The first thing you are supposed to see, whether you remember it or not, is your parents looking down at you, smiling. Happy that all of their doubts and worries that you wouldn't come out healthy disappearing, happy that you were on the earth. They were happy to see who you are, what you could do, what you would look like, where you would go. They said they would help you through everything, and you believed it for a while. Then you go off into the world and realize they're not helping you, but they're always there for you.
That's what I thought would happen. Until I went through the unspeakable, the change that every parent fears no matter what their beliefs, unless they have gone through it themselves, and yet still it is terrifying. Sometimes they worry for your safety, sometimes the exact opposite. But there is always some part of their brain that says 'oh no' once it happens to you.
At first they blamed it on a phase. Everybody did. To take the worry away from our small town, to take the pressure off my shoulders, to keep my parents calm. It worked for a little, but I knew I was different. I thought something was wrong with me, I was terrified. Until I realized what was really going on, and something else twisted my stomach and pulled at my seams. Trying to make my life better, to make myself and others happy, but somebody would hit me back to right where I started. It turned me into something I wasn't. It worked at me, the anger of nobody listening to me, the hurt from that one person who I quite could never win over or understand.
That one person who made me go through hours of endless stomach aches, nights that screamed his name, punches and names. But yet he provided me such comfort, such love, and promises he almost never broke. His presence surrounded me with beauty and horror.
That boy drove me insane.
Chapter One
It all started with America, and Alfred F. Jones.
The sixth grade had come upon me like a bullet, social pressure now surrounding me in many new problems. Upon finishing Fifth grade, I was already scared to go to middle school in Britain, surrounded by the people I had been with since kindergarten. That was a calming factor, that I already knew the people who would be walking the halls of my new school. Nobody bullied me, life was pretty swell in Britain, i've never liked social pressure though. I just put up an act that I was an awkward, shy kid, which wasn't the truth at all. I hated all of them. Not a childish, stick-your-tongue-out kind of hate, I just didn't like them. I only had two friends, Kiku and Felix, but those guys were really close to me. I don't hate everybody, nor do I only like quiet kids, I need a proper introduction and not just some stroke of luck.
I liked school, don't get me wrong. I loved school, actually. I loved learning new things, and sometimes my hate towards some people was drowned out by my love for learning. Deadlines gave me a challenge, tests and quizzes tested my skill that I had worked so hard to get. It was fun to me, so I wasn't scared about the learning part.
But, back to middle school. Evil, horrid middle-school. My good grades proned me to be a great student, but not a great classmate. I was already worried even though this new school was five minutes away from my elementary school, and I had all the same students going, so the information on moving to a whole new nation broke me down. Who knew a twelve-year-old could be so horrified of school, I sure didn't. I thought this fear you would feel during a horror movie, but nope, moving to America was a thought as scary as Freddy Krueger. All because of my dad's stupid job that strangely required him to move all the way to the US. This job was the only thing that kept our family of three afloat, so we couldn't turn this offer down. Sadly.
I spent most of the summer with my two friends, eating icecream, going swimming when it wasn't raining. Then in my last month of summer we got ready and then we were shipped off to America, and it, it was awful. I looked out the window and did not talk to anyone for the whole plane ride, and seeing the sea below me made me sick. Every hour was another hour farther from my home, not another hour closer to my new one.
