[Kai couldn't really say that he knew Cliff all that well yet, but some of the things he had picked up struck deeply familiar chords. They were wildly different, but that overlap was enough to made Kai step back and pause.]

Of course it's not the basic part. I just mean I'm not gonna to give him hell just 'cuz he likes drinking with his friends, or whatever rebel teenage thing he had going on. Doing something like that shouldn't get you written off as a lost cause. One drink barely happened and everyone just concluded that the worst was going to happen.

[He drew in a breath, but continued in a lower murmur.] It's when people assume the worst of you over and over again, even when you haven't done anything, that you just give up. If you don't have a place to turn to, you go where you can't bother anyone.