"She hasn't moved yet," I rubbed my eyes, staring at Charlotte's location on my phone as Lucas and I walked through the school halls to our American History class.

I was completely ignoring the numerous stares, most likely because I was wearing a tee-shirt, putting some of the scars on my arms on full display. And the rest of the people looking at me? Probably curious about the marks after watching the Mad Dog finale, yet no one dared to come and ask me to my face. Instead, they all resorted to hushed whispers and strange rumors.

"Just wait a bit longer. It's not even 8:00 am. Plus, she goes to Dramth Elementary, and I looked it up, they don't start until 9 o'clock," Lucas tried to reassure me.

I sighed, "Okay," as I threw my backpack onto the floor, taking my seat next to Lucas. We were placed in the back left corner of the classroom, right next to the window. Our desks were touching, just like every pair of desks lining the four rows.

"Carter said he dropped by their house yesterday, right after he left ours, but no one answered the door and he hasn't gotten a judge to approve the warrant yet so there was nothing he could do," Lucas explained.

I set my phone face up on the table, looking at the device as if there would be a sudden change in Charlotte's location.

Students continued to file into the classroom, the last wave coming in right as the bell rang. The white lights of the classroom were blinding, surely meant to keep drowsy students awake. Our teacher, who we all call Mr. H, was collapsed on his desk at the front of the classroom. His head was face down, placed in his hands. His curly dark brown hair fell over the edges of his hands and part of his beard was visible.

He sucked in a loud breath, his head popping up from his wooden table. He glanced around the room, squinting through his crooked rectangular glasses.

"Hey, what's up, guys. I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I sure as hell did," Mr. H rubbed the back of his head, clearly in pain.

"Uhm," he yawned before he continued. "Lucas, Kai, congrats on winning the championship, I'm sure basically everyone in this room was watching either at the stadium or at home."

"Thanks," Lucas gave him a curt smile. Mr. H was a pretty cool teacher. He was chill and easy going.

"Yo, did Viktor really break the concrete?" A guy asked from the other side of the room.

"How much money did you win!?" Came another shout from someone else.

"Now now," Mr. H interrupted, "Let's not talk so loud."

The students quieted down, resorting to talking amongst themselves instead.

"Originally, I was going to give a lecture. But I'll be honest with you all, I'm hungover and not in the mood. So instead I'm just going to put on the news. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something new about the happenings of the world," he spoke monotonously. With a sigh, he stood up to raise the projector screen, then sliding the whiteboard to the side to reveal a large shelf with a medium, somewhat small TV. He pushed his chair back and placed his feet on his desk, pointing his remote at the TV and turning it on, flipping channels until he found his favorite news station.

This was a common occurrence in this class. Whenever Mr. H wasn't in the mood to teach, he'd turn off the lights and put on the news or the occasional war documentary.

The screen flashed white, now showing a caucasian woman wearing an orange dress with a purple bar below displaying the name of the news channel.

"This is Candyce McClaire and I'm bringing to you this morning's eight am breaking news!" She over-enunciated her words. "Last night we received word from a Dramth policeman that the Silveredge violent crimes unity has identified a man suspected of murder."

I glanced at Lucas, a bad feeling settling into the pit of my stomach.

Then an image of my dad popped onto the screen.

I sucked in a deep breath, holding it in my chest.

"The suspect's name is Sangtae Yoon. He is a 48-year-old Korean male who is known to be a director at Fibrist Corp.," the newswoman expressed. "Ten years ago he murdered his then 11-year-old son, Ace Yoon. He was reported to the police one year later, wanted on charges for first-degree murder, child abuse, and substance abuse. He evaded capture, and now the statute of limitations on two of those charges has expired. He is at large and considered extremely dangerous."

The screen split in two, now another anchor shared the platform.

Lucas shot his hand into the air, not waiting for the teacher's approval before speaking, "Mr. H, can you change the channel?" He spoke with urgency.

"What? No, this is interesting. Don't you all want to learn about a modern-day murderer?" He waved Lucas off.

"Tell me, Candyce, why is this coming up again now, ten years later?" The man in a suit asked from behind the long white desk that covered both the newsmen's lower halves.

"That's a good point, Dave. The reason Sangtae Yoon was not convicted before, was, as I mentioned before, because the police couldn't find him. But according to our sources, his youngest son had been searching for his father for years. And once he was certain of his location, he reported it to the police."

"Oh wow, so his son did some detective work on his own?" Dave's tone was sarcastic, making it seem as if I was a little boy role-playing as an adult.

Candyce nodded her head, "You see, this is where the story gets interesting. Sangtae Yoon's son is somewhat of a rising celebrity!" Her eyebrows raised.

"Really?" The man responded in surprise.

"Lately his name has been everywhere in the media. I'm sure you've heard of the rising professional fighting league, Mad Dog, correct?"

