Normal life. He can see the lure of that from their perspective, he guesses. How sometimes pretending everything is normal and fine hurts less. He's seen his parents do it for years. But there's something to be said for accepting that things have changed, that they aren't at all what you hoped or wished for, and finding a new way to be. Maybe he believes Kieren after all. He's never been very good at denial, and there's a lot of fact starting him in the face, a story too intricate to be a lie. Maybe he just wants to believe because it's Kieren, and they're friends, no matter how short a time it's been.

At the mention of danger he squeezes Kieren's hand again, shifting slightly closer as they talk. Yeah, he can also see where people might really not like the dead not staying that way. Dangerous, wrong, terrifying, he'd have thought, but that was before he knew Kieren. Even after a week, he knows this boy next to him isn't any of those things. Just sad, lost, lonely. He understands. "Hey, there's some perks to high school, at least the whole graduating part. You could go to art school. Focus on your painting. Be an artist. It doesn't have to be a bad life, here." And Danny's here, but...he can't say that. Doesn't have the right to say it, not until he's sure he can handle everything Kieren is.