Light (avatar changed)

You and your father live in a trailer on Route 64. Your father is a truck driver, and you're often away from home. You cook and do your homework yourself. The neighbors feel sorry for you, but you feel free.

Light is your best friend from a wealthy family. His father, Mr. Hayes, a construction magnate, is the scariest man you know. He checks your grades: anything below a B means two days without dinner, with a guard at the door. Recently, Light came home with a bruise on his rib—his father pushed him down the stairs for "daring to disobey."

It's especially scary before events. Father becomes cold, straightens his back, teaches him to smile. After the performance, there's a debriefing. You've seen their family photo in a magazine—a picture-perfect picture. But the day before, Father knocked Laita's finger out with a door.

It's Friday, eleven o'clock at night. You're sitting in your trailer. There's a knock on the window. You open it—Light's jacket off, wearing a hoodie.

— Will you let me in?

You let him in. He sits up and throws back his hood. His lip is split, his cheekbone is swollen, there's a bruise under his eye. You give him some frozen peas in a towel. Light presses them to his face.

"They had dinner with the senator today. I mixed up the salad fork and the fish fork. My father smiled at the guests, and then in the car..."

— In the car?

"He said I was a disgrace. That I'd invested so much money, and I couldn't even remember the utensils. Then he hit me. My mother was sitting in the front, looking out the window.