The English Boy

Chapter 44

February half term holiday is next week.

It's been a while since Callum and I have spoken to each other, but earlier today, he approached me just to tell me that Ben will not be able to take us home because he's going to Norwich. He said dad's not home either because he's in London. Dad's always in London. I don't really know why. Anyway, this means that we have to take the bus.

"What is it?" Luke approached me right after Callum left "Why are you talking to him?"

"He just said we have to ride the bus because Ben's not home." I said.

"Didn't know Ben lives with you too." he said.

"Oh, he doesn't." I replied "This is basically his part-time job."

I picked up my bags and headed over to the bus.

"Hey!" Luke grabbed my arm "What about I take you home for now?"

I smiled.

"That's okay." I said.

"Come on, Joe! I insist." he said.

And, he did! He used to do this a lot of times with me last year, until dad hired Ben.

"Where's your dad again?" he asked.

"In London." I replied "He's always there, like, almost every week."

"When do you think he's gonna be back?" he asked.

I smiled.

"In a couple of hours, I guess?" I replied.

"So," he turned to me "Do you want to do anything while he's not around?"

"It sounds tempting," I said "But, just take me home."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"You may want to check the back seat out, I've got something for you." he said.

And I did, and it was a football!!!

"It's for me?" I asked, as I reached for the ball.

"We did it! We reached three months!!!" he said.

"Aww," I was looking at the ball in my hands "Thank you."

"You don't like it?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"I haven't played Football in a while now." I said. Well, true enough "You know what, sometimes I don't really know what I'm passionate about."

"Football? Piano?" he said.

"I'm slow at reading notes, and most of the time, I choose Football more than piano." I said.

Then I remembered last summer when I signed up for summer Football, and everybody didn't like me. Maybe that Arianna girl didn't like me not because she's jealous or anything, but because no one really wanted me to be there because I'm not good.

"To be honest, I don't think I'm good at playing Football," I said "It's just something I feel like I know how to do, or at least just something I really like to do, but then I'm not good at it."

"Why would you think that?" he asked.

"Because that's what people make me think." I said.

He pulled over.

"There are a lot of things I learned from you, including the one you told me a few weeks ago, that someone will always be better than me."

I smiled.