Free Someone Like You by Kathryn Shay

student at school but she recognized him right away. “Matt?”
    He stiffened but didn’t turn around.
    “Matt, are you all right?”
    Still facing away from her, he said, “Yeah, fine.”
    Alarm bells went off in Brie’s head. “Matt, do you want to talk to me?”
    His shoulders hunched and his body seemed to sink into itself. “No. Please, Mrs. Gorman, go away.”
    Gut instinct made her clasp his shoulder and tug him around. His features were taut. “Matt, what’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”
    For a moment, he stared at her with the bleakest eyes she’d ever seen. Then he tried to pull away; she held on, but his action made her hand slide lower on his arm.
    She felt…a cut. A lot of cuts. When she drew her hand away, she saw angry slashes on the inside of his left bicep. They were of various lengths--an inch, a half inch, some deeper than the others. From how they’d healed, or not, she could tell some were new, some old and faded. It took her a minute to realize what she was witnessing. No, no, no . “Oh, Matt. Let’s go down to the counselor’s office.”
    His eyes widened with panic.
    “Or come to my room and sit with me. It’s open for a few more minutes this period.”
    Vehemently he shook his head.
    “Then, um, let me walk you down to see Coach Corelli. Maybe you can talk to him about this.”
    He was stone still, like a statue, for so long, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, he eked out, “Okay. I’ll go see coach. You can go back to your room.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, Matt. I’m not leaving your side until we deal with this. You don’t have to go through whatever is causing you to cut yourself alone.”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “Then Coach will.” She reached out for him again. “Come on, I’m--”
    The locker slammed and it took her a minute to realize he’d kicked it shut behind him. Grabbing his backpack from the floor, he dodged around her and ran down the hall. She called after him but he didn’t stop.
    For one of the first times in her educational career, Brie didn’t know what to do. Call his father? Contact his counselor or Dylan? 
    Instead, she headed to the gym. Nick would know what to do. He loved the boy. She trusted Nick’s judgment in this. And she felt so close to him after the weekend…but there was no time for that. They needed to help that poor child.
    One of the gym doors was propped open and the kids inside were playing basketball. Nick was refereeing, dressed in black shorts and a muscle shirt. He ran down the court with a natural athlete’s grace and stamina that she wished she could take the time to admire.
    Before she could figure out how to interrupt, he blew the whistle and made a call. One of the boys spotted her and said, “Coach, we got a visitor.”
    Nick glanced her way. His face bloomed with a smile and he said, “Kenny, ref for me. Keep goin’ guys.”
    Jogging to her, he stopped a few feet away. His face was sweaty, flushed, healthy looking. He drawled, “Well, hello, Gabrielle. I didn’t think I was gonna get to see you until lunch.”
    “Something’s happened, Nick. It’s bad. I need to talk to you.”
    His hand shot out to her arm. “It isn’t Cella, is it?”
    “No.”
    He glanced at the clock and blew the whistle again. “We’re gonna stop early. Go ahead into the locker room and get changed. And be good.”
    Without saying more, Nick led the way to the PE office right across the hall. Thank God it was empty. He shut the door. “What’s wrong, honey?”
    “It’s Matt Keller. Oh, Nick, I surprised him in the hall when he was at his locker and he only had a T-shirt on. I pulled him around and saw terrible slashes on his arm. God, Nick, he’s been cutting himself. For a long time, by the appearance of the wounds.” She waited for the horror to come over his face. But instead, his expression remained blank. She didn’t understand.
    Until he leaned back against the desk, folded his arms over his chest