"Yes, of course. Who hasn't heard of it," Dave responded.

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably, wanting nothing more than to get out of here, "Mr. H," I called, raising my hand. "Can I use the restroom?"

"Hmm?" He wasn't paying attention to me, his eyes were glued to the screen.

"Apparently Sangtae Yoon's youngest son is Mad Dog's Triple O and Doubles champion, Kai Yoon!" She exclaimed, an image of my last fight popping up onto the screen. They played a short clip from the match.

"His fight on Friday night was a big shock to many of his fans. As you can see here, his torso is completely covered in scars of various sizes. Many of the viewers were dying with curiosity as to why such a young man was covered in such thick scars, but it seems as if it's because he was a victim of heinous abuse at a young age," the female in orange explained to the man, the video still playing on the screen.

My entire being was frozen. Way to just put it out there, Mr. H. Thanks a lot.

It made me extremely uncomfortable listening to someone else tell my story.

"So Kai Yoon is the one who tracked down his father?" Dave asked, watching the clip along with the other anchor. "I don't know if I should be impressed or sad. It's a depressing story, but it seems as if Kai Yoon is a very talented individual, not only being an excellent fighter but also able to do something professional detectives could not."

"Yes. Our sources told us that in Kai's testimony he shared that he was a direct witness to his brother's murder. In some cases like this, the son has some sort of familial loyalty, but he was the one who led the police to his older brother's dead body-" Mr. H scrambled for the remote, changing the channel as quickly as he could. His eyes were wide with panic as he gaged the class' reactions.

Everyone was staring at me. I was tapping my foot in annoyance. I was conflicted. I didn't know if I should be feeling emotional and sad, frustrated, or relieved that there was no longer a giant secret weighing down on me.

Some eyes didn't leave me, and others hesitantly went back to the TV which had changed stations.

Mr. H cleared his throat," Uh-Uhm," his voice cracked. "Everyone, pay attention to the front." His eyes didn't leave mine the whole time, shock written all over his face.

"Are you okay?" Lucas whispered next to me.

"Yeah," I told him. "Now that the cat's out of the bag, there's no reason to be upset. It is what it is. I think I'm fine as long as I don't have to talk about it..."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It was going to come out eventually, especially now that I'm getting closer and closer," I sighed, something on the TV catching my attention.

"Yes, that's right. And here we have an audio clip that recorded Mad Dog owner, Byungjoon Song's daughter, Eileen Song, that is honestly quite shocking to many of his fans," a fairly deep man's voice boomed. "Why don't we take a listen."

"He fu-*bleep* rejected me though my dad! Apparently, he's gay and has a boyfriend!!" The audio was a little choppy, obviously recorded without her knowledge.

I let out a loud fake laugh and everyone turned to look at me again, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I shouted, exasperated. Lucas and I both knew exactly who this was about, even though we missed the context.

The other students were confused by my outburst but were quickly distracted by the anchorman from the new channel.

"And that is not all we have. We also received several images of Kai Yoon and his so-called 'boyfriend' on a date," the greenscreen turned into pictures of an amusement park.

A slide show began to play, "At first glance, it looks like two friends hanging out, but then if you look here," the picture changed and now it was an image of Lucas and I kissing under a tree.

Lucas stared wide-eyed at the screen, mouth agape.

I moved to whisper in his ear, my gaze still focused on the news, "I'm pretty popular today."

"Kai, has anyone ever told you that your life is hella dramatic?" Lucas muttered back.

I laughed through my nose, my arms crossed over my chest.

Mr. H visibly gulped, slowly turning off the television. The room was eerily silent.

"Well, this was an eventful morning," I broke the silence and Lucas snickered next to me. Neither of us had a reason to hide our sexuality. The only people we cared about knew and were okay with it, and to us, no one else's opinions mattered. So it didn't bother us if everyone knew.

"Are you actually fucking homos?" Ryan, the football player, spat at us.

"And if we are?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to do something about that? Do you want to beat me up or something? You? Fighting me?"

He receded into his chair, his mouth clamped shut.

"That's what I thought. You've all seen me fight, but if anyone has a problem with me being gay, try me and see what happens," I scoffed, my lips forming a smirk.

While we were talking, our teacher set up a different movie, finally moving on from news stations. The class watched in silence up until the bell rang.

"Lucas, Kai, can you two stay behind for a second?" Mr. H asked.

I looked to Lucas who was equally confused. We both slung our bags over our shoulders and walked over to our teacher's desk.

"Look," he sighed, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "I wanted to apologize for this morning. If I'd known that the news was talking about students at this school I wouldn't have played it."

"It's fine," Lucas told him. "We don't really care, so it's all good. Don't feel too guilty, Mr. H."

