Chapters (53)
- Front Cover
- Letter from the Author
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- • One •
- • Two •
- • Three •
- • Four •
- • Five •
- • Six •
- • Seven •
- • Eight •
- • Nine •
- • Ten •
- • Eleven •
- • Twelve •
- • Thirteen •
- • Fourteen •
- • Fifteen •
- • Sixteen •
- • Seventeen •
- • Eighteen •
- • Nineteen •
- • Twenty •
- • Twenty-One •
- • Twenty-Two •
- • Twenty-Three •
- • Twenty-Four •
- • Twenty-Five •
- • Twenty-Six •
- • Twenty-Seven •
- • Twenty-Eight •
- • Twenty-Nine •
- • Thirty •
- • Thirty-One •
- • Thirty-Two •
- • Thirty-Three •
- • Thirty-Four •
- • Thirty-Five •
- • Thirty-Six •
- • Thirty-Seven •
- • Thirty-Eight •
- • ∞ •
- • Thirty-Nine •
- • Forty •
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Excerpt from Be Dazzled
- One
- Two
- About the Author
- Back Cover
Kane went rigid with terror. He dreaded what was next: The Coupling. Boys began to pair up with girls like drops of water joining, but no one picked Kane. In seconds, only two people were left: Kane, and—of course, because this always happened to Kane—another boy. Elliot Levi. One of The Boys.
Shit.
The jeering wasn’t concealed this time. Elliot’s friends weren’t going to let him live down dancing with another guy, least of all the only openly gay guy at Amity Regional.
“Get your jazz hands ready, Elliot.”
“And your leotard.”
“Don’t let him get too close.”
“Make sure to leave room for Jesus.”
“Yeah, a threesome with Jesus and Grill-Head Montgomery.”
Coach O’Brien jumped in on that one, but the damage was done. Kane was being used to make fun of Elliot, so now Elliot would do whatever he could to punish Kane and save himself. It was the way straight boys worked.
“Those guys are idiots.”
Kane jerked up. Elliot stood over him.
“What?”
“I’m sorry about those guys. They’re idiots. Ignore them.”
Kane’s pulse twitched in his neck. “You’re actually going to dance with me?”
Elliot shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
“I’m a boy.”
“Cool, me too. Come on.”
Kane began to truly panic. This, somehow, was so much worse. Elliot was willingly dancing with him? What trap was he being led into?
Elliot put out a hand. Kane spent too long considering it. Elliot was as annoying as the rest of The Boys but perhaps a bit more remarkable because he had moved to East Amity from the west coast in seventh grade, had dirty blond hair but darker eyebrows, and wore a fine gold chain around his neck. It had a glinting Star of David on it, Kane remembered. As the class stood in rows facing each other, Kane could see the ridge of the chain beneath Elliot’s thin white shirt, drawn taut against his collarbones.
Belatedly, Kane remembered an old crush he used to have on Elliot. He felt himself begin to sweat as Coach O’Brien kicked a speaker to life, shouting steps over the fiddling.
Elliot took Kane’s hands. Kane continued turning as red as possible.
“I’m not…” Elliot began.
“Don’t worry,” Kane rushed in. “I know you’re not gay. We don’t have to do this. I was going to skip anyways.”
Elliot shook his head. “I was going to say I’m not like those other guys.”
They parted, rejoined. Elliot’s hands were hot.
Kane’s jaw clenched. “They’re your friends.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’m not like them.”
“How so?”
“They’re assholes. I’m different.”
Coach O’Brien walked over, observed, huffed, and strode down the line. Elliot’s friends were in a fit about all of this, of course. They kept trying to get Elliot’s attention. Zachary DuPont kept chanting Kiss! Kiss! Kane’s cheeks flushed.