It had been six days in America. Six days of getting our stuff, getting the house cozy, buying new things we couldn't take to America to replace the old. The house is pretty big, and we have a pool, but I still am upset. I can even swim yet so I have no use for the pool. I rode my bike up and down the street early in the morning to stare at the houses and get to know the street, without getting noticed by the crazy neighborhood kids. I met the neighborhoods kids, sort of, I watched them play. Clearly they are nobody I want to be friends with. Their all rough. I surveyed all of them for three days, so far i've got that the biggest, and the leader of the neighborhood kid's name is Jayce. Then there is some shy kid with platinum blonde hair. There's Alfred, he gets into fights a lot with Jayce. Then there is two twins, and one of their names is Josh. I only watched them, never talked to them, never approached them. I wanted to get to know them before talking to them. With house decorating, I just finished my room and then refused to do anything else, I didn't want to be there, so why should I? My outlook had been very bad for this place for good reasoning. Reasons being on the telly I always saw violence, and it happened over here in the US most of the time. School shootings, movie theater shootings, too many guns... Maybe it was because this country was huge, more room to do violent stuff, but it's a scary thought nonetheless. At the time that's really all I knew that was serious, I didn't realise what else was going on. I knew what racism was, but didn't pay much attention to it since it existed a lot in Britain as well, and I still did not quite understand feminism and gay rights. Dad also didn't like this neighborhood, he said this place turned boys into faggots (Which I didn't know what that meant at the time.), and was too 'flower-y' for his likes. I didn't know what that meant, but the neighbors left to us had pretty flowers...?
But the neighbors right of us? They were a different story.
I already knew I wouldn't like them when we drove past their home. I didn't even know who they were, how old they were, or what they looked like. I just knew. American flags decorated this home. Now, I expected the American flag hanging from a home like in Britain, but this was overdoing it. They might as well have painted their home red, white and blue. An American flag hanging from that stick thing above the door, American flags lining their sidewalk, a flag dirt-mat on the steps, even an eagle statue sitting on the steps to their door. It was awful weird not seeing my flag up there, for one thing. There was nobody in the UK I had ever seen go that far.
I had no clue they had a son, at first. I had seen him on the neighborhood, yes, but I didn't know he belonged to that house. My dad had talked to the man of the house next door, he called him James, or mister Jones while speaking to me.
On the mark of my first week of being in America, I was outside, laying in my new lawn and drawing. I liked to draw, it was relaxing and fun for me. I liked to draw unicorns and horses, sometimes cats. Dad called me a homo or poofter whenever I did, I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it was bad. So I usually felt sorry afterward. I loved my dad, he was a real gentleman. I wanted to be just like him. So when he was disappointed in me, I usually felt very bad about it.
The sun was out, and the air was hot and dry. Sweat stuck to my lower lip, in the dip above my chin. I kept licking my lips, despite the sweat all over my face my lips somehow kept drying up. As I drew a cat, I heard a dinging-song. It was a tune that consisted of beeps and recordings of children's laughter, and made you happy over all. I craned my neck to look down the semi-familiar street, seeing the ice cream van slowly rolling and honking its way down the street. I relaxed into my previous position. Did I want ice cream? It was hot here, much hotter than Britain, maybe ice cream would do me some good. For some odd reason I felt glued to the spot, maybe I was just being lazy. Being lazy is probably a large possibility, I haven't felt like doing much lately.
I sighed and continued to draw the cat. My body didn't want me to get up, so I started making whiskers on the drawing. A hot breeze blew by, I couldn't get over how much hotter America was then Britain. Then, I heard the whiny shout from inside the Jones house. My head now turned towards the new sound, pointing to the Jones house. I watched the dark green front door swing open slowly, Mister Jones stepping out. He was a large man, taller than six feet. The skin to his face was rubicund, and he had a buzzcut, but the hair that had escaped the deadly haircut was blonde. He had muscles like a gorilla, and sky blue eyes that didn't match his skull. I recognised him a little, having seen his stern complexion while he got the mail in the morning. I had never seen him this close before.
Around him, bounding like a excited puppy, was a blonde boy. I could quite get a good glimpse of him, he was moving awfully fast. The only thing I could say for certain was that his hair was a honey blonde. "Dad! Dad! I need change! Walk fastterr!"
I recognized this boy as Alfred. From what i've seen, he is the second loudest and roughest out of the neighborhood kids, closely following behind Jayce. I haven't gotten a good look at him yet, but I know he has blonde hair and blue eyes, and is rather tall. Despite his length, Alfred was obviously younger than I was. Maybe by a year, but his features were less prominent than mine were by a tad. He liked to pick fights with Jayce, and since their voices were usually muffled in my ears because of my distance from them, I didn't know why they fought so often. A frown formed across my face, the annoying Alfred Jones is my nextdoor neighbor, and to add to it he belongs to the America-tastic home.
