It wasn't so hard getting used to Wammy's. As Watari said, they were all very friendly and nice. I seemed to be popular with the girls, which Mello seemed to like, since he always hung out around me and showed off. We were friends, just not close. But we still talked and spent most of our time together.
We were the kind of friends that everybody has at some point in their lives. The friends that didn't really know each other's last name, and, if they did know it, they couldn't spell it.
It was okay, though. I was used to being alone. I was a socially inept only child who spent most of my time alone playing with action figures. I was so used to having only myself as company, that I really thought nothing of friends. I didn't need other people; I didn't need them at all.
--
My favorite spot was on the fourth floor- the attic- which was off limits to anyone who couldn't pick a lock. There was a dusty, cracked window up there that was nearly impossible to open. I hadn't believed I could do it until I realized that if I just pushed the glass to the right and wiggled it a little it would open a few inches at a time, with some elbow grease.
When it's not coated with dust, you can see far off to the park. We go there sometimes, but not too often, since there are so many kids. Once in a while, Watari would bring us to the park, although it was never much fun.
"These swings don't go high enough, and you can't even get on them without waiting in line," Mello said on my first trip there. "I pushed a kid off once, but Roger got really mad and I had to sit out the rest of the time."
We sat on the jungle gym, on the top bars. Near sat under us in the cone of the jungle gym, surrounded by the crossing bars we had climbed up. I looked around and took in the sun. It was a Sunday in the middle of summer, and it was nice and warm on the metal bars.
"Oops!" I heard Mello exclaim. I turned to him and noticed his evil smirk. He was looking downward to Near, and my eyes instinctively followed his.
Mello's shoe was in the sand beneath us, on top of a now-broken domino castle.
Near said nothing to defend himself, only threw the shoe to the other side of the cone and began rebuilding his castle. He caught Mello's next shoe with a sigh and threw it with the other. Mello's following laughter was strangely pure; full of absolute happiness. I couldn't help but admire the way he could laugh so freely, even after living in an orphanage his whole life. I had been there but three months, and I had yet to truly smile.
I was looking out the window, my lips drawn into a sad little frown. I crawled out the window- a tight squeeze because it wasn't open very wide- and on to the landing. The landing was the top of the roof of the porch, and it was big enough to fit about three of me on either side, but I couldn't stretch my legs without my toes going over the edge. I usually sat with my knees hugged tightly to my chest, because I felt safest that way.
"Matt?"
I jumped so high, I nearly fell off. My head twisted to look straight into the blue eyes of the person who had disrupted my solitude.
"Mello?" I asked, attempting to be pleasant. I had once though having friends would be nice. Now I thought that all they did was take away what I wanted most: alone time. It was what I knew. I was too naive then to realize that I was really begging for companionship.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he squeezed through the window to sit with me on the roof.
"Sitting."
Mello didn't say anything after that, because he was smart enough to know I didn't want to talk.
Below us, we heard talking.
"..ad to talk to you in private. Who's the top student here?" The voice was a low murmur, and sounded like a teenage male.
The voice was strange to me, and so I turned to Mello, who shrugged in reply.
"Near, currently. But we have a very close second. A boy by the name of Mello," Watari answered.
"Who's that?" Mello's Irish whisper made me sigh. The people below probably knew we could hear their conversation.
"What are their grades?" the stranger asked, and I realized they hadn't heard Mello at all.
Watari deliberated a moment. "Almost perfect. But they're also taking courses years past anyone their age. Fluent in Japanese and English, both of them."
I looked at Mello, who was inching closer to the edge.
"Careful!" I hissed.
Mello's eyes peeked over the side, and I joined him, looking with interest to Watari and the stranger.
"But, of course, you already know that, L," Watari added slowly, with a comfortable chuckle.
"L?" I whispered.
My friend shrugged.
L was hidden behind a large tree. I frowned. Who's L? To get a better look, I craned my neck as far as it would go, trying to look underneath the leaves. All I saw was dirty sneakers, and it made me even more curious to who find out who he was.
"Yes," L went on. "I do remember what it was like here."
Here? L went here?
"Can you see him?" Mello whispered to me, also craning his neck.
"No," I answered as I shook my head. I gripped the edge of the roof tightly and leaned forward, stretching a little further, daring death. I caught a glimpse of baggy jeans and a baggy white shirt before I felt myself fall.