“Ethan?”

Registering the unusually serious note in Conner’s voice, Ethan hit pause with even complaining that he’d been about to reach the next level. “What is it?”

Conner sat beside him, placing the soccer ball he’d been carrying on the table and batting it back and forth. Hayley would kill him if she saw: something about mud and smoothies not really mixing.

When Conner didn’t reply, Ethan asked, “Do you want me to guess?” Without waiting for a response, he continued, “Let me see . . . is it connected with soccer?”

Probably not, as Ethan couldn’t imagine why Conner would feel nervous talking to Ethan about soccer. It wasn’t as if Ethan actually cared about the game—and as expected, Conner shook his head.

“Is it about you know what?”

Conner looked blank.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “The thing we don’t talk about in public. Involves a word beginning with ‘r’.”

The confusion cleared. “No.”

Not soccer or rangering. That left . . . “Is it someone you’re dating?”

Conner stared at the table.

Ethan frowned, trying to work out why Conner wouldn’t be boasting of his latest conquest. Only reason could be that he was dating someone Ethan knew. “You’re not dating Kira, are you?”

“No!”

Well, thank God for that. But his relief disappeared as an even worse possibility occurred to him. “You’re going out with Cassidy!”

“What? Dude, no!” Conner’s shock looked genuine, so Ethan allowed himself a sigh of relief. Not that there was anything wrong with guys going out with Cassidy. He just didn’t want one of them to be Conner.

“It’s not Catrina, is it?”

Conner frowned. “Catrina?”

“Yeah, remember? I told you I used to have a crush on her, and you said . . .” Conner didn’t look like he had the slightest idea what Ethan was talking about. “Never mind. So, who is it? Because I’m out of ideas.”

Conner flushed, returning his gaze to the table. “Trent.”

Trent. For a moment, the word didn’t really make sense. Maybe Conner had misunderstood? He thought it was clear enough what they’d been discussing, but this was Conner. “Trent?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

Conner. Trent. Dating. Ethan’s mind took a while to string the three concepts together: they just wouldn’t mesh, wouldn’t fit together in a way that made sense. Conner wasn’t gay, couldn’t be, and yet to be going out with Trent . . .

Well, that would make him gay.

And going out with Trent. Ethan could practically feel his eyes bulging at the thought. “You’re going out with Trent.”

“Dude, will you not say that so loud?”

One of them had their priorities wrong, and Ethan felt fairly sure it wasn’t him. “Conner. You’re going out with Trent.”

“Yes!”

“As in, hand-holding, kissing . . .” Though Ethan seriously didn’t want to think about that. “Going on dates . . . with Trent?”

“What did you think I meant?”

“Well, excuse me for being just ever so slightly shocked.” More than slightly. Way more than slightly. He couldn’t believe it. “How long, exactly, have you been going out with Trent?”

Conner shrugged, looking uneasy. “Well, it’s kind of complicated. I mean, with him going evil and all, and me not trusting him.”

Him going evil. That meant a long time— months, and Conner had never told him? Suddenly, a few things that had never made sense clicked into place, and Ethan wondered if he should have realized before. But how could he ever have guessed something like that? “Who else knows?”

Conner started tapping the soccer ball back and forth, watching its progress with intense concentration. “Kira. Dr. O. Krista. And Alexi, but that was kind of an accident.”

Ethan took in the list of names, starting to feel a cold lump forming in his stomach. That would be all the rangers, except him. “How long have they known?” he asked, praying Conner would say ‘yesterday’, and that Ethan hadn’t been the only one not to know.

But Conner, still avoiding Ethan’s eyes, replied, “Kira’s kind of known since the beginning. And Dr. O . . . I don’t know. He just seemed to kind of know.”

Months, in other words. They’d all known for months.

It was a familiar feeling. At school, the popular kids were the ones in the know, the ones with all the gossip and secrets. Kids like Ethan sat at the edge, pretending they didn’t care and often not, but sometimes wishing they knew too.

Ethan had thought the rangers were different. A group, friends equally. Not an inner four with the nerd left on the outskirts. What else had they talked about, while he wasn’t paying attention? Dr. O he could trust, but the other three? He’d thought he’d known them.

He closed his laptop without bothering to shut down, ignoring the whirr of protest. Conner looked alarmed as Ethan stood up. “Where are you going?”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“I just did!”

“Yeah, months after everybody else!” It came out louder than he’d meant, and he reminded himself to watch his words as people looked round. “I thought we were supposed to be a group. And I thought you were supposed to be my friend.”

Conner looked stricken, jumping up as Ethan started to walk away. His soccer ball rolled off the table, bouncing after them across the floor. “We are friends!”

Ethan ignored him, till he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He jerked away. “Just obviously not as close as I’d thought.”

“We are!”

“Whatever.” He reached the door, flung it open and walked outside. Conner followed.

“You didn’t tell us about Cassidy.”

“Oh, don’t you dare compare this to that! I kept it secret for about a week, and it wasn’t exactly a big deal to either of us. And as soon as Kira found out, I called you, so we all knew. This is big. This is important, and you’ve been lying to me for months!”

“I haven’t—”

“I mean, didn’t you ever think that I’d like to know? Or maybe you thought I’d enjoy being kept out of the loop, not knowing what was going on with you?”

“Ethan—”

“And why tell me now? I mean, why not have just kept it a secret forever, because it’s obviously been working for you so far?”

Conner sagged, looking at the ground. “Trent said that if I didn’t tell you, he would.”

At least he was honest. Not that Ethan found that much comfort. “Great. Clearly I should rethink who my friends are.”

“Ethan . . .”

This time, Ethan stayed quiet to let him speak. In the end, Conner just shrugged, and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how you’d react. I wanted us to stay friends, that’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“And it’s worked out just about as well as most of your plans.” He saw Conner flinch at that, but didn’t care. Conner thought he was homophobic? He thought about telling Conner that was normally the dumb jock of the group. “Well. Now you can see first-hand how I’m reacting. And guess what? I’m not feeling so keen on staying friends.”

This time, when he walked away, Conner didn’t follow.

----

Kira took in what Conner had told her, unable to decide which of her friends she wanted to yell at more: Ethan for not being able to understand why Conner hadn’t told him before, or Conner for not being able to understand why Ethan was so upset.

Boys. “Look, Conner, I really think this is one of those times you just have to be patient.”

“But don’t you think—”

“No.”

“Couldn’t you just—”

“Conner, no. I really don’t want to get in the middle of this, okay?”

The look Conner gave her was unusually cunning. “You’re already in the middle of this. I’m not saying you have to go looking for him, but he might come and talk to you, and when he does you could just . . . do something?”

Subtlety. That had to be a sign he was spending too much time with Trent.

“I mean,” he continued, “It’ll be really difficult for us at training, if Ethan and I aren’t talking. And it could affect us in battle. Really, this is very important. And don’t you want us all to be friends again?”

Definitely spending too much time with Trent. “Conner . . .”

“Kira. Please?”

“Fine. If Ethan comes to talk to me, and the subject comes up—” Which it would, because Ethan would be desperate to complain to someone— “I’ll try to make him see things from your point of view. Try. But, you know, you might just have to accept that he’s mad at you.”

Conner looked down, so she couldn’t see his eyes. “If you talk to him,” he said. “He listens to you.”

And Kira knew she shouldn’t say it, because for all she knew Ethan would hold a grudge forever, but she couldn’t cope with hearing Conner sound so down. “He’ll forgive you eventually,” she said, and hoped it was true. “It’ll all be alright. You’ll see.”

--