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“Forty,” Mikey said, waving that away as she gestured with her ball for him to get on with it. “Start talking.”

Sighing, Sebastian reached over and turned the sink on. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“And if I was anyone else, I would probably believe that,” Mikey said as she walked over and hopped up onto the bathroom counter while he rinsed his hands off.

“Just drop it,” Sebastian said, turning the faucet off and reached for a hand towel only to mutter a curse under his breath when she placed her ball on the counter and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer so that she could inspect the gash running across his palm.

“Not happening,” she mumbled absently as she inspected his hand, noting the broken blisters, the jagged cut that didn’t look like it was going to need stitches, and the?

“Damn it!” Sebastian snapped as she pulled out a nasty looking splinter.

“You were saying?” Mikey reminded him as she reached for the soap.

“I fixed Mrs. Blaine’s ramp if you must know, you evil little gremlin,” he bit out on a hiss as she carefully washed his hand.

“That was very nice of you,” Mikey murmured as she used the pad of her thumb to carefully clean his cut, “but that’s not why you’re upset.”

He was quiet for a moment and then…

“I didn’t get in.”

“Didn’t get in where?” Mikey absently asked as she grabbed a hand towel off the counter and carefully pressed it against his palm.

When he didn’t say anything, she looked up at him as she said, “You know that you can tell me anything.”

Sighing heavily, he said, “I tried to register for high school,” taking her by surprise.

“

Really?” Mikey asked only to bite back a groan when he ground his jaw as he pulled his hand free with that look on his face that told her that he was about to shut down on her.

He was her best friend and she loved him more than anything, but sometimes, now being one of those times, she wanted to throttle him. Why did he have to make everything so damn difficult? Mikey had to wonder as she reached over and grabbed hold of his shirt before he could storm off and make her job more difficult.

“Tell me what’s going on,” she said softly, using her hold on his shirt to pull him back.

“They feel that it would be in my best interest if I continued my education from the comfort of my own home,” Sebastian said, trying to shrug it off like it was no big deal but the look on his face…

“Can they even do that?” Mikey asked as she grabbed the antibacterial ointment, the small box of gauze pads, and medical tape that her mother kept well-stocked for moments like this from the medicine cabinet.

“The only thing that they have to do is provide me with access to a public education,” Sebastian said, watching as she carefully laid his hand in her lap.

“And they found a way of doing that without allowing you to step foot on campus,” Mikey guessed as she carefully applied ointment to his cut.

“The district has started to offer an online alternative for students who don’t want to go to school, which means that they don’t have to worry about trying to come up with an excuse not to let me go next year. They were kind enough to send me a link so that I could register, along with a reminder that I am not eligible for any extracurricular activities because of my expulsion,” Sebastian explained as she finished bandaging his hand while she watched him.

For a moment, Mikey didn’t say anything and then, she asked the one thing that they’d always avoided talking about.

“Why didn’t you go to Radcliffe when you had the chance, Sebastian?”

“Just drop it,” he said, pulling his hand away, and this time, she let him.

“Why didn’t you go to Radcliffe when you had the chance?” she repeated, refusing to let it go this time.

“Because Jonathan wouldn’t have been able to go if I had,” he admitted, taking her by surprise because she honestly hadn’t expected him to answer her.

“What are you talking about?” Mikey asked, watching him as he rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Sebastian said, looking as though he was debating whether or not he should say anything else.