Chapter 15

One of the first things Charlie did once he dropped out of school was to begin working out. He refused to ever be pushed around again. And yet, here he was—a dozen years later—and a man’s mere words had forced him to run into the restroom.

Owen was wrong. Charlie wasa coward. He’d let the bully win. Again.

He’d spent so much of his life fighting, and when it came down to it, he always lost to the anxiety. His shoulders sagged as he made his way down the hall. His hand hovered at the classroom doorknob. Should he go in? Or should he just continue down the hall and out to the parking lot? Was he going to let the anxiety win this time, too?

A war raged in his head and a weird desire to laugh hit him. He’d been in fights, he’d sat through the pain of several tattoos, broken his leg in high school, and yet, whether to walk through the door was one of the hardest decisions he’d ever had to make. It took nearly everything he had, but he turned that doorknob and entered the classroom.