The Shy Boy

Chapter 1

Elijah Jackson is an ordinary 16 year old teenage boy. He was happy, playful, he loved to spend time outside enjoying the world around him, playing video games and most other things teenage boys like to do. Being a little over average height for his age and a slim build he didn't always blend into the crowd, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately this is not how Elijah saw himself. He thought he was too tall inevitably making him too skinny, which in turn made his self esteem drop. He wore his jet black hair short revealing his deep mud brown eyes and big shy smile, often paring a slim fit pair of jeans with a long sleeved loose fitting checked shirt and black converse.

For some reason, unbeknown to Elijah, one day his friends decided to exclude him from their circle causing him to feel deeply alone and rejected. He tried asking his friends if he had done anything to upset them in any way but they just seemed to brush him off, often walking away from him without speaking to him. Several times he tried so hard to make new friends, but it often didn't last leaving him more tormented than before.Elijah even tried joining after school clubs to try make new friends, however nobody liked him. Everyone seemed to reject him for reasons he couldn't understand. His classmates started to bully him. They would throw food at him, trip him in the hall on his way to class, take his bag only to empty it out on the floor or into the bin. Things started to progress as they often do, to the point where Elijah was being punched and kicked on a regular basis.

His parents became worried about him as he came home with cuts and bruises more frequently. Elijahs mum, Christy had finally had enough and decide to call the school. As she picked up the receiver, moving over to the notice board in the hall to find the schools number Elijah heads to the kitchen."Hello this is Mrs Jackson, Elijah's mother. I would like to talk to the principle about my son. I am really concerned about Elijah at school, he is coming home with bruises all over him and a black eye almost every day." she says to the receptionist.As Christy gets impatient of waiting for the principle she starts to get angry. "What is taking so long!" she shouts to no one in particular.Elijah shrugs his shoulders and walks towards the fridge looking for a snack of some sort."There is some Cola in the fridge if you want some and some of those crisps you like in the cupboard." his mother says with a smile."Thanks mum" he replies.When the principal comes to the phone, Christy asks Elijah to leave the kitchen so she could talk in private.

Elijah grabbed a glass from the cupboard, taking the bottle of cola he had got out from the fridge and pack of crisps and headed to his room. Being an only child he was lucky that he didn't have to share a room or his things with anyone else. His bedroom was like most other teenage boys, the walls were a plain blue colour and his tv was mounted to the wall opposite his bed, making it easy to watch movies late in to the night. He loved watching movies on Netflix, at the moment he was working his way through 'Breaking Bad' an American tv show that seemed to be quite popular and would often flop onto his comfy memory foam mattress whenever he had nothing to do or no homework he would just relax watching tv shows.His games console was placed on a unit below his tv which was also filled with all his favourite games. There were a couple of piles of clothes laying around on the floor along with some of his school books.Walking over to his bed he sat down with a flop, staring blankly into space as if he was thinking about life. Often he would say to himself "it's going to be okay" or "everything will get better I am sure of it" but no matter how often he gave himself a pep talk his life just seemed to get worse.The knock on Elijah's door stirred him from his thoughts. Looking up he smiled at his mother as she stepped in to his room and came to sit down beside him."Eli is everything okay at school? You come home every day upset and with a black eye or nose bleed. I need to know who is doing this to you so that I can help you" she says with concern all over her face."No mum there is nothing wrong, just a bunch of people joking around, it just gets rough sometimes." he replied looking out the window."Ok honey, if you are sure. What do you want for dinner?" she asks him trying to cheer him up."Can we have kebab pizza tonight? It is Friday after all" he asks hopefully with a smile."Okay honey, kebab pizza it is." she says with a shake of her head as she leaves his room closing the door behind her.