After a painfully long silence, Mikayla stood up. Her face was furious, eyes darting between Kaz, Siggy, and Constance.

"Stop it," she said, voice shaking with anger. "Leo and I didn't do anything. Stop lying."

"You gave me his phone," Siggy said. "While he was off tonguing Killian, you gave me his phone yesterday."

Oh. Oh no.

Last night, after Kaz had figured out what Constance was going to do, he and I ended up back in my room making out. Kaz had tossed his phone on his desk before he left, not wanting to deal with Aaron anymore.

I yanked my phone out of my pocket and checked my messages. There was a reply to Aaron, the same one currently projected on the board. But when...

When I was showering. Of course. Leo and I had both gone to the showers at the same time. Someone must've went into our room while we were gone and texted off my phone.

I checked the time of the reply, confirming my thoughts. It had been sent around the same time I had gone to shower this morning.

"Siggy," Mikayla said, staring at him in surprise. "You did this?" She clenched her fists tightly. "You...You..." Unable to find a word, she glared at him.

"Constance is making him do it!" Rogan snapped. "Seph would never do that unless they made him!"

Siggy looked at Kaz. "I chose to do it."

Kaz was desperately trying to recover his composure. "How unfortunate."

"Kaz, he's lying, okay? Leo and I didn't know he was going to hurt you. He said he needed to see your phone to text Rogan," Mikayla said.

"Killian, let me see your phone," Kaz said, and my heart sank as I handed it over to him. He never called me Killian.

He looked at the conversation between me and Aaron. He handed the phone back to me silently.

"You're good, Constance, but I'm better," Kaz said. "The time of that text? Killian was in the shower. Siggy and Cam had full access to the room and the phone."

Thank the friggin' lord that Kaz wasn't the type to flip out as soon as he saw something that looked bad. Oh, thank god he actually thought things through rationally.

"We'd never betray Kaz," Leo said fiercely.

But Kaz was staring at Siggy. Siggy met his eyes with an unflinching gaze, face as emotionless as always. He didn't try to deny anything. Just silently accepted his role in this betrayal.

"Kaz," I said, realizing what Constance was doing. He knew that Kaz wasn't an idiot. He knew damn well that Kaz would look at the situation rationally and find out that Leo, Mikayla, and I hadn't meant to hurt him. But Siggy had done this on purpose, whether Constance had forced him to or not. That was enough to send Kaz spiraling back into the memories of what Aaron had done to him. Kaz never got over that, and now Constance was flinging him back into it. All it took was that initial shock to push Kaz to the edge, and Siggy was the final piece that finally dragged Kaz down.

Kaz didn't look at me. I realized that he was trying to hide the quickening rise and fall of his chest.

"Casimir," I said sharply, finally catching his attention. "Constance made Siggy do this."

"Constance didn't make me do anything," Siggy said. "I had a choice, and I stand by my decision."

"Hey, listen buddy, I wasn't talking to you," I said. "Shut your mouth and go back to being angry mayonnaise."

"Perhaps we should see just how poor your friendship choices are," Constance said, nodding at Mr. Sudlow.

Mr. Sudlow pulled up a video and Kaz's face paled even more. He dug his nails into his palms, stuffing his hands in his pockets to hide it.

Mr. Sudlow started the video and I watched as a shaky phone camera tried to focus in on Kaz and Aaron in the dark. They were crouched together behind a fence, peeking through small gaps in it.

"Now," whoever was holding the camera whispered.

Kaz and Aaron got up and pulled themselves over the tops of the fence. The camera moved so that it was pressed against a gap, watching as the two boys ran forward. Aaron hid himself behind a bush, motioning at Kaz to keep going. Kaz ran forward and snatched something off of the back porch of a house and a light flicked on above him.

The person holding the camera laughed quietly, someone else laughing off screen too. "Man, what a fucking idiot. Kind of hope he gets caught."

"Nah, not yet, we still need him if we want that money," the other voice said.

Aaron made his way back, leaping over the fence as Kaz started back towards it. Aaron brushed a hand through his hair, snickering.

"Guess I forgot to warn him about the automatic lights," Aaron said, and the video cut out.

