When the phone rang after supper, Jesse answered before his mother could. He had a gut feeling that it was a call about Noa or Rion, and he turned out to be right.

“Hi, this is Peter. Is Jesse there?”

Peter’s voice sounded so tired on the phone. His voice was short and clipped.

“This is Jesse,” he said. “Did something happen?”

“Jesse. Perfect. Yes, something happened,” Peter said. “I just drove Rion home after I narrowly saved him from getting his face smashed in by Eric.”

Jesse stiffened, immediately worried. He didn’t want to say that he was expecting it, but it was only a partial shock.

“Rion’s okay?” he asked.

“Yes. I stepped in and put a stop to it. Sarina, Eric, and Kyle were all ganging up on him. I didn’t hear much of what was said, but what I did hear was pretty bad. I threatened to call the police on them and they finally smartened up and left.”

“So, Sarina and her friends… Shit,” Jesse said, scrubbing at his face. “That’s…”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Jesse said. “Are you still with Rion, or…?”

“No, I just got home,” Peter said. “I called Danny and we had a talk. I arranged to meet Celeste in about an hour, but now Danny wants to come and we thought you should join us, if you can make it. I understand that it’s short notice–”

“I’ll come,” Jesse said without a second thought. “Where are you meeting? The hotel?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

Jesse didn’t need to get ready so he left early. He was the first one there but, surprisingly, Danny was the next to show up, not fifteen minutes later.

“Hey,” Danny said, flashing him a tired smile. “Glad you could come. We seriously have some stuff to go over.”

“I’ll say,” Jesse said. “So Peter told you what happened?”

“Yeah,” Danny said, grimacing as he sat, joining Jesse in the booth. “God, I feel bad for Rion… Did Peter tell you about the bracelets?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said. “I can hardly believe it. I’m still just… I didn’t expect it. I didn’t think that Noa would do something like that. But then, I guess I didn’t expect it from Rion either and I still believed it was him…”

“Talking to Rion about it was messed up,” Danny said. “He’s really not okay. He broke down in tears and he was just a mess. I feel so bad for him. Like… He’s been putting up with all this stuff this whole time, just to keep Noa safe.”

It made Jesse feel deeply guilty. He nodded and looked down at the worn tabletop between them.

“I feel like…everything just slips between my fingers and I have no control over anything,” Jesse said. “Things like this… All I can do is wonder how it happened and how I didn’t notice or question anything. It makes me feel useless.”

“Well, you’re not useless,” Danny said. “I think Peter has the right idea. We need to support Rion right now. And Noa too. They’ve both been through a lot. They need us.”

“Yeah,” Jesse agreed. “Peter had a conversation with me about supporting Rion. I want to help but I’m not really sure what to do. He suggested checking in on Rion…  That almost feels too awkward, doesn’t it?  We’ve barely spoken in years and because of Sarina…”

“If it helps… I think all of us should get together and talk to Rion. I mean, it’s easier to deal with stuff together. When you’re on your own, you just get caught up in your own head.”

“Yeah. True enough.”

He might have added more but Peter arrived. He looked surprised to see them.

“And here I thought I was early,” he said as he joined their booth, sitting next to Danny.

“Hey,” Danny greeted him. “I was just saying that I think we need to all get together and talk to Rion as a group. Not right away, maybe, but…”

“That’s a good idea,” Peter agreed immediately. “We’re having Rion over on Friday, so maybe I can set a date with him then. And if Noa’s willing, maybe he can join us too.”

“Noa?” Jesse said, perking up. “Do you think he would be up for that? I mean, with how closed off he is…”

“Noa opens right up when it comes to Rion,” Peter said. “Even if we just mention him, Noa starts talking. I think it’s a really good sign. Anything that gets him interacting and social is something we want to encourage.”

That made sense to Jesse. He usually only saw Noa annually at Amber’s grave, and maybe the odd time at a store with one of the Murphys. He was quiet, unresponsive, zombie-like… If Rion was bringing back Noa’s old self, that was definitely a good thing.

