Chapter 5- Flashbacks
"Alright class, I have great news!" Mrs Robinson announces happily, huge grin plastered on her face and hands together as if she was praying or stopping in the mid of clapping.
"What Miss? What is it Mrs Robinson?" The entire class of 2nd graders asked confused but also impatiently.
They were all sitting at their desks, eyes torn away from their work and now onto their teacher as she waited patiently for the class to listen.
"Now, now class… I would like you to give a warm welcome to a new student who will be attending our school from now on!" Mrs Robinson explained, smile still on her face as she darted her eyes from the students then to the blue door of the classroom, pushing her red glasses up the bridge of her nose as she did so…
"Is it a boy or a girl?" a student called out from the back of the class.
Immediately all the other seven year olds turned their heads, expressions perplexed as they watched the shy black haired boy finally speak up for what felt like the first time in years.
"Nicholas finally says something!" a blonde haired boy shouted out from the front of the class, earning a glare from Mrs Robinson.
"It's Nick." The black haired boy muttered, bowing his head down so that he wouldn't have to look at the faces of his fellow classmates.
"Jack, stop it… and Nick, it's a boy." Mrs Robinson smiled warmly towards Nick who replied with a small smile in return before going back to slouching in his seat.
"Alright class… remember to be friendly, he will defiantly be shy not knowing ya'll…" Mrs Robinson explained, the same warmth in her voice as she paced across the classroom to reach the door.
The entire class including Nick watched intently as Mrs Robinson placed a delicate hand on the brass doorknob, twisting it before pulling open the blue wooden door.
"Here you are honey, follow me." Mrs Robinson quietly spoke, bending down to be at the same level as the small boy.
The young boy nodded before following Mrs Robinson to the front of the class, bowing his head down to hide away from the prying eyes.
Nick watched as the brunette boy trudged along behind Mrs Robinson. He had wavy brown hair, and brown eyes from what he could see...
The boy wore a long sleeved red shirt that had an image of a car on it. He also wore light blue jeans and a pair of scruffy red sneakers, which squeaked slightly as the boy took each step. He was then completed with what seemed to be a Spider man backpack, which looked like it was meant for a ten year old rather than a seven year old…
"Alright, alright class…" Mrs Robinson spoke in a louder tone of voice, as the class seemed to have been muttering to themselves the moment the new boy stepped in.
"Miss, who is he?!" a boy shouted out soon after the class went quiet.
"Marcus!" Mrs Robinson snapped, making the disruptive boy jump.
After the class went completely silent, Mrs Robinson shuns a bright smile before looking down at the brunette boy.
"Okay, would you like to introduce yourself to your classmates now?" Mrs Robinson kindly asks the timid boy.
"O…Okay." The boy quivers before going silent again.
"Come on now, don't be shy." Mrs Robinson says, now looking up at the class of twenty who seemed to be intently staring at the new boy, putting him on the spot.
"Lu…Luke…" he stammers, now being brave enough to look up at all his new classmates who just stared back at him, expressions blank.
"My name's Luca!" a girl in pigtails shouts out happily from somewhere in the middle of the classroom, breaking the awkward silence.
Luke smiles in return but looks down at the floor straight after.
"Now, now Luca…" Mrs Robinson says, also nervous to how the class was reacting at the moment.
"You like Spider man? Batman is totally better!" another kid shouts, eyeing Luke's backpack with his icy blue eyes.
"I…I like Spider man though…" Luke stammers, raising his hands to his backpack straps to cling onto them as if someone was going to come up and rip it away from his grasp.
The blue-eyed boy squints towards Luke with a smug expression before looking away toward his friend.
"Okay, children… let's be kind. Now, Luke, where would you like to sit?" Mrs Robinson politely asks the timid Luke, making a gesture with her hand to point at the three available desks.
"I…I don't mind…" Luke replies nervously, taking a look at the available seats. One was in the front near the teacher's desk, another next to the window and the last near the door next to where a black-haired boy sat, who seemed to be watching Luke's every movement intently.
"Well…I'm sure Nick wouldn't mind some company, so go sit next to him, he won't bite!" Mrs Robinson explains cheerfully, now walking over to her desk, heels clicking against the wooden floor as she let Luke walk freely to his designated seat.
"Uh… miss?" Luke quietly stutters, still standing in the same position at the front of the class.
