"It's not that bad" - a Jeff and Liu Story

Chapter Three - It's Not That Bad

It was a nice day. The sun was shining, and even though a breeze rustled through the trees, it was still warm.

Jeff and Liu walked down the street, quietly. There were no words spoken and none were needed. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking: that it wasn't that bad. That going out to get some candy and comic books had been a nice way of spending some time. And the plus was, that because it was so early, there were only little people around. The few they had seen hadn't seem to notice them or hadn't paid attention. In Liu's eyes, it was a great boost for Jeff's self-esteem. Even to Jeff, it felt great to not be stared at by everyone, like he had thought would happen.

It had taken some persuading to get Jeff go in the first place, but now he didn't care. The breeze was refreshing, the sun on his face felt nice. The small, happy glances he got from Liu made him even happier. Right now, even going to school didn't sound so bad. Maybe it'd even be fun.

"Hey, Jeff", Liu said, breaking the silence. "Yeah?" Jeff asked and glanced towards his big brother. The brunette stayed quiet for a moment before smiling a bit. "I'm really proud of you", he said. He then paused for a moment, as if he was going to say something else too, but then shook his head a bit and kept walking. Jeff didn't ask about it, he knew Liu wouldn't tell him unless it was important. Instead, he pushed it out of his mind and kept walking.
---
That day was a complete change for Jeff. He and Liu spent the whole day outside on their backyard, talking and reading comics. Occasionally they would get into playful fights. In the evening, their parents would practically have to drag them inside to eat and drink. After the sun set, they built a pillow fort on the couch and decided to watch a movie.

When they were halfway through the movie, Jeff noticed a small uneasy glimmer in Liu's eyes. It seemed as he was thinking about something that made him uncomfortable.

"Liu... what's wrong?" he asked. For a moment, it seemed like the brunette hadn't even heard him. Then, Liu shook his head slightly and turned to look at Jeff. "Yeah, everything's okay", he said, "I was just... thinking."

"About what?" Jeff asked. "Just... School", Liu said slowly, "about... how people will react to you."

There was a moment of silence. Jeff didn't want to think about school, but he didn't want to completely forget about it either. Liu did seem to be bothered by something that was linked with school, but Jeff couldn't figure out what. Unless...

"Don't tell me that you're worried about some stupid bullies", Jeff said. "Well... not really, no, but...", Liu started and then stopped for a moment. He glanced around and then continued: "If there's more people like Randy..."

Jeff stayed quiet. He didn't want to think about Randy. He didn't want to be caught in another mess like that, if there was a risk of Liu getting hurt. He didn't care so much about himself, but Liu didn't deserve to go through everything he had. It just wasn't right.

There was another silent pause. The sounds of the movie filled the room, while both of the brothers refused to say out loud their thoughts. Randy had almost destroyed their family. Jeff had almost been killed. If there was more people like that around them...

"We'll be fine", Liu said, breaking the silence, "we have safe adults around us. No one will be able to hurt us."

Jeff stayed quiet, only nodded a bit. Liu smiled at him and wrapped his arm around the younger one, holding him close. "It'll be fine."
---
A few days later, it was time for school. Jeff would've been lying, if he said that he wasn't nervous. Even though he had slowly started to accept his face, it didn't mean that everyone around him would be ready for it; his mother still seemed tense around him and even his father had kept his distance. It was hurtful, but there wasn't much Jeff could do about it. He could only wait that they'd get used to it, just like Liu did.

And now it was time for a whole school of strangers to try and get used to him. To have to stay in the same building with him. And for him... it was time to continue his life, to try and seem like a normal person. To try and win people over with his personality, not with his looks.

Maybe the worst part was that he couldn't be with Liu. Since the other was older than him, they couldn't share any classes. He could hand out with him during breaks, but in class, he'd have to survive on his own.

As he walked through the hallway, he could feel people's eyes on him. How they stared, how they judged, how they wondered. Occasionally, he could hear people whispering something to someone standing next to them. It bothered him a bit, but he decided to ignore it. It was only the first day of school, he hadn't expected any less.

He left his stuff to his locker and walked to his first class. He didn't really care if he was late or not, but he couldn't think of a better place to sit in than the back corner of the classroom. That way, he could avoid as much stares as possible. And hopefully, any extra attention from the teacher as well.

He got to the classroom and made his way to the back row. He slumped down on the chair and closed his eyes. The other students who were already there didn't seem to pay any attention to him. He could hear them talking about their weekends and news and what had happened in the social media. Nothing worth of eavesdropping.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

Jeff was woken from his thoughts by a female voice. He turned his head slightly to see a dark pink haired girl. She was wearing a simple black shirt, blue jeans and boots. She seemed to be a bit shorter than Jeff, but only by a few inches.

For a moment, they stared at each other. The girl waited patiently and didn't seem to be bothered by Jeff's face at all. Jeff couldn't decide if the girl was just good at hiding her emotions or if she genuinely didn't care. And if she didn't care, was that a good thing or a bad thing?

"No,it's not", he said after a moment. "Great", the girl said and sat down. She took a moment to take her pencil case and a few books from her bag and then turned to Jeff again. "You're new here, right?" she asked. "... Yeah", Jeff said slowly. The girl nodded with a satisfied smile. "Welcome to real life hell called school", she said, "I'm Mimosa."

"... Jeff."

"Nice to meet you!"

Maybe Liu had been right. Maybe it wasn't that bad.