Ctrl + Alt + Dalt (BxB)

Ctrl + Alt + Dalt + 5

"Base said that?" I find it hard to believe that Base would come up with something like that to say—then, it dawns on me that, if anything, Brogan probably primed Base to say that. What's more is that Beth wouldn't have been able to come up with anything this convoluted, so Brogan has to be the one pulling all the strings. Right?

"He threw you under the rug for something you didn't even do," he says, sympathetically, shaking his head. I think I've figured out his angle—he wants to play innocent—he wants me to think that he did his best to defend me—that he did his best to be a loyal friend to the very end—he's playing a game—I know he is—I just don't know why.

"So you're saying it was you—and you, alone—who fought against the entire mob? I find that hard to believe."

"You can ask anyone you'd like, they'll all tell you the same thing, and they'll tell you that it's the truth. I fought for you. I really did," he says, trying to appeal to me, but I know it has to be a ruse. It's not as if I could ask anyone from the group to begin with, seeing as they won't respond to me, so his words are merely empty rhetoric as far as I'm concerned. If anything, even if I somehow managed to ask anyone from the group, it would be pointless anyway, because he's got them all under his spell—they will all just parrot everything he says. Seeing the utter futility, I move on.

"And what about the whole gay thing?" I ask.

"Well, that was the proverbial, last straw that broke the camel's back—"

"How can you say that you and everyone that you know isn't homophobic, when I get cut off after everyone finds out that I'm gay?" I ask, pointedly—how will he get around this one? Surely, that's proof of homophobia, plain and simple. Right?

"But that's just it. It wasn't about you being gay or not—"

"Then, what was it about?"

"You've lied about and rather masterfully concealed who you really are the whole, entire time that you've been here," he says, flatly—I shudder. My blood boils as I can't believe that I'm being punished for being closeted.

"I had to—you already know what I've been through with why I had to move—the bullying—but you didn't know that it was because I had to hide that I'm gay. Obviously, I didn't want that to happen all over again. So I am, in fact, being penalized for being gay. For what? Because I was forced to hide it to protect myself?"

"Nobody here forced you to hide it. That was your last school, your last town, but that's besides the point—"

"How many of you had to come out as straight, anyway?" I ask, practically foaming at the mouth.

"You're right, it's not fair that straight people don't have to admit their sexuality, but an omission is not a lie—and that's the point. It wasn't the gay thing at all but the fact that you lied and the fact that you were able to conceal yourself—you're an experienced, convincing liar, if not a natural, born one—and that's the tie in for what happened with Beth."

"Tie in? How does that tie in?"

"Because the group now knows you to be a master liar and since liars don't have any credibility, what you did to Beth can no longer be questioned—"

"I didn't do anything to her—and you've just said that you know that I didn't."

"I also said that it didn't matter what I said, or what I believed. The group is what matters—the group decided to cut you off—not me."

"And you just followed along with what the group demanded?" I ask, sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Don't play that card, you know exactly what it's like—I had no choice."