WITH A PIECE OF PAPER held out in front of him, Liam read, "And that's why the absence of a prenatal environment impacts the immune system of a clone negatively during the first three years of their life." He put the two pages down, and his full face came in sight now to Darren again. His mouth was slightly open and he had both of his eyebrows raised, but didn't say any more after having read two pages of an essay about the health implications of human cloning.

"And?" Darren asked. He looked at his host brother, expecting a reaction.

"What can I say?" Liam said. He stared at the inked pages that laid in front of him on his bed. His facial expression was unreadable. "This is..." His mouth formed an "o".

"The good and the bad, please," Darren rushed. When he'd heard Liam read the words he'd spent weeks on writing, he had already started getting nervous, but the wait for feedback was even harder. The silence was torturous. He rubbed his sweaty hands together.

"It's good, bro." Liam shook his head and scoffed. "It's good."

Darren bit his lip. If anything, those words almost let him down. "Nova said the essay had to be perfect," he said. "It's what the admissions board focuses on most."

His host brother laughed. "Well, if perfect is a synonym for 'difficult vocabulary', you're good." He shifted on his bed and looked Darren in the eyes for the first time since he'd started reading the essay, which seemed like such a long time ago now. "I think I'll need to read it again someday with a dictionary next to it – you're using some impressive lingo."

This didn't calm Darren, however. "Does that mean you didn't understand?" he asked. "Should I rewrite it to make it easier?"

Liam rushed to deny that. "No, no, no – not at all." He reached out to give Darren a pat on his shoulder. "Really, Darren, it's good. Great. Perfect." He shook his head to himself and added, "What I meant to say is that this essay will impress that admission's board of the school you like so much."

"Princeton."

"Exactly." Liam looked at him with a confident smile. "I swear, they're gonna let you in. It's a great essay."

Darren took the pages off the bed and folded them up. "I think I'm going to do another rewrite before I send it in."

Liam grinned. "That's good, man, take your time," he said. "But don't fret too much. You were made for Ivy League."

Darren smiled nervously and put the essay back in his pocket, not caring anymore whether it was folded up nicely. "I hope so," he said with a nervous smile.

Liam leaned back against the black pillow supporting his back. "You have a bright future ahead of you," he said confidently. While Darren felt the panic coming back to him, knowing he had to rewrite this essay again, Liam was the calm itself and didn't seem to worry at all. "You'll see, Darren – you will make it."

Darren only smiled, not knowing what to say to that. Of course Liam was confident: his life didn't depend on one essay.

But, as Darren had to remind himself again, Liam had a lot more to worry about. The doctors said the recovery wasn't going as fast as they would have liked. Liam still spent his time at home instead of going to school or seeing his friends.

"Do you know when you're coming back to school?" Darren asked then.

Liam raised his shoulders. "I dunno," he said. In his eyes, Darren could detect a hint of disinterest in the topic.

"You haven't gone in a while," Darren said. Not since the accident, in fact, which was almost a month ago.

Liam pointed to the wheelchair next to his bed. "Can you blame me?"

Darren pressed his lips together. "I thought you were getting better..."

"Well, clearly I'm not well enough yet." Liam grabbed his phone from the nightstand by stretching his arm and not moving away from where he was sitting. "You don't know what a month of being bedridden does to you. I wouldn't make it through the day."

Darren figured that would be because he'd get tired quickly. "What about half a day?" he tried.

Liam sighed. "Not right now," was all he said. He turned his head to his phone, as if his comment had not just been meant for school, but also for the conversation with Darren.

"Don't you want to go back?" His voice was quiet, but in the silent room, Liam could hear it clearly.

He put his phone down and looked Darren right into his eyes with his own, half-open ones. Once, they had been full of life-energy and a drive to take action. "Just..." A sigh escaped his lips. "No."

Darren frowned. He didn't want to go to school. Liam had always seemed to enjoy school, since that was where his friends were – he didn't go for the classes.

"Not ever?" His tone was cautious.

