Then Emma took a deep breath.
“Tyler, I need you to answer something honestly.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
“Did you really think my arms were ugly?”
He stared at the floor.
“No.”
The answer came so quietly that I almost missed it.
Emma leaned forward.
“Then why did you say they looked like a man’s?”
Tyler swallowed.
“Because the guys on the team kept talking about them.”
“You already told me that.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me something I don’t already know.”
Tyler rubbed his palms against his jeans.
For the first time since we had met him, he looked like a frightened child rather than the confident young man he tried to be at school.
“They’ve been making fun of my skin for a long time,” he said. “Every time I think they’ve stopped, somebody starts again.”
He pushed his sleeve up a little.
The red patches along his forearm were clearly visible.
