Thousand miles apart

His Surprise

Zach's POV :

It was almost 45 mins ride to school and as I reached, I parked my car some distance away from the gate. I quickly got down from the car and closed the door before I walked into the campus in search of him. As I walked further in, I heard a commotion. Thinking that it is just some kids playing around, I decided to ignore them when,

"Haha! Look at you cripple!" One of them cooed and I heard the kids laugh.

I had the idea of what was happening and I couldn't ignore that. So I followed the source and that's when my gaze fell on him not so surprisingly sitting next to the ice cream truck, not just that, the sight had me squint my eyes in displeasure. It was the scene which I had faced when I was young, the things I dread. It was Wes getting bullied by his seniors.

"Looks like he's bound to be this way, what do they call that?" the other one asked the group.

"Wheelchair-bound! Haha!" everyone laughed.

"Hold on guys!" A guy walking in wearing a soccer jersey with a ball in his hand.

"Where are your parents again? Did they leave your crippled ass too? So sad" He cooed with a sympathetic smile and everyone laughed as the girls cheered him. 

I clenched my fist as I was so ready to use them as my punching bag but then I realized one thing. When I was in his place, my brother always stood up for me but I wasn't proud of it. I always wished to stand up to myself without any help. So I decided to hide and wait until I'm required. I was more amused to find Wes having ice cream leisurely, ignoring them.

"Seems like someone's excited for a Lil punishment from me because NO ONE would dare to ignore me-" and before I could realize it, he threw the ball at Wes.

*bang*

Before it could hit Wes, he held his fist to the ball without any effort and the ball flew in the other direction.

"I'm sorry that my permanent disability has caused you a temporary inconvenience but stop being 'that' kid who tries to bully everyone he sees just because he's desperate to keep his reputation and yeah, just so you know, it's not worth it", He said and the guy looked surprised. Not just him but me too. When I was in his position, I couldn't stand up for myself but I'm glad he did. I feel like a proud brother as the others went away clearly irritated by his behavior.

Since it is time that I show myself, I slowly crept towards him from behind.

"BOO!" I yelled as I held his shoulders and he looked startled at my presence.

"Bro! Don't you Boo me! What are you? 4?" He rolled his eyes at me. "Definitely not 5 since I don't boo people", He said trying to turn his chair which didn't go unnoticed by me. 

"You were startled anyway so, my effort didn't go in vain" I shrugged as I helped him, pushing his wheelchair not before looking back at his seniors playing on the ground as I walked back to the car. I opened the door, carried him in bridal style, and placed him on the seat.

"Yeah, whatever. Seems like we got replaced with our age" He scoffed and before I close the door, he slammed the door shut. I shook my head and folded the wheelchair and placed it on the back seat. I walked up to the driver's seat and took a seat as I closed the door. I leaned back as I inserted the car keys turning on the engine.

"The older you grow, the more you miss living with this childish behavior in one's self, you know?" I sighed as I glanced at him with a smile and he did the same. We looked at each other for a while before he slowly nodded at me.

"No. I don't since I'm still 5" He replied and my smile slowly turned into a frown.

"And yet you act too mature than your age" I whispered to myself and he simply rolled his eyes at me. I shook my head as I pressed the accelerator and drove away.