Unexpected

| vi | glass and air

vi~ what’s really there but glass and air and promises?

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In hindsight, Grayson and Will should feel something negative when Ian’s amity increases only after his own fall from the soaring heights of “popularity”. However, it is more than that. The three boys relate to each other. In a way, they are all at their lowest points. It is only fitting that such a time is when they find each other.

Grayson’s mother, shortly after the assignment of the book groups, suffered from an episode in the grocers whilst no one was with her. Causing quite a disturbance, she inflicted damage to property and apparently “mentally scarred” two five-year-olds. As the incident was quickly publicized in the Cidson Daily, Grayson was doomed the moment he heard what happened.

He feels selfish—there is no way his mother can control her mental state. But he also resents her. He hates feeling three steps behind his peers, even if he finds himself hating them all. The news of Tammy Carin’s attack causes him to be pushed further into the dregs of the school society, and with negative attention drawn to him.

Will suffers from the typical he-is-a-scrawny-learned-type-so-therefore-we-must-tease-him plague of mind that is omnipresent in schools, and this philosophy is only worsened by the media. Apparently, shortly following his academic alliance with Grayson and Ian, he piped up in science class with a comment about sexuality, something about, “Well, isn’t that normal?”

And, to say the least, his classmates did not think it was that normal. Will does not even seem to understand what he said, so Grayson cannot begin to.

Ian’s problem is worse than both of theirs. It is a confliction of who he is with what the world wants him to be. Grayson knows why the kids are cruel to Ian, but he knows something more than Will on the subject. He knows that the accusations towards Ian are all true, even if Ian himself is not yet aware of it. Grayson is perceptible in that way.

Then again, in Grayson’s opinion, it is not hard to see that Ian is as gay as a twelve year old can be.

They are a group of misfits. And slowly, this understanding between them becomes a bond. The bond becomes a friendship.

Grayson cannot help but think that there is a perfect addition to their group, living right across the street from him. She is a misfit, just like them. And he has an inkling of a feeling that Erin would get along famously with his boys, especially Ian.

But, when Ian asks who lives in the house with the red door, Grayson responds with, “Nobody”.

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Erin is a bystander when it comes to Grayson and Madie’s budding relationship. She saw its beginning, and now, as the months ease into a deeper, crisper autumn, she witnesses its thickening. With the first fall of snow comes the first time Grayson gifts Madie with flowers. The November dusting on top of the world makes Erin want to scratch the happiness off of everything.

She really does do her best to be happy for them. Madie has given her no real reason for hatred, and Erin even finds herself sharing something close to friendship with the girl. Grayson seems… pleased. And rightly so. He has all he could ever want—dating the beautiful and “different” Madie Brewer gained his attention from the Riplé students, and it gained him respect from her Stetcal classmates.

If what he told her during their heated conversation was even a touch true, he also has Erin and Madie atop everything else. As far as Erin can see, there is no distinct lack of affection in the way they kiss. Nor is there any falsified ease between them. Either Grayson is a very good actor, or there is something genuine between him and Madie.