Guang-Hong woke up when he felt the bed shift as someone sat on the edge of the mattress. Without opening his eyes, he mumbled, "I'll eat later, Candice," and turned away to try and fall asleep.

He heard a familiar chuckle and sat straight up to see Leo sitting on hi bed, not Candice. "Sorry. She called me after I got out of school and said I could come over and stay for dinner. Her parents won't be home until later tonight."

Guang-Hong scooted over on his bed so Leo could sit with him properly. "How was school?"

"It was school. Pretty sure I bombed that test since I couldn't stop worrying about you."

"Leo, I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

"Guang, you could barely walk today. Everyone's been worried about you. Thomas's mom called me and asked if there was anything she could do for you."

Guang-Hong shifted on the bed and responded, "What did you tell her?"

"I said that if she really wanted to help you she could send her son to military school so he can learn some to respect people and that he can't solve everything with his fists."

Guang-Hong laughed, and he felt a dull pain in his chest. "How'd she respond to that?"

"She just kind of sighed and said that she and her husband were already talking about it."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. She said Thomas might not come back to Pinnacle."

"Good. I hope I never see him again."

"Me too." They sat quietly for a moment before Leo asked, "Are you feeling any better?"

"A little. I'm mostly just really sore."

"I figured. You have bruises all over you."

Guang-Hong looked up at Leo. "How did you know that?"

"Your shirt lifted up while you were sleeping. I saw them when I walked in."

"Oh."

"I didn't need you to tell me about them to know they were there anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"The guy nearly killed you, Guang. I'd be more surprised if you didn't have any bruises after everything that guy did to you."

"Oh."

Leo saw that it was time to change the subject and said, "I decided to sign up for Mr. Pinnacle."

"Really?" Guang-Hong moved so that he was laying on his side and facing Leo.

"Yeah, Nick and I are going to sign up together tomorrow morning."

"You'll definitely win. Nick doesn't stand a chance."

"He very much does stand a chance. He's much more of a flirt than I am, which you need to win."

"You're more handsome though."

"I think they're equally handsome, actually." Leo and Guang looked at the door to see Candice standing there carrying three mugs. "I brought some hot chocolate." She passed them out and headed back to the door.

"You can stay, if you want," Guang-Hong said.

She turned around and looked at them sitting on the bed. "Really?"

"Yeah, come and sit down," Guang-Hong responded while sitting up and pulling his legs in. Leo followed suit so that Candice had enough room to sit.

"Thanks," she said while sitting down.

"So what's this about me and Nick being equally attractive?" Leo asked while taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

"Well, as far as looks go, you're both conventionally attractive. Both of you are also really kind, intelligent, and athletic. I think it's going to be really close."

"I still say Leo's going to win, though," Guang-Hong said.

"Thank you, Guang. At least someone believes in me."

"I never said I didn't! I said it would be very close, and I wouldn't put my bets on either of you at this point."

"You're just saying that because you have a crush on Nick," Guang-Hong said.

"I do not!"

"You totally do," Leo said. "You flirt with him all the time."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Candice said while hiding her face in her mug.

They kept talking like this for a while, and eventually moved to the kitchen so they could keep talking while Candice cooked dinner. Leo offered to help, but Candice said no.

"If you really want to help, you can do the dishes after dinner," she said.

They were halfway through dinner when Candice said, "Leo, I'm really sorry for the way I've treated you in the past."

"Don't worry about it. What's in the past is in the past."

"No, really. I was such a bitch because I thought it would make me popular and that people would like me. I was so worried about what other people would think of me that I never thought about how my actions might affect other people. Guang got really hurt because I wasn't thinking about it. I'm so so sorry and I promise that I will act like a normal and sane person from now on."

"You really don't have to worry about it. That's not who you are anymore and that's all that matters. I appreciate the apology though."

"Thank you. We should really do this again sometime if we can."

"Oh, definitely."

Guang-Hong missed the next two days of school, spent most of the weekend at Leo's house, and went to school the following Monday and Tuesday, during which nothing interesting happened.

On Wednesday morning, the entire school was buzzing. Everyone was staring at Guang-Hong again, and he couldn't figure out why. He was talking with Leo, Candice, and Nick near his locker when he asked, "Why is everyone staring again?"

"Thomas is supposed to come back to school today," Nick said.

"Shit, he's coming this way," Candice said. Guang-Hong started to turn around to look, but Candice stopped him. "Don't give him the attention. Just pretend I didn't say anything."

