Theo's POV
“Well if you weren’t at work all the time we wouldn’t have this problem!”
“Maybe you should try to single handedly supporting this family then!” I grab my backpack from the table and tiptoe out of the house, trying to avoid being noticed so I don’t get dragged into my parents argument. If there’s anything I hate worse then them fighting 24/7 it’s when they put me in the middle. If they want someone to pick sides they should go to a couples counsellor or something, ‘cause I’m not interested.
I ride the city bus to school as usual, alone, also as usual. I’m not a people person. When I get to school everyone is clustered in their little groups of friends outside. There’s the popular crowd, mostly athletes with some rich kids thrown in, and then everyone else, people who have enough friends for them to feel like they don’t need to be popular when they really still want to be. 2And on the outskirts are the stragglers like me. Since this isn’t a kid’s movie, we don’t group together and bond over the fact that everyone think we’re weird. We just sort of stay away from everyone instead, eating lunch in the library, washrooms, or behind the dumpsters, depending on personal preference.
The bell rings and I head to my first class, geography. I sit in the back, my signature seat no matter the subject, and pull out my sketchbook. I spend the class drawing and trying to ignore whatever the teacher is saying. Like I’m going to actually need any of this when I’m older. Does any actually care about the different kinds of forests?
“Theo.” I look up from my book, the teacher has just said my name, which either means I’m in trouble, he’s about to ask me a question, or both.
“Yeah?” I answer.
“What ecological zone is this school located in?” He says. I rack my brain for the answer.
“Mountainous?” I say, taking a wild guess. Everyone laughs, and the teacher shakes his head, calling on another student who answers it with ease. I pass the rest of the day pretty much the same way, not paying attention and getting asked questions I don’t know the answer to. Why do teachers always ask you questions if it’s obvious you don’t know the answer? Finally it’s the last class of the day, English. We have a sub, and the class is engrossed in some kind of discussion. I continue to draw, wishing, like every day, that school would end.
Marcus's POV
“Have a good day at school darling”, says my granny. I bend down and kiss her on the cheek before slinging my backpack over my shoulder.
“I’ll see you later”, I say, “We’re still on for bingo at six right?” She nods and we say goodbye before I head out the door, hoping into my car. When I get to school I spot my friends and walk over to them.
“Sup Marcus”, says Benny. We bump fists and I turn to the rest of the group, who have their attention focused on Amanda, who tends to pick on the weak. I guess you could call us the popular kids at school, everyone seems to want to be us, probably because we’re all either athletes, I’m on the football, baseball, and basketball teams, or super rich kids, like Benny and Amanda.
“And then I said, is being that ugly even legal?” Everyone laughs and I join in.
“Why do some people even bother getting out of bed in the morning?” I say, and everyone laughs again.
“I know, right”, says Amanda. The bell rings and we walk to class. I spend most of my classes pretending I’m slacking off while really doing work. I can’t afford to flunk, but if anyone I hang out with knew that I actually try at school, it wouldn’t be good.
At lunchtime I sit at one of the prime tables, right in the middle of the cafeteria. I get my lunch and try not to grimace at the mystery meat.
“Look at that loser”, says Benny, pointing to a kid out of the lunchroom with his tray, “he’s probably going to go eat in the library or something. I’ve seen that kid before, he’s always drawing in the back of classes in his sketchbook and I think he’s pretty cool, but I would never tell Benny that.
