The joke actually helped, and Sloper threw himself down next to Michael on the sofa. He took a deep breath and gave the other boy a smile, nodding a little to show that he really did appreciate what Michael was trying to do. He set the bottle down on the table and nodded his head again before turning; his leg moving up to rest on the sofa so he faced Corner.
"I should tell you too, yeah, as opposed as I am to keeping secrets, everything that goes on here--never happened, far as I'm concerned." He waved his hand as if to prove that he had every intention of negating everything that went down. "Yeah?"