Liam put his phone down again, realizing Darren still had questions and that while he did, he wouldn't have time to read the contents of his digital screen. He shrugged. "I..." Another helpless shrug. "I don't know, Darren. Maybe, maybe not."

"Why don't you want to go?"

Now it was Liam who hesitated. "There is..." He trailed off and took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "There's nothing for me there." His voice was scarily emotionless, but Darren didn't even get time to ask another question, because Liam burst out into a rant. "I can't even walk, you know? I'm stuck to that wheelchair, and no one knows if I'll ever be able to walk again. For all I know, this is going to be my life." He threw his hands up and gestured to the room. The thought that he'd be here forever was one that even scared Darren.

"But –" Darren still tried.

Liam pretended not to hear him – and maybe he hadn't. His screaming mind overpowered the voices of the world around him. "Why would I worry about mathematical equations and Shakespeare's writing if I can't even leave the house by myself? What is that knowledge worth if I'm never going to get anywhere?"

"You can –" You can learn to live in a wheelchair, Darren wanted to say. He believed Liam could get his independence back, but he didn't get the chance to say that to the broken boy himself.

"I can't." Liam looked into Darren's eyes. His own were wide-open and spoke of frustration. "I will never walk, and I'll never run, and I'll never go to school or play football again, and I won't get into college or get a job –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" This time, Darren felt it was his time to interrupt. He realized there was more going on than just tiredness that stopped Liam from going to school, and it pained him to see his host brother so crushed. "You're going way too fast there," he said, and by speaking slowly, he hoped he could calm down Liam too. "You have a wheelchair and you can get around."

Liam opened his mouth to say something, but Darren didn't let him while fully realizing he'd never been so straightforward. "The accident just happened," he continued. "There is still plenty of time for you to get better. Maybe, in a few weeks or months, you won't need the wheelchair at all anymore. And if you do, that doesn't mean the end of the world. You can still go to college and get a job."

"I wanted to get a scholarship," Liam mumbled.

The mumbling made the words inaudible to Darren, so he asked if his host brother could repeat them.

"I wanted to get a football scholarship," Liam said again, louder this time, but with the same defeated tone. "That's never going to happen now."

Darren wanted to say he was wrong but knew that was going to be a lie. The doctor had said that even if Liam would learn to walk again, playing sports would be out of the question.

"So, that's it," Liam said, pressing his lips together. "My grades ain't good enough to get into a good college, and I don't even know what I'd want to do there. I thought I had more time to think about it." He let his head fall and shook it. "No scholarship, no college, no job."

"You still have time to think about it," Darren said, but he already knew what Liam's rebuttal was going to be.

"What's the point? Why think about college if I'm never gettin' there?" Liam folded his hands together and seemed to have accepted this fact of a college-less and job-less life.

"You could still get in," Darren said, "if you went to school..."

Liam shook his head. "I can't. Both for the reason of not walking and for my parents." When Darren didn't say anything but frowned, Liam clarified, "I'm already such a burden for them. Me being in a wheelchair makes them feel obligated to take care of me, and their money is wasted on medical bills..."

"It's not a waste," Darren corrected. Not if it could help Liam get better.

"Still." Liam pulled the sheets further over his legs. "You get the point. I mean, even now, you're here, spending time with me, while you'd rather be working on your essay or something."

"I don't –"

"Don't lie. I'm a burden, and I know it. No need to defend my honor." Liam looked as if he was about to say something else, but those words never left his lips. Instead, a silence fell for a few seconds, until he said, "You know, you don't have to stay here."

"I like being here," Darren said truthfully. It also didn't feel good to leave Liam behind in this state of self-pity.

Liam shook his head slowly and avoided eye contact with Darren. "Really... " His voice was quiet. "Go."

"But–"

"I wanna sleep." He scooched forward and pulled the sheets even more towards him. He hissed in pain when he moved his body, but pretended it didn't happen, and laid down on his side.

Darren cast his eyes down and looked at his host brother, who had closed his eyes. He sat there for a while, and there was only silence between them, until Darren said, "If you need me, I'm here."

Liam smiled weakly.