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down, but I could still hear the laughing in the halls and in class, and my hands were trembling with rage (bombed a calc test). Then Reese and Karpinski both made stupid gay sex cracks when I got to chemistry. ( Kill! Kill! ) But, Karpinski also said, “Dude, let’s go to Steve’s and plan how you’re gonna get your revenge, man.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Yes.”
    â€œFreaking punk kids,” Reese said.
    â€œPunk kids?” I asked.
    â€œGus and those guys.”
    â€œGus?”
    â€œOf course, man,” Karpinski said. “Who else would do that shit to you? Dude calls me a honky (Gus still calls townie kids that, Aleah) and crap. He’s the only one of those dicks who isn’t afraid of me.”
    â€œGus?” I said again.
    Gus. Gus…for a moment I wanted to wrap up in blankets and lie down in a corner somewhere. Gus.
    After school, while I was heading into the locker room for track practice, I saw Gus and Maddie laughing in the commons. Maddie waved at me and said, “Hi, Felton!” really sarcastically and then my guts just tightened up so much I thought I’d get sick and I sort of scuttled away. He and Maddie totally laughed behind me.
    Gus. Poor guy.
    I didn’t stay after track practice to do extra running and stretching like I usually do. My hamstring hurt. Plus, during track practice I moved from wanting to wrap in a blanket to very big anger. It wasn’t about the poster anymore. It was about Gus, who betrayed me! You’ve betrayed me! I hissed inside my monkey head.
    I will throw you in the Mississippi and watch you float away.
    After practice, I threw my bike in the back of Cody’s pickup truck and went to Steve’s Pizza with Karpinski, Cody, and Reese.
    We ordered pizza at 6:25 or so. (Something important was happening at 6:30, of course. Andrew’s concert. Crap.)
    While we waited for the pizza to come, Karpinski went over options for getting revenge on Gus for putting up the porny pic, even though there was no confirmation that Gus had done it.
    Karpinski suggested the following: slash Gus’s car tires, beat Gus up in the bathroom, break Gus’s car windows, kidnap Gus and throw him in a wet ditch, piss on Gus’s locker, tie Gus to a tree, etc.
    Reese nodded thoughtfully.
    I stared at Karpinski’s forehead, occasionally wincing (but still very, very angry at Gus and ready for some kind of action).
    Cody, who is a better human being, shook his head, no .
    The pizza came and we ate in silence for a while. Then Karpinski said, “Toilet paper, dudes. We’ll cover his whole house.”
    Reese said, “Yeah. That way no one gets hurt, but we send a message not to screw with Felton.”
    I liked the idea. Gus should know that I travel with a posse. “That actually makes sense,” I said.
    Then I thought: Gus’s house? My best friend’s house? The house where Aleah lived last summer when Gus was out of the country? The house my dad hung out in when he was alive? Trash it? Then I pictured Gus’s mom, Teresa, out there pulling wads of wet toilet paper out of her bushes, wondering why the world is such a terrible place.
    â€œWait, I don’t know…” I said.
    â€œOf course you don’t,” Cody said.
    â€œI know,” Karpinski said. “I completely know.”
    â€œNo. It probably wasn’t Gus. Felton and Gus have been buddies forever. Just relax.” Cody shook his head.
    â€œThat’s bullshit,” Karpinski said, stuffing more pizza in his mouth. “He’s the only one, man.” Pizza popped out of his mouth.
    â€œIsn’t that Maddie chick one of Andrew’s friends?” Reese asked. “Would she really be mean to Felton?”
    It’s true, Aleah, Maddie, Gus’s girlfriend, and Andrew are friends.
    â€œYou are so dang wussy,” Karpinski said, shaking his head at Reese, pizza bits firing onto the table.
    Maddie