When we were wallflowers

13

"Sorry we were late; we got out of class pretty late," I laughed. Kiku was already at the meeting spot when Matthew and I came. "Matthew, this is Kiku, Kiku, my brother Matthew," I breathed out. "Nice to meet you," they both smiled. They both shook hands and smiled at each other.

I took a seat on one of the boxes and looked around. We were behind the bleachers and pretty far from the campus. "Well, since the two of you are here, I feel it is appropriate to explain everything from the beginning," Kiku started.

He took out his lunch and moved some of the food around. Matthew and I sat beside each other, watching excitingly. "So, as I told Alfred, Ivan is known to be ruthless. His family moved here about three years ago, and when he first came to the school, it was hell," he started.

I began to eat my food and listen. "What happened?" Matthew asked. "He bullied someone so bad that they almost committed...you know..." Kiku spoke nervously. My eyes widened, and I looked at Matthew. "It is a long story, but I'll keep it short. Raivis is a boy who used to go here and moved to a different school after everything happened. Ivan had constantly hurt him daily; at the time, students didn't say anything because they found anything funny," Kiku added. He rolled his eyes and began to eat his food.

"I didn't know Raivis, but his story spread fast. Ivan would punch him, yell at him, and destroy his things. Anytime Raivis was with friends, Ivan would scare them off. It got to the point where Ivan began to threaten them, forcing them to stay away. One of the friends decided not to do as he said, and he was pushed down the stairs!"

"What? Are you serious?" I asked, shocked. Kiku nodded, and I looked at Matthew, concerned. "The kid broke his leg, but he ended up moving too. Apparently, Ivan told Raivis that he would kill himself if he didn't kill himself."

"What? Where was the school? They did not step in?" Matthew asked. Kiku shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. "No clue; as I said, these are stories I heard. The year this happened, I also moved here from San Francisco. I only knew mandarin and Japanese, so I was put into the bilingual classes and was separated from other students."

"Oh, I see," Matthew spoke.

"So, why is he targeting us? Because we are new? That is so stupid," I said, annoyed. "My guess is, your parents are... you know...fruity?" Kiku laughed. "Ah, but that's still odd, isn't this state supposed to be LGBT friendly?" I asked.

"Yeah, it is... but people are still homophobic," Kiku spoke. "So, how do we get him to back off?" Matthew asked. Kiku looked at both of us like we were idiots. "Two options... one, it escalates, and one of you beats the crap out of him. That is assuming you win! Have you seen that guy? Then option two is... Wait for him to get bored."

"Those are terrible options!" I yelled.

"At least I gave you options!" Kiku spoke.

Bruh... seriously?

"We can wait for him to get bored! Right? I'm sure by next week he will forget about this!" I tried to say. "Yeah, okay," Kiku snickered. "Until then, I'm sorry, but I don't think we should be friends... at least not around people," Kiku spoke.

"Hey, I want to make friends with Carlos. Is there anything I can do?" Matthew asked. "I don't think so; many people are scared of Ivan and Adnan. I'm scared too, and I don't want anyone threatening me while I'm trying to go to school," Kiku whistled.

"Don't worry; I'm sure he will get bored eventually," I spoke. "I hope so," Matthew said.

"Alfred told me about your dad; how are the two of you holding up?" Kiku asked. My eyes widened, and Matthew looked at him curiously. "We are good, don't worry," I smiled.

"I don't want to pry, but what was he like?" Kiku asked. Matthew smiled at the question and began to take out his wallet. "This is a picture of us together,"
Matthew started. He handed him the photo, and Kiku smiled at it. "Our dad was tough but loved us so much. Our dad loved drinking tea and made sure we also did too. He loved to embroider and made lots of neat things." Matthew laughed.

"Yes! He was so hard-headed sometimes. Never trusted us to do anything on our own. He was very protective of us and strict; he was the best dad we could have asked for," I smiled.

"It is good that no one else was hurt. Was he the only one in the car?" Kiku asked. I froze in my spot, and Matthew looked at me, wondering if I should say anything. Did I want Kiku to know? About my near-death experience.

"I was in the car..." I started.

Kiku looked at me shocked, then worried, then horrified. "Oh, I'm so sorry; how did you manage to get out?" he asked. He was starting to get curious and more curious. "I didn't... I was in a coma for almost a month...the doctors told me they arrived just in time. I could have been dead if it were a minute later," I explained.

"But don't worry! All is well now!" I added. He still looked at me, concerned. His views on me could change if he knew why we were out that night. What if he began to see me as the person at fault? The first friend I made here, turning their back on me after what I caused, I think would be my breaking point. There would be nothing else in this world that could fill the void. I was so close to breaking as it is; I didn't need all of this stress. Not from Adnan or Ivan, not from the overwhelming feelings I have daily, as I am reminded about why we were out that night in the first place.

I smashed all my drawings, art supplies, and anything I used to make art. I wasn't the best at craft, but I liked it enough. Enough to choose it as my assignment; I'm a pathetic excuse for a person.