Radical | A stranger things story

3: I Don't Understand Them

F/I = First Initial
L/I = Last Intial

I ride my skateboard to Mateo's bus stop and wait for it to come. His bus stop was just down the street so it wasn't a long walk, but I still wanted to make sure Mateo gets home safe. Mateo is five, and this is his first day of 1st grade. Every time I look at Mateo, he reminds me of myself when I was younger. When I was around his age, that's when I started to learn how to surf. My older sister, Janiyah, was the one who began to teach me how to surf. In fact, every single one of my older siblings taught me how to do something.

My older brother Mason taught me how to play piano and guitar. He is into music. He showed me different artists and music of all kinds. He showed me The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborn, and other artists. He made music important to me just like it was to him. My other older sister, Amara, taught me how to draw and paint. She is into abstract art but never feared to teach me other art forms. I ended up sticking with realism in the end but for a while, I drew cartoon characters and painted abstract like her.

I hear Mateo's bus coming up the street and smile. If we were still in California I would be the one that would teach him how to surf. Make it a family tradition, even. Mateo walks off his bus and hugs me tightly.

"Hey, Mateo! How was your first day of school?" I ask.

I wait for a while but didn't hear a response.

"I want to go home," he says.

"Wait, what's wrong?" I ask, concerned.

"The kids at school made fun of me," he cried.

"Why?" I question.
___

I feel the salty tears fall on my face. I look at the bathroom stall door, hiding. I sit on the toilet seat eating my lunch with my feet up just in case they walk in. I try to hold my breath in so they can't hear me in here. How did they find out?

"In here!"

Oh no, no, no. I hold in my breath trying to remain as silent as possible. 

"Y/NNN" they taunted.

"Where's your druggie siblings?"

I hear sounds of them pretending to snort something. Another tear falls down my cheek. I see their footsteps stop in front of my stall. They've found me. The stall door starts to shake and finally it gives out as it bursts open. 

"Leave me alone!" I yell.

"Where's your addict siblings at? If they are so great where are they now?" he sneered.

The others laugh at me. He walks toward me and throws my lunch on the ground. 

"I bet they would be too drunk to help you."

They grab me by the arms and throw me down on the ground-
___

"They made fun of my clothes. They said it was too girly," he wept.

"Oh, it'll be okay Mateo I promise. We could get you some other clothes if you would like?" I ask.

"Yes, please," he whines.

I nod and we begin to walk home. As we walk, I hear sniffles coming from my little brother.

"You know, kids used to bully me too," I say.

"Really?" he says.

"Yeah. What they say about you, isn't true. Always keep that in mind. Always," I state.

"Okay..." he says as he wipes his tears.

I unlock and open the door and let Mateo inside. He immediately walks up to his room and leaves me to myself in my living room. I walk up to my room and pop in Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. I grab my acoustic guitar and start strumming along with the song.