So my brother thinks this fanfiction is lame just because of the name. Well, we only have one follower and one favorite and no reviews, but still. Thank you to the one person who actually liked the story idea, and I can't even shout out to you because I practically shoved the idea down your throat yesterday in first hour. If you like this story please I beg you to review. :D Not desperate at all. Anyway,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
When I tied my shoe laces the day after the funeral I was very thoughtful. School today would mean facing people who have never been my friends, people I really don't want to see.I'm ashamed to admit I was thinking about skipping but my father would have a cow if he found out I did, so I begrudgingly climbed in the car, toting my twenty pound (no seriously I weighed it) backpack. Dug couldn't come with me to school. He'd stay around the house avoiding my step mom and waiting for the car to take me home from the prison most people call high school. I was very tired, I hadn't gotten much sleep after waking up earlier, and the dreams I had were... Incredibly disturbing. While I liked the idea of Carl getting to see Ellie again the creatures worried me and the spiders terrified me. Besides, it was frustrating how emotional I'd let myself become over a silly ream. I was just a few steps away from being an actual scientist, and while thanks to Kevin and Dug I believed more in the impossible than I ever had, I was still wary of controversial topics like the afterlife. I didn't know what to believe, and I certainly wasn't going to take my dream seriously until I had a few more facts. Still, the dream stuck in my mind.
When I reached the private school where I was forced to attend, a nice school that had a strict dress code that prohibited jeans and t-shirts unfortunately, I begrudgingly got out and followed the stream of high school students into the building. I wouldn't miss this when I graduated, though I had a feeling that college would be just as miserable, and just as unwilling to let me have Dug around. For most of the day things went by smoothly, I barely stayed awake during English, drew up plans for a small robot in citizenship, stumbled through Spanish, and then trudged to lunch.
Even on chilly days like today I sat outside. I liked sitting outside in the courtyard on a wooden bench. It reminded me somewhat of a park bench Carl and I used to go to, even though the courtyard was almost completely concrete except for the tiny sliver of grass that barely supported two trees struggling to grow. I'd named the trees Kevin and Dug after my two favorite animal friends, but since Carl's death I'd been considering changing the names to Carl and Ellie. I nodded at the decision and watched the wind blow off even more leaves. I knew winter would come and bring a chilling amount of snow, making it hard to enjoy my meal outside, but I'd still attempt it. I had no friends to sit with indoors, even if I did have friends at this school, which I didn't, knowing my like they probably wouldn't have my lunch. After that depressing revelation I decided to actually eat my sandwich, turkey and cheddar, bread slightly toasted, one of the servants that like me must have made it. I was half way through the sandwich when someone approached me on purpose for the first time in my high school existence. Even freakier, it was a girl.
"Hi!" She said brightly, beaming at me. I wasn't exactly in the mood for happy and bubbly, but I forced a polite smile and responded to her in my best happy voice.
"Hello." I couldn't force the same enthusiasm into my voice, but she seemed undeterred.
"I'm Kylie, you're in my science class." I struggled to recall her, then nodded.
"Robotics, right?" Robotics was my second elective after Spanish, and when she said she was in my science class at first I thought she meant my required science class, but no, this was a girl who actually cared about robotics, and not some girly elective like drama or chorus.
"Yeah, its really interesting isn't it?" She was so bubbly. How could she possibly have so much to be happy about? I frowned a little.
"Yeah it is." She must have noticed my frown because she frowned too."
"Are you okay Russel?" I was alarmed for a second that she knew my name, but once again recalled that she was in my class. Actually, she sat in the desk behind me. It was reasonable she'd know my name.
"Well..." I made the decision right then not to lie to my new found friend(?).
"No actually. I'm kind of upset. A close friend died just a few days ago."
"Oh!" Her mouth opened in the exact shape she'd just proclaimed, and her eyes grew wide like an owl's.
"Thats awful, that must be awful. Are you okay?" She sat down beside me looking concerned.
"Not really, he was like a father to me."
"Is your own father...?" She trailed off, leaving me to fill in.
"I live with him, but we have a hollow relationship. Until a seven years ago, when I met Carl, I didn't know what having a dad was supposed to feel like, I just saw it in other's lives."
"How old was Carl?" She asked gently, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Eighty five. I mean, I know people die I just... I just took it hard."
"If he was a father to you that's expected. But you don