Different

Chapter 1

July

Hero

"No, mum I told you I don't want to". I say flatly, not bothering to look away from the TV. My fingers frantically bash the remote in my hands as I silently beg that she'll just take my answer for once and walk away.

She doesn't.

The screen goes black in front of me and I bash the buttons some more but it remains blank, I look up to see my mum dangling the plug in her hand with her other on her hip and her eyebrows raised.

"Mum what the—" I bite my tongue when her eyebrows raise farther. She's been trying to convince me of this for the last month. Just now I realise that I'm not winning this battle with her and I know it. I push my luck. I don't want to upset my mum but anything, and I do mean anything sounds better than what she's trying to talk me into.

"Hero, I've told you, you've spent too much time cooped up in this bedroom. I'm proud of you son for how hard you've worked in school, I really am but I'm worried about you too. How do you ever expect to make friends or have fun or get a girlfriend if you spend all of your time studying and playing games in here it's just..." she trails off breathlessly and looks at me, clearly exasperated.

"I do have friends and I do have fun" I respond. There was people I talked to in school, I wasn't a complete outcast or anything, but I somehow knew the second school was over, the ties have already been cut. My friends are online, I met them through my gaming and they really are better than anyone I could have possibly met in person. Plus, my best friend Thomas and I will be meeting in a few months, we plan to flatshare when we attend University in Autumn.

I purposefully ignore the last part of her questioning. Having a girlfriend is not on my radar. Sure, I'm curious, but Thomas' stories of his girlfriend Amy remind me that that kind of stress is not what I need right now, not when I'm about to start University to work towards my dream career. I start silently reminiscing about my 'almost girlfriend' Lacey who I spoke to when Thomas pressured me into downloading a dating app in April.

"...which is exactly why I think it will be good for you son." My mum comes to the end of her ramblings which I hadn't quite realised I was ignoring but then again I have heard it all before.

"Mum, Oliver's friends really aren't the kind of people I want to be..." and right at that moment, said beloved brother bursts through my bedroom door wearing the most ridiculous neon shorts and vest combo that I've ever seen.

"You ready bro? This is gonna be sick!" he proclaims.

I'm going to be sick I think, still looking at the shorts. Then to my horror, he pulls another neon bundle from behind his back and tosses the green mess at me. What?

"Put them on mate, Ben's going to be here in an hour then we're on our way to party" he obnoxiously drags out the last sound in the word party and his laughter booms throughout the house as walks down the stairs. My mum smiles at me, rubs my hair and then leaves the room too.

I groan and lift myself up off the bed "ouch!", I hit my head on the light fitting, as always. A cramped terraced house in London does not fit with my now 6'3" frame. I rub my head and begin to toss clothes from my wardrobe into the backpack set on the floor. "It's gonna be sick" I mutter to myself, mocking my brother and inwardly cursing my mother for the weekend I'm about to have.

I toss on some black tracksuit bottoms, a grey sweatshirt and my white trainers and run down the stairs "Bye, Mum" I shout and leave the house heading to what feels like impending doom. I pop open the boot of Ben's car to find it filled with a couple of tents and a selection of alcohols.

Good.

I'm going to need it. 

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Authors Note - Aw Hero is such a mamma's boy! 

Let me know what you think!

Kate :)