estranged

2. james

Russ .he's the one ive wanted to see most . he's about twice as tall as me (alright, not that tall. But still pretty big )and ive only ever seen him at these meetings.. He's thin, i mean really thin and hardly talks to anyone.I think his name is supposed to mean a whole bunch of things, i dont know what though, but its a very long name so it must be impressive.plus im pretty sure hes got like three middle names too, cause his proper name is russkeritof- something. Russ-kair-ie-toff. Its such a weird name. And its even weirder how most of his siblings have pretty normal names as far as i'm aware of. Russkeritof. Russ. russki. I have too many ways to call him, and i know he would hate me calling him any of them.

He's staying very close to his father, and he has a black eye. That isnt a good sign.. His father is even taller then he is and glaring at everyone. Russkeritof is accompanied by his six siblings, three girls and three boys, all as thin as he is. I have no idea why his dad had so many children when they didnt have any money, But i suppose now my chances of getting to talk to him are even slimmer. Everyone sits down as the meeting begins and i pretend to listen for a while before looking back over at russ. He glances up and we make eye contact for a second , his gaze snaps back down to the floor right after and he starts fidgeting , looking up at his father after a few seconds and them seeming to relax after he hasnt reacted. Im confused, i know his father dosent like him talking to people, and especially not me. But. even this seems like a bit much. I'll try to talk to him after the meeting is over, it would be good to get to know him. Maybe i could help him a bit.

Our head governor:Miss aubrey ,drones on about something to do with financial stuff before she sits down to let other people, including all-too-formal leon continue talking about the economy for her. He somehow manages to make it even more boring then she did. He's got an accent thats either german or austrian or something, and it makes his words buzz. Put that together with how fast he talks and how annoying he is in general and youve got the most tedious meeting of your life. This all goes on and on but at least i get to look at russkeritof.

the second the meeting ends , russ gets up to leave and starts walking out but his father puts a hand on his shoulder and he freezes. He gets pulled outside but no one does anything, did nobody see? I feel a tug on my sleeve . it's charlie . "do you want to get icecream?"he asks . i do want that but i need to see if russ is ok or not so i just shrug. He lets go of my shirt ,"um, well i can save some for you maybe" . i smile a bit, "Thanks", and then He runs off and i go to find Russkeritof. It takes a while but i eventually hear his father yelling at him from the other side of the building. I peek out at them from behind the wall and there he is, pressed up against the wall , looking down at his shoes. His father slaps him across the face , "dont you DARE look away when im talking to you!" Russkirotof shakily looks up at him and gets slapped again. His father turns away. "You are not to come home . i will get you tomorrow, if you are lucky, "dont disappoint me like this again". Russkirotof mumbles something and his father marches off . Im stunned. Russkirotof sits down and stares at the concrete. I dont really know what to do, but i slowly walk up to him. He sees me immediately and stands up, backing away. I stop, "are you ok?.." He turns away from me. "Leave me alone.." it's been a long time since ive heard him speak. He sounds almost exactly like his father. He's got a thick accent that makes him roll all his r's. I dont know what it is exactly, but i like the sound of it a lot. I think it's russian with a mix of something else. I mean, he wears one of those russian hat thingos. Although that might just be coincidence, its very stereotypical.. I'm worried for him though. So i start walking towards him again , "was that about you looking at me? I'm .. im sorry if it was, i mean.. I know your dad dosent like me and all that but"- he cuts me off, "i said leave me alone, dont make this worse for me.." i step back, unsure about what to do. I dont want to just leave him here, but, he's much bigger then me, i dont want to end up starting a fight either. But, the way he just accepted this, this just isnt right. We've never talked much and our families hate each other, but i want to help him at least a little bit. My phone buzzes, mum's calling me and i know that she's going to be livid if i dont answer so i walk away from Russkirotof, but this dosent mean ive given up.