Quote:
Originally Posted by
Con_Stripes 
"I believe you." Truebridge assured the boy quite matter-of-factly, not truly noticing Jake's expression or registering that he might feel insulted in any way. It wasn't exactly the most familiar of concepts after all. As for the reading thing... well... if Jake wanted help with that, surely he'd ask.
"Can I ask what has made you curious about this subject?"
With a small smile, Jake let his mind wander for a moment, eager to try and read these books and look for schtuff that might interest him. At the question, the boy looked a little lost and thought really hard about how he thought about it.
"I... I ggguess..." Jake looked up at Truebridge relatively blandly, no real emotion on his face, just... a childish innocence.
"After that... that evil ggguy last term... and all the ssstuff he made me and LouAnn and other kkkids do... I got interested."
Oh... and he couldn't forget.
"And Tttibi left bbbecause of all the bbbad stuff, and I thought, if I underssstood it, I cccould protect him. And he mmmight... come bbback."
He really did believe that. Despite the arguments he'd had with the boy.
"I mmmean, he was my only rrreal friend and I shhhould have kept him sssafe."
True story.
"And... ssstuff."