Catch a Glimmer of Your Star

You took away my eye

He'd gone to the police station to report what Wayne did shortly after Sunny woke up in the hospital. The police wanted the whole story; so did Sunny's mom. Unlike the incident four years ago, he didn't have a coverup story planned for Sunny this time.

Fearing that Sunny would despise him even more if he lied again—after all, Sunny knew to do the right thing by confessing the truth of what they did to Mari to their friends—Basil decided to just tell the truth. What happened that night at the Halloween party. Wayne and Bethany stealing his flower crown that Sunny made for him, tossing it back and forth mockingly. Sunny shoving Wayne to get the flower crown back, attacking him by surprise with pepper spray. Wayne's revenge.

I'll just leave the part about blackmail out unless they ask me about it.

Maybe Wayne already told them about the blackmail message Bethany received from Marie.

Mrs. S's reaction to the story was, to Basil's surprise, a mixture of shock and pride.

"I should've checked Sunny's belongings and taken away his pepper spray," she said to Basil later. "It's such a dangerous weapon. I have no idea why he'd carry that around...but, the fact that he stood up for you against those horrible bullies...I'm kind of proud of him."

"Sunny's always been brave," Basil said.

Mrs. S shook her head. "He wasn't very brave before. You know how he stayed locked up inside his room for four years. Both him and I were afraid of confronting what happened that night...what happened to my daughter." She sniffed and took out some tissues to wipe her eyes. "I wish I could've been braver. I could've encouraged him to tell me the truth earlier, so that he didn't have to waste those four years, but...even I wasn't ready for that."

Mrs. S, please don't cry...

I've hurt you too much as well.

Both you and Sunny have been too kind to someone who only ruined your happy lives.

I should just save up the money that my parents have been sending me and use it to rent my own place so that I won't be a burden to you two anymore.

A few days later, he heard that Wayne had gotten suspended.

The police were sympathetic to Sunny's side. Besides the fact that Wayne had punched the lights out of a boy who was half blind, this was apparently not the first time Wayne had gotten sent to the police station after instigating a major, bloody fight.

They planned to investigate the case further. Basil didn't know whether Wayne would get expelled or not; he was just relieved that he didn't see him around at school over the next week.

Relieved, but still guilty that Sunny had taken the hit instead of himself.

After a whole week of also not seeing Marie around, she finally showed up to class on the day before Thanksgiving Thursday.

With a black eye.

"Hey," Basil said.

"Hey," Marie replied. "I...heard what happened. I understand if you hold it all against me."

Basil shook his head. "I should've asked you not to send that message."

"Guess I've been a total goofball, huh? I'm really sorry."

"Marie, what happened?" Basil asked, looking at her black eye.

"I told all of Bethany's friends how crazy she was," Marie answered. "Most of them didn't care. But Bethany did. The next time she saw me in the halls, she punched me in the eye."