I FINALLY HAD SOME TIME TO WRITE! (I'm kidding, it's almost midnight and I have to wake up at 5:45 tomorrow. Whoops.)
A little while ago I wrote Delilah a Highlights chapter, where her longtime friend Gavin also made an appearance. But as Gavin's eventually going to be a lot more important, I figured it was time for him to get a chapter of his very own. This one takes place shortly before Delilah's Rollercoaster chapter!
Gavin
On that chilly day in September, his name wasn't Gadolin Vince Freeman anymore. Now it was simply "Lin". A bit of a girly name, maybe. But different, definitely. That's what he was looking for. Gado liked different. He needed different.
Especially since this was the third time he'd changed his name in a month. This time, he needed one that would really stick.
First, he'd gone back to Gadi, a nickname he'd had when he was young. After a few days, it had even started to catch on a little. Gadi was something his younger brother and sister, the four-year-old Freeman twins, could pronounce without a problem. Baby Seline wouldn't even know the difference, once she learned to talk. Even his mother was alright with it, mostly because she had her own problems to deal with then; it wasn't an easy time for the Freemans, and although Gado and his identity search wasn't helping anyone, he wasn't hurting anyone, either. In fact, she told him she kind of missed his "Gadi" days, anyway.
Despite this, it only took a week before something about it wasn't right. And so Gadi turned into Vince.
Transitioning to his middle name was harder than he thought. His friends, who had only just gotten used to "Gadi", had even more trouble with this one. No one wanted to call him "Vin" or "Vinny", either. It just wasn't similar enough to Gadolin, and Gado hated that he couldn't just change it completely. His buddies didn't get it. His teachers kept calling him by the wrong name. He'd even started to confuse the twins. Raden kept at "Gadi", and Nione was going right back to his original name, which was exactly where he didn't want to be.
After a week of this, Vince became Lin.
At this point, he noticed his mother was starting to worry about him, so to avoid confrontation, Gado just avoided her. He left for school early. He skulked around the square for as long as a twelve-year-old could before having to return home for the night. He ate meals in his room. All he wanted was to keep living his life without conflicts or interruptions and to just be Lin. Not Gadolin, or Gado, Gadi, or Vince. Lin. That's it.
...
Gado notified the teacher of his new name when he walked into the classroom that day. She nodded duly and told him to find his seat, although he noticed that she didn't write it down on the class register as she had for his other name-changes. So he decided to stay put, wanting to make sure she wouldn't forget it. That didn't last long. As he stood there, waiting, Gado suddenly felt his classmates' eyes on him. Warmth rushed to his cheeks. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet to his usual desk. The lesson began as normal.
It's funny, he thought, I want everyone to call me Lin, but the last thing I want to do is announce it.
Gado figured maybe he just didn't want his classmates to all be thinking about him at once. The thought made him shudder a little. No, he'd probably just wait and let them figure it out for themselves. That's what he'd do. He'd let the new name stick on it's own.
Delilah caught up with him on his way to the square after school. She, Gado's closest friend, was in the grade below him at school. She didn't look mad with him, despite the fact that he usually waited for her, and had forgotten almost every day this week.
"Hey, Vince!" Delilah made a point to stay up to date on his name. She was the only one he knew who called him "Vince" completely naturally. When it came from her, Gado could almost believe he'd been Vince all along.
But this week, Vince wasn't his name.
"Hi," he said, "It's Lin now." Delilah blinked. She was rather young in her class and looked it, too, especially with those purple-rimmed glasses she wore. Gado had never said anything about them, for fear of hurting his friend's feelings and driving her away. It seemed as if less people were talking to him these days, especially after what had happened.
"Lin…" Delilah tried the name on her tongue. "Nice. How's it spelled?"
"L-I-N." Like my real name, he'd wanted to say, then stopped himself.
"Good, I don't really see you as the L-Y-N-N type." Delilah pushed a lock of ginger hair behind her ear, watching Gado's face for a reaction.