“I think Noa will be on our side too,” Danny added. “He’s always really, really liked Rion. They’re best friends. And maybe he can help talk some sense into him.”

“I hope so,” Peter said seriously.

They didn’t have to wait much longer for Celeste to arrive. She quickly joined their table, sliding into the booth next to Jesse.

“Did something happen?” she asked. “I thought you just wanted to talk, Peter.”

“I do,” Peter said. “There’s just…a lot going on. Let’s get you caught up.”

Peter began by filling Celeste in on what he’d already told Jesse and Danny about the bracelets. Celeste asked questions while he talked, but her eyes grew wide and she put a hand to her mouth, mumbling what sounded like a French curse.

“All this time…he’s been lying? To protect Noa?” she said. “But… Sarina needs to know! We have to tell her.”

“Yeah, I totally agree with that,” Danny said.

“Yes…but also no…” Peter said, grimacing. “Because earlier today, I had to stop Sarina, Eric, and Kyle from attacking Rion.”

“No!” Celeste said, shocked and disappointed. “I just talked to Sarina a couple days ago! She seemed… I thought… I felt like she was actually listening to me. She agreed that maybe she’d gone too far with Rion.”

“Either she was lying or she’s normalized attacking Rion,” Peter said. “Judging from what I saw, she’s normalized it. I only heard a bit when I got out of the car but they were calling Rion names like faggot and queer.”

“What? You didn’t mention that over the phone!” Danny said. “Sarina said that?! No!”

“It was Eric and Kyle,” Peter said. “But Sarina wasn’t doing anything to stop them. Rion threw their insults back in their face and I got there just in time to stop Eric from giving him a beating for it. Sarina had the audacity to suggest I was misunderstanding the situation – what a joke! I threatened to call their parents and the police and they finally had the sense to back off.”

“Geez,” Danny said. “That’s messed up… That’s so messed up! What the actual hell is wrong with them?”

“That is messed up,” Jesse agreed, grimacing. “Calling Rion names and then trying to hurt him when he stands up for himself…”

It was wrong. It was so wrong. And it was easy to see why Peter and Danny were so motivated to do something about it. This sounded completely out of control. He had no idea things were this bad.

“I know,” Peter agreed. “I gave Rion a ride home and talked about random stuff with him to calm him down. I think that’s what he needs right now. I don’t think he has anyone to talk to. His dad is hardly ever home and I don’t think he has any other friends…”

“God,” Celeste said, putting her face in her hands for a minute. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that Sarina would… She seemed so sincere when we talked. I felt like I really connected with her.”

“I think she might be a lost cause,” Peter said with a shake of his head.

“Yeah,” Danny said unhappily. “I don’t want that to be true, but…it’s really starting to seem like it.”

“I don’t know…” Celeste said. “I just… I’ll talk to her again. I’ll ask her about it. I already promised that I’d meet up with her some other time. I… I can tell her about the bracelets.”

Peter nodded. “Actually, I would really appreciate that.”

“You would?” Celeste said.

“I don’t want to talk to her,” Peter admitted. “I don’t want anything to do with Sarina right now. Not after what I just saw. But she needs to know the truth. If you would talk to her, I would be very grateful, Celeste.”

Jesse agreed with that too. He really wasn’t impressed with Sarina and her behaviour. He didn’t want to talk to her either. If Celeste was willing to, he would happily let her deal with Sarina.

“I… I need to hear what she has to say for herself,” Celeste said. “I need her to explain it to me. She… I can’t believe that she went and did that after we talked. I really thought I was getting through to her. I thought she was listening. I don’t know what went wrong…”

“I don’t think anything went wrong, Celeste,” Danny said. “It wasn’t you. This was something Sarina decided herself.”

“That’s right,” Peter agreed. “Sarina’s decisions are her own.”

“I know that, but I just… I can’t believe it,” she sighed. “Calling Rion…those names… Why would they do that? Do you think Rion’s actually…you know…gay?”

