While they ate, Stacy felt as though Darian went out of his way to get him to talk. But the more questions the teacher asked, the less answers Stacy gave, until he was down to one-word replies. They spoke of baseball mostly, because it was safe. Every so often Darian would pause and give Stacy a heavy look that seemed to penetrate right through his defenses and stare into his very soul. Stacy kept his eyes down because he knew if he met that gaze, he’d crack, and all that he wanted to say would come tumbling out of him like sand from a broken hourglass, he wouldn’t be able to stop it. Darian sensed something was wrong but he kept striving to keep things normal between them, perhaps hoping that sooner or later Stacy would open up to him like he usually did.
After a little while, it became