"No, of course not." They kept walking for a moment, Gado concentrating on the street in front of him.
"Hasn't the square gotten boring yet?" asked Delilah, her head tilted to one side, "I mean, we've been going here after school every day for almost a week. We could go to my house for a change?" Gado considered it. His friend lived in the same neighborhood as he did, home to mostly families of power plant workers like his mom and Delilah's dad. But then, they lived on opposite sides, so the chances of running into his mother coming home from an early shift were slim.
"Sure." Delilah's face lit up. Gado became aware that they hadn't had a two-sided conversation in some time, a fact that shocked him, to say the least. What had happened to him?
"Great," she says, "Got something to show you. You look like you could use some cheering up." Then she linked her arm with his and led the way home.
...
Delilah's mom never got on well with Gado's mother, but she liked him just fine, so his dropping by wasn't normally a problem. So long as he didn't bring the whole Freeman family along. She wasn't home today, though, so the two of them crossed right through the house and entered the backyard.
"Close your eyes now, and no peeking!" Delilah warned him, "Don't even listen too hard, you might hear it." Gado did as he was told, but the only thing he could hear above his own thoughts was a dull shuffling noise as his friend pushed something across the grass.
"Alright, Lin, open 'em!" Gado hesitated briefly. This was the first time someone had called him by his new name. But it didn't sound right, not even from her. He'd have to change it. But to what?
"Lin?" Delilah tapped his shoulder. And then, after a pause, "Gado?" He felt his eyes snap open and lock with hers.
"Don't call me that!" he growled. Delilah blinked at him, looking hurt. Gado took a little step back. The acid that had come from his own mouth shocked him. It seemed to have had the same effect on Delilah.
"I-I'm sorry." Gado's attempt to right his slipup was feeble at best, but Delilah was understanding. Maybe she was more willing to forgive him after last month.
Cut him some slack, he imagined her telling herself, At least both my parents are still around. Gado's fists were clenched, and Delilah stared at her shoes.
"But that's your name," she said.
"It's Lin," Gado muttered, hating the way it sounded more and more. Delilah shook her head.
"Last time I checked, you were Vince. And before that, you were Gadi." For once, the names don't sound right on her tongue. They sound stupid. Fake. "I miss Gado, okay? It's like you always want to be someone else now, and I miss you." Gado's throat felt tight.
"So what if I do…" His voice wavered. The argument was too weak.
"You don't need to, though! I think you're great!" Delilah threw her hands into the air. "Really great!"
"No, it's not that."
"What?" Then Delilah frowned, her face falling into the look of concern Gado had grown used to in the last month. He got it from teachers, from classmates, from family friends, and always from Mom, on the nights when she wasn't holed away in her bedroom. "It's about your dad, isn't it?"
Gado bit his lip. This was Delilah. If he couldn't talk to her, he couldn't talk to anybody. But at the same time, something was holding his jaw clenched, keeping it shut tight. Until finally, he gave in.
"I saw him, on the night he left." Gado managed to spit out. Delilah's eyes grew.
"Oh, Gad—" and immediately realizing her mistake, "Lin…" Gado flinched, but for whatever reason, continued.
"He was halfway out the door and just stopped, looked at me." The words wouldn't stop now, no matter how hard he tried. "And then he started talking to me, like everything was normal. 'Gadolin, what are you doing up?' 'Where am I going? I just have to leave, that's it.' 'You watch over your brother and sisters, Gadolin, I have to leave.'" Gado's given name tasted bitter on his tongue. That's what he wanted to believe was making his voice shaky, his name.
"That's what he kept saying. 'I have to leave, Gadolin. I have to leave.' He didn't even say he was sor—" His voice broke. Gado was almost grateful.
"I'm so sorry, Gado—" Delilah finishes for him.
