Chapter 5: Breakthrough

Monday morning, before school started, he saw Kelly walking down the hall with her arm around Todd. His heart dropped through the floor. All day the sight kept replaying in his head -- Kelly with Todd, Kelly with Todd, Kelly with Todd. He barely made it from class to class. That afternoon, he just acknowledged Amanda's presence with a grunt, and she just crossed her arms, sat back, and ignored him. They might as well have been in separate rooms; Ken simply read, he wasn't in the mood to try to talk to her, and she didn't say anything to him. The hour passed very slowly but he was thankful that there weren't any arguments. He just wasn't in the mood for a battle and was happy to do this the easy way. At home that evening, he was tempted to call Kelly and try for another chance, but he didn't. He was smart enough to realize that there was no possibility of getting her back, and all he'd achieve by calling her was to make himself look pathetic.

Tuesday, Ken was able to ignore the Kelly-and-Todd couple when he saw them in the halls together. Yes, he still felt hurt, and a little angry, but he held it in and managed to function during the school day. After school, at Lincoln, he made the mistake of asking Amanda how she was doing as she sat down.

She looked like she was about to have a stroke. Her face turned red, and she balled up her fists and screamed at him, "How am I doing? Oh, I'm doing just fucking great. How about you? How many times did you screw your girlfriend last weekend? Aren't you going to give me a play by play of your dates? Come on; give the poor blind girl a thrill."