When Zach’s number popped up on Caleb’s phone, he hesitated before answering. He and Zach had never spoken on the phone before. They’d always texted or talked online. For Caleb, speaking on the phone represented a different level of familiarity. It was something he reserved for close friends. Not that Zach wasn’t becoming a close friend. But Caleb hadn’t had to decide if he was or wasn’t. He knew that Zach must have been calling to see how he was after the fall. Caleb appreciated the fact that he cared. It was more evidence that Zach was a good guy.

“You okay?” Zach asked when Caleb finally answered.

“Yeah,” Caleb said. “A little banged up. That’s all.”

“I’m really sorry,” Zach said. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to try that hill. You needed more practice.”

“Not your fault,” Caleb said. “I wanted to do it.”

“Man, when I found you on your back in the grass laughing,” Zach said, “I didn’t know what to think.”

“You looked like I’d totally lost it,” Caleb said.

They shared a chuckle over the memory.

“Think you’ll try again?” Zach asked hopefully.

“Sure, uh, one of these days,” Caleb said. What he didn’t say was that he was thinking of switching to a sport that was slightly less dangerous, like badminton.

It felt like they’d come to the end of the conversation. Then Zach said, “Well, the weekend’s coming up. Want to hang out?”

Caleb detected a needy edge in Zach’s voice. Here was a kid who hadn’t had a lot of friends in his life. The truth was, Caleb would have been happy to do something with Zach, except that he only had Saturday, and he already had plans to meet his cousins from Springdale at the mall. Should he invite Zach along? Caleb hadn’t seen his cousins in a while and was eager to catch up with them. Plus, he knew how squirrelly Zach could be around new people. Caleb was worried that it might be awkward for everyone involved.

When he said he had plans to meet his cousins at the mall and wouldn’t have any other time to hang out, Zach didn’t reply. Now Caleb felt bad, so he said, “But maybe we can hang out next weekend, okay?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Zach tried to sound upbeat.

“Well, I better go,” Caleb said. “See ya.” He got off the phone, but the bad feeling didn’t go away. Every time they got together, Zach was super nice and sincere. Why couldn’t he be that way, too?

When Crosby found Dave online that night, he couldn’t tell him about what had happened in the eSports club that day because he’d led Dave to believe that he’d graduated high school and was working in a warehouse. Before they started playing, Dave told him about a rally being planned in Franklin. Wasn’t that near where Crosby lived? The event would be the following week. It was being organized by a group called Identity Evropa, who believed that America had been founded and created for white Europeans. The rally wasn’t going to be against anything. It was just meant to show support for the white race. But, of course, that hadn’t stopped the blue-pill snowflakes from trying to go to court to prevent it.