Chapter Four: Simon's First Day
"Simon… Sweetie…" Amanda said. This was the third time she had come up to wake Simon up, and the third time he had agreed to get up and gone right back to sleep. She was a little worried about him. He usually enjoyed school. He wasn't exactly ecstatic about school. But he was very social, so he always liked going to be with people. Amanda had thought he'd be excited to make new friends.
To the contrary though, he seemed angry.
"I'm not going!" Simon growled irritably. Amanda went into Simon's room.
"Simon… You have to go to school. You're eight. I'm… I'm sure you're nervous. I was nervous the first time I moved to a new school. My family moved from New York City to Columbus. God, I was nervous. There's nothing wrong with being nervous." Amanda said gently.
"But you need to go to school. Breakfast is ready downstairs. Your dad and I have our first day at our new jobs. You and Sammy have your first days at your new schools. Come on, Simon. I know you can do this." Amanda said. Simon sighed, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a shower. He then headed downstairs and ate a quick breakfast, glancing at Sam on occasion.
"Sammy?" Simon asked nervously. Sam looked up.
"Yes?" She replied. Simon sighed.
"N-never mind…" Sam went back to her breakfast.
"Are you nervous about school today?" He asked. Sam seemed to think for a minute.
"It can't be any worse than my old school." She muttered apathetically.
"Sammy… I know we go to different schools, but can we walk together for a while?" Simon asked. Sam smiled weakly.
"Yeah… Of course." Sam said, finishing her breakfast.
"Sammy… I want you to eat more. You've lost a lot of weight and it's not healthy." Amanda said.
Sam sighed.
"I'm not really hungry, Mom." The blonde girl said. Amanda sat down with her daughter.
"Sammy… Would you just humor me and eat a bit more?" Amanda asked, putting two more sausages and some more eggs on her plate. Sam growled furiously and threw the plate on the ground, food and all, ignoring the shocked look on Amanda's face as it smashed on the ground.
Sam stormed out of the house.
"I SAID I WASN'T FUCKING HUNGRY!" she screamed. Simon hurried to get his shoes on and ran out after Sam. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and fell into stride next to her.
"Sammy… Why won't you eat?" Simon asked.
"I told mom what I'm going to tell you. I'm not hungry." Sam said.
"Yes you are! Your tummy is getting skinnier! You've always been thin, but you're losing weight! Sammy… Please! I'm worried about you! Please! Just come to a café with me or something! I'll pay for the food!" Simon begged. Sam looked down at Simon, hugging him tightly.
"Okay. We have a little free time left before I have to be at school." She said, going to a small café and getting some eggs, a blueberry muffin, and coffee.
Simon got some orange juice and a muffin. Not much was said between them. There was still a strange awkwardness between them.
"Sammy… Do you still love me?" Simon asked, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. Sam looked nervously at Simon.
"Of course I do, Simon… I'm just… Simon, I'm just… It's not your fault… I-I can't talk about it." Sam said. Simon sighed. That didn't help him understand what was going on.
"Sammy… Please… Just talk to me. Please!" Simon pleaded. Sam sighed.
"I can't. You're… You're too young." Sam said. Simon moaned miserably. Their mother had said the same thing to him.
"Nobody trusts me." He whimpered. Sam felt bad too. She wanted to confide in Simon. She hated keeping all this inside. It hurt. She could barely stand it. But she couldn't burden Simon with her problems. She had gotten up at 5 that morning and gone running. She was actually a better runner than she had expected herself to be. She came back home and did situps and pushups and tried to figure out how she could get in better shape.
Fortunately, she saw a rock climbing wall in the park. She figured that she could get in shape and still have fun. She finished her breakfast and put some money down, ignoring Simon's protests, heading to school and telling Simon to go as well.
-0-
Simon sighed, going into the school. There were so many people, especially for such a small town, and already he felt overwhelmed. It was weird. He used to be so comfortable in big crowds. But now, he just wanted to be alone or maybe just with Sammy. Suddenly, he was crashed into from behind.
"Oh! Jeez, I'm sorry!" The boy said, tumbling and looking sheepishly at him.
He had very well kept white hair with a large cowlick sticking up in the back of his head. Frankly, Simon thought he would look better if he just left his hair a bit messier. But he wasn't going to say anything.
"No problem." Simon said shyly, hurrying to stand up and rush off, leaving the white haired boy a little confused. Simon went into his first class and sat down, waiting for class to start.
