-free story found on the authors website. https://www.eileenwilks.com/the-new-kid/

"The group with the lowest status of all were homosexuals. This was true in the larger society and doubly so at Hillcrest High, where none of them dared admit what they were. This boggled Rule’s brain. If human men held the power in their world, and they were hell-bent on keeping rivals from impregnating their women, why didn’t they welcome men who were not sexual rivals?"

"pity was a corrosive weed that warmed its donor while strangling its object. you didn’t respect those you pitied."