If Thomas stopped now, he knew he wouldn’t go through with it. So he kept going and nearly plowed right into an unsuspecting Vic, who was getting a book out of his locker.

Thomas threw the note into the locker as if it were a piece of trash. “Good one, man,” he called out.

Vic turned around and looked at him.

For a moment there was this look of disbelief on the guy’s face.

I look that unconvincing, huh?

Vic spit out a curse word and turned around, ignoring him.

“I mean it, man. I’m serious.”

Vic picked up the note and turned around as he slowly opened it.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Why don’t you lay off me?”

Vic read the note for a minute, then looked at Thomas, then looked back at the note.

“You’re a redneck fool, you know that?” Vic said.

“Takes one to know one,” Thomas said, suddenly feeling as if he were in third grade.

A couple of Vic’s friends came up near the locker to observe a potential fight.

“What is your deal, boy?” Vic asked.

“I’m sick of jokes like that.”

“Like your Facebook page?” Vic sneered at him, causing the guys who had just walked up to snicker.

“Yeah, well, maybe you oughta take a look at that page now,” Thomas said.

“And why’s that?”

Thomas ignored his question. “What’d I ever do to you? Huh? Tell me.”

“I’m tellin’ you that you wave that little bony finger in front of my face ever, and I mean ever again, I’m going to break it in so many pieces that you’ll never be able to put it back together.”

Control. Breathe. Don’t run. Don’t pass out.

“So I beat you in a game. Are you ever going to get over it?”

Vic tossed the note to the floor in front of Thomas.

“I’ll tell you this—if I wasn’t being watched like a hawk, I’d make you eat that stupid letter. But I want to play ball for my school. Got that? I get to play ball for my school.”

“Just give me time,” Thomas said.

“Time before what?”

“You might end up watching me play while you sit.”

The look on the bully’s face revealed that Thomas wasn’t that far off with the comment. Vic had seen enough. Before he walked away, he added, “And look—if I wanted to play tricks with your head, I’d use someone a lot more believable than Cass to do it with. I’m not the only one who thinks you’re a mutant.”

With that Vic left, leaving Thomas to realize that the letter really, truly was from Cass.

I didn’t believe it despite what Carlos had said.

He picked up the letter that suddenly wasn’t a mocking taunt from a stupid bully but rather a nice note from a girl who obviously was interested in him.

He glanced around the hallway to see if anybody else watched him.

Suddenly Thomas felt more fear than he had in going to confront Vic.