie.

I took a moment to look at each of them and realized there was just no way around this. So I just told them.

“I’m gay.”

Katie continued to look at me, as if there’d be more. “And?”

“There is no ‘and.’ That’s it.”

“Ash,” she said, with an impish grin, “that’s not really a surprise . . .”

Leo, who didn’t know me at all in this world, had the wisdom to stay quiet and just let this play out between me and Katie.

“Wait—you already knew?” I asked her.

“I suspected.”

I scrolled back through my memories of this world. I thought I had done a pretty good job keeping it on the down-low. “How’d you know?”

“Well . . . maybe because you only dated ‘safe’ girls. And how, at parties, the way you’d always strike up conversations with good-looking guys.”

“I was just being social!” I insisted.

“Right. Anyway, if you’re worried about being outed, don’t,” said Katie. “I’m probably the only one who noticed. Most people are too much into themselves to see things like that.”

And then something occurred to me. The reason why Katie was aware, when others weren’t. “You noticed because . . . you were interested in me?”

“Maybe,” she said. “But that’s moot now, isn’t it?”

I took a deep breath. “In the other worlds it wouldn’t have been moot.” And then I told her. “In the last world we kissed.”

She took a moment. Maybe she remembered something of that kiss, maybe not, but after thinking about it, she said, “I’m sure that created a whole lot of problems that I’m glad we don’t have to deal with right now.” And she was absolutely right.

Through all of this, Leo sat back, absorbing. Finally he shook his head and laughed. “So let me get this straight: the big jock football lineman, whose famous father is T-ville’s favorite son . . . is gay.”

“Yeah,” I said, getting defensive. “You got a problem with that?”