Chapter 100: Chapter 100

He nodded and shrugged. “It sucks, but if they knew what my name really was, they’d—” Abruptly, he turned so white I thought he was going to keel over.

“It’s okay, kid. You want to tell me?”

“I’m not supposed to!” But he did, and then he panicked. “Why did I do that? I’m not supposed to tell anyone!” He began shivering.

“Listen to me.” I crouched down so I was at eye level with him. “I told you it was okay, right? I keep a lot of secrets, and this will be just one more.” What the fuck kind of parent would saddle their kid with a name like that?

He began to calm down. “All the kids would laugh at me if they knew. That would be even worse than them laughing because of my ears.”

“Fuck ‘em.” His mouth dropped open, and I tugged my earlobe, drawing his attention to it. “There’s nothing wrong with your ears. And if they laugh, that just makes them assholes.”

He giggled. “Ma would be so mad if she heard you say that.”

“Well, if she named you that—”