It was our first day in our new school. I held my brother's hand as we stood at the entrance gates, feeling scared, lost and isolated. I looked up at Shannon, and saw that he had a serious face, ready to take on the world. This made me feel stronger, and I subconsciously puffed up my chest to make myself feel bigger.
As we took our first step onto the unknown school grounds, the bullies smelt fresh meat.
Shannon was two school years older than me, so he was going into year 6, while I was stuck down in year 4. We stuck together by the bike shed for the first 10 minutes before we were let inside, and when the bell rang to signal the start of class we had to separate. I looked at him, bottom lip quivering, and he bent down and put his hands on my shoulders. "Jared, it'll be break time in 2 hours. And you're gonna be super busy making friends and learning to worry about me. Just go have fun, 'kay?" I nodded, knowing my voice would wobble if I said anything, and watched him walk away down the corridor to his class. When he disappeared, I turned and walked into my classroom, found the chair in a corner of the room and sat there quietly.
My first lesson was Math. I was good at math, so I just got on with my work quietly while the other kids around me screamed, threw paper at each other and climbed on the chairs, winding up Miss Lester. Soon a boy who looked a little older than me came up to me, and yelled "What're you doing?" I looked at him with round eyes. "My work, like Teacher said…" He snatched my workbook away, stood on the chair next to me so he towered over me and screamed "TEACHER'S PET! TEACHER'S PET!" and then ran around the class singing/screaming "Jared loves Miss Lester! Jared loves Miss Lester!" For the rest of the lesson I just sat in the corner of the room quietly, while the other kids ran riot and laughed at me.
Where are you, big brother?
I woke up with a small gasp. I sat up and rubbed my face, the last bursts of my dream flashing back at me. I hated it when I dreamt of my childhood, it was such a miserable time and I just wanted to forget it. But no, my subconscious had other ideas. As I sat there in bed my duvet fell off me, exposing my bare chest to the harsh, cold air. I ran a hand through my long black and red hair, brushing it out of my face as I contemplated my past. After a few minutes I got out of bed, goosebumps creeping all over my bare skin as the freezing air brushed against me. I got dressed, went to get breakfast and walked past that photo again. I sighed, counting the days since he had vanished. 7 months, to the day. I didn't do anything all day, I didn't have a job so i had nothing to prepare for.
Where are you, big brother?
After a few hours of lounging around and doing nothing I got a call. "DUDE you coming to our party tonight?" I sighed. "Ray, you know I'm not a party person…" "Yah but it's Frankie's 18th, and Gee wanted to throw a super awesome party for him, which won't be possible if his Jared isn't there with him." I hesitated, and Ray knew he had me. "RIGHT! I'll see you at the Way's place at 10!" And he hung up. I just stood there with the phone to my ear for a few seconds. I don't actually remember buying Mikey a birthday present, come to think of it. I had been too swallowed up with Shannon's disappearance to think about anything else.
A few hours later it was I had just enough time to grab Frankie's present before the party. I grabbed my car keys and drove to the store to buy him a load of beer or something; I knew he liked alchopops like WKD but he needed to learn there's more than one type of drink.
I got to the store, picked up a load of Stella, and went over to the checkouts. I was standing waiting for the tills to clear when a member of staff showed me to an empty till with a girl sitting looking bored. She saw me walking over to her, brushed her bubblegum-blue hair out of her eyes and said "You got some ID?" Shit. I put the beer down on the counter and searched my pockets. "Shit it's at home. " I looked at her. "Could you hold it for me? I'll only be a few minutes… Shit." I looked at my watch. "I'm gonna be late for the party, I'll just leave it, sorry." I was about to walk off when she said "No worries, I've seen you in college and I remember you from school, I know you're old enough. You're going to a party right?" "Yeah." "Someone's 18th?" I nodded. "Frank Iero, one of my best friends. Should be fun." She smiled at me. "Well, I would love to put this through for you, but it's 10pm and I'm about to leave." She grinned more and stood up, winking at me. I started laughing. "Alright, alright, if you can put it through for me, I'll bring you along." She laughed, let me buy it and said "Let me get changed into normal clothes, I'll be one minute. I'm Chloe by the way, and you're Jared right?" I nodded and she ran off through the staff area doors.
While I waited for her to change I thought about her, trying to remember her from school. I didn't remember anyone like her, but her face did remind me of something. I shrugged it off, and watched her coming out of the staff area wearing a long white shirt (which swayed behind her as she walked and showed off her curves), tight black skinny jeans, a baggy black hoodie and converse trainers that went half way up her calves and were as blue as her hair. She put her bag on her shoulder, and held up her hand as if to say "5 seconds", and ran off towards the booze aisle. A few seconds later I saw her walking towards the tills with a couple of bottles of coloured liquids. When she was done, we walked back to my car and I drove us to the Way house, pulling onto the drive at 10:13. I turned to Chloe and said "You know I'm gonna blame you for being late, right?" She laughed, grabbed her drinks and got out the car, running up the drive to the front door.