“Probably not,” Peter said. “Not that it matters either way.”

“Yeah,” Jesse agreed. “It was probably the worst thing they could think to say. I’ve come across people like that online. You’d be surprised how casually some people will throw around slurs.”

“That doesn’t seem like words people should throw around just to be mean,” Celeste said with a frown.

“Some people are jerks,” Danny said with a shrug. “Like Peter said, it doesn’t matter. They’re calling Rion names and it’s wrong. End of story.”

“I know, it’s just… If it is true, it’s going to hurt him more,” Celeste said. “It’s like when I was young and got called fat and ugly… It hurt because it was true.”

“What? You’re not fat or ugly,” Danny said. “Who told you that?”

Celeste blushed. “Danny…I see myself in the mirror every day. I know what I look like.”

“You’re fine!” Danny said. “So you’re not as thin as some other girls or whatever. Who cares? And seriously, who told you this stuff?”

“Well, mostly Jolie, but…”

“And you trust her opinion? Celeste, you know better!”

“Yeah,” Jesse added. “Don’t even worry about that.”

Their reassurances were getting to Celeste because her whole face was red. She shrunk down, clearly getting self-conscious about it.

Celeste has always been quiet, shy, and insecure. Jesse remembered how Amber used to worry about her and how she had to push Celeste to get her to hang out sometimes. Jesse was annoyed at Jolie on Celeste’s behalf. Sure, their families didn’t get along, but to say something like that to her own cousin’s face…

“I… Well… If you say so,” Celeste relented in a small voice. “Anyway, my point still stands. If the insult is true…or if you believe it to be true…it hurts more. Because it’s like a personal attack. I mean, I don’t know about Rion or what he has going on. It’s not any of my business, but…”

“People will call a guy a fag to emasculate him,” Peter said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true. It’s the meanest insult some people can come up with. They say it to make the other guy mad. Happens all the time online, like Jesse said.”

“I guess it would be worse if it was true,” Danny said, musing for a second. “But it doesn’t matter because either way, it needs to stop. I’m sure they’d call Rion anything just to hurt him and it’d never be okay.”

“Yes. What matters is helping Rion,” Peter said. “We need to come up with some strategies.”

“Strategies…?” Celeste repeated. “Like…for managing Eric, Kyle, and Sarina?”

“And for Rion to deal with them,” Peter said. “If he has tools he can use, he won’t stress as much. If we’re people he can come to for support, that will also help. There’s a lot of different options.”

“You’ve really thought this through,” Celeste said. “So, what can we do to help exactly? What kind of strategies have you thought of?”

“It’s still a work in progress,” Peter admitted. “I think we need to be proactive and make an effort to spend time with Rion.”

“So, like you were saying to me before. About checking in on him,” Jesse said.

“Yes, exactly,” Peter said. “If I’m being completely honest, I think Rion probably needs some kind of psychiatric help like Noa. I plan on having a conversation with his dad.”

“That seems a bit… You don’t think that would be overstepping?” Celeste asked, frowning. “I mean… That seems pretty personal and serious and… I don’t know.”

“This whole time, we’ve been thinking that Rion was a cold jerk because of what happened to the bracelet,” Peter said. “Not only is that blatantly untrue, but his situation is almost the same as Noa’s. Amber’s death devastated them. We only treated them differently because Noa shut down. But really, think about it. Rion went through the exact same trauma. He was there when Amber died too. Noa had help, but Rion has nothing. Combined with Sarina and her friends bullying him… He needs help beyond anything we can give him.”

“We should maybe talk to Rion about it first,” Jesse said. “Then he wouldn’t feel like we were going behind his back.”

“Yeah, I like that idea,” Danny said. “We can get his thoughts on it too that way. He’s not a little kid or anything. He’ll be eighteen in a couple months, right?  Maybe it’s something he could be convinced to do on his own.”

“Maybe,” Peter said. He hesitated. “Therapy can be expensive though. It would be better with his father’s support.”