"Right," he cleared his throat, trying to shove down his emotions, "Well, if either of you two boys needs anything, I'll be here. And please, please don't get into any fights. I know you two have a reputation for fighting around here, but I'd prefer it if other students didn't get involved in violence. They wouldn't be able to deal with the consequences," he made eye contact with both of us, trying to get his point across. "Come get me and I'll help take care of things."

"Thanks, Mr. H," I told him, Lucas and I giving slight waves as we left the classroom.

We walked toward the front of the school, heading to the table we occasionally eat at. Before we reached the door Hannah Soder stepped in front of me, "Kai!" She smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

I hadn't talked to her since that party, "Hannah," I gave her a tightlipped smile.

She glanced at Lucas but then brushed off his presence, turning back to me, "It's so hard to find you at school and I don't have your number, but I've been wanting to ask if you'd be interested in doing something together. Like going to the movies or getting some food..." her voice was hopeful.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, glancing at Lucas who smoothly wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"You haven't heard yet?" I asked, it was a genuine question. "Hannah, I'm gay," I laughed.

Her eyes bulged out of her head, "W-wh-what!?"

"Yep, so if you'll excuse us," Lucas grabbed my hand and dragged me away.

"Protective much," I grumbled, a smile playing on my lips.

"Don't pretend like you weren't cranky for days after a girl asked for my number at the gym!" He fired back, both of us sitting at the picnic table, the rest of my friends already seated.

Zay was scrolling through social media on his phone, "Oh shit! You guys got outed on the news!?" I could hear a video of it playing from his device, probably recorded by some kid in my class. "What are you two going to do about it?"

"Your entire comment section on Insta is just full of people asking if it's real," Sarah added, taking a bite of a protein bar.

"Come here," Lucas said to me as he scooted closer on the bench, taking out his phone and holding it up. He smiled into his camera and I turned my head to the side, closing my eyes and kissing his cheek. I moved away and he brought his phone down, opening up Instagram.

"You going to post it?" I asked him.

"Mhmm."

I took my phone out of my pocket and pulled up his page, liking it and then reading the caption, 'Yeah, and?'

"Cute," I mumbled, then commenting a winking emoji that's blowing a heart.

I was startled, dropping my phone on the table when a frantic woman grabbed my shoulder, "Are you Kai Yoon!?"

I jolted to the side, about to shove her off, but then I realized that it was Charlotte's mom.

"Jamilla Ababio?" I questioned, standing up to look at the dark woman.

"Yes! Yes, that's me!"

"What are you doing here?" My brows were tightly knit together, my friends all looking at us with extreme worry.

"My daughter mentioned your name and then I saw you on TV so I found your social media," tears pricked her eyes.

"What happened?" My voice was strained.

"She-she told me not to," Jamilla cried. "Charlotte told me not to talk to Sangtae but I didn't listen."

She grabbed the front of my shirt and began to plead, "Please! Please help me. He-he said he was going to take her out to eat and clear up the misunderstandings so I let him take her! But they never came back!!" She wept, tears streaming down her face, her nose and eyes red.

"When? When did they leave?" My voice was laced with urgency as I gripped onto both of her shoulders, trying to get her to focus.

She just shook her head back and forth, unable to look me in the eyes, "I-I should have b-believed her! Charlotte is such a rational girl, so mature for her age. I thought that she was just imagining things, playing pretend like other children, but I should have known!"

"Jamilla!" I shouted to get her attention.

The African American woman sniffled, her voice hiccuping as she looked up at me, her vision completely blurred by tears, "When did he take her?"

"Saturday evening. He took her Saturday evening. I reported it to the police, but they cannot find either of them on any security cameras anywhere. There are no clues! They said they would keep looking, but-but then I saw the news and everything Charlotte told me was true, and then I saw you. Y-you found him before, right? Y-you can do it again! You can find my little girl! Please," She stared into my eyes, begging.

"Saturday?" I asked breathlessly.

My gaze hardened on my sister's mom, "When you confronted my dad about what Charlotte said, did either of you take her phone?"

"Her phone? No, she told me she left it at the restaurant where we ate lunch. Why?" She was confused.

I grabbed my phone from the table and unlocked it, staring daggers into the bright screen, "Jamilla, I don't think they ever left your house..."

Also, regarding the sequel to Badly Broken with Kalen's storyline, I've also thought of a possible third book for Kaleb. I can't guarantee that it will happen, but I'm really starting to like some of the ideas I have for it. But either way, even if that did happen, it would be in the distant future as I have other projects I would like to work on before that :)

I'm really so excited for the next book, I have the majority of the storyline thought out as well as my characters names, appearances, and personalities. It's going to be a jock x jock, childhood best friends to lovers story that focuses a lot on homophobia and mental illness. I've been wanting to write this story since the beginning of August, I'm really so excited to start it ;D