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More than anything, he wanted to finally stop feeling secretly jealous of people like Zeke, who knew exactly where they came from and whose blood ran so clearly through their veins. And he wanted to fill the hole that had been growing steadily larger since he lost both his adoptive parents. They’d grounded him with a sense of belonging as a child, and while he’d never felt a true sense of identity, they’d loved him fiercely, and that had been enough.

But now they were gone, and he felt like a bit of a drifter, honestly. He’d lost that grounding, and he wanted…needed…to find it again. Without knowing his roots, the people who had brought him into this world, he struggled to make sense of his place in it. A part of him would always be restless, forever wondering. Never feeling quite full.

David rarely bothered to bring the subject up with anyone and kept things simple by sticking with the identity he’d inherited from his adoptive parents. It was hard to explain his conflicting feelings to someone who’d grown up surrounded by their birth family, knowing exactly who they were.

Well, that, and he worried he’d sound melodramatic…

“Maybe I’ll just drop out,” Zeke said after a long stretch of silence, his voice low and still a touch uneven. “It might be less painful for everyone than staying on and making a spectacle of myself…”

David cast a glance at his friend, whose hands had clenched into balls of tension, and sighed. “Come on, Zeke. You’re not doing that badly. Like I said, we’ll both bitch about the stress, but we’ll get through it. Besides, you’ve got to stick around for Primal Scream. Nur would never forgive you if you don’t.”

Zeke slanted him a coy look. “Shut up. She doesn’t like me.”

David grinned at the rising flush in Zeke’s cheeks, glad that this tactic seemed to be working. “How are you so sure of that?” he wondered aloud. “I saw her checking you out yesterday when we were in the lunch line.”

Zeke groaned. “Oh, stop it. She was probably looking at somebody else.”

David shrugged. “Alright. If you insist. I’m just saying, there’s stuff to hang on for. Good times to come.”

Zeke went quiet, once more turning his gaze to the road ahead, and after examining him for a couple more seconds, David took the opportunity to do the same. They’d made fairly good progress, and they were already back in familiar territory—which made it easier to travel faster.

Fifteen minutes of speed-walking later, and they were only a block away from home.

As they reached the end of their road, Zeke cleared his throat, and David looked over at him again. His expression wasn’t quite as ashen as before, to David’s relief, and when he caught David’s eye, a smile slowly unfurled on his lips, brightening his round face.

“Anyway,” he mumbled, “if I do stay, and I do pass, I won’t be waiting for Primal Scream to show my naked ass. I’ll go streaking around the dorm rooms—through the whole bloody house!”

David let out a surprised laugh. “Sounds brilliant. Just remind me to check into a hotel.”

Zeke chuckled. “Now come on—my whole family is probably already on the phone to Interpol or something.” He picked up his pace to a jog, and David smirked, glad the guy’s spirits seemed to have cheered.

Though he couldn’t fully shake how upset Zeke had seemed, and made a mental note to try to keep an eye on him.

For now, David ran to catch up, and the two boys sprinted the rest of the way, egged on by the promise of a warm shower.

When they reached their destination, however, David’s face fell.

Music was blaring from within the house, florescent strobes pulsing through the windows, and the lawn was packed with people holding red Solo cups.

So much for a quiet night of recovery…

It was a struggle even to reach the front door, and when they did step through, it was even more crowded inside.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t crowded enough to evade the notice of Max, who was hovering at the edge of the hallway, a pretty redheaded girl hanging from one arm.

“Yo!” he roared above the deafening beat. “The cubs made it back!”

He rushed over to David and Zeke, quickly joined by Sebastien and four other housemates whom David suspected had been involved in the kidnapping. They swarmed around, slapping the two boys on the back.

“Congratulations, man!” Max yelled into David’s ear. “You survived the initiation.”

“Yeah,” David said dryly, trying to shrug Max off, as well as all the other hands that were pounding his bruised skin. Though he supposed he did feel a bit good about himself for surviving the ordeal. If he hadn’t had so much on his plate, he might even have been in the mood to celebrate. But as it stood…

“Now I’d like to take a shower,” he finished firmly.

“And get back to studying,” Zeke said irritably, ducking out from beneath Sebastien.

“Whoa, what? Studying?” Seb gaped. “There’s no way you’re studying with this party goin’ on!”

Without so much as a warning, Max dropped to his knees and rammed his shoulders into David’s legs, throwing him off balance. He was caught by three sets of hands behind him, lifting him horizontally into the air. They rushed him across the hallway and barged into the heaving living room. Before David could fight his way back to the ground, he was hoisted onto a screaming crowd and surfing across a sea of hands.

David groaned. Now, he was going to have to escape this forest.