He Never Knew

Chapter 2

A/N: Hello everybody!  I just wanted to let you know that this chapter is a little longer than I thought it would be and that there is a little bit of coarse language that I find rude, so that's a warning.  I hope you enjoyed my first chapter and that you enjoy this one too!!!!

Jeffrey walked into his first class of the day, math.  He sat down quietly and stared out the window.  He didn't hear the bell, telling everyone that class was starting.  He didn't hear the other students filing in.  He didn't even hear the teacher introducing a new student to the class.

"You can sit in front of Jeffrey," Miss Mortimer said, "Jeffrey, please raise you hand."

No answer.

"Jeffrey?"

Still no answer.

"Jeffrey!" she nearly shouted.

"Right here," Jeffrey finally answered, turning his head away from the window.

"There is your permanent seat, Cara."

Cara was pretty, in her own way.  Some would say she wore too much black, but Jeffrey really did think she was pretty.  She wore black converse, black jeans, a black Skillet  T-shirt.  Her hair was straight and almost reached her waist.  With the dark hair and outfit, Jeffrey expected to see piercings and a ton of black makeup plastering her face, but when she glanced out the window, Jeffrey caught a glance and noticed that there was none.  Instead there were huge navy blue nerdy glasses that covered her beautiful pale blue eyes.  As she turned in the homework assignment to the turn-in bin, Jeffrey noticed that she was tall, but not too tall, but more of a perfect height.

"But why care?" He thought to himself.  "It's not like she's going to notice you anyway."  Jeffrey went back to his homework, mindlessly doing abstract math equations.  Why should he care about her?

When the lunch bell sounded, Jeffrey went to sit alone in his corner.  He saw Cara looking for a place to sit and thought about asking her if she wanted to sit with him, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw her walk over to sit with Lauren and her friends.  When everyone was dismissed for recess, Jeffrey silently walked over to his tree and sat down to read his book, which he always had with him.  Well, he tried to until one of the jocks kicked a football at him.

Now, in fifth grade, the term "jock"  is used lightly.  They are really just kids that like to play sports at recess instead of talking.  They truly were bullies though.  One of them, the biggest, whose name was Caleb, went to go get the football, but decided that it was too close to Jeffrey to be touched.

"Hey! Wilson!" he shouted, obnoxiously, "Give me my football."

Jeffrey went to pick it up for him, but apparently was too slow because Caleb decided to kick him in the stomach when he tried to give it back. 

"Ew... Why'd you have to touch it? Now it's unsanitary!" Caleb sneered, feeling slightly proud that he had used a new vocabulary word.  "loser" he spat out afterwards, not wanting to look too smart.

By this time, Caleb's friends had made their way over to Jeffrey.  One of them picked up Jeffrey's book and rifled through it, ripping out pages and throwing them to the ground.  

"No, Stop! Give it back!" Jeffrey shouted, trying to get up and protect his beloved book, but the boys just threw him back to the ground.  A crowd had gathered.  Most of the fifth grade was there.  Lauren and her friends laughed and giggled, calling Jeffrey terrible names.

"Do you even know what those words mean?" Cara asked them, feeling guilty that she was hanging out with such people using such terrible language.  "My mother said that if she ever heard those words come out of my mouth, she'd wash it out with soap."

"But don't you see?" Lauren spoke in her most annoying voice, "He's a faggot, a loser.  Nobody likes him.  He's nobody."

Cara just couldn't stand it.  She couldn't believe that the teachers weren't doing anything about this.  She stomped up to Caleb and shoved him off of Jeffrey, sick of seeing such cruelty.

"Get off of him!" She screamed, hoping to get the teachers' attention, but to no avail. " Do you hear me? Leave him alone!" She pushed Caleb farther away from Jeffrey.  "You make me sick.  All of you. How can you watch this?!"

She turned to the pages of Jeffrey's book, laying on the ground, and picked them up and placed them gently back in the binding.

"Are you alright?" Cara asked, turning her attention to Jeffrey.  

He just nodded his head and grabbed his book out of her hand.

"Those guys are jerks.  They all are!" She shouted, then added, a little quieter. "I can't believe this."

She was fuming and angry.  Jeffrey could see fire in her eyes and smoke coming out of her ears.  But, because the situation was over and nobody was "hurt" the teachers didn't care enough to dole out punishments.  Cara nearly kicked the tree when Mrs. Winnie said that "she didn't see anything." 

"I can't believe how heartless people can be!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.  She quickly wiped them away and put up a mask.

She sat by Jeffrey until the bell rang, beckoning all the children back inside for afternoon classes.  Jeffrey and Cara walked back to Miss Mortimer's room together in silence.  The afternoon passed, but Jeffrey didn't notice.  He just found a blank page and wrote.

September 6, 2015

             Today I witnessed real courage, real strength.  Today I almost felt loved, if I can even understand what that is.  But this couldn't be real.  It was just pity.  It will fade.  I am sure of it.  Cara Butch, a new girl, nearly threw Caleb Shlitz into a tree.  She seemed so strong in the face of trouble.  But at the same time, she seems so nice.

The final bell rang.  Jeffrey walked silently to the park and sat down under a tree.  He liked being alone, but today he felt lonely.  About five minutes of deep thinking passed.  He heard a "plop" and looked over to see Cara sitting next to him.

"Hey-o, you don't mind if I sit here, do you?" She asked, laughing a little.

"I guess," he answered not finding enough courage to look at her.

"Great!" she exclaimed, rummaging through her turquoise backpack for something.  About thirty seconds later she pulled out a Ziploc bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.

"Want one?" she asked, holding out the bag for Jeffrey while shoving a handful in her mouth.  Jeffrey shook his head and continued writing.  "Suit yourself.  These things are the bomb.com."

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I really appreciate when people take the time to read my random word vomits :)  I hope that you are enjoying this story so far and updates should be coming very soon in the future!!!!!!