Being Wrong | ✓

Part 3

As soon as Charlie woke up the next morning, he wanted nothing more than to be asleep again. He was still tired, and the world just seemed like too much to face just then. Too much to ever face.

Charlie put in his music and shut his eyes, blocking out the world once again. He was hungry and he needed to pee, but before he'd put his music on he had been able to hear his grandparents up and moving around and he didn't know what he'd do if he encountered them.

With his eyes shut and his music turned up loud, Charlie didn't notice anyone had entered the room until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, shaking it. He startled and opened his eyes to see his grandpa standing over him. He quickly pulled out his earphones.

"Best get moving," his grandpa said. "Your gran wants to take you to look at schools today."

The weight of all the things he would have to do that day made Charlie's body tense. "I haven't gone to school since— since I was ten. I'm going to be really behind."

"So you'll work hard and catch up," Charlie's grandpa said. "Get dressed and then come and have some breakfast. Now you can have some of that cereal you wanted last night."

Charlie cringed inwardly at the reference to the previous night's events, but there was no anger in his grandpa's voice. As soon as his grandpa had left the room, Charlie reluctantly dressed in some of the new clothes they'd bought during yesterday's shopping trip. He hadn't had his head together enough to contribute much in the way of picking anything, but what they'd ended up with had been okay. There were T-shirts and jeans and a new hoodie, and that was all he really needed.

He had expected another lecture from his grandma as soon as she spotted him, but instead she just set a bowl of muesli in front of him without a word. There was more milk in it than he liked, and there were almonds, which he didn't like and carefully picked out, but he ate silently and without complaints.

As soon as he was finished eating, his grandma hurried him out to the car.

Living with his dad, Charlie had learnt to shut himself down when everything got to be too much to deal with. He quieted his mind until all it took in were simple commands and enough information about his surroundings in order to navigate them. This strategy didn't work too well when his grandma seemed to want him to make conversation. Charlie's long periods of silence had never bothered his dad much. It was almost a relief when they reached the first school.

It felt weird, being back in a school after all these years, even if it was just for a tour rather than to actually attend. Charlie felt strangely self conscious, like maybe the students who cast curious looks in his direction as the vice principal led Charlie and his grandma through the halls could tell he had been broken or maybe just born wrong. He felt like the centre of attention, though in truth the few looks he got were mostly disinterested.

Charlie's grandma rejected the first school after discussing their catch up programs and deeming them insufficient and they got back into the car and drove onto the next. Charlie had officially had enough. He just wanted to go back to his grandparent's house and put his music in and pretend he didn't exist. Every time he found some way to release some of the tension physically, be it by rocking or tapping or chewing his knuckles, his grandma would tell him to stop. By the time they reached the next school, Charlie wanted to bite someone.

The first school had been mostly inside two large, connected buildings, but this one consisted of several separate smaller buildings surrounded by plenty of space to sit outside and eat lunch. The bit of Charlie's brain that cared about anything at all just then preferred that. The cafeteria at the other school had looked like it would be far too noisy and full of food smells during lunch time.