He pulls away, sighing. “Look, that person you saw—that temper, understand that isn’t me.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t understand,” he continues. “I never act like that. I promised myself I’ll never be like my father.”
I blink.
“I don’t talk about it, but he can be a monster toward people. Especially my mother.”
“I’m sorry, Elijah,” my eyes narrow. “But I don’t get why—”
“I know I’m not making sense right now. One day, I hope I’ll get the chance to explain everything to you, to make sense of why it bothers me.” He closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them. “What I really want to say is that I’ve been dealing with other things outside of school and everything going on here, and it’s been affecting me.”
I hook my arm with his. In response, he folds his hand with mine as I say, “
