“I just didn’t see how it would matter to you!”

Jesse saw the other boy go still. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously soft.

“I thought you were dead.

“Yeah,” Jesse challenged, “and?”

His friend twisted one hand into his already disheveled black curls, slashing the other wildly through the air.

“I thought I would never see you again! In what universe would that not mean anything to me?”