"He just left us." The pain comes rushing back as Gado replays the scene in his head. Then, the guilt. It hadn't felt real until the guilt. "He left me. And I don't want to be Gadolin anymore!" The last part came out choked, like a sob. It was a sob. Delilah reached up and threw her arms around him.
They stood there for a while, in the middle of Delilah's backyard, as Gado cried for the first time in a while. He felt like a little kid, standing there, comforted by a girl one year younger and two heads shorter than him. In his mind, he kept telling himself to stop, but the tears kept coming. It was like a dam had been broken, just by recounting one night. Just by saying his own name.
When the tears finally subsided, Delilah let him go, and they both sat down on the dry, brown grass. Gado considered asking her not to tell anyone, but thought better of it. If he couldn't have trusted her, he wouldn't have spilled his guts like this.
"I don't want to be someone else." Just by saying it, Gado confirmed it was the truth, "I just don't want to be called Gadolin." Also the truth. Gado knew he had no solid way to justify his feeling, just that he knew it was something he wasn't getting over.
"Not even Gado?" asked Delilah. Gado shook his head
"It's like I can't even hear my own name anymore…" Gado cringed, "It was his name, too, you know."
"I didn't know that," said Delilah. A long moment passed, and Gado almost rose to leave before she finally spoke again. "Well, it's gotta be a little similar, or the twins won't get it, and neither will anyone else." Gado blinked.
"Yeah." He thought about it. "So nothing with my middle name." It's a shame, Gado thought, since he did like his middle name. Delilah must have known this, too.
"Not necessarily," she shrugged, "What if you combined them?"
"What?" The thought of taking on yet another name after everything that had happened in the past month was a little overwhelming, even when a moment ago he'd been more than ready to dump "Lin" in favor of something better.
"You know, put them together? Like Ga-Vin. Gavin. Isn't that a name already?" she asked.
"I think so." Gado wiped his nose on his sleeve. The name sounded familiar. But different. A very good different. He liked how it sounded.
"Like it?"
"Yeah, actually. Gavin sounds good." Delilah ginned at him.
"Well, Gavin—"
"Wait." Gado, Gavin, wasn't sure about how she was ready to dive right into it, like every other name-change this month. This one, as always, needed to be different. But unlike the others, this one needed to be permanent. So Gavin decided to change the subject.
"I'm so sorry," he smacked his forehead, scolding himself for forgetting. "You wanted to show me something!" Delilah giggled a little.
"Yeah. We're sitting on it, dummy." Gavin blinked, confused. He'd been pretty badly torn up before, but could Delilah's surprise have really slipped his notice like that? His friend was still laughing. Gavin looked down, and his eyes grew to the size of saucers. They were sitting on a wooden sled.
"For when it finally gets cold here," Delilah grinned at him. Gavin felt himself start to smile.
"We're gonna have a lot of fun when the snow comes." he said finally. Delilah gave his shoulder a pat.
"That's the spirit," she stood up, started to pull him up after her, "Sorry I got your name wrong." Gavin looked down again, examined the sled's wooden body, and saw the words carved into the thin side.
Delilah Carey on one side. On the other, Vince Freeman.
Gavin couldn't remember the last time they'd laughed together like that.
...
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: First of all, Gavin and Delilah have an awesome time sledding that winter, although the sled breaks later on (when he's fifteen and she's thirteen and the old wooden piece of junk can no longer handle their weight). Gavin never changes his name again. Eventually, he even makes peace with his old name, and no longer is opposed to using his given name when it matters (formal documents, etc.). Delilah likes to write his name as Ga-Vin. It's become a joke between them, since most of their friends have only ever known him as Gavin, never as Gado. Gavin's mother still refers to him as "Gadolin", and in a few years, his siblings, although they acknowledge his new name, begin to take a liking to his old nicknames. Raden still likes to call him Gadi, Seline likes Vinny, and Nione even calls him Gado sometimes. In time, Gavin doesn't mind a bit.
I'm so happy to finally get some character history down for Gavin :) Tell me what you think, I'd love to hear from you guys!