The Problem Child

Wait, What?

Charlie didn't know how to feel about this. He was quite dumb struck. He was walking to the detention classroom and surprisingly Trevor was walking with him.

On time.

The both of them walked into the classroom and found the teacher already asleep on his desk.

Charlie couldn't help but think. Wasn't the P. E teacher a little too much of a sleepy head to be a physical trainer? He decided to dwell on that question later. He had better things to focus on.

As usual, Charlie took the seat near the window and Trevor plopped down beside him and leaned back on the heels of his chair with his hands on his head, eventually setting his mind to humming a random melody.

Trevor started to swing back and forth on his chair. He seemed to be enjoying the silence but Charlie felt suffocated by it. He could only look out of the window and enjoy the sight for so long.

He had looked at the birds fly by and how the leaves fluttered in the light breeze that blowed through the branches of the trees. But he felt restless neverthe less as it was mostly just buildings outside the window.

He felt the immediate urge to break the unbearable silence. So he did.

"So--"

"Don't even think of trying to make me sit and study, I won't " Trevor's voice was low and unusually calm. It was as if he was talking in his sleep.

"Uh... Okay" Charlie pursed his lips. "What should we do then?"

"Talk?" Trevor shrugged.

What does he mean, talk?!

"... Talk? About what?" Charlie voiced his doubt.

"Um... Say, like, Why do you live alone?" Trevor asked, his eyes wandering to the ceiling above him.

"Er... My parents were too over protective of me and I kind of felt suffocated in my comfort zone. That's why" Charlie said in a more or less embarrassed tone.

"Hm-hm"

Silence followed. And Charlie found it impossible to sit in that awkwardness any longer.

He tried starting yet another conversation.

"Um... How's life? I mean, I really don't know anything about you or what you do when you are not hanging out with us" Charlie shrugged and looked at Trevor longingly. He was hoping he could get to know him better.

He wondered if it seemed like he was prying.
He shook off the feeling. He was just digging info. Out of curiosity.

"Well, I adopted a cat recently" Trevor said after a moment of silence.

Uh... Okay.

"Nice! Did you name it? What did you name it?" Charlie asked, trying to pump a little enthusiasm into the atmosphere.

"Yeah, Achilles" Trevor shrugged.

What?!

"Wait, you named your cat....Achilles?" Charlie couldn't help but wonder if he actually heard him right.

"Yep. Found a pretty nice name on one of the covers of those weirdly named books in my bookshelf. Thought it would suit him. Also, the name sounds really kinda cool, don't you think?" Trevor shrugged. "Achilles The British Short Hair Cat" he mumbled to himself.

Charlie couldn't believe this guy was even real. "Trevor... Do you even know who that is?"

"Yeah. Conner said it is one of the names that make up the name of that Superhero SHAZAM. He actually tired me out with that info dumping habit of his, when I told him about it." Trevor clicked his tongue.

Really?!

Charlie couldn't believe someone so dumb could actually exist.

"I don't know what Conner told you. But Achilles was a Greek Hero, okay?" Charlie said, trying his best to mask his emotions.

"Yeah, Conner told me that too. 'The Courage of Achilles'" Trevor said in a weird imitation of Conner's voice.

It only left Charlie with dropped jaws.

Yeah, people like him really do exist. They are called stubborn, dumb teenagers.

"You named your cat after a demi God" Charlie nodded to himself and continued "Without even realising it". He was quiet amused.

Trevor scowled. He couldn't quiet understand what the big deal was.

And he really hated it when he couldn't undeestand something.

"My cat comes to me everytime I call him that. That's all I need to know. Now, Shut up"

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle at how annoyed Trevor looked. He vaguely wondered how adorable it would look if a smile formed on the other boy's lips right about now.

That's when he realised. He had never really seen Trevor smile. Not once. Sure enough, he had seen him scoff out and snicker at times. But none of them was an action that came from the depths of his heart. It felt strange. But who was he kidding? Trevor truly doesn't seem like the kind of person who would offer someone a heartly smule just for the sake of it.

"What?" Trevor snapped.

"Nothing. I was just wondering... Don't you ever smile?" Charlie scoffed out eyeing Trevor as he cocked his head to a side in amusement.

Trevor clicked his tongue.

"Why would I? There is nothing around here worth smiling about"

"Oh yeah? Why not give it a try?" Charlie mused.

Trevor turned his head to look at Charlie, who gave him a cheeky smile, as if setting an example for him.

Trevor kind of returned the smile. Kind of.

And it almost made Charlie fall off his chair from laughing.

Trevor had smiled with his eyebrows still knotted together and it made him look so weird and.... Funny. He looked like a smiling plushie that had a manufacturing defect.

Charlie covered his mouth to try and stifle his laughter, afraid he might wake the teacher, but failed miserably. He eventually fell into fits of laughter.

"D-dude, I can't b-believe you s-seriously just--" He trailed off as laughter took over him.

Trevor scowled and whacked him in the back of his head.

"Shut up, Charles. Or I will have to slam a chair on your oh-so-good-looking face" Trevor said and almost stopped himself immediately.

Wait, what?