I’ve Always Hated Being Looked At.

Mistake, Mistake, Mistake. A Strange Word: Stinging, Somehow.

There Are More Of Us Than You Think.

And When We Are With Alex, I Might As Well Not Be There. They Speak In A Language Of Whispers And Giggles And Secrets; Their Words Are Like A Fairy-tale Tangle Of Thorns, Which Place A Wall Between Us.

But The Guilt Goes Even Deeper Than That. It, Too, Is Dust: Layers And Layers Of It Have Accumulated. Because If It Weren’t For Me, Lena And Alex Would Never Have Been Caught At All. I Told On Them. I Was Jealous. God Forgive Me, For I Have Sinned.

I Vowed After That Day That I Would Be Your Hero Too, No Matter How Long It Took