The World Behind My Wall

Chapter Two: Friends

Bill helped me pick out Mark's Christmas gift, and we decided to go see s movie as soon as we finished shopping. Carolyn, Tom, and Mark were busy running errands and whatnot; I preferred to shop alone but Bill had insisted on going with me. He said he talked enough for the both of us, and I secretly enjoyed his company. We placed our purchases in the trunk and walked across the street to the movie theatre.

"Would you rather see Silent Hill, or some chic flick?" He asked me.

"Silent Hill!" I grinned and we got in line. I recognized the guy at the ticket stand; his name was Chris Marshall and he had often bullied me in school. I excused myself, saying I needed the washroom, and rushed outside. I knew Chris would have said something cruel. Being in public wouldn't stop him, he took pleasure in causing me any sort of pain. His sister had pushed me around and even broke my arm by knocking me down a flight of stairs.

Someone tapped me on the back and I was about to hit them in self defence when I noticed it was Bill.

"What are you going out here?" He smiled, placing an arm around my shoulders. "Let's go get candy and popcorn."

The movie wasn't as good as I'd hoped, and we went back to the mall. Bill wanted some new shoes, and said he needed a new cord for his iPhone. Instead, he ended up getting a load of clothes and a laptop, as well as the most expensive and newest iPhone he could find. He was distracted by the jewelry store and we spent a good 45 minutes just looking at stuff.

"Hey, we should get friendship bracelets!" Bill exclaimed and I rolled my eyes. It was becoming clear to me that he had a lot of money. We finally left the mall when we couldn't carry anything more.

"How are we going to fit all this in the car? Mark is going to have a fit."

"That is an excellent question." He grinned. "We can just buy a new car!"

"Bill, you are insane. We can't just buy another car."

"Yeah. You're right! We'll get a truck!" Sensing my disapproval, he put on a straight face. "Kidding. I'll call Tom and see if they want to meet up and get something to eat."

We ate at Jungle Jim's, and Tom offered to pay for the meal. I watched as Carolyn flirted with Tom; she had a real weakness for tall guys. I wasn't surprised when he flirted back. Bill had told me his brother enjoyed flirting almost as much as he loved food.

Bill kept nudging my arm with his elbow whenever I went to take a sip of my root beer, and would make a funny face when I attempted to glare at him. In all honesty, I liked him. A lot. When we'd gone grocery shopping yesterday, he donated $300 worth of food to the Food Bank. There had been a time not so long ago when we depended on the Food Bank to keep us from starving. More often than not we had gone to bed hungry.

"I'm going to miss you when we leave." Bill whispered to me on the long drive home.

I rested my head on his shoulder, "Why?"

"You make me smile." He admitted. "There's something I have to tell you tomorrow."

"You should tell me now." I pouted, hoping he'd give in.

"Tomorrow." He stuck out his tongue and I closed my tired eyes.

When I woke up in my bed a couple hours later, I was slightly confused on how I had gotten there. Mark swore under his breath, he was playing Skyrim on his computer. Tom was sitting on the floor playing Resident Evil 5, and Bill was nowhere to be seen. He was probably downstairs watching tv. I picked up from off the floor and texted him. When he didn't reply I got up and made my way down to the living room. I heard him talking on the phone in rapid German and was about to go back to bed when he smiled and waved me over. I sat next to him and waited patiently until he ended the call.