One look at Kaz made it very clear that he had never seen that video before. He stared at the board, hurt slowly entering his eyes.

I didn't even realize I was standing until I slammed my hands down against my desk. "He had some pretty shitty friends, sure, but we're not shitty. We would never treat him like that." My gaze snapped to Siggy. "And you, Siggy? Fuck you. Kaz went out of his way for you and Rogan. He protected Rogan in class when he could. And you're such a pussy that you'd rather hurt the guy who's been nothing but good to you rather than stand up to Constance or your parents. You've claimed my throne as the king of bad decisions. Congratulations, asshole."

"Shut up!" Rogan said furiously. "Shut up! They're making him do this!"

"No one is making me do anything." Siggy's voice was calm and his face gave nothing away. "I took the pictures from Kaz's phone. I took Aaron's number and got the video from him."

"And you sent that text off of my phone," I said. "I sure as hell didn't text that psycho."

Siggy didn't say anything, but his silence was the answer to that question. Kaz ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh, trying so hard to hold onto his façade as all eyes on the room remained on him. He'd always been their strong leader. Their hope.

In Kaz's mind, he wasn't allowed to be weak. He wasn't allowed to get hurt in front of everyone. He had to stay strong at all times or else they'd doubt his abilities to fight back.

So Kaz did what he did best, and hid away his hurt. "What a shame, Siggy. And here I thought we had a mutual respect."

"You're a filthy Maroon," Siggy said.

"Filthy? I just showered this morning," Kaz said with a frown.

"This is bullshit." Pete's voice was sharp, trying to cut through the fading haze of his drugs. He usually took another pill during lunch, and being so close to that time, he must be coming off his high. "Give me a half hour and I'll kick your ass, Siggy."

"You can't do anything to me. You're just a useless, drugged up lump," Siggy said.

"Boys, boys. Settle down," Constance said as he watched them. "Peter, make sure you take your pills on time. Or else I'll be calling your family. Maybe they'll want to up your dosage."

"Hey, Constance, you can shove my pills right up your asshole. This is all your fault," Pete said.

"Pete, Pete, Pete. Calm down," Kaz said. "Constance is desperate, and he's lost. Today didn't get to any of us."

It was a clear lie, and Constance's smile said he knew it. He knew he'd finally gotten to Kaz.

Mr. Sudlow replayed the video and I saw how badly it was getting to Kaz. I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what. How was I supposed to help Kaz? If I tried anything, Siggy and Cam would stop me.

"Stop playing that damn video before I break your laptop!" Mikayla threatened.

'We cannot hope to fix you kids if you won't face your pasts," Constance said.

"What do you want Kaz to face that he hasn't already?" Mikayla demanded. "He made mistakes. He fell in with the wrong crowd. But now he's 10 times the man you could ever hope to be, Constance. He has good friends and he's grown into someone people can look up to."

"He's got a shitty ego but a good heart," I said. "Also shitty hair. But, you know, good heart."

"He's not shitty like you are," Pete said, narrowing his eyes at Constance. "If I could punch one person in this room, it would be you, Constance. And that's saying something considering I've been rooming with Kaz since he came to this place."

"You don't fix us. You break us. Kaz is the only reason you haven't managed to do that," Leo said.

Kaz stared at all of us as if trying to comprehend the impact he'd left on us. As if he was used to loving without being loved back.

I hated his old friends. I hated how they'd left a Kaz who was shocked to find out his friends actually cared about him. They'd made him feel like nothing more than a tool, and he still hadn't recovered from that abuse.

Mikayla and Pete nodded at each other and moved forward. Siggy and Cam tried to step up and stop them, but Pete body-slammed Cam against the wall and Mikayla hit Siggy so hard that he fell to the ground.

They went up to the computer, Pete making sure no one could stop Mikayla as she deleted the pictures and the video. She slammed the laptop shut and looked at Constance with eyes that dared him to challenge her right now.

For the love of god, please piss her off. I needed to see those muscles in use and I needed to see Constance begging for his life as a 17 year old girl beat the shit out of him.