"Dad! Dad! Money!" Alfred cried, tugging on who i'm now guessing was his father's shirt. "Daad!" I grunted and rolled my eyes, shaking my head before continuing to draw. I tried to drown out the noise by blocking them out with my thoughts.
"Calm down, Alfred," His dad mumbled. I tried to act natural, they weren't noticing me yet, so I was clearly doing something right. It was hard to concentrate on my drawing with all of this awful background noise, though. "You can get your ice cream, I just need to get change out of my car, slow down."
"Well go fastteerr!" Alfred howled.
I sighed, considering to go back inside. I was enjoying the warm, not rainy weather for once. I didn't want to go inside, it was nice out, and the only kid who was out was Alfred. I wished it was the shy kid instead of Alfred, that kid was actually quiet. I started to collect my stuff, until I heard another sound that got my attention. "Good evening, Arthur!" It was Mister Jones.
My first thought was how he knew my name. Dad must've told him. "Um, Good evening, mister Jones," I said back, quieter than he had, but it was definitely recognizable as not shy nor rude. I had to be polite, I had nothing to hold against the either of them. Yet. But as I looked over to smile at Mister Jones, I noticed Alfred was staring at me. I stared back at his blue eyes, before dragging my head away. I watched him from the corner of my eye, though, studying him. Alfred and his father went the rest of the way down the sidewalk, mister Jones going right to his pickup truck, but Alfred branching off and going left towards me. His bare feet padded against the dry grass, a few strands actually crunching under his feet. Alfred looked dumbfounded I was there.
"Hi," He said innocently, no expression besides interest reading on his face. No smile, but nothing threatening either. He blinked a few times.
"Hi," I said back, looking up at him with the same amount of curiosity as he had. The hair closer to his scalp was deeper in color, almost brown, and slowly faded into its honey shade. It was parted down the side, a few strands of layered hair straying in front of his eyes. Alfred attempted to kneel down, but stumbled and landed on his butt instead. After he recovered from the short fall he crossed his legs.
"You're Arthur, right?" Alfred asked, his dimples obvious to me as he smiled. I nodded. "You just moved here?" Another nod. "I'm Alfred."
I usually would respond with my name, but he already knew it, so that would be weird if I said it again. I knew his name too, but I didn't tell him that I knew it. "Uh, nice to meet you," I said awkwardly. Alfred seemed a lot more friendly when he wasn't whining or playing. Alfred smiled, I put on a half one to seem polite.
"So you're from...?" He asked, cocking his head.
"I'm from?"
"Where are you from?"
"Oh, Britain," I said, shaking my head. Man, that was weird. I must be out of it or something. This country isn't doing me well. "I'm from Britain.." I repeated, quieter. My attention was caught by the ice cream van slowly driving into vision, and it soon became clear to me Alfred had completely forgotten about it. I raised a finger to get his attention, "Uh, erm, ice cream van," I murmured, pointing to the vehicle that was happily rolling along the road. Alfred hummed in confusion, turning around to look at the direction my finger pointed in.
"Oh!" Alfred gasped, suddenly struggling to his feet, "Oh man!" He murmured again, raising to his feet. I watched him quietly. I wasn't trying to get rid of him, Alfred was acting pleasant at the moment, so I had no reason for wanting him to leave. But he had been previously very excited about ice cream, so it would be rude not to tell him. Alfred went into a sprint once he steadied himself, his bare feet slapping against the dry ground beneath him. He grabbed the coins from his dad and proceeded to run down the street, but before he went any further then three houses down the road, he turned to me and smiled, waving. "Seeya, buddy!" He called.
I waved back weakly, "See you," I murmured pathetically, sighing heavily as my shoulders relaxed and my hand dropped quickly back to the ground.
I knew something was going to change that day. For certain I knew that the last few days of my summer were not going to be as peaceful as I had hoped, but I never expected much more than that. And much, much more than that happen.
/**/
My first day of middle school wasn't actually as horrid or hectic as I thought.
