Chapter 3

"That birthday present I gave you last year, it's still in the room, right?"

I frowned and had to think for a moment before I placed it: the three-hundred-dollar basketball.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's still here. Why?"

Dirk hesitated, like it was hard to say.

"Cyril invited me to his birthday, but I don't feel like spending money on another gift. I remembered I never saw you use that basketball, so could you give it back to me..."

I stared at him, stunned.

He must have known himself how it looked, because he rushed on, "Don't worry, though. When my birthday comes around you won't need to get me anything. We'll call it even with this."

"I mean, your family's bankrupt now. You probably wouldn't be able to afford anything decent by then anyway."

I didn't say a word. I got up, went to the wardrobe, and handed him the basketball.

Dirk turned it over in his hands a few times, checking it, and only when he was satisfied it still looked new did he let out a slow breath.

He tucked it carefully into a gift bag, then put on a helpful face and offered his advice. "Honestly, your family's broke now. There's no point still acting like some rich young master. The only reason Cyril can't stand you is that your family suddenly went under and threw off all his plans."

"His family's comfortable enough, and he spent all that time bowing and scraping in front of you. Of course he's bitter about it. If you let him order you around a few times, maybe he'd get over it."

Every word landed like a hammer, slamming down on my chest.

The dull ache and the sheer absurdity of it left me barely able to breathe. I looked at him and almost laughed. "And what do I get out of flattering him? Just for him to stop bullying me? Was I the one ordering him around before? Wasn't it him, coming back again and again to mooch my meals, my cigarettes, my drinks, cashing in favors off me every time?"

"Or is his time so precious that buying me lunch once is worth a three- or four-thousand-dollar game console?"

My sharp questions left Dirk with nothing to say.

That mouth of his, so quick and clever in the debate club, couldn't get out a single word now.

Because his logic didn't hold up at all.

What looked like reasonable, even-handed advice was really just him trying to drag me into flattering Cyril, and getting a kick in at me while he was at it.

"I was only giving you a suggestion. Fine, take my good intentions for garbage."

He turned away and said nothing more.

For the days that followed, neither of them gave me a decent look.

In the room, we all treated each other like strangers.

And it all kept going, right up until the day of Cyril's birthday.

Cyril invited a lot of our classmates. Everyone but me.

The corner of his mouth curled in a sneer. "I'm doing it for his sake too. Wouldn't want him stuck not being able to afford a gift."

And on the night of his birthday, while I was killing time on my phone in the room, Dirk called me.