Charlie grabbed his lunch, following Mike to their spot under the tree. The daily ritual that lead to their official friendship. "Have you talked to Louise, yet?" He asked, keeping his fingers crossed that the answer was no.
"To me, this is a stupid tradition, but it's mandatory. So I spoke to her." Mike replied. "If I have to go with someone may aswell be her." The truth was, he wanted to stay up in his room with Charlie and do nothing the night of the dance.
Charlie tried to hide the fact that he was hurt. "We could always sneak out and see Burning Desire. Truth be told I've never actually sat through a real horror movie."
"I wish. Someone would notice if we left." Mike replied. "Though glad to see I'm rubbing off on you a bit."
Charlie sighed, looking down at his lunch. He hadn't felt much like eating the past few days. "The funeral is on Saturday. I've never sat through one of those either."
"Shouldn't stop you from eating something. I don't want an anorexic for my best friend." Mike replied, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Listen, I know this is a weird thing to ask but-" Charlie looked down at Mike's shoes, unable to look him straight in the eye.
"You want me to come with you, don't you?" Mike finished for him. When Charlie nodded in reply, Mike grabbed his shoulders, making Charlie face him. "Listen, don't be ashamed. It's a natural part of the grieving process and given the sunshine and rainbow family you grew up with it will take you even longer."
"I guess." Charlie replied. "How's your family coping without you?"
Mike hesitated before answering, trying to keep his composure. "By the look of things, just fine. I haven't heard a thing from them since I came here."
Charlie looked at him in amazement. "It's been nearly two months!"
Mike shrugged, trying to hide the fact that he cared so much about it. "Well, they've never understood me. Always off doing their own thing. Why I spent so much time figuring things out for myself. It's the way it's always been, why should it be any different now. After all, they're the ones who sent me here."
"You have a scholarship though, you earned that." Charlie replied, a little confused.
"With a little help from my dad applying for it." Mike told him. "Listen, I know it seems strange to you that my family isn't the happy 24/7, lets eat dinners together, white picket fence type but that's the way it is and you learn to get used to it after awhile."
"I think you care a lot more than you let on." Charlie replied. Looking down, his hand was placed over Mike's. He saw his friend looking at him a little confused, so he jerked it away. "Though I guess I should know you better by now."
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Charlie looked around at the few people with him. He had never seen a coffin before and just the sight of one made him feel sick, especially knowing that Grandpa George was inside. All through the ceremony, he sat there quietly in the middle of the church. He didn't want to be down the front with the rest of his family, so close to the casket. He didn't know how he would cope if Mike wasn't there.
Oblivious to everything that had been said in the ceremony, Charlie felt a little startled as Mike informed him they were to go outside. Walking like a zombie, Charlie stared at the grass the whole time. He looked up as they lowered the coffin into the ground. Charlie moved away from the group. He ran out of the cemetary to the road and bent down in the gutter to throw up.
Mike was soon beside him. "It's alright, just me. I didn't know this would disturb you so much."
Charlie looked to his only friend and just threw his arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder. Mike hesitated before slipping his arms around Charlie to comfort him. Both of them tried to speak, but nothing would come out. Charlie just cried and Mike sat there stroking his back. Though somehow, the silence made them feel better, just knowing the other was there. They pulled back and looked at each other, staring into each others eyes.
Wonka's voice suddenly startled them. "Come on Charlie, your parents have requested that I take you home." Wonka took a long look at Mike. "You, I remember you. You're the little mumbler from the factory tour. Well, nice to see you again. Charlie we have to go."
"No, I want to stay with my family." Charlie replied quietly, but stubbornly.
"Strict orders. They don't want you to see Georgina in the state she's in. Joe and Josephine aren't much better themselves. Please come with me." Wonka grabbed Charlie's shoulder.
Mike looked at the man, angry at the sight of him just as he had been two years ago. "He said he doesn't want to go!"
Wonka looked at Mike. "Actually, little mumbler, he asked if he could stay with his family and you're not family. So I guess you should come with me."
Mike stood up, temper flaring. "I'm his best friend! Infact, I'm his only friend at that school. You act like you understand what he's feeling right now, but you don't! He wants to be with his family, who he barely sees anymore thanks to school! If you and the rest of his family for that matter could see how unhappy he is in that place, you wouldn't have sent him there. You say it's the best thing for him, but don't you think he knows what's best for his own life."
Wonka looked at him, expression unchanged. "Getting a little too personal with that arguement there. You can stay Charlie but your parents will kill me. Bye for now."
Mike sat back down, tears in his eyes. In the heat of the moment he didn't realise how personal he had been getting. He was missing his parents and was hurt that they didn't seem to care. Looking over at Charlie, Mike stood up and suggested that they go back to the others.
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The dance had arrived and Charlie sat down by the food, watching everyone else, in particular Mike. He wasn't in the mood to be there and wanted to leave. Though he found himself staying, watching Mike and Louise. Charlie couldn't help but hate her, with her hands sliding all over Mike. He should have made the best of the situation by agreeing to go with one of the girls that asked him. Though he could see that their offerings were either pity dates or last resorts. It didn't matter to him because he was never really one to participate in school dances and with recent events the teachers weren't expecting him to even be there but he went to offer Mike some occasional moral support and hope to maybe take his mind off things.
After having another handful of chips and rejecting a girl, he couldn't take anymore. He felt guilty as it seemed this girl genuinely liked him, though with Mike and Louise continuing to bother him and the excuse for music that was playing it was impossible for him to really enjoy himself. He told the nearest teacher he wasn't feeling too well and needed to talk to his family. Sympathetic to what had happened, they let him leave.
Instead of going back to his room, he walked around the grounds for awhile, ending up at the tree where him and Mike ate lunch. The spot where their hands had touched once again. He had been sitting there, contemplating for a few minutes, when he heard something behind him. Turning around, he saw Mike walk over to him and sit by him.
"Saw you leaving. Anything wrong?" Mike asked.
Charlie turned to his friend. "Just couldn't handle being there anymore. You know what I mean?"
Mike nodded in reply. "Louise can't take a hint. It was like she was an octopus or something, the way her hands kept roaming around. She's waiting for me to come back, but I think now we've left we can do something really fun. Let's go see Burning Desire. Unless of course, it's too soon for you."
"I think it will be just what I need to get my mind off things. Anything is better then that stupid dance.Just another place where the social order rules and we have to deal with it." Charlie explained, temper slowly building. "Guess you were right about it being a stupid tradition. Maybe the movie will desenistise me so I won't act so pathetic all the time!"
Mike wouldn't hear any of this, raising his voice back to Charlie. "Listen to me. You're not pathetic! You're the least pathetic person in this school. If it wasn't for you I would hate this place completely." Mike touched his arm, calming himself and his friend down. "I may beright about a lot of things but, so are you. I didn't think we'd have anything in common, but you've sort of rubbed off on me a little. Anyway, we have to go now if we want to catch the movie. Follow me and I'll get you out of here. You'll love this movie. I know you will."
Note: So that's chapter 4. Hope it was all good. They're getting closer and in Chapter 5 they'll be at the movies together :-)