I couldn't sleep at all last night because of the questions still running through my head. We had cleaned out the extra bedroom for Matthew and then we all went to bed after Uncle Francis left. I got up and out of bed and turned my alarm clock off before it began to ring. I put on my clothes and jacket and walked down the stairs. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and heard Matthew and my father talking.
"Arthur?" I could barely hear Matthew's light voice but I could just make it out. "Do you think Alfred and me will actually get along? After hearing the way he is at school I don't know if it will be possible." Something clanged in the sink and my dad took a deep breath. "You guys will be fine I'm sure. After you went upstairs and talked to each other he seemed to take right to you and if you want you can call me dad."
"I don't know, I think it was the shock talking to me. After he told me we'll get through it he just stormed out, he seemed confused about what he said. Thanks I guess I will call you that since Francis won't let call him that anymore." Matthew chuckled and zipped something up.
Matthew was right; I was confused about what I said last night it had just slipped out. I walked out into the kitchen and the conversation ceased. It was eerily quiet as I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my back pack. I was about to walk out of the door when my father called my name.
"Alfred I'm taking you to school today since its Matthew's first day. He's going to be in all of your classes so make sure to show him around and try introducing him to your friends." He grabbed his car keys and walked past me and out to the car. Matthew stood behind me with his bag over his shoulders. He was wearing the same exact red sweater as last night. I lightly laughed at it because it seemed I was the only one who wore the same thing every day.
"What's so funny?" Matthew asked as he began to look at himself to see if something was wrong with his outfit. I laughed and shook my head, "It's nothing." I turned and walked out the door to the car. I heard the door close behind me and Matthew got into the backseat of the car as I got into the front beside my dad.
The car ride was quiet the whole way to school. The first sentence was said as we pulled up to the front of the school. "I'll pick you both up from school this afternoon." Me and Matthew got out of the car but my father called me back. I leaned my head to see what he wanted. "Take care of Matthew please. He's very shy and I believe that you can pull him out of his shell." I looked at my dad in disbelief; I couldn't believe he expected that of me. I slammed the door and began to walk up the steps to the school. "Let's go, Matthew." I called out and he ran up beside me trying to keep up with my pace.
I walked up to my friends and greeted them. Gilbert took quick notice of Matthew behind me. "Who is that, Alfred? Your girlfriend?" I felt Matthew grab my arm; I looked back at him and saw that his face was turning a shade of red. Great just what I needed my friends thinking my newly found brother was my girlfriend.
"No. It's my brother. Come on out from behind me Matthew, you're not going to make friends like this." I reached behind me and pushed him forward. "This is Gilbert. He's kinda slow but he's kind." Matthew began to laugh at Gilbert's face to my explanation of him. He reached forward and put his arm around Matthew and said, "No need to worry Alfred. I can tell me and Matthew will be great friends."
I was kind of relieved to see one of my friends take right to my new brother without any questions. I looked around for any of my other friends and saw they weren't here today, probably skipping again. The bell rang and I called for Matthew to follow.
The day went by quickly. Everyone took right to Matthew and no one asked questions about us being brothers. Lunch was quiet because none of my friends were there. Matthew answered the questions I had every now and then.
"Why did you say bonjour when we met and not just hello or something?" Matthew chuckled and said "I can't believe you can't tell by my accent." What was he talking about? Now that I listened closer to him talking he did have small hint of an accent.
"I was raised in Canada, since they speak some French there I learned to. Also Uncle Francis is French so he taught me." I looked at my brother with wide eyes. I thought it was cool that my brother was Canadian.
"Do you like hockey?" Matthew nodded, "I love it." I chuckled at his answer and after that the rest of lunch was quiet. I realized Ivan was on the other side looking over at our table. He looked angry and confused. I stuck my tongue out at him and he turned away and left as the bell rang to go back to class. Great now I can't let Matthew out of my sight because I had a feeling Ivan was up to something.
My suspicions were right.
When the day ended me Matthew began to walk out the door to the carpool area where our dad was waiting. "Alfred, wait I forgot my notebook in class." Matthew ran off down the hall to go get his things.
I just stood there thinking he would be fine because of the teachers. I stood there for awhile wondering what was taking so long. After about five minutes I had a feeling something was wrong. I quickly took off down the hall to my brother's classroom. I turned the corner and saw Ivan and his friends standing over a mound of red.
"Matthew!" I ran towards Ivan ready to fight. He turned towards me and held up his hand. I stopped in my tracks and Ivan began to laugh. He leaned in towards Matthew and said, "Next time there won't be any disruptions." Ivan and his friends turned and ran down the hall and out the doors.
I quickly ran over to Matthew who was crumpled up on the ground. I began to lightly shake his shoulders, softly calling his name. He began to sob and knew right away that they had hurt him.
It felt as if it was my fault. Ivan somehow knew it was my brother and that he was vulnerable and now he figured he had a new way to hurt me. I gently picked Matthew off the floor and leaned him against the wall. The right side of his face was bruised. I felt the rage build inside me. Ivan had hurt him for no reason and I was not going to take that. Matthew began to say something between his sobs.
"I thought it would be different here. I was bullied at my last school to and I had no friends." I looked at my brother and could feel tears in my eyes. I knew right then that I had to protect him and had to be with him at all times. He never had anyone to help him until now. I pulled Matthew into me and held him close. He was in shock from the action but hugged me back. We both began to cry. I knew that I had to change my life to protect my brother.
"Matthew I promise that no one will ever hurt you again. Also that I'm going to make up those fourteen years for me not being there for you. To protect you."
Well I think this is pretty good... This one took longer than most I might be just be putting 1 chapter up a day now because my parents are getting nosy and i cant write with them hovering over me. ANything wrong let me know because I would like to fix the mistakes. IDK know how long its going to be I'm actually writing the first thing that comes to mind in the morning about it.
