Melted: One Shots

Six: Chalida's Two Best Friends and How They Met

From Chapter Thirty in Melted: "Too Many Gifts"

Tul seemed to be particularly interested in how Max became friends with Chalida and Itty. So, Pongpat told him all about how EVERYONE wanted to be friends with Itty because of his parents, but that Itty really only hung out with Chalida whom he had known since he was a baby because their moms had been friends for years.

Max had interrupted, "I didn't even know who he was. I didn't know who half the stars that worked for his parents were either. We didn't have a television at our house in the village."

"Well, he took to you immediately, didn't he?" Pongpat teased Max but was really looking at Tul. "He was much more determined to be friends with you than you were with him. I remember you said you didn't trust anyone that rich or that good looking."

Max laughed. "A lot of those rich kids looked down on me because I was from the country, on scholarship, and a boarder. Frankly, I didn't have time for them either. I had plenty of friends at home, or at least I thought I did. And Itty was the richest and the best looking of them all. Why would I trust him?"

He noticed that Tul, for some reason was frowning, so he continued.

"Actually, Chalida introduced us. I was assigned to tutor her. That's how I came to know her. She was really nice. Itty had been away on a trip with his parents to some location, so he wasn't around when I first started tutoring her."

He paused, smiling at the memory. Pongpat watched Tul watching Max. Tul face kept switching expressions as if he couldn't decide if he were happy that Max was so happy or jealous that Max was thinking of other people. Pongpat remembered how he had left the information about Itty in Tul's lap the last time Max's friend had come up and smirked, despite his exhaustion.

Max continued, oblivious to the slight shift in mood from the other two. "Itty came looking for her after school his first day back because they usually went home together. He came in and started making fun of her. I didn't know that this was how they always were, you know teasing each other like siblings, so I told him off. Chalida had been the only person who had been kind to me. I was ready to fight him. Instead, Itty just turned to her and said, 'who is this guy?' And we've been friends ever since."

Pongpat laughed. "You make it sound simple. You were friends, but you almost stopped being friends with him when you found out who he was."

"I didn't want to embarrass him. I didn't know what rich people did. I thought his family would think I was weird. It didn't help that people started saying how I was only hanging with him because he was rich and I was poor."

They were clearing the table at this point. Max made Pongpat sit on the sofa as he and Tul put away leftovers and started cleaning.

Pongpat turned to Tul, "You know how Itty got around it? He actually had his parents contact me directly about getting permission for Max to visit. Max had been telling everyone that I was super strict and that he wasn't allowed to visit anyone unless I knew them because I had promised his mother."

"Oh, no. You're going to tell that story? I didn't want to visit anyone. My mother always said when you visited people in the city, you had to bring a gift. I had no money for gifts. I didn't know that really wasn't a thing unless you were a grown up or making an official visit not just going to a friend's house after school."

***

Max had done very well on the entrance exams for his new school, but he was still surprised at how high he scored on the entering diagnostic tests that were given at the beginning of each term. These tests helped the administration with placement and academic level groupings per grade but also helped teachers know the strengths and challenges they might have with their students.