My outlook on school here already being absolutely awful, the first half hour consisted of trying to find my classroom and getting lost, and my brain made that situation a million times worse. I eventually found my sixth grade classroom, and good for me, this classroom was not on the second floor. There was two floors to my new middle school, and I found that astounding as my elementary school was only one floor for seven grades. While this is only three grades. There is a few banners that say 'Welcome back!' or 'Welcome, sixth graders!' in colorful writing with a husky head somewhere on it. The mascot of the school is a husky, i'm assuming.
Good for me, I have that shy kid and Alfred in my homeroom. At least we travel around and I won't see them for a good chunk of the day. My only problem about not having friends on the first day of school is the fact I have nobody to sit with at lunch, I didn't want to be that weird kid who didn't sit with anybody on the first day. It was scary not knowing anyone here, my mind kept jumping to sit with Kiku, despite him not being here. It was awful frustrating, because I had to keep reminding myself that Kiku isn't here. Maybe I can sit with Alfred's crew, it can do for now, and maybe talk to that shy kid. He seems okay.
My sixth grade homeroom teacher was Ms. Eastman. She had curly red hair, tall, and had a certain filmy sound over her voice. She was loud, but had a monotone covering any sort of excitement, she always talked in the same tone. She was also our math teacher. She seemed like a nice lady, but not the most interesting that's for sure. I had gym, computers, and a study hall as my extra classes, which all seemed a little more boring than I had expected. I always expected this to be a challenge, something I could organize and go somewhere with. But from the explanations from the teachers, I feel bored. My other needed classes were, science, history, and math. They seemed boring, no way those were exciting me. Besides my science teacher , he was rather interesting. Mister Mack was his name, he was crazy. He was rather funny, and was interesting to watch. He made me giggle, made us all giggle, his sense of humour was nice. He jokingly threatened to 'hit us all with wet noodles' if we didn't behave.
So, Mister Mack was really the only interesting teacher. He said he would be talking about space and stuff a lot, and I guess that sounded interesting? Well, this man seemed as though he could turn anything interesting.
But then came recess. At recess, I had no clue what to do. There was no doubt in my mind I wouldn't make some form of a friend, maybe a study partner, something, eventually. Maybe someone just to chat with at school but not someone close enough for them to come over my house. I watched the other sixth graders play as I awkwardly made my way around the playground to scout out the neighborhood kids. They were all playing together, even Jayce was there, I found them in the middle of it all. They played tag, or something like that. I found the swingsets, nobody was using them, nor did anyone seem interested in them, so I trudged my way through the woodchip ground and planted myself on a black swing. My fingers curled around the chains connecting the swing to the structure above it. I crossed my legs and stared off.
I'm not really sure how I felt about everything. I wasn't happy thats for sure, but I wasn't upset either. I think I was excepting what was going on, and I was okay with it. I've been trying to talk myself into feeling a little happiness and excitement, and its starting to work. That friends are definitely something I can obtain, since this school is bigger than my last with more kids. Alfred or that shy kid from my neighborhood don't seem to bad, and that I can sit with them at lunch. I can have backup friends, which will be the neighborhood kids. Plus my house is pretty cool, and after a while of thought, i've gotten a little determination to do the best I can do. At least for middle school, find out who I want to be, then embrace it further in highschool. Life can't be too bad here. I mean, I've even got a pool at my house, even though I can't swim still.
I had also found out a little more about the neighborhood kids. Alfred doesn't have a mom, his dad is single, my dad told me about it. Dad talks to mister Jones a lot, so I hear him talking about them to mom. The shy kid, I still don't know his name, has two sisters. One older and one younger, I saw him walking the youngest one to school. I think she's a kindergartner. The oldest sister I don't see often, I saw her getting out of her car once. I know she's their sister because they call her 'sis'.