"Yes honey?" the teacher replies, adjusting her glasses on her face again.
"Who…Who's Mick?" Luke questions, slightly embarrassed.
The whole class laughs and bickers quietly.
"Oh, you mean Nick… Sorry bout that hun, he's the black haired boy in the back." Mrs Robinson explains, lifting her hand to point in Nick's direction.
Nick raises his hand in return, signalling to Luke who slowly walked over to the desk beside the black haired boy.
The rest of the class watched as Luke took each step, sneakers squeaking as he did so.
"Alright class, open your books… Nick, introduce yourself hun." Mrs Robinson called out to the class, gaining their full attention. Everyone besides Nick and Luke opened their books, eyes peeled away from the shy new boy.
After what felt like walking down the walk of shame, Luke reached his seat. He slung off his backpack, placing in on the floor and hopped onto his chair.
"I like your backpack…" Nick says, watching Luke's every move.
Once comfortable, Luke looked beside his desk to Nick who was only inches away from him.
"Thanks…" Luke muttered back, internally smiling knowing that somebody else seemed to have an interest for superheroes.
"Hey, can we be friends? I don't have many, no body likes me…" Nick says, suddenly sitting up in his seat, staring towards the brunette boy with desperate blue eyes.
It was sudden, but Luke knew he had to make friends soon… If Nick didn't have many friends himself then there will be less people to be introduced too…
"Yeah, sure… thanks." Luke replies, a small and appreciative smile forming on his face.
Nick smiled happily in return.
"Cool, thanks… uh, Luke." Nick replies now opening his book like the rest of the class did.
Not long after, Mrs Robinson came back with a green book in her hands. She practically skipped along the wooden floors to reach Luke's desk.
"Okay honey, I want you to write all about yourself in here…" Mrs Robinson explained opening up the green notebook to a fresh page. It looked as if it had been used before…
"Write about what you like, your favourite food… anything!" Mrs Robinson smiled before Luke nodded. She then skipped away back to her desk, leaving Luke with his first task of the day.
"So what are you going to write?" Nick asks after the teacher left, leaning over to peek at Luke's empty page.
"I… I can't… I don't have a pencil…" Luke replies sadly, looking down at his empty page in shame.
Nick smiled before reaching into his camouflage backpack.
"Here." He says, placing a standard pencil on Luke's desk.
It wasn't too sharp but it wasn't too blunt.
"I…I, thank you…" Luke replies, picking up the pencil gratefully.
"No problem, Lucas." Nick answers back, leaning over to zip up his backpack.
"It's Luke." Luke corrects shyly.
"Oh right… yeah, Luke." Nick embarrassing replies, half chuckling.
Luke chuckles slightly in return.
"So, you'll really be my friend?" Luke asks a few minutes after the end of their last conversation. Already Luke had jotted down some information about himself, thinking hard about every word he wrote.
"Yeah, sure… we can be best buds!" Nick replies, looking up from his book and back at Luke.
"Yeah, that will be cool!" Luke says, a big grin now on his face.
For the rest of the day, Nick and Luke hung out with each other, talking non-stop about superheroes and video games as they played on the climbing frames and swings, pretending to fly or pretending to be invisible.
Luke also made some other friends but other than that, the two were really best friends together, and over the years were inseparable.
They would go round each other's houses and play video games and occasionally fit the time to actually study and work…
Luke loved going over to Nick's house especially, as he became close with Nick's mom and his Uncle Pete.
Pete would always go on about fishing and hunting and how he wanted to teach both Luke and Nick about it, in which they both chuckled before running upstairs into Nick's room to play yet more video games.
Nick's mom was also an expert at cooking. She served more treats to both boys when Luke was around and prepared scrumptious suppers for when Luke slept round at their place.
To see the kid who had no friends, happy… It made Luke feel happy.
To see the shy new kid, happy… It made Nick feel happy.
This was a lasting friendship that was irreplaceable.
Luke wondered where he would be if his parents didn't move him to Nick's school.
Nick wondered where he would be if he did drop out of school, as only a few days before Luke showed up, Nick's mother arranged a meeting with another local school to get Nick transferred across…
This was the type of friendship that was meant to last…
A friendship that life promises to keep intact…
But there are promises that are meant to be broken…