But Constance simply smiled at her, unbothered now that'd finally defeated Kaz. Kaz had been his goal all along. The rest of us had just been a way to get to Kaz.

"I believe class is dismissed early," Constance said, standing up. "What a fascinating class to watch. Joseph, Cam, let's go. Casimir, I'll be seeing you around."

The three left the room. Mikayla and Pete hurried over to Kaz, Leo getting up to join them. I just stood there, staring at him as he forced a smile and a laugh for them. He'd never be weak if it meant hurting them. He'd rather tuck it all away, destroy himself from the inside out.

"Alright, that's enough," I said, shoving through them and grabbing Kaz's arm. I yanked him to his feet and dragged him towards the door. "You, come with me. The rest of you, go find the kid and tell him the shit that went down."

I pulled Kaz with me out of the academic building and shoved him up against a tree, out of earshot of other students. Kids were talking excitedly about what had just gone down in Mr. Sudlow's class.

"Enough of this conceal don't feel bullshit, Elsa. You're hurt. Don't you dare tell me you're not," I said.

Kaz made sure no one was watching us before letting his expression drop. I immediately regretted telling stop the whole conceal don't feel thing.

His expression was horribly sad and broken, a boy who had internalized everything that had been done to him by Aaron and his friends. "I remember that night. I never saw that video. I knew Aaron had purposely not mentioned the automatic light. He laughed about it. I forgave him for it. I didn't know his brother was recording the whole thing. I don't know why Aaron sent it to Siggy. Probably to get back at me for what I said to him over text."

"Never trust a guy with a small ponytail," I said, shaking my head.

Kaz ran a hand through his hair. "He kept saying he chose to do it. I don't..." He fell silent and shook his head.

"Kaz!"

At Rogan's voice, the hurt and sorrow wiped off of Kaz's face, replaced by his usual easy-going expression. He turned to Rogan, relaxed and casual.

"Yes?" he said.

"Seph wouldn't...He's not a bad person. He's not," Rogan insisted fiercely. "Constance had something to do with this. You know Seph would never just turn against someone like that. The timing of it...I bet he struck a deal with Constance or something. He sold you out, he gets to stay with me. That has to be it. I'm the only thing that would ever make Seph break his loyalty to a friend."

"I can't say I'm too heartbroken. Siggy and I weren't exactly spilling deep secrets at sleepovers," Kaz said with a shrug. "It is what it is."

"Stop trying to be cool and just admit that you're so emotionally damaged that you can't even comprehend that all of us care about you, you fucking moron!" I said, whacking him upside the head.

"I'm not emotionally damaged, but now I'm physically damaged," he said, taking a step back and rubbing his head.

Rogan glared at Kaz before looking away. "He's right, you know. Shit, Kaz, I never wanted to have anything in common with you. But I was so traumatized by what my biological parents did to me that I never thought anyone would love me, and I was in denial about it. That's how I landed here. But Seph and our parents proved me wrong." He crossed his arms. "Fuck you for making me sentimental. Just deal with trauma before it twists you into something you can never straighten out."

Rogan stormed away and Kaz leaned back against the tree. "Unfortunately, I'll never straighten out." He gestured to me.

"Kaz, as someone who makes jokes at inappropriate times, I am fully qualified to tell you that this is not the time for an inappropriate joke," I said impatiently. "Those guys...they used you and used you and used you. They never valued you. They never cared about you. They made you think that all you were good for was theft. You didn't even believe that your friends here loved you as much as they do."

"Aaron did care," Kaz said. "That's what makes it hard. Aaron did care. But in the end, he cared more about my theft talent than me as a person. He was broken. And the problem with putting your self-worth in the hands of a broken person is that there are a lot of cracks for it to slip through."

"You were only 15. You made a mistake. You can't keep placing your worth on what those assholes thought of you," I said, moving closer to him. I put my arms around his neck. "You know what I think? I think your hair is stupid, I think your kleptomania is a pain in the ass, and I think you're a complete bed hog. But I also think I've never met anyone who cares about people as much as you do. I think you're inspirational and smart and you give great hand jobs and you're selfless."

