"What did they do?" Dante repeats.

"Nothing," I say. "Nothing I shouldn't have expected, at least. I'm just not used to this."

His mouth is tight. For a moment, he doesn't say anything. And then, "I was afraid of this."

"I can handle it," I tell him again. "But this is all happening so quickly. I never thought it would be easy, but I also wasn't expecting everything to change so drastically overnight. To go from a nobody to... to whatever I am now. In ...