When He Comes

Chapter 1 Part 3

"This class is going to kill me." Parker thought as the teacher took roll call.

She had a stern monotone voice that could make anyone bored in a minute.

"Harry Bates?"

"Present." Harry responded easily.

"Lucky he's in the beginning." Parker thought.

Parker had an odd last name that was usually at the end of any roll call list.

He started to trace the etchings in the table with his finger while the the teacher droned on.

"Justin Williams?"

"Here." He responded obnoxiously loud from the back.

Parker grimaced.

Harry noticed and shot him a worried look.

"Parker Zabriel?"

Parker raised his hand.

She repeated his name as if she didn't see his hand raised.

He lifted it a little higher.

"Speak up." She said sternly, glaring at him.

"H-h-here." He said quietly as he stared anxiously down at the table.

"Louder!"

"H-h-h-here."

Snickers could be heard from around the class room.

"H-here." Justin began mocking Parker's voice to his little followers that sat around him.

Realizing what was happening, Harry stood up quickly.

"Why don't you get a hold of your class?" He shouted angrily at Mrs. Whatshername.

She seemed taken aback.

"They're teasing a fellow student. Your student. Why won't you do anything?" He seethed, now turning to glare at Justin.

"It's all in jest. Sit down." She said harshly.

Harry sat down with a bitterness Parker hoped he'd never see again.

For the second time that day, he found himself staring at Harry in disbelief.

Nobody had ever stood up for him before.

Parker wrote down the word 'THANKS' and passed to Harry.

"No Problem." He responded, looking at Parker sympathetically.

++++

The rest of the time in class was spent making lame introductions.

Surprisingly, the teacher skipped over Parker.

For that, he was thankful.

But the thing that struck him as weird was that he actually paid attention to what his classmates were saying.

Normally, he couldn't care less about them or what made them "special".

To old Parker, nobody was special.

Why did that change?

It was Harry's turn to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Harry."

Parker berated himself for ignoring Harry's introduction the first time.

Like he had hoped, Harry stated the things he had said to him on the bus again.

Parker learned that he had come from a town over, but didn't give a reason why.

He realized Harry was being vague about most things he was saying.