Teenage Antichrist Book Two: A Journey of a Brother's Hatred 1990 - 1991

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The First Letter

When Michelle got home school she sat at her desk and placed her pen pal form on top of it. As she looked at Cameron's name on the form all she could think of was to tell him things about herself but she knew that she couldn't tell him the exact truth because she was afraid to. She didn't want him to know that some people thought she was a nerd and she definitely didn't want him to know that she went to a rock concert with her mother. Then she thought of exactly what to say.

"Dear Cameron," Michelle wrote. "My name is Michelle Slater. I'm from Hinton, Queensland, Australia. I was told about this pen pal program at school and thought it would be cool to write to someone in America. When I watch American movies I'm always jealous of how the kids can wear whatever they want when they go to school. At our school, we have to wear a uniform which I can't stand. It's purple and orange and those are colours I've grown to hate because they suck. Do you have to wear a uniform at your school or is it like how it is in the movies?"

As she continued to write her first letter she felt freedom in not telling the exact truth because she knew he wouldn't be able to tell if she was lying or not, although Michelle told herself she wasn't lying. All she was doing was telling him things that she wanted him to know without someone else cruelly derailing her with the truth to make her look bad.

THREE WEEKS LATER

Salinger, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

When Cameron got home from school there were some things that he did on autopilot. Like put his bike away and check the mail in the mailbox and put it on the kitchen bench for his parents to see. As he looked through the letters he was expecting to see bills and maybe a letter from Scott addressed to his parents and not to him. However that day Cameron got a surprise he wasn't expecting: A letter addressed to him. He was fascinated as the stamp containing an illustrated kangaroo and the postmark were clearly Australian and it had been sent by airmail.

"What the hell?" Cameron asked himself.

As he turned the envelope around he saw the name Michelle Slater written on the back and then he was embarrassed that he had forgotten that he had signed up for the pen pal program.

"Holy shit!" he said excited when he came to his senses.

Although it was foolish to think that anyone would be he looked around to make sure no one was watching him. Then he walked into the house, put the letters on the kitchen bench and then he walked into his bedroom and crashed on his bed. He tore open the envelope quickly and read Michelle's first letter. He loved the way she wrote as it felt so honest. It was such a relief to him that he had made a new friend. But then a moment of self-doubt entered his mind and he realised that he had better make himself sound cool if he was going to keep his friend. So Cameron got off his bed and sat at his desk. He did notice that she had handwritten her letter but he didn't want to do that. Cameron wanted to type as he felt his thoughts came more easily to him that way. His electric typewriter was placed to the right side of his desk so he dragged it to the center. Then he turned it on and put in a fresh piece of paper in and felt very nervous.

"Come on, Cameron," he said to himself. "You can do it. You can be cool,"

After hearing himself say that the last thing he felt was cool, but he knew that he had to make the next move.

"Dear Michelle," he typed. "As you already know my name is Cameron Ryder and no I don't have to wear a uniform to school. It sucks that you do as those colors sound awful. But you're from Australia so that's cool. It must be cool to have kangaroos all over the place,"

As Cameron continued to type he felt so happy to have someone to share his thoughts with without being judged and he couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.