Envy the Unfeeling

History

Kindergarten was the first time these two boys met each other in a formal setting. Having only met once after getting lost in the forest past their neighborhood, they bonded briefly over the summer. The first week of school jumpstarted them into the friendship of a lifetime.

It was a Friday. The clouds slowly covered the warm sun, allowing the fresh breeze to flow over every being caught in its path. A certain young boy named Apollo could detect the faint smell of Thursday's April shower, and a sense of serenity came with it. He began to write a poem about it, loving recording his every moment on any physical device he came by.

He took out his notebook and started jotting down the first words that came to his head. They went something like this: 'I smell rain.'

He didn't write more than that, but he already felt confident in his writing, knowing he'd just written the next best-selling novel. He would call it, 'I'm good at smelling.' He had to set his notebook down to handle the sheer genius his brain had just concocted. A reality check came swiftly in the form of a familiar peer of his.

The boy walking up to Apollo was Leonas. He was a tall kid for his age, already the tallest in the grade by far. Leonas recognized the snarky kid he met during the summer and remembered their pleasant conversation over worms.

Being ever so brave, Leonas picked up the notebook and read Apollo's words out loud, "I smell rain?" he asked inquisitively.

Apollo's eyes widened at the kid's audacity, "Get your own notebook, idiot!"

Leonas' smile faltered momentarily, "Do you remember me? We met over the summer."

"Yeah I do, what do you want?"

Leonas shrugged, not knowing what else to say. He handed back the notebook he had to Apollo and sat on the cinder block next to Apollo. This caused Apollo to scooch a few inches away and stare confusedly at Leonas.

"Do you need something?" Apollo asked.

Leonas shook his head. "You were just really cool! And you were right! Last week, I forced my mom to walk to the forest with me after it rained. We saw a ton of worms!"

Apollo tried to remember how worms were now relevant, "Huh?"

"Remember during summer? We talked about worms and how cool they are. You said I can always find them after it rains! You were right!" Leonas said cheerfully.

Apollo put a strand of hair behind his ear and smiled proudly, still not remembering what Leonas was talking about. "Of course I was right, I'm just that cool."

Leonas' eyes seemingly shimmered, looking at Apollo, "Do you write in your notebook a lot?"

Apollo nodded, "Only when I don't have my tablet with me, I'm always talking about myself."

Leonas didn't think that sounded good, but he ignored Apollo's remark, "It's so cool that you have a tablet! My dad can't afford one, and my mom always says she's poor because of her divorce when she drinks vodka. So she lets me watch TV all the time instead! She's so cool."

Apollo was confused about how this was important enough to distract him from publishing his novel, "I'm going to write in my novel now, don't distract me!"

Leonas shouted in surprise, scaring Apollo enough to have his pen fly from his hands. Leonas ran to the other side of the cinder blocks to get it. He handed it back to an annoyed Apollo. "You're writing a novel? Wow! You must be famous!

Apollo never corrected Leonas, "Yeah! I'm super famous."

From then on, Apollo and Leonas never left each other's side. This fact became obvious months later when Leonas joyfully invited Apollo to his mom's new house. Apollo's father felt overjoyed that Apollo had made a friend, and Apollo was annoyed he had to leave his house.