"I can agree with one of those things," he mumbled, putting his arm around my waist.

"You put all of us before yourself. But you need to stop that, Kaz. Let us save you for once," I said.

I pulled him close to me and kissed me. I wanted to help him heal from the abuse he'd suffered at Aaron's hands. I wanted him to know that he was valuable as a person, not a tool. I wanted him to know that we all genuinely cared about him and his wellbeing.

I knew it wouldn't happen overnight. I knew it would take months, maybe even years, of showing him in big and small ways that we valued him as a person. He'd been caught by Aaron at a vulnerable age, and it would take a while to reverse the damage Aaron had done.

Aaron had broken him. Had thought Kaz was only good when he was shattered. Had shifted Kaz's pieces around until Kaz was someone Aaron could control and manipulate for his own pleasure.

I wanted to heal Kaz. I wanted to help him put those pieces back together in a way that made him happy. I wanted to see Kaz love himself.

"Kaz!"

He looked away from me as the others hurried over. Beckett was trailing alongside of them now, and Pete seemed to have mostly come off the effects of his drugs.

Mikayla stepped up to Kaz as I released him. She punched his shoulder before pulling him into a hug.

Kaz seemed surprised, probably because he wasn't used to anyone here hugging him and also probably because Mikayla looked like she'd much rather stab someone than hug them. But he hugged her back anyways.

Mikayla let her arms drop to her sides. "I'm going to kick his ass. I don't even know whose ass. Constance? Sudlow? Cam? Siggy? Whoever I see first."

"Make sure I'm there. I need to see those beauties in action," I said, gesturing to her arms.

"I can kick your ass," she offered.

"I'm going to leave right now immediately," I said.

"Are you alright, Kaz?" Beckett asked, and it was the first time I'd heard true concern in his voice.

"I'm fine," Kaz said. "How did everything with your dad go, by the way?"

"Focus on you. It was you who just went through a hard time," I said, smacking Kaz in the head again.

"Everything with my dad went fine," Beckett said. "If you want, I can have him talk to Sudlow-"

"No," Kaz said, because I knew he didn't want Mr. Sudlow to pick a new target. Kaz wanted to take the blows so no one else had to. "Really, I'm fine. You're all overreacting. Especially O'Malley."

"Malley," I said. "You call me Malley."

Kaz offered me a small smile. "Yea, I guess I do."

"Kaz," Pete said, stepping forward. "I'm going to call my parents tonight. I want to spend my summer coming off my drugs."

"What about your knee?" Kaz asked.

"I'll find something weaker than hydros. I'm not going to live like this. Fuck it if they can't handle me. I'm tired of being trapped in a daze all the time. I want to feel again. I want to live again." He gave a dangerous smirk, so far from the smile I'd seen the first time I met him. But it was genuine and it lit up his eyes, making him look alive for the first time since I'd met him. "Peter Graham isn't going to die a damn druggie."

"I'll remind you to call them," Kaz said, and Pete grinned wider as he and Kaz bumped fists.

But that Kaz. Everyone here loved the guy. He wasn't their leader; he was their friend. He had been there for all of them during their hard times, and they wanted to be there for him.

I knew it would be a slow process of getting him to open up to them. Hell, it'd be slow even getting him to open up to me. It wasn't until today that I realized the extent of the damage Aaron had caused. But I'd help him as much as I could, and I knew the others would too.

Damn, who knew having a boyfriend would be so much work. I doubted there was a boy on this planet who was thirstier and more hardworking than me when it came to their boyfriend. Congratulations Killian, your lazy ass picked a winner.

I put an arm around Kaz and kissed his cheek. The others all smiled at him, encouraging and genuine.

Kaz looked taken aback by the support and the reality that his friends actually returned the care he held for them. He slowly reached out and took my hand in his.

"We'll find out why Siggy did it," I promised Kaz.

Kaz nodded, trying to hide that hurt in his eyes again. I knew there was a reason Siggy had done this, I just hoped that Kaz could overcome this blow to his heart. We'd figure out why Siggy had betrayed Kaz and go from there on the road to help Kaz recover from everything that had happened to him since he was 15.