Portrait of a Friend

Life, it is so… organised. People keep to a set schedule, even if they don't realise it. They need structure in their lives; otherwise they'd fall and have no idea of how to pick themselves up. Wake up, have breakfast, rush to work, have lunch, back to work, go for a drink with a friend, go home, have dinner, sleep. Simple, organised. But if something changes, if you stayed in bed to long, and are late for work, you panic. You're schedule has fallen apart, and you can't put it back together.

People like to think freely, but they act as they are expected to. With enough of this, people don't even know which is correct. Should they stand while everyone else sits; be their own person? Or should they play it safe; stay in the herd where nobody can single them out? The answer is simple. You'd say you'd stand, but the time comes and you'll stay sitting. Nobody wants to be different, nobody wants to be that person everyone looks at funny, nobody wants to be the odd one out.

Everyone has a tale to tell, weather it be something to be proud of, or a dirty little secret. And it's never true. It's merely woven from the truth. And if you ask enough you can see the line of real and lie. It was first told as being in the day, then it happened in the night. There where three men, then in another version there were five. Everybody lie's because nobody is ever satisfied. But sometimes, people will lie because they're scared. Sometimes the truth hurts a whole lot more than a lie, and nobody wants to hear it.

"Whoa, you really like to complicate things don't you?" Jimmy said with amusement after he'd finished reading threw what Bo had written. "Either you're trying to annoy the teacher – that really wouldn't be a shocker – or, I'd hate to be in your head."

Bo frowned, taking his work back. "What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with it."

"Well it is sort of unclear. Like flipping a coin, but it lands standing up rather than on a side. It was a simple question asking the outline of human nature." Jimmy replied.

"But human nature isn't simple." Bo argued. "It's full of questions and self denial and greed and uncertainty. People don't have their lives planned out; they just like to pretend they do, because that's safe. If everything is planned, people think nothing can go wrong. But that's stupid, 'cause this is life, and life loves to screw you over. That makes people act in ways they wish they wouldn't. Makes them duck down their heads when really them want to raise up tall."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows. Never had he seen Bo so into a piece of school work. It seemed human nature and characteristics were a thing that fascinated the other teen. "Ok, not that it isn't great to be reassured that all that hair gel hasn't got into your brain, but it really is rather late to be getting into a debate about this don't you think?"

Glancing at the clock on the wall of Jimmy's room, Bo sighed seeing it was already nearing one in the morning. "Yeah, I guess." Leaving his work on Jimmy's desk, Bo fell back onto the camp bed, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling as Jimmy climbed into his bed. A moment later, the light went out and the room was bathed in darkness. "Hey Jimbo, thanks for letting me stay over."

"No problem." Jimmy said with a yawn. "It's nice to have someone other than my sister to talk to around here. Hey, Bo?"

"Yeah?"

Jimmy rolled onto his side, looking over his bed at Bo, just visible in the dark. "How come you never told me about going to see your mom?"

There was a pause; the only sound a single car passing out on the road. "I guess I just didn't think to. It was kind of unexpected. I don't really see mom much, and she just rang, asked if I wanted to go."

"What's she like?"

Bo frowned, turning his head to look at his friend. "What's with the game of twenty questions?"

Jimmy shrugged as well as he could being on his side. "Just curious you know? I mean, both my parents have been dead awhile… I just…" He trailed off.

Bo felt a moment of shame; he'd forgotten that Jimmy's parents where dead. "She's just average I guess. I remember when I was a little kid she'd take me to the park at weekends and we'd always get an ice cream after. Every Sunday she's take me to my grandparents and we'd all have to go to church. I never really liked that much, first few times it was fascinating, but being a kid, I soon good bored of it. She never complained though, just smiled at me and told me to settle down. When I started to get older, she seemed to grow apart from dad. We never really did things together anymore either. Then one day, after I'd just turned thirteen, she just wasn't there anymore."

"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked, voice soft as though if he spoke to loud Bo would stop talking.

"It was a Tuesday; that morning just pasted like any other. I was ill that day, home from school. We needed some bread and milk, and a few other things, so mom put on her coat and shoes, said she's going to the store, and she'd be back soon. She left, and never came back. No one knew what had happened to her, I couldn't get out the image in my head of her laid dead somewhere. Anyway, my dad was mad at her and didn't do anything, so I went out looking for her. Turns out she did go to the store, just didn't come home. I tried asking everyone mom knew if they'd seen or heard anything from her, but nothing. For about a year, every time I turned a corner, I was just wishing I'd see her. Hoping she'd turn up on my birthday. Hoping she'd be waiting at home when I returned from school. It was about fourteen months after she disappeared; right out of the blue she called. It wasn't a special day or anything, I'm not why she chose to call, but she did. I remember begging her to come home, but she had a new life in New York, boyfriend and baby included. I was just sort of extra baggage after that."

"Whoa, that sucks."

Bo snorted in amusement. "Yeah."

"So she just upped and left without a word or warning? Never even bothered to get in touch to let you know she was ok? What did your dad do?"

Shifting on the camp bed, Bo looked back up at the ceiling. "He fell off the wagon for a bit. Spent more time drunk than he did sober, lost his job to. My brother had already gone to collage by then, so me and my sister looked after him. Thankfully it didn't go on. After about a year he pulled himself back together, got his life back on track."