Soon, the teacher walked into the room. He was a tall man with brown hair, but a high forehead, likely from thinning hair. He wasn't exactly old. But he was easily over 35. He had dark brown eyes that almost looked black and a rounded face that showed that he might be a little overweight. He seemed nice though.
"Good morning, class. My name is Mr. Martin. I say that because we have a new student today. Young man, please introduce yourself?" Mr. Martin said politely.
Simon nodded nervously and walked up to the front of the room, quailing slightly under everyone's gaze. None of these kids were his friends. He wanted Alric, Jimmy, Eddie, Nori and Amelia. He didn't want new friends. He just wanted the friends he'd had since kindergarten. He needed to hide his nervousness though. He couldn't get off on the wrong foot. He couldn't let them know that he was scared. That would just get him bullied. He smiled cheerfully.
"I'm Simon Sharp… My family came here from Columbus, Ohio." Simon said.
"Does anyone have questions for Simon?" The teacher asked. A girl raised her hand.
"You talk funny. Why?" She asked. The teacher stepped in.
"Does anyone have any appropriate questions for Simon?" The teacher asked. Another girl raised her hand.
"What are your hobbies?" She asked.
"Oh… I like music. I play airsoft and classic horror movies and art." Simon said. The teacher stopped him.
"Alright. You can ask him other things later. Let's get started." He said.
"Simon, my name is Mr. Martin. Today, we're learning about the Civil War.
"Please find a seat and we'll get started." Mr. Martin said politely. Simon found a seat, and opened his book to Chapter Eight and they began learning about the causes of the Civil War. How slavery was only the most obvious cause, but that the economic issues surrounding slavery were a much bigger issue than the slavery itself. Another issue was state rights vs. the right of the federal government to regulate those rights.
"Naturally, the South believed that because the southern economy was so different from the northern economy, that each state should have the right to regulate how their economy works. From a modern perspective, it seems like awfully specious… Er, flimsy logic. But from the southern perspective at the time, slavery was a necessity.
This discussion went on for the rest of the class session, with Mr. Martin calling on students to give input into the issues being talked about. At the end, Simon went on to second period, which was science. He sat down and was introduced briefly to the class.
"Now, Simon, my name is Ms. Moon." The woman said politely. She was Asian and had a very pretty smile. She was probably in her early 40s and had straight black hair and pale brown eyes.
"Please, sit down, Simon. Today, we're working on division." Ms. Moon said. Simon nodded and quickly moved through his division, doing the work out on the page. He was hardly a genius in math. History, English and art were his strongest subjects, with a second in gym and music. But math wasn't exactly a weak subject for him. He looked up at the board.
"Mr. Sharp. Would you please come up to the board and do this problem for the class?" Ms. Moon asked. Simon nodded and went up, doing the math and then writing down the answer.
"Very good. Thank you, Simon." She said. Simon went back to his seat. The rest of class was pretty dull. Next was English.
He had a tall… A very tall woman. She must have been almost 6'5". She looked like she was barely 30, if even 30, and she had long brown hair that she kept in a braid that went down past her waist. Simon stared wistfully at her. Sammy had loved her hair so much. Why did she want to cut it all off? Why would Sammy ask him to cut her hair?
"Hello, Mr. Sharp. My name is Ms. Mendis. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a cheerful, kind smile. He stared up at her for a moment, causing her to laugh.
"I'm 6'6". No, I've never been on the rack. My father was even taller than me. He was almost 7 feet tall. It's very nice to meet you. Why don't you tell the class a bit about yourself?"
"Um… Hi, I'm Simon… I'm from Columbus, Ohio. I'm into airsoft, art and music. And for the record, I'm not quite sure what 'the rack' is." Simon said, laughing sheepishly at his last statement.
"Thank you, Simon. You can get to know your new classmate better at recess." She said.
"Now, who can tell me what a synonym, antonym and homonym is? Simon."
"Synonyms are words that have the same meaning, like tall and long. Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings, like tall and short. And homonyms are words that sound the same and are spelled the same but have different meanings, like bark and bark." The blonde Sharp said. Ms. Mendis was visibly impressed.
"Very good, Mr. Sharp. Is everyone copying this down?" She asked. A bunch of kids hurriedly pulled out pens and scribbled what Simon had said down. A few others looked impressed as well, while some seemed annoyed by Simon. The place for Homonyms, Antonyms and Synonyms in the language took up the rest of the class.
