Shades Of Blue

3. Freak

Neel

September

Age 11

Transitioning back into school life had tested his newfound friendship with Powder. It didn't take long for Neel to see that his friends, the ones who had vanished on him that summer, wanted nothing to do with "that freak."

"He's not a freak," Neel defended in the playground during morning recess.

Isaac tilted his head to look over Neel's shoulder at Powder. He sat alone on the pavement with his back against the red brick of the school and his nose in a book. "Who reads during recess?" Isaac scoffed.

"Smart people."

Isaac looked his friend over in confusion, unsure if Neel had just insulted him.

"Have you ever even talked to him?" Neel wondered. "He's really cool."

"He doesn't talk," Isaac told him matter-of-factly. "He was born without a tongue, remember?"

Neel sneered and shook his head. "That's dumb. You know that's just a rumor."

"How do you know?"

"He talks to me all the time," Neel insisted, glancing back at Powder, who paid their playground conversation no mind. He had warned Neel this would happen. He had told Neel to ignore him, go back to the way things were before. Neel didn't need a replacement friend anymore. Such talk had prompted him to punch Powder in the arm for such foolishness.

"Maybe he's talking to you with his mind," Isaac mused. "I've never heard that freak say a word."

Neel let out an angry, yet restrained sigh. "Stop calling him that."

"Look at 'im!" Isaac shouted as he motioned to Neel's new buddy. "Powder's weird. He looks just like his sister with that long, girly hair. Plus, he's creepy. Have you seen what he draws in his sketchbook?"

Neel shook his head, his brows furrowed to show his displeasure. It shouldn't have been this difficult to bring someone new into his sixth-grade social circle.

"Scary stuff," Isaac said with concern as though he was warning Neel. "Look in that book, then see if you still wanna be that weirdo's friend." After a moment, he kicked at the pavement. "Come over after school. Just, don't bring Powder. He can't come."

Once Isaac and Neel parted ways, Neel sat next to Powder against the wall.

"I told you so," Powder gloated.

"Shut it," Neel joked. "He'll come around. Isaac seems like a jerk but he can be pretty nice."

"To you," Powder pointed out.

With Isaac's words still ringing in his ears, Neel eyed Powder's backpack and the sketchbook sticking out of it. As casually as he could, Neel slid the sketchbook out of the bag and held it up for Powder to see. "You're always scribbling in this thing. Are you ever gonna let me see your drawings?"

Powder hesitated with mistrust as the recess bell rang insistently to summon all of the children back to class. "You can't show anyone, okay?"

Neel nodded his head as they both stood up.

Powder stuffed the book he had been reading into his backpack and instructed Neel to return the sketchbook when he was finished looking at it.

In class, Powder sat in the back row next to the window. Neel sat at the desk next to him and opened the sketchbook, holding it close so no one else could see. The first page was blank save for a date jotted down at the bottom right corner. It must have been when Powder had started the book, only a month before he and Neel became friends. The next page was a drawing of a cabin by a lake. It was good for an 11-year-old artist.

Ignoring their teacher as the math lesson commenced, Neel carefully went through the sketchbook in search of some disturbing image that would justify Isaac's behavior. The closest example of something sinister was a realistic rendition of a skull sitting on a book. It wasn't scary. It was awesome, only cementing Neel's belief that Powder was awesome as well. Neel found himself envious of Powder's talent as he scanned a sketch of Laurie Carpenter, a girl in their class. It looked just like her. Satisfied, Neel closed the sketchbook and reached out to hand it to Powder only for it to be snatched up by Isaac, who was seated in front of Neel.

Isaac flashed Powder a cocky grin, gripping the sketchbook in his clutches.

Powder glared at Neel, then buried his face in his hands as their teacher told the class to split off into groups of four.

"Laurie!" Isaac beckoned. "Be in our group. It's you, me, Neel, and Casper the pervy ghost."

"Shut up," Neel urged quietly as he tried and failed to retrieve the book.

Isaac evaded him and leafed through the sketchbook. "I think Powder's in love, guys."

"Settle down," their teacher instructed Isaac.

Laurie's face was flushed red as she avoided looking in Powder's direction.

"Look," Isaac said as he showed Laurie her portrait. "He's obsessed with you."

"Stop!" Neel insisted, trying for the book again only for Isaac to hold it high above his head and out of Neel's reach. "You're being a jerk."

"Boys. Settle down or go to the principal's office," harped their teacher.

Turning away from Neel, Isaac fanned through the pages again. "Creepy," he shuddered at one sketch.

"Stop lying, there's nothing creepy in there," Neel informed him.

Isaac whirled on him, shoving the sketch into Neel's face. "It's you."

Neel shrugged as he beheld the sketch Powder had secretly drawn. It was a simple, elegant sketch of Neel reading a comic book. "So?"

"Did you know he drew this?" Isaac questioned.

"Yeah," Neel lied. "I asked him to. It's cool."

Powder still sat at his desk, his head down and shielded by his forearms, his hands clenched into fists.

No one noticed Ellie Archer get up from her seat. They didn't notice her speed across the room, weaving between desks. But everyone noticed when she tapped Isaac on the shoulder for his attention and, when he turned, they noticed her jam her knee into his prepubescent groin. She held the sketchbook as Isaac crumbled to his knees, the book slipping out of his fingers before he held himself in pain. She knelt close to him and growled an inaudible threat into his ear.

Seemingly ignoring the ruckus, Powder quickly asked their teacher if he could be excused and rushed out of the classroom.

"Ellie, office," their teacher snapped, rushing to Isaac's aid.

Ellie shrugged and cast a fleeting, accusing glance at Neel.

"Can I be excused, too?" Neel wondered, already trailing behind Ellie on their way out of the classroom.

The teacher let out a heavy sigh. "Why don't you leave him alone, Neel? He doesn't need you following him just to tease him some more."

"I'm not," Neel insisted, waited a moment then pressed, "please?"

"Fine," the teacher said. "Just, be nice."