I hoped someone would walk over to me and talk. Maybe Alfred's crew, but really anyone was okay. I was feeling lonely and didn't want to rely on my backup friends for lunch, but that's what it looks like is going to happen. I sighed, eying the shy kid, trying to send him some telepathic message to come over. Eventually I gave up on that, and my eyes scanned the playground. I looked over a group of girls playing house, some boys playing four square, and then a small group of two kids reading. One girl, one guy. I felt suddenly engaged, my back leaning over in the swing as if I was going to jump off of it. They were talking quietly, I couldn't hear what they were saying but it looked docile, the occasional laugh or smile in the conversation. I smiled slightly, leaning slowly out of the swing while my mind thought of an introduction plan. Maybe I could just ask to read with them? Or say hello... Or ask them how it's going?
I was about to jump off the swing until I heard a angry shout. I looked to the side, it was rather squeaky but yet serious. I looked around the playground in slight confusion until I saw Alfred and Jayce, once again battling it out. I sighed, rolling my eyes and re-fixing myself onto the swing. Everybody began to stare, a few kids approaching the fight and watching. It went quiet besides for the sounds of Alfred and Jayce's grunts and yelps. They could really go from happy playing to this? Wow.
I squinted, watching the two dish it out, Jayce trapped in a headlock by Alfred, scrambling to get free. He kicked and flailed, but Alfred had a rather good hold of Jayce. As the two of them jostled each other, I found myself actually interested in the fight. Like it was entertaining, but a lot of others found it just as entertaining as I did, so it wasn't only me. Everybody stared. I silently cheered on Alfred, since he was the underdog in this situation. Jayce was clearly bigger than he was. Then I realized nobody was helping them either. They did this a lot from what i've seen, but i'm still surprised a teacher didn't notice them, or... Somebody! Nobody was helping! I found this whole ordeal a bit sick, despite my interest in the situation.
Finally, Jayce broke free of the headlock by placing a kick to Alfred's knee. The kick wasn't strong enough to make Alfred yelp, but he had gone back a few steps, a stunned look on his face. I hunched my back again, focusing on what was going to happen next. I expected Alfred to charge or Jayce to headbutt him, but instead, my eyes grew an extra size as I watched Jayce clench a fist and sock Alfred in the face.
A few males shouted 'oh!' as Alfred stumbled backwards, clenching his face as he fell. A large puff of dirt distended from under him before disappearing. My jaw clenched, I was still shocked from this whole thing. Never, had I ever seen either of them punch each other, at least not in the face. My gut told me something was wrong, that Alfred could be hurt pretty bad. Why was nobody stopping them? Everybody stared at them, almost as shocked as I was. I swallowed, it was clear nobody was going to help Alfred, and as Jayce raised a foot over Alfred's gut I knew I had to do something.
I stood up shakily before running over. I was fast, probably because I wasn't very bulky yet and I didn't weigh much, so I could travel pretty fast. The wood chips under my sneakers cracked and shifted, and I could feel dirt move from under me as I ran.
Within seconds I was face to face with the beastly, Jayce Reed. The king of my street, and possibly the entire sixth grade.
And now I definitely see why nobody went to help Alfred.
Jayce towered over me, I felt like an ant looking up to a giant. I had never been this close to him before, and now I see why. Tight, black hair, that rested right above his forehead with sickly, dark green eyes, Jayce could be a monster from my story books. His nose crinkled in obvious anger, his yellowish teeth showing between pursed lips. My body skidded to a halt, almost bumping into him as I was so mesmerized by his rough-hewn appearance, and I quickly backed up a few steps before nervously looking into his eyes. He put his foot down next to the other leg, where it belonged. I was already begging for somebody to get a teacher, or for Alfred to get up, or something to help my case. I swallowed again, trying to wet my now dry throat to speak.
"I um," I murmured, my eyes not able to flicker away and check if Alfred was going to get up or not.
"What is it, Kirkland?" My shoulders hunched as some kind of defense mechanism, I could feel my presence shrink. He gritted his teeth, getting closer to my face, proving I was nothing to him. He could have punched me right then if he wanted to, I didn't even know kids in middle school were that harsh, it must be the country. Either that or Jayce has issues. I could feel everybody staring, and I wished the angry, fearless side of me I knew I had would come out. But in this awful presence, even that part of me was scared into whatever hole it came from.
