The Gift

Chapter 1

"Hey bitch," chuckled Jacob. "What does grass taste like?"
Before I got to process what he said, he shoved me surprisingly hard, and I headed straight towards the ground. My shirt was stained green, again. I was officially done with him. I sent a punch at him, but of course, he blocked my fist as if he already knew what was happening, and sent his fist in the other direction. Down towards my balls.

"Have fun letting your mommy clean your shirt." The jocks all laughed and walked away. God please give me the strength I don't have to beat them up, bad.

"Hey honey, how was-"

"Good." I cut my mom off. I tried to walk as fast as I could to my room to clean up before my mom saw me, but somehow today everyone was one step ahead of me.

"Was it them again?" My mom asked, sounding upset.

"Yeah, whatever. It's all good."

"No it's not honey, when are you ever going to stand up to them and-"

"Mom, please. Really, I'm fine." At that moment I desperately wanted to tell her how I tried to throw a punch, but I was half way up the stairs by then. My life was like a book that everyone read 100 times. A book were everyone knows what I'm going to do every second of the day.

My name is John and I'm from Ohio. Paradise, Ohio to be exact. Our family is pretty small, only consisting of my mom and I. My mom never talks about my dad, other than the fact that he passed away during an aisle of a construction site.

No one knows me. I'm not in sports, nor band, and definitely not in choir. I'm pretty. What's the word us kids used- basic. I'm in the 12th grade and attend DeKaney High School. My mom likes it here. Me, well I really don't care anymore.

I glance at myself in the mirror, as I always do, and clean the dirt from my face.

"When are you going to-" I was cut off by my mothers yelling.

"John! The foods ready! John!"

"I'm coming, give me a minute." I feel like my mom's trying to spend more time with me to make up from the hours she misses out on me during over time. It's all good, I guess.

"So how was sch-"

"Good." I cut her off once again, as I knew what she was going to ask.

"John, please cut me some slack here. I don't work over time to not come home, I work over time to provide for you! And it might not look like I'm giving you much, but John, please. I'm begging you."

"I'm sorry." I replied with grief. At that moment sorrow swept in and I just realized how I treated my mother, as if she was a book herself.

"How was work?" I tried to start small talk while I was choking up on my own thoughts.

"Well look at you now, asking me how work is." She said, a small, temporary smirk on her face. "Work is work, nothing different." She replied, as if the talk we had a few moments ago never happened.

We sat there in dead silence, the clicking of our forks against the glass plates being the only thing you could hear. As soon as I placed the plate in the washer, the doorbell rang. I glanced up at the clock, 10:32 it read. Who in the hell is ringing the bell this late?

"Mom, are you expecting guests?"

"John, get in your room." She said quiet, but firm. "Now!"

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Hi, I just wanted to inform you all that John, the main character which this whole story revolves around, is a character that previously exists in the "I am Number Four" series. For my book purposes, I only used where he came from and his name. I will update this book every Friday so you all check it out! My editor is a charming, and creative individual, Carmen! You all check out her books at carmcaramel . Thank you for reading, and I hope all of y'all enjoy these chapters of "The Gift".