“I agree that we should talk to him first,” Celeste said. “If Rion doesn’t want to go, then it doesn’t matter if we convince his dad. I mean, isn’t that Noa’s problem? I heard that you guys went through a lot of doctors because Noa doesn’t talk…”

“Noa’s situation is different, but…you’re not wrong,” Peter said. “Rion needs to be willing to try it for it to work. Still, even if he refuses, I want to make sure that we at least start being proactive and start supporting him. I think even just having normal conversations with us will help him.”

“I can do that much for sure,” Danny said. “I live right across the way from him now. It’s no problem.”

“I’m willing to try,” Celeste said. “But I think we need to do more things as a group. Like a…an icebreaker. We should warm up to each other since it’s been so long since we connected, and… Rion might be worried that it’s all fake.”

“Fake?” Danny said.

Celeste gave a small, helpless shrug. “I mean, we’ve all been apart for so long. He might have trouble believing that we forgive him so easily. It’s been six years…”

“Okay. Then the first step is getting us all together again,” Peter said. “That’s simple enough.”

“So, we’ll get together, break the ice, smooth things over, and once things are going well, then we’ll suggest therapy?” Jesse said. “That’s the plan so far? Aside from, you know, checking in on him.”

“That’s the plan,” Peter said.

“We can tweak it as we go,” Danny said. “Like, maybe Celeste will get super, super lucky and actually have a breakthrough with Sarina.”

“But we can’t count on that,” Peter said. “As far as the bullying goes, I say that we call it out if we see it and if Rion is in danger, we call the police.”

Celeste went wide eyed and even Danny looked unsure. Jesse understood. It was uncomfortable to think about the situation being that serious. Even he felt uneasy about taking it that far.

“Are you sure?” Jesse asked. “I mean… I understand that what they’re doing isn’t right… But calling the police?”

“Bullying tends to escalate,” Peter said. “They’re already leaving him black and blue and cutting him down verbally. They could easily cause Rion a severe injury or even kill him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… I don’t think Sarina and them are trying to kill him…” Danny said, holding up his hands.

“I don’t think they are either,” Peter said. “But accidents happen. One wrong punch to the nose or even shoving him off the sidewalk… Too much verbal abuse could even cut Rion down enough to make him take his own life. This isn’t a game, it’s serious.”

Jesse wished it wasn’t true, but it was. When Peter put it into perspective like that…yeah. Rion could get seriously hurt, even if Sarina and her friends weren’t meaning to take things that far. They were already okay with throwing around slurs and beating him up…

The thought of Rion taking his own life was a hard one for Jesse. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t familiar with those thoughts himself. After Amber had died, Jesse had considered following her. He’d gone through a very dark period filled with dark thoughts. What held him back was the thought that Amber would never have wanted that. She would have wanted him to be happy.

He didn’t think he was happy yet, but he was doing a lot better. Therapy had helped. There were things that he enjoyed doing and he was figuring life out. He knew that was the right thing to do.

Maybe Jesse needed to have a serious conversation with Rion; sit down and talk honestly, just the two of them. It might not help, but…

“I’ll talk to Sarina again,” Celeste said. “I want to ask her why she would do that after our last conversation. If she doesn’t have a good answer then… I don’t know.”

“Might have to give up on her,” Danny said glumly. “As extreme as it sounds, calling the cops on them might be the right thing to do. I mean, this really is that serious…”

“But we have each other,” Peter said. “That’s why we need to work together. This is too much for anyone on their own. We can’t even fix things. We can only help and make a support structure. The rest is up to Rion.”

“I’m for it,” Jesse said. “All of this sounds like a better plan than sitting around and doing nothing.”

“Okay,” Celeste said. “I’ll do what I can too. I’ll let you know how things work out with Sarina.”

“Great,” Danny said. “So, we should pick some times when we’re all free, right? So that we can start by getting together with Rion?”

“Yes,” Peter said. “Let’s run by some dates and when I see Rion on Friday, I’ll do my best to set something up.”