After that, Simon went to gym class. He was at least reasonably confident that he would do well in gym.
"Hey, Sharp! My name is Coach Pakowski!" Pakowski said sternly. He had a rough voice, and he seemed a bit harsh. Simon took a deep breath.
"Alright… Yeah… You can do this, Simon. Hi Coach Pakowski. I'm Simon." He said, reaching out to shake the teacher's hand.
"Yeah. Fall in with the rest of the class. You can get to know everyone while you're playing dodgeball with them." Pakowski said. Simon nodded, hurrying over to the rest of the class as they were separating into teams. He didn't say much, but a girl noticed him.
"Hey!" She said, calling him over. He went over and tried to smile.
"You must be new." She said cheerfully, stretching out her hand to shake his. Simon shook her hand uncertainly.
"What's yer name?" She asked.
"I'm… I'm Simon." He said.
"Where do y'all come from, Simon?" She asked. She had brown hair and freckles, and spoke in a southern accent.
"I'm from Columbus, Ohio." Simon said. She giggled.
"Great to meetcha!" She said.
"I'm Hattie! I have a cousin in this school named Liam and one who's like 1 or 2 named Lacie!" Hattie said. Simon smiled. She sure was friendly.
"So… Hattie… Where do you hail from?" He asked, referring to her accent.
"Alabama, 'riginally! Ahaha! Don't worry! That joke about us all marryin' our cousins is total hogwash!" She laughed. Simon chuckled nervously. He'd never heard that rumor before.
"So… What's yer family like?" Hattie asked.
"Oh, I have a mom, who's a nurse and a dad who's a construction foreman. My sister is in 8th grade. They're pretty cool. We're adjusting I guess." Simon said. He wasn't sure Sam was adjusting very well.
"Alright everyone! Split into teams and get pelting!" Pakowski said. Hattie was the captain of one team and a boy named Stephen was the captain of the other team. Hattie chose Simon first. She wasn't sure how good he was at Dodgeball, but she picked him because she wanted to get to know him better. After they were done choosing teams, they went to opposite ends of the gym and ran to the center, grabbing the balls and separating again.
Simon proved to be a very able Dodgeball player, throwing hard and dodging with agility. Hattie could admire his athleticism. At the end of the period, he got changed back into his regular clothes, sighing and heading to his next class. He called Sam first. The phone rang four times. Just when he thought she wasn't going to answer, and he began preparing a message, Sam picked up.
"Hello?" She asked, sounding surprisingly upbeat. She sounded a bit nervous, but upbeat overall.
"Hey, Sammy. I wanted t-to see how your… Your day was going." Simon asked.
"That's really sweet." Sam said lovingly.
"It's actually going pretty good. I met Luna. She's really cool and pretty… I-I mean…" A strange cry came out of Simon's mouth. He didn't understand it.
Was he angry at her? No. It wasn't quite anger. It wasn't even resentment. She'd heard that in his voice and she didn't want to acknowledge it. But it was there, the tiniest flicker of sharpness in his tone. This was different, and as much as she knew somewhere in her mind she knew what it was, she couldn't admit it. She couldn't let herself understand it…
Simon didn't understand what he was feeling either. It was strange. It was something he'd never felt quite like this before. It was similar yet different. It made his tummy hurt. It made him want to hug Sam and scream at and berate her at the same time. How dare she be happy when he was so miserable? How dare she find something to enjoy when she had destroyed her whole family's lives? No. It wasn't her fault. It was his fault. He had failed Sam.
But he just wanted what she felt right now. He wanted to be able to feel the same way. To be able to smile at her and tell her he loved her and mean it without any doubt in his mind like he used to be able to. Was he jealous of her? No. Simon assured himself that he couldn't be jealous. After what he realized must have been a long time, he spoke.
"Aww…" Simon said happily. There was something else that was a little bit off though. Sam couldn't put her finger on it. She'd always been exceptionally perceptive, especially of changes in Simon's mood. But this… She couldn't place it.
"You have a crush on Luna." He said.
"I do not! She's just cool, and she invited me to her band's next meeting. She heard me playing my guitar and we sang a song together. It was fun. And I'm actually excited to meet Luna's friends. I'm worried that they'll know when they meet me, and that they'll hate me for it." Sam said.
