The Green(The Green - book 1)

Chapter One

Year 2016

Tommy Foley was a short 8 year old boy, about 4 feet tall. He had brown eyes, spiky brownish-reddish hair and glasses on, with a round face. Tommy was heading to the bus stop. He felt a cool breeze pass his face, as he shrugged his shoulders and shivered. Before he got to the bus stop, four boys stepped out into the middle of the street, from a nearby driveway. "Hey Fooly! You got my math homework?" A boy slightly taller than Tommy asked. His name was Randy Tailor. Randy was a 10 year old, with buckteeth and blue eyes. He had blonde hair that covered his eyebrows and his ears. "I told you! I'm not doing your homework, Randy!" "Oh really? You wanna play rough? We'll play rough!"

Behind Tommy there were 3 boys. On the far left was a Chubby, 4 foot tall, 10 year old Mid-Eastern Indian child. He had an oval shaped face, glasses, a big nose and spiky black hair. His name was Gurpreet Rahat. He was wearing a black Ecco hoodie, over a white t-shirt and black satin pants. To his right was Luis Valero, a skinny 5 foot tall, 10 year old Hispanic boy with a shaved head. He had an oval shaped face, brown eyes and he was wearing an Adidas shirt with black baggy jeans. Then the last boy on the right was Viktor Strategias, a 4 foot, athletic Greek boy with brown eyes, a big nose and dark hair that was slicked back. He wore a gray jacket, a white shirt and baggy, light blue jeans. All four boys dragged Tommy across the bright green, freshly cut blades of grass, in Randy's front yard. Randy lived in a 2 story, brown wooden house. There were white curtains on the windows. They opened the dark brown wooden fence. Randy pulled a latch on the fence up and to the left, then he pulled the door back. The other 3 boys dragged Tommy into Randy's backyard. Tommy hated being forced, it made his body feel strange and it jolted his nerves. They shoved him down onto a pile of dog feces. Tommy pulled his head back, while they tried to push his face down into the pile. Tommy hated the smell and started to yell, but no parents were around to stop them! Viktor looked over at Brutus, the Mastiff, who was peeking out of his doghouse. Viktor was afraid of Brutus, because of the dog's size. Brutus smelled Viktor's fear and started to growl. Viktor began shaking. He was holding Tommy's legs, while Gurpreet was holding Tommy's left arm, Luis was holding his right arm and Randy was pushing Tommy's head down. Suddenly Brutus sprung onto all fours. He leapt into action, swiftly darting at Viktor, as he let out an angry bark! Viktor let go of Tommy's legs and sprinted faster than he had ever moved before! He darted left and around the block, to the direction of his house. Brutus was quickly catching up behind. "Viktor! Come back with my dog!" Randy shouted and bolted off into the same direction. Luis and Gurpreet looked at each other and shrugged. They let Tommy go, then walked back to the bus stop, while Tommy slowly followed behind.

Later that day, Tommy's legs moved swiftly down the black steps of the school bus, as Randy and his friends quickly followed behind. With his green and white backpack weighing him down, Tommy rushed to his house at the end of the street, as fast as he possibly could! He bolted over the dirt terrain of the cul-de-sac, scaled up the railing of his steps, turned the key in the lock and pulled the door open. He took his key out, whipped the door closed and then turned the lock. Tommy's parents were out of town. They were talent agents for actors in Hollywood. His neighbor, Mrs. Watson, came over every night, to check on him. The house was empty. He stared up at the crystal chandelier on the white ceiling, inhaled through his nose, exhaled through his mouth and leaned his back against the white wall. There was a wooden table near a window, to his right, as he came in. On the table, there was a picture of him as a baby, being held by his parents. In the photo, his father Brian, had a round shaped face, dark hair that was slicked back and receding. He had brown eyes and a beard, wore a black suit, black tie and a white button down shirt. When they came home, they were usually too busy to talk to Tommy. Jennifer would occasionally set aside a few minutes for him, but he really just wanted to spend a Saturday doing something with his dad.

He walked through his family room. The family room had one leather couch and a mahogany wood floor. He continued straight ahead, into his living room. The TV was resting on a black TV stand, with his XBOX underneath. He turned on his XBOX and looked out a window, to his left, while waiting for it to load. The window had white curtains hanging. The wind was blowing, like weightless winged creatures, with life spans that are short lived, as they often come and go. Clouds were floating through a bright blue sky, a roadway for spirits, gliding slowly from destination to destination.

He went into multiplayer mode on his Battlefield 3 game and met up with a friend he met online. His friend was known by the username Jabr0ni009. Tommy put on his headset and played with his friend for a couple hours, until Jabr0ni's mother called them for dinner. "Sorry Tommy, gotta go. I'll try to be on tomorrow..." "Okay... Bye..." Tommy looked around and noticed the sky was getting dark. Mrs. Watson didn't stop by that night. Tommy sighed. He was lonely. He didn't really have any friends, besides Jabr0ni, so he got lonely at times. He felt the cool breeze of the freezer, as he took a box of fish sticks out. He put some on a paper plate and popped them in the microwave.

The next day, Tommy woke up and slowly made his way to the bathroom, to brush his teeth. He was not looking forward to dealing with Randy, again. He remembered a year ago, when Randy pushed him down on a skateboard, pulled down his pants and poured chocolate syrup on his underpants. Then, he pushed him down the school sidewalk for everyone to see. Tommy never mentioned Randy's name. He was too afraid. He knew if he said anything, Randy would find a way to make him pay! They were neighbors, after all.

Tommy loved watching SpongeBob, in the morning. He was also looking forward to art class. He liked to draw and paint, when he wasn't playing his XBOX. He had a notebook of drawings in his room, of random cartoon characters he came up with. Really, he just loved to create, to let his imagination escape into a world he could be a part of! Art gave him a feeling that liberated him, that allowed him to unchain himself from loneliness and fear. He poured himself some Cheerios and sat down to eat.

Tommy headed to the bus stop, Randy and his friends were waiting there. An idea struck, so Tommy quickly ran inside, to grab a hot dog from the fridge. He snuck over to the Randy's back gate and opened it. The dog was sleeping, until Tommy whistled and waved the hot dog, causing the dog to get up and run to him. Tommy quickly walked over to the bus stop and handed the hot dog to Viktor. "What's this?" Viktor asked. They turned around and saw Butch charge at Viktor. Viktor started running, without hesitation! Butch chased Viktor down the sidewalk and Randy followed. "Drop the hot dog, Viktor!" Randy yelled. Viktor was too scared to even listen. "You are so dead, dude!" Luis warned Tommy. "He's not gonna let this happen again..." Luis was right, Tommy was going to need a whole new plan.