It was Edilio's first day in Perdido Beach, and he hated it. He had hoped that moving to a new place would help him start again, start a new life. But he knew that he would just have to come through it, and hope that at the end of it all, he would eventually be happy.
From the moment he entered the run-down, dingy little apartment that his parents had bought, he realised that he wouldn't fit in. Couldn't fit in. What he didn't know was that he was about to experience more than he'd ever experienced in his old home.
When Edilio was introduced to his class, he scanned across all their faces. They looked back at him, equally as blankly, but he could tell that they were judging him, sizing him up, trying to see if he was an easy picking.
Edilio was directed to a spare seat at the back of the class. The boy next to him tapped his shoulder.
"Have you got a pencil sharpener?"
"No."
"Edilio, what did I just say?" asked the teacher.
"Um….."
"I was saying, a parable can only exist when there is a square number in the equation. Please listen next time."
A couple of boys snorted, but stopped when the teacher turned around and glared at them. Edilio sighed. He already knew he was going to have a tough time settling in, and he wasn't off to a very good start.