"You mean that you like…"
"Shhh! Don't say it out loud!" Sam snapped. Simon gasped.
"Sorry. I just wanted t-to hear your voice. I-I'm happy you like Luna. But be careful. Last time…" Simon said lovingly. He couldn't finish that sentence. He knew now that he resented her, but he still adored her. She was still like his sister, father and mother all rolled into one.
He would never let her get hurt again. He would murder Luna with his bare hands if he had to. But he would never let anyone hurt her again. The bell rang and he hurried to his next class. He checked his schedule. Lunch. He sighed in relief. He was hungry. He grabbed his lunch from his locker and sat down in the cafeteria, sighing again, feeling tired now. He pulled out his lunch. It looked good. Peanut butter and jelly, grapes, cheese and a bottle of water and a candy bar.
He bought a carton of milk and began eating, enjoying lunch. Soon, three people sat down at his table. One of them was a girl. She was really pretty, if Simon did say so himself. She had chocolate brown skin and beautiful silky hair.
"Hi! My name is Gabby. Nice to meet you. You're new, aren't you?" She asked with a bright smile. Simon nodded.
"This is Sebastian." Gabby said. Sebastian had black hair slicked down but with a cowlick in the back and tan skin.
"And this is Sascha." Gabby said cheerfully. He had pale skin and freckles with brown eyes and sandy blonde hair.
"Nice… Nice to meet you." Simon said uncertainly.
"Nice to meet you too." Gabby said brightly.
"You've got quite a spread there. What's your name?" Sebastian asked.
"Oh… I'm Simon." He said, shaking her hand uncertainly.
"No need to be afraid. You were in my gym class and my history class." Gabby said.
"You seemed really cool, so I wanted to meet you." She said. "Do you mind if we eat lunch with you?" She asked. Simon nodded numbly, biting into his sandwich, finishing it off quickly and moving onto his grapes and cheese. He then moved onto his candy bar and finished up with his water and milk.
They talked to each other for the rest of the period and then went out to recess. Simon sighed, trying to stay out of the way. He pulled out his notebook and began drawing pictures of his old friends in superhero costumes, each page having a description of their powers. He heard a scream and crying though, and looked up in annoyance.
There were four kids pushing around another kid. Sammy… The kid was Sammy… No. The kid was clearly a boy, and didn't look remotely like Sam. But their situations were similar. He was being held down now and his shirt was being hiked up. They were touching his chest and back and the boy looked like he was having a panic attack. Simon grabbed a brick and attached it to a broken broom handle and walked over to the group, smashing one of them in the back, sending him to the ground.
He then turned around and smashed the other one holding the kid down in the chest. He then held the makeshift hammer over his head to attack the leader, who held his hands up in surrender and stood to his full height.
"Hey. That was pretty impressive. These two clods aren't terribly bright, but you must've been pretty quiet to sneak up on them all the same. My name is Oswald. But please, call me Oz." The black haired boy with sharp, cold blue eyes said, staring at Simon with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"What can I call you?" He asked politely, seeming to have gauged the situation and seen that he couldn't win in a physical confrontation.
"Get out of my way and leave this kid alone." Simon commanded. Oz nodded.
"We were just joking around with him. Black, Avery, Foster. Get up and let's go. We'll take you to the infirmary." Oz said. He helped the two up and took them to the nurse. Simon was pretty sure one of the kids asked what an infirmary was.
"It's the nurse's office." Oz said with an air of derision for the boy's lack of intelligence. He then followed the three boys, the two who had been hit looking dazed and still confused as to how a kid as relatively small and thin as Simon could have not only gotten the drop on them but hurt them like that. Oz didn't seem confused at all. Simon was smart. He could tell just by looking at him. Simon knelt down and alerted the boy, who was curled up in a fetal position, trying to protect himself.
"Hey… Kid… My name's Simon. I'm not going to hurt you." The blonde Sharp said gently. The boy looked up.
"I'm Gil. Gil Isaksen. It's… It's nice to meet you…" Gil said shyly.
"It was nice of you to help me. But you shouldn't have attacked them. They're the biggest bullies in school. They're monsters!" Simon scoffed at this.
"Please! Those guys are nothing! I've met real monsters and these guys couldn't even touch those guys." Simon said. Gil seemed to marvel at how confident Simon was.
"You sound funny. Where do you come from?" Gil asked.
"Um… Ohio?" Simon shrugged. He never thought he sounded strange.
