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CHAPTER 2 02. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER
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Lawrence Moore is tired - that's what he told his friends when they found him. He is tired of the constant battle he has with society, one he appears to be losing, and for the first time in his life he wants to give up.
His encounter with Tommy had been small in comparison to ones he had experienced previously, bigger and more angry racists catching him on an off day. Daisy recalls one night six months ago, when Lawrence had been merely walking her home after band practice had finished late and he didn't feel comfortable letting her walk home by herself. A man, a middle-aged white man who passed them in his truck had stopped beside them, slowly rolled down his window and eyed the boy.
"Is everything okay, ma'am?" He directed his question to Daisy but his eyes remained on the boy beside her and his arm that was linked with hers, his cautious gaze making the teenagers feel on edge.
"Yes, everything's quite alright, thank you." Daisy said, the politeness in her voice so forced that she thought she would choke on it. She knew why he had stopped them, and there was no reason other than the colour of her friend's skin.
"Are you sure?" The man presses, resting one arm outside of his truck. "I could give you a ride home."
"Look, mate," Lawrence seethes, taking a step forward and gently pushing Daisy behind him. "If she says that she's fine, then she's fine."
"I'm just making sure, mate." The man looked away for a moment, clicking his teeth lightly. His voice dropped, a harsh mutter filling the tense silence. "I know what your type are like."
Daisy's sure that she had blocked what happened next from her memory, still considering it one of the worst nights of her life. She remembers the man stepping out of his truck and the panic that she felt as he did, she remembers shouting for him to stop and calling the police in a panic, and she remembers spending the next two days by Lawrence's bedside in the hospital. Unfortunately this was not an uncommon occurrence, Daisy losing count of the amount of times the boy had been unjustly persecuted due to his skin colour. But this was the first time she had witnessed him give up.
