Futile [BOOK 1] | ✓

Chapter 1: The first meeting

You had me from hello- Kenny Chesney

~¤~

I met Jake Johnson on the first day of high school.

I had just shifted to this new town of ours and I was dreading every bit of any new interactions. Since I had problems with making friends quickly or initiating conversations with people, as long as they asked me anything and I could answer them correctly without sounding stupid, I was okay.

The problems began when I would be amongst strangers and they were equally as introvert as me. And I had no idea what to say. I had no social disorder, no. I was completely normal. I was simply shy and quiet. I didn't open up my feelings to any random person and it took me sometime to completely trust one. It was just a genetic trait I inherited from my dead father. My mom often encouraged me to go out and mix with people instead of spending time with the books and phone because too much of a recluse wouldn't exactly land me with a good social life and keeping a decent amount of people around me was healthy, according to her.

After dad died from lung cancer before the end of my middle school, leaving me and Ma alone, we both decided we wanted a new start and thus packed our belongings and moved to the small town of Greywall. I didn't want to move but Ma needed it, so I didn't protest. As it is, I didn't have any particular fond attachment to my old town. I was never very emotionally attached to any kind of place.

I had read a few things about this town. It had a population of around 1000-2000 and people were really close to each other. They were all warm and kind and the most hardworking people you would ever find.

Jake and I met when he saved me from getting bullied during freshman year. I had been pushed to a corner on the first day by rowdy seniors and was about to receive a beating when Jake Johnson set crackers around and gave them some karate kicks. I was pretty surpised to see a tall lanky guy beating up three mammoth sized guys. Later, I got to know he was a black belt in karate. I became his friend after that (safety reasons included) and later best friend by the time I became a sophomore.

He was the complete opposite of me - loud and obnoxious, living life to the fullest and cracking stupid meaningless jokes that I skillfully ignored. He brought me out of my shell and made me feel comfortable. I made new friends and he showed me around the town. Slowly, I grew more comfortable with him and now he was almost like a brother to me.

It was the classic case of an extrovert adopting an introvert into his life.

Another reason we connected was because like me, he too had lost his father in a car accident when he was three years old. So, he had no particular memory of his dad like I had. Now, he lived with his sister who had just started college and his mom. His sister, Reina attended the best private college and still lived with them as she didn't wanna go away from her family, apparently. I didn't meet Jake's family before a month.

I had met Jake's mom after she had invited me over one day and made me some pork chops which I soon became a fan of later.

"You are as thin as a twig, eat more and stay healthy," She had said, feeding me more chops.

His mom, Emilia Johnson was one of the most influential people in the town with her own large business that I didn't know yet. She looked like an intimidating and ruthless lady at first glance but I was surprised to see her gentler side when we met. She had a day off and she loved feeding guests, it seemed.

My mouth was stuffed with pork and I was shaking my head violently to prevent Jake's mom, Martha from feeding me more.

"Welcome to my family," Jake rolled his eyes, "Mom, he is choking," He sighed.