"Oh, hi-yo to you too." Gil said cheerfully.
"No. Um… Ohio is where I'm from. It's the state below Michigan, which is where we are now." Simon said. Gil nodded, seeming like he didn't fully get it, but was agreeing anyway.
The two boys talked together for a while before the bell rang and they had to go back to class. Simon gave Gil his phone number and they parted, Simon going to science. The teacher was a man with greying dark brown hair and glasses. He wore a plaid shirt and welcomed Simon, telling him where to sit.
"Alright, kids… We have a new student today. Simon Sharp moved here from Ohio and he'll be with us from now on. Please make him feel welcome.
"My name is Mr. Eckhart. I say that for Simon's benefit. Today, we're working on Evolution. Does anyone remember what we evolved from?" Simon raised his hand.
"Yes, Simon?"
"Well… They haven't found our actual ancestor, but we evolved side by side with Primates. We're most closely related to Chimpanzees." Simon said.
"Wow… I'm impressed, Simon. That's right. Though I would have accepted the answer that we evolved from primates." Eckhart said.
"That's technically right. We're… More like siblings and cousins to primates than we are children. But that's a bit more complicated than the lesson that I'm supposed to teach today." Eckhart said. He went on to discuss a simplified explanation of evolution.
When class ended, he said that an essay was due about last week's subject. The students handed in their essays and Eckhart called Simon up as the other kids were leaving. He explained that the only homework he set was studying for tests and a two page essay once a week on the week's subject to make sure the students were retaining the lessons.
He said he expected Simon to have an essay the coming Monday as well. Simon nodded and headed to his next class, art. It was his last class of the day, and he was glad to almost be done. He went to the classroom and sat down. Like most art classrooms, it didn't have a traditional layout, desks in rows. There were easels and paints, and there were spatters of paint everywhere. Simon sighed. He felt much more comfortable here.
He chose a seat and relaxed while the rest of the students filed in and took seats. Finally, the art teacher came in. She was a short, slender woman with chocolate colored skin and hazel eyes. She had probably long black hair that was kept back in a bun and wore a sweater and a long skirt that went down to her ankles.
"Hello, class." She said in a soft, gentle tone. Simon immediately felt at ease with her. She had a calming smile.
"My name is Ms. Sloane, and we have a new student today. I won't embarrass him by making him come up and introduce himself. But please make him feel welcome. Today we're continuing the paintings we started on Thursday.
"If anyone has finished, that's fine. You can start a new painting if you're ready." She said. Simon took out a small pack of pencils and began sketching the outline of what he was going to paint on the canvas, his face scrunching in concentration. It was going to be Sam. Back when she was happy, with her long hair that trailed down to the floor when she sat down and restrained in a braid, smiling happily as she played her violin.
He probably wasn't the best artist around, but he liked to congratulate himself that he was pretty good. He'd been doing art as an outlet for his emotions since before he could really walk any significant distances. Due to his breathing problems as a young child, he couldn't even walk up stairs until he was around 5. And even then, he still got winded easily. It wasn't really until after he met Alric and started going out to the park and things like that with him that he began to become more physically able.
In reality the two things weren't related. They were just coincidental. They were correlated in the fact that it was around the same time he became friends with Alric. But there was no causation in the sense that Alric had nothing to do with it. But Simon didn't know that, and he still was grateful to Alric for helping him become able to walk without becoming exhausted.
Maybe a picture of Alric would be better… No. He could do that next. Sammy was who he wanted to draw and then paint. He drew all the lines by the end of the class, and had put letters on each part to signify what color they would be. Ms. Sloane came over and looked at what he'd gotten done.
"Mm… You're quite an artist, Simon." She said.
"Who are you drawing?" She asked.
"M-my sister… Sam." He said quietly, blushing slightly.
"I can tell how much you love her… Just from the outline." Ms. Sloane said. Simon nodded shyly and packed up his supplies as the final bell rang.
He went to his locker and packed everything into his backpack and started walking home. He got in the front door and saw that Sam wasn't home yet. She usually got home before him. Maybe middle school ended later than elementary school in Royal Woods. He was a little concerned though. They went to school at the same time. By all rights, they should both be coming home around the same time. After a little while, he remembered Sam telling him that she was staying after school.
He sighed, that same feeling of resentment and jealousy filling him again. He took a deep breath, ignoring the tears that were filling his eyes and started on his homework.
