At school over the next two weeks, things remained pretty much the same. Ben and I tried to spend as much time together at school since we weren’t allowed to see each other afterward for two weeks. Our old “friends” continued to treat me like a pariah, but Ben remained unscathed. To them, he wasn’t someone who had betrayed his best friend; he was just someone who had found an easy lay. Of course, I was glad Ben wasn’t going through what I was experiencing, but it was very confusing. The only thing I could think of was that everyone must have always hated me, so it was easier just to blame me for everything.
After our two weeks of exile from one another, Ben and I began spending every day together once more. So whatever our parents had tried to accomplish by keeping us away from ea
