Maybe it's different

curious

"You're going to be late" his mother was sitting in the living room reading a magazine while shouting hoping her son would hear
"Why didn't you wake me up mom?" Bruce ran down the stairs, running against time, packing his things.
"Oh my dear you looked so serene, I didn't want to wake you" his mother giggled as she saw him putting on his sneakers and brushing his teeth at the same time
"Ahem I know" Bruce sat down and ate as fast as he could while looking at the clock
"Mom, will you take me?"

It was Sunday and the state baseball championship final and Bruce was late

"Bruce was supposed to arrive at two o'clock and not two-thirty, the game will start in half an hour" his coach started scolding him
"It was bad coach, it won't happen again" Bruce was never late, in fact he was the one who always arrived ahead of everyone, even the coach
"Okay, this time passes, go there with the others to warm up" the coach sent him to the field along with his teammates
"Hey, Bruce slept longer than the bed, huh?" Tomy, his best friend who sometimes made him wonder if it was good to have a best friend

"It's not funny, I just got yelled at by the coach" Bruce started to stretch and realized that there were already people in the stands

"Bruce, Bruce, Bruce" some girls always showed up before the game just to watch the teams warm up or to try to get the attention of some boys, especially Bruce

"Come on man, the girls are talking to you" his teammates always bothered him about this, knowing that he hated being worshiped or acclaimed by anyone.
Bruce just gives a little wave of his hand, without looking, just so his colleagues will leave him alone

"Oh shit, what is this guy doing here?" Tommy points his head towards the stands, drawing the team's attention

"All that was missing was this guy wanting to cause trouble here and today" everyone was looking confused, even the people in the stands, because it really was strange

"Did someone invite this guy?" Tommy was already raising his voice too much for something so unnecessary

Vance hopper was a delinquent, known for being one of the strongest guys in school, he sent several kids to the nurse and almost managed to kill one, but that's just a rumor, everyone said he was always looking for a fight, but in my eyes, in Most of the time it wasn't him who started the fights but the people who wanted to fight with him, the good thing is that he always managed to get out of jail.

"Hey man, what are you doing here?" Vance is sitting comfortably on the last bench in the stands, leaning against the wall with both hands behind his head and his eyes closed as if he were sleeping.

"Are you going to turn a deaf ear?" Bruce saw that Tomy and four others went to Vance
Vance didn't move and didn't even make a point of looking at them, in fact he remained in the same position with his eyes closed, so the whole team started to come to him, and as everyone who was there began to observe the commotion that was beginning to form in the room. in front of the fence, I decided to go there before it turns into a fight

"Come on guys, let him go" I stood between them at the fence that separates the field from the stands, my back to Vance

"Bruce, can't you see what he's doing?" Vance remained in the same position as if nothing was happening.

"I just see him sitting there doing nothing, leave him there, he's not going to do anything..." I kind of asked a question, turning towards the stands to see if he was still in the same position and I saw him with his eyes open Staring at me, he didn't respond, he just raised his shoulders as if he didn't care and closed his eyes again.

"See, he's fine" I turn my face forward and see everyone with their mouths open looking at me

"Guys, what are you doing there?" the coach was on the team bench signaling us to go to him
Everyone stops looking at me and goes to the coach, I go after them and take one last look back, he was now following me with his eyes, his body was bent forward and with his hands clasped in front of his body
__
The game was actually good, we won, everyone on the team was jumping for joy and the audience was applauding, I went to look at the stands just to clear up a doubt that in a way gave me relief, he wasn't there anymore

"Man this game was difficult, that Finney guy is good huh" I couldn't pay attention to what Tomy was saying, I could only think about how Vance was looking at me

"Dude, are you listening?" Tomy gave me a light push on the arm

"Hi? Of course Finney, yes he's great his arm looks like a cannon" Tomy was suspicious, it seemed like he could read my thoughts

"Come on boys, finish getting ready, it's starting to get dark" the coach warned from the locker room door
"Do you want to go home today? I'll wait for you to finish getting ready" I hadn't finished getting ready yet and I didn't really feel like going out today either

"Sorry man, today I'm tired, I just want to go home, you can go without me" Bruce was the last to leave the locker room

"Take care Bruce, it's getting late" the coach waved me goodbye as he locked everything

"Don't worry coach, it's not completely dark yet" I started walking out of the stadium waving goodbye

My house to the countryside wasn't that far, but I didn't have my bike and my mother had already left, so the path will be a little longer
"Don't you think it's a bit late to walk around alone Yamada?" I was startled when I saw an arm pass around my shoulder

"Do you owe money, or are you just scared?"
"I'm n-not scared, you just surprised me" I tried not to stutter looking at the ground as I took his arm off my shoulder

"You look scared to me" Vance said looking at the shorter man

"What would I be afraid of, you" I'm not going to lower myself, I know that Vance likes to mess with the weakest, at the end of the question I raise my head and look straight into his eyes

we stood face to face "when did Yamada become so brave?" His arm, which had just been on my shoulder, was no longer around my waist.

"My name is Bruce" I kept my gaze straight up, my mother always told me that we shouldn't look away, as it makes us look weak, Vance looked at me with a raised eyebrow while his hand on my waist forced me to stay closer. close

"Are you acting brave, Bruce?" Vance was very close and the way he said my name left my cheeks burning and I was forced to look away "I have to go home" I tried to walk away but he let go of my waist and grabbed my wrist

"I'm with you" every time I tried to break away from his hands he pulled me closer to him "I'm not going to hit you, I have no reason to hurt you" Vance said with his face millimeters away from mine, that's not me It didn't calm me down at all, I just stopped trying to let go to prevent him from really hitting me.

The walk was silent and very calm, Vance walked so close to me that he could feel our fingers brush against each other and it was a good feeling...

"We arrived, see it wasn't so terrible" we were standing in front of my house "well I'll be going then" Vance was starting to leave, but I still had one doubt

"Why was it in the game?" he was already a few meters away
"what?"
"and that you never go to any game"

"I just wanted to see someone" Vance said with his back to me
"Who?"

"Curiosity killed the cat" he didn't say anything else and walked back, I tried to get his attention again but he was already far away and made a point of pretending he didn't hear me

"oh what the hell"