"I don't KNOW YOU," he barked out, hitting the hand away frantically in fear before his mind could process that it was gentle and not to inflict pain.
James realized once he might have welcomed the contact, distantly knew this was somebody that must have cared about him and probably touched him with that same casual intimacy multiple times before, a friend. And it terrified him, being on the receiving end of that much shared history and simply not knowing. It hurt. Everything good had been taken from him, and now he was too ruined to even get it back.
"Just... leave me alone," he forced out, feeling awful as soon as he said it. But the damage was done, and he took off down the hallway before he could take it back. He didn't care that he left his belongings behind in the class, he didn't care that he was missing class. All that mattered was getting away.