They kept talking for a little bit and switched the topic back to what they were talking about before. That is, until Thomas came over and tapped Guang-Hong on the shoulder.

Guang-Hong nervously turned around to face him, but didn't let his nervousness show on his face.

"My mom said I had to apologize, so I'm sorry."

"Apology not accepted," Guang-Hong said. He started to turn back to talk to his friends, but Thomas grabbed his shoulder.

"What do you mean 'not accepted'?"

"Firstly, it wasn't even an apology. Second, you're not actually sorry. Third, you nearly killed me and that doesn't exactly warrant forgiveness. So, apology not accepted."

"But you have to accept my apology."

"I don't have to do anything. Why don't you go about your business and I'll go about mine and we both try to pretend the other doesn't exist, okay?"

Thomas looked around before grunting and walking back in the direction he came from.

Guang-Hong turned back to his friends and Nick said, "You just have a death wish, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Every time you talk to Thomas, you get sassier than I have ever seen a person," Candice said.

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "You don't exactly talk like that to a guy who had you in a chokehold."

"I'm honestly past the point of caring." Guang-Hong checked the time on his phone and said, "I have to go to class. I'll see you guys later."

Guang-Hong walked to class and ignored all the whispers that were happening around him. He had gotten used to it by now. He also ignored the soreness in his legs. He had gotten used to that too. The first bell rang while he walked.

Guang-Hong's teacher wasn't there when he got to class, but some of his classmates were. They looked up when he walked in and started clapping. He ignored them and sat down.

While he was getting his stuff out, a girl walked up to his desk and waited for him to notice her. When he did, she said, "Hi, I'm Casey. I copied my notes from the days you were gone and also wrote down the homework assignments for you." She set a paper clipped stack of papers on his desk. "I'm also in your history class, so here are the notes from that." She set another stack of papers on his desk next to the other one.

"Thanks, but you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I felt like you've been through too much recently to have to worry about how you're going to get the note you missed. Let me know if you need anything else. Anything at all." She had a wide grin on her face.

"Okay, thank you."

Her smile somehow got even wider as she went to go sit at a desk in the back row. Guang-Hong had never seen her before in his life, but he was grateful that she had thought about him.

The rest of the morning went like that. In each of his classes, a girl Guang-Hong had never noticed before came up to him to give him their notes from the days he missed. He was grateful, but very confused.

He met up with the gang at their lunch table and asked them if they knew anything about it.

"Sounds like you've got a fan club, Guang," Nick said.

"That's ridiculous," he responded.

"It's true. Leo's had one since freshman year. His is arguably bigger than yours though," Candice said.

"How would you know that?" Leo asked.

Candice sipped on her chocolate milk and said, "I helped start your fan club." The whole table stared at her and she quickly tried to recover herself. "In my defense, I had never gone to school with boys before. It wasn't even my idea. It was some other girl's and I just went along with it."

"Anyways," Guang-Hong said. "Why would a bunch of girls start a fan club over me? I'm not that special."

"They think you're really cute and brave." Again, everyone stared at Candice. "Okay, look, I'm popular and I hear things. It's not my fault. Anyways, they admire you because you stood up to Thomas multiple times, even after he nearly beat you to death. Most of them have a huge crush on you."

"But I'm gay."

"Most of them don't know that you are. That, or they're hoping that you're bi or something so that they'll have a chance."

"And this is just a bunch of girls? What do they do exactly?"

"Well, from what I understand, it's mostly freshmen and sophomores, but there's quite a few juniors and several seniors that are a part of it too. They meet up on the weekends and do stuff like go to the mall. Sometimes they gossip about you, but not that often. The juniors teamed up to get you notes and stuff from when you missed class."

Guang-Hong stared at the table for a bit before he asked, "When did they start this?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but probably after you stood up to Thomas that first time, like, forever ago."

"Jesus christ," Leo said. Leo thought for a moment and said, "Wait, how come my fan club never gave me any notes or anything when I was out of school?"

"I don't know honestly. They didn't talk to me much and kicked me out after we started dating."

"Girls are insane," Nick said.

"At least you don't have a fan club," Leo said.

"Not true. Someone started one at the beginning of the year after the first hockey game. It's a really small one though."

"How in the hell do you know all this stuff?" Nick asked.

"I told you. I'm popular and I hear things."

"Do any of the rest of us have fan clubs?" someone else asked.

"Not that I'm aware of, no."

"Damn," they said under their breath.