Ewan sat under the tree and looked at the 13/15 on his spelling test with little enthusiasm.
"Why so down Ewan?"
The young boy looked up and his heart sunk lower at the sight of the freckle-faced Donnie Buchanan standing over him.
"N-n-nothing," Ewan said quickly shoving his test back into his backpack.
Unfortunately, Donnie was quicker and had snatched the paper from his hands.
"You're crying over a 13?" He said staring at the page critically, "You really are a teacher's pet,"
"I..I'm not crying," Ewan answered quietly.
"What's that? I can't hear you crybaby!" Donnie loudly insulted.
Ewan looked around nervously, hoping no one heard.
"G…g-give me back my test, Donnie," he muttered.
"I can't hear you when you mummel!"
"It's pronounced mumble, stupid! Give me back my test!" Ewan finally shouted and stood up.
An audible giggle came from a group of girls nearby who were watching.
Donnie's faced turned red.
"Don't correct me Ewwwan!" The freckle-faced bully shouted back. He stuck out his tongue and began to rip up the paper, "At least I'm not some, nerd like you!"
"Stop!" Ewan tried to grab the paper but Donnie had already torn it to pieces.
"Dork!"
The bully threw the ripped pieces on the ground and stomped on them with his muddy shoes before finally leaving Ewan alone.
"So how was school?" Ewan's mother asked as the family of three gathered around the dinner table, "You were pretty excited about that vocabulary test. How did you do?"
"I did..okay."
"Well, aren't you gonna show it to us?" His father asked a little harshly.
"…I…I left it at school."
"Left it at school?" The father raised an eyebrow dubiously.
"S-sorry," Ewan muttered.
"Sorry doesn't cut it," Mr. Macleod said unforgivingly, "You need to stop being so mindless about these things. Last week it was your shoes, and we had to buy you new ones! When you grow up, you'll realize that 'sorry' isn't a valid apology. Your mother and I can't replace every backpack you rip, or broken pencil. You are in 5th grade now Ewan! Start learning! Next time, a lecture isn't going to be your only punishment."
The young Macleod held back another sorry and sniffed, trying to hide the tears that dared to show. He looked to his mother, as he always did in these situations. But, as usual she gave a tired sigh as she stared down at her plate.
"Bring it tomorrow," was all she said.
And Ewan couldn't help but notice how well the disappointment on her face matched his father's.
"Wow! Leslie you got a 15 on Mrs. Fletcher's test?"
Ewan looked up at Leslie's name.
The pretty, young, red-headed girl smiled at her friends.
"It's not a big deal," She said modestly.
"Yes it is! That test was hard!"
As the girls chattered excitedly, Ewan's gaze lingered on the red-head.
Leslie is so smart. He thought to himself. I wish I could talk to her.
He thought back to his last attempt, where he stuttered out a hello, shoved some dandelions in her hands and ran away.
Suddenly, one of the girls noticed the Macleod boy's stare.
"Hey isn't that Ewan from your class?" He overheard her whisper.
"Y-yeah! He's the weirdo that gave Leslie those flowers the one day," Another girl added.
"Weren't they dandelions? Aren't those weeds?"
They all mumbled their agreement.
Ewan quickly picked up his stuff and started walking away, not wanting to hear anymore.
"Donnie has a funny name for him," A girl giggled as he walked away, "He calls him Ewwan."
"Well he is really awkward. He kind of creeps me out."
"Yeah, what a dork."
Ewan smiled at his accomplishment.
'Inside this envelope could be anything!' He thought excitedly, holding the letter up with both hands. 'What if it's the formula itself?! No, no Kate's not that daft…but whatever is in here will surely help Revenant! They'll be impressed with what I uncover, I'm sure!"
"I can hardly wait!" He muttered to himself excitedly.
His fingers trembled with anticipation as he ripped open the envelope.
He didn't find any formula, but instead found a letter addressed to someone named Nancy.
"I bet there's a hint, or hidden message in here!" He thought. "Oh! I know, I'll underline anything that seems important."
Pulling out a red pen, he began to scan the page.
Aside from a few obvious signs that assured him this 'Nancy' person knew something, most of the letter was uninteresting.
"This is boring, c'mon I need something!" Ewan said staring at the words intently.
But soon his gaze began to fall on sentences like "You felt you had let us down."
and
"You just wanted people to like you, the real you."
And that feeling tugged at his mind again. That feeling he could never really identify, but constantly sat in the back of his brain nowadays. That feeling that brought back memories of failed tests, and middle school bullies; of guilt and of rejection. The feeling that influenced him to join Revenant. That reminded him of the disappointment that was always on his parents faces. That...broken feeling.
And why shouldn't he feel broken? After all, he never felt like anything special. Always a few steps behind the best. He was so small in the world. He wasn't anything but a face in the crowd. A disappointment. A loser.
A dork.