teapot flowers

Part 11

  Peter Walters, 

"the best day of his life."  0r  "keeping up with Peter"

That day was not the first time I had been shoved in my locker. It was quite a normal occurrence, it made sense that I would be the one getting picked on. I never got angry about it or anything, only it became a bit tiresome from time to time. Truth be told I rather pity the bullies that my undersized body and oversized glasses naturally attract.

It's always the same in every school I have been too. The big bully of a kid comes in with his loud voice and confidence that drips from every word he says. The other boys follow him trying to look tough to all the while thinking to themselves, 'wow he is so strong and not afraid of anything, I want to be like him'. And that is how he wants to be seen and is seen by most, but if you look just a bit closer you can see his false bravado.

In his eyes, he worries about being seen for what he truly is. If he pushes away, he has probably pushed away himself. If he is sarcastic and rude, he probably was scorned at as well. He wants the world to know he is strong because he knows he is not. He seeks attention because he never received it. He shows coldness because he has never known warmth. He is bitter at the world because he sees all the happy homes he never had.

For some reason, ever since I was a kid I have always had a knack for reading into people. Words and actions can be deceiving. Your words can be used as a mask and actions as a display of what you would have them believe. Everyone does it in one way or another, both teacher and student, both class bully and class rep.

I guess in a way I do it too.

I used to try and reason with bullies, telling them what was really behind their masks and letting them know it was all ok but I found out that people don't want their hearts to be revealed.

I used to get beat up back then, but nowadays I know how to get pretty much around them. To feed their facade just enough so they can release their pent up anger. I've learned how to avoid conflict and how to become less of a walking target.

Unfortunately for me though, I have to start over every time I change schools. for me and my big sis, that happened too many times to count. That day I got shoved into Thiago's locker I was already planning all the things I could do to avoid a recurrence when an unexpected thing happened.

I made a friend.

I am almost grateful to Thiago, because of him I met James. For the first time ever I looked forward to eating lunch at school. I trusted him almost as much as my sister. He is the first person besides Irma to stand up for me. He even got black and blue in a fight and I know he got detention for it although he never told me he did. I started joining him for lunch every day after that. He listened intently to everything I said and didn't make fun of the way I talk. He even told me a bit about himself. I looked up to him very much.

I looked into his face, and could clearly see his heart was sincere and compassionate. But he also had a fear in his eyes whenever the fight was mentioned, although he wasn't afraid of Thiago, I think he was really afraid of himself. I never mentioned what I saw, it's not my place. I just hope he can overcome the battle in his mind.

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One night my sister came home real late. She had got caught up by some annoying girls and couldn't get out of it. I was supposed to call and be an excuse to come home. So I did, but then she didn't show up. I was worried at first but then I realized that Irmã can take care of herself. I walked around the kitchen and then to the living room the house seemed so empty without Olivia. I had already read all my comics twice, finished my homework, and water her plants, but she still wasn't home.

The only subject I had left was English, I always had Irmã help me with it. Truthfully I used to get A's all the time. I even skipped a grade too. But I soon realized that A+ students have an even bigger target on their back so I decided to do an experiment at the next school I went to. I tried to get only slightly above average: instead of A+ I got A, B, or B+. this seemed to work pretty well and by chance, I discovered another advantage when I accidentally made my English grade fall a little too much. Well of course Olivia scolded me but also she sat down to help me study. Nobody ever helped me with the school before but then it hit me, it was because I never needed help.

On that day I become decidedly bad at English.

It was getting late and with every minute I became increasingly bored. I checked out the window and there she was sitting on the sand a few blocks down. She seems upset.. something must have happened with those girls, no, she sounded more than fine on the phone. The problem must be between leaving those airheads and the beach.

I went to the light switch that controlled the porch light and started to agitatedly turn it on and off. Impatient for her to be home.

I questioned her when she got home but she didn't seem to wanna talk about it, I could tell something happened but she seemed alright so I dropped it.

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The next morning I opened an email that made me stand to my feet. They were going to have a comic con here in Rio and all of the greats were gonna be there. I looked through the list getting more excited with each new discovery about it. Saturday? that's tomorrow, I have to go! I was on the verge of texting James to ask if he wanted to go with me then I saw the fine print; children under the age of 16 need to be attended by a legal adult. My head drooped. Mother and Father were way out of the question seeing as they would probably not be back for at least four months, and even if they were here, they wouldn't 'waste' their time on something like that. I was pretty sure James was only 17. Then I remembered that Olivia just had her 18th birthday. I ran down the stairs, wheels starting to turn in my brain. I figured if I called it comic con she probably would say no but if I called it a science fiction convention, she might be persuaded, and if she did go, I could get matching costumes on my way home from school.

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Later at school, I came around the corner to meet James for lunch. There he was, having lunch in the garden just like every day. James sat leaning against the wall, legs stretched and crossed along the side of the wall. He always had a new book every other day. To say I was happy to have someone to eat lunch with was an understatement. Before I met James I would eat lunch alone, I could have eaten with Irma but I didn't want to be a burden to her. It was time we both made real friends.

James happened to glance my way and smiled in acknowledgment. I smiled back and sat down beside him.

"Hey kid, what's up?" he said, putting down his book to talk to me. "I am quite well," I replied without hesitation. A small crooked smile crept to the corners of his mouth. I must have said or done something odd again, but that wasn't anything new. Not losing time I sat down to unpack my lunch, and told him about the comic con and asked if he would be interested in going himself.

"Saturday, as in tomorrow? That's kinda short notice," he said looking over to me. "Well, I did have plans tomorrow." I just looked up at him anxiously waiting. "Alright," he said giving in with a smile "sounds good let's go together." 

                                                                            end of part 11.

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