"I um, I," My voice stuck to 'I', trying to fill any awkward void that would come between us, but I couldn't quite yet form the words I wanted to. Why was Alfred not getting up yet, I needed to run! But as Jayce's anger seemed to grow I knew stalling him wasn't going to work. "I uh, think you've.. Beaten him up enough." My eyes trailed away, looking to Alfred with somewhat of an urgency, and I didn't even know if he were conscious or not, he had been down for a while. But he returned the stare with a half-lidded squint of confusion, and my lips curled in disgust when I saw the amount of blood running from his nose. Jayce must have hit him right in the nose or something.
I looked back up to Jayce after my short exchange with Alfred, his lips curled and chest slightly puffed out, I swallowed and backed up a little more. "Please don't," I murmured, not quite sure if I was asking him to spare my life or let Alfred go. After a few seconds of this, Jayce snorted, pulling his eyes away from mine, and hastily jumped over Alfred's body and brought himself to the opposite side of the playground.
Silence.
Well jeez, sixth grade is harsher than I thought. I slowly turned to the other students I had my back to. They all looked a little shocked. That shy kid cowered in a part of the play structure, but everyone else looked either impressed, confused, or bewildered. They soon all went back to playing as I turned back around, the recess commotion appearing again. I should probably bring Alfred to the nurse, there is a good amount of blood running from his nose. Gee, I wonder if anybody will help him now, they're all pricks...
I looked down at him, nudging him gently with my shoe. I opened my mouth to speak, to ask him if he were alright. Alfred definitely looked hurt, he looked out-of-it, his jaw clenched shut with dirt entangled in his hair. But as his expression broke and turned into that white smile, the same that his father had, I couldn't help but laugh. "Dude."
"You okay?" I asked with a stupid smile and a giggle, kneeling down next to him, still a little grossed out by the red stream traveling down Alfred's upper lip. Alfred's expression now read the exact opposite of pain.
"Yeah," Alfred said, biting his lower lip as his eyes trailed to their corners, before looking back up to me, "But dude, you just stood up to Jayce!"
I awkwardly rubbed my elbow, stiffening a proud smile, "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" I said with a shy smile. I had stood up to that... Monstrosity on the first day of school! He was the largest kid in the whole grade, and I, Arthur Kirkland, had slayed him! I felt myself grow giddy with the thought of it, if I could stand up to him, I'm sure no social pressure any bigger would bestow upon me.
"Dude, like, only I do that," Alfred laughed, wiping his nose. He looked at his arm, grimacing at the blood smeared on it, "Yuck," Alfred murmured, squinting and sniffing. He looked back to me, his blue eyes having a certain look of innocence to them, "Can we go to the nurse?" He laughed. His expression didn't match his current state at all, and it made me a little scared, yet at the same time it was rather calming.
"Yeah, sure," I stood up, regaining my footing before offering him a hand. I assisted Alfred, not really pulling him up though, just being something for him to grab onto. I felt pretty awesome, standing up to Jayce on the first day made me feel like nothing else could get in my way. Ever... Well, at least for middle school. A certain pride rested in my stomach, along with relief as Alfred and I made our way back into the school.
"Oh, so, we can't tell on Jayce," Alfred said, and my eyes widened slightly. That guy deserved something awful for punching someone like that! I knew Alfred loved to fight, but punching and then going to stomp on him was something I thought was unheard of.
"Why not?" I whined, wanting to get some justice for what Jayce had done.
"It just makes things worse, trust me," Alfred laughed quietly, rubbing his hands and added a few more sniffs. I could tell Alfred didn't find the blood running down his face to be very pleasant.
"Okay," I frowned. Alfred had been here longer than I had, he must know this stuff. And if Jayce really wanted to go after me, i'd be dead, and my pride would disappear.
Alfred and I weaved through the school for a little bit, completely lost, since Alfred was new to the school as well. Our goal changed from finding the nurse to finding a teacher to lead us to the nurse. At first it was a thought we would get in trouble if a teacher caught us walking around without a pass, or while we were supposed to be at recess, but Alfred reminded me that his nose was gushing out blood, and that we could easily explain we were trying to find the nurse. Eventually we found the nurses office, it was hidden between the office and the library and down a hallway.
A few minutes later the nurse had gone to get an ice pack, and I sat next to Alfred in some uncomfortable blue plastic chairs. The chair didn't hold my back properly and it was pretty annoying, and I kept shifting around in it. Alfred looked down to his hand, the other occupied with the task of holding a cloth to his nose to soak up the blood. I think his nose was probably done bleeding, but I guess Alfred was just making sure.
After a while of my shivering from the ice cold room, Alfred looked at me. "Thanks," He said, grinning. I smiled.
"No problem," I said with a sigh, and then reached up to pat his shoulder. I truthfully did wonder if Alfred was really friends with Jayce, or if they really hated each other but were forced to interact. I didn't bother asking, it seemed like a stupid question at the time. My thoughts didn't stray too far from the cold temperature of this room so I couldn't come up with anything to talk with Alfred about.
Ultimately Alfred filled our awkward moment of silence. But, the question felt like a bullet that had gone straight through my head.
"Hey, do you wanna be best friends?" He asked. It was a rather strange question, the 'best' making it seem like he was forcing himself upon me. I swallowed. "Like, forever?"
I turned to look at Alfred. His peaches-and-cream complexion, his sky-blue eyes with the small waves of turquoise making rings around his pupils. His light pink lips, the way his eyebrows arched as his waited for my answer. His lips curved into a pucker but yet a smile, such a look of curiosity rested on his face. Alfred had never hurt or wrestled with anyone besides Jayce from what i've seen, nor did he talk back or swear, he only whined but whining wasn't to bad. I looked at the dirt covering his hair, how his nose started to swell from underneath the cloth, and my mind flashing to the sweet smile he gave me, despite the pain he was going through. I took in everything Alfred Jones had to offer.
And I accepted his offer.
Little did I know how much trouble I would be getting myself into.
Author's Note
Hello (hopefully) fellow UsUk fans~! I have been wanting to do a story with the childhood to adult concept for a while with Al and Artie, so here is my baby in which I poured my heart and soul into. Not kidding, I finished this once then accidentally deleted the whole file. So, this was a pain in the ass to write.
This chapter is extremely dragged out. I wanted it to be long and to not have to much going on, so following chapters will be this length but with more going on. Also, Arthur gets his normal fiery personality around 7th or 8th grade ((around chapter 5 if I planned this correctly)), so sorry if he seems shy right now and you're not happy with that, he's still a child-y person and not quite done growing up ^^ This story will continue for as long as I feel it needs to be, which might be around twenty chapters or so? Maybe more. As my first fanfiction on here i'm going to work really hard on this one. Also this file on google drive had a ton of little decorative hearts and stuff, I wish this site accepted images..
And no, this is not a copy of American Dreams. Every story I see with this kind of storyline ( the childhood to adult/late teen) gets bashed for being like American Dreams. Don't get me wrong, I worship that fic with every inch of my soul, but anyone who uses the childhood-adult theme gets bashed way to much.
This fic has been rated M for content in later chapters, for sensitive material, smut, and language. If you're reading this right now, i'm sticking a trigger warning right here. This story will get serious as it goes on, there is no self harm involved but there will be sensitive topics, including family deaths, step parent things, rape (its really only mentioned though) and alcohol abuse.
May I remind you, this is from Arthur's perspective. A few words might seem childish that I use in my narrative, but thats because Arthur's still little at this point in the story, and i'm probably using it on purpose. Besides that stick-thing, I have no clue what that thing is called. I spent two hours googling that thing and found nothing.
And you know what, screw the rule that says Alfred has to rescue Arthur from the bullies. jeSUS TAKE THE WHEEL.
I don't mean to sound whiny, but please leave a review, most of the time when something lacks comments/reviews but despite having a lot of followers, I lose motivation. Even something like 'cool' would help me, I really do not want to lose motivation on this story and leave it to die in the pits of this site!
Arrivederci~!