Dillon snuggled in his hidey-hole beneath the bunk bed he was assigned. He hid behind his shoes, his backpack, and an extra blanket that he had found in the closet. With luck, even if the older boys came looking for him, they would have a hard time reaching him.
He barely breathed. He knew he deserved their wrath, but he couldn't help himself. The urge to manipulate the evening had been too strong.
After two days of living in the dorm, Dillon had read the temperament of all nine boys. Abe, the biggest of them, was probably the most desperate. That made him the most dangerous. He was like a dog protecting a bone. It was just Dillon's luck that Fei Fei had saddled him with Abe and Tex as roommates. Tex wasn't so bad. He stayed on his side of the room and ignored Dillon for the most part, but Abe saw Dillon as a threat. That a ten-year-old could threaten Abe seemed ridiculous on the surface, but Dillon knew brains trumped brawn in the long run.