Silence fell again, and Jimmy turned back onto his back. After hearing that, he really didn't fell right asking Bo for his mother's number, and so he kept quite. Instead, he wondered silently what he would have done if his mom had just disappeared one day. Well, she and his dad sort of did, but not threw choice. He tried imagining him and Ellie as kids, taking care of a drunken dad. He couldn't. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Things happen." Bo brushed it off. "I thought you where tired anyway?"

A chuckle. "Yeah, I am. Night Bo."

"Night Jimbo."

Jimmy fell asleep soon after, while Bo gazed up, eyes firmly open until day began to break and he fell asleep when his eyes refused to stay open any longer.

"Well?" Brooke asked, coming to stand by Jimmy at the lockers that afternoon at school. "Did you ask him?"

"I," Jimmy tried to come up with an excuse, but failed miserably, and sighed. "No, I just didn't feel comfortable asking him."

Brooke let out a huff. "This was your idea you know Jimmy." She grabbed him by the arm and began leading him away. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Jimmy asked, trying to free himself from his girlfriend's tight grasp.

"Bo's in the gym." She explained. "Now's the prefect time to grab his cell."

Jimmy looked at her in surprise. "But I thought you were against this?"

Brooke shrugged as she marched them down the corridors. "I was, but since you failed miserably, I've decided to take initiative."

They came to a stop outside the boys locker room and carefully opened the door, peaking round. It was empty and so they stepped inside. "Right, we need to find his jacket." She pointed over to the left. "You look over there, I'll check the right side."

A few minutes later, Jimmy found Bo's jacket, and called Brooke over. He dipped his hand into the inside pocket, where he knew Bo kept his phone, and pulled it out. "Got it."

Brooke reached his side as he was looking threw the contacts. He came to a pause on 'Mom'. "Do you really think we should do this?" He asked, now thinking how much of a bad idea this had been all along.

"Come on Jimmy. We're just trying to help." Brooke answered softy, giving him a reassuring look.

With a quick, jerked nod, Jimmy pressed call and put it onto loud speaker so they could both hear.

It rang a few times. When Jimmy was about to hang up, someone picked up. "Hello?"

Jimmy and Brooke both paused when they heard a masculine voice on the other end. They'd never thought that someone other than Bo's mother would answer.

"Erm, hi, er. I'm looking for-" Stumbling over his words, Jimmy then realised that he had no idea what Bo's mom was called. He started again, doing his best to sound calm. "Sorry, erm, I'm a friend of Bo's. I was wondering if I could talk to his mom?"

"Kid's not got himself in any trouble has he?" The guy asked, not sounding too happy.

"No, no, nothing like that." Jimmy assured. "I just thought his mom would be able to help me out with something."

There was another pause, this time from the other side of the line. Then they heard the guy called for a Tracey, obviously Bo's mom. There was some muffled talking, then a women's voice on the line. "This is about Bo?"

"Yes," Jimmy nodded, even though she couldn't see him.

"He in trouble?" She interrupted before Jimmy could say anymore.

"No. He's just been acting kind of funny lately, and I was wondering if maybe you noticed anything off with him last week?" He asked hopefully, glancing at Brooke who gave him an encouraging smile.

"Last week?" Tracey asked, sounding confused. "How would I know?"

Both teens frowned at that. "Well Bo was with you." Jimmy said. "…Wasn't he?

A snort of amusement. "God has that kid got you fooled. I ain't seen Bo in a year. Not since all that trouble he got himself into."

"What?" Jimmy asked; confusion in his voice.

"Listen kid, you sound like a nice guy. Last time Bo was here he was causing a right nuisance of himself, stealing, getting into fights, stuff like that. I didn't need all that shit when I have a little kid. I sent him back home, told him to give me a call once he'd got back on track. That was the last time I spoke to him."

Jimmy and Brooke shared a look of disbelief. "So… you think he could be doing that again?"

"I don't know what that boy's up to. Listen kid, I've got to go, but tell Bo to give me a call sometime."

The line went dead, and Jimmy slowly hung up. Why would Bo lie to them like that? Why had he been stealing and fighting? Jimmy knew from first hand experience that Bo used to be a total jerk, but he never hit Jimmy, nor had he even heard anything about Bo stealing.

"Now what?" Brooke asked, looking at the cell in Jimmy's hand.

"I guess we could try talking with him again." He suggested, not sounding exactly thrilled at the idea. The last few times they'd tried that, Bo had gotten angry.

"What about his dad? He was the one who first told us Bo was in New York." Brooke said as Jimmy replaced the cell. "Do you think he didn't know Bo wasn't with his mom?"

"I have no idea. I thought I knew him, Brooke. Turns out I know nothing."

Jimmy sounded defeated, and Brooke sent him a sympathetic look. "I know, me to." She kissed him. "Come on, we better get out of the lockers before someone comes in."

They slipped out, both thinking on all that Tracey had told them. Both where now even more determined to find out just what was going on.

TBC.

I'm going to Lapland for a few days on Thursday (yay! my first holiday since I was 12), so I'll try to get the next chapter written and up by Wednesday, but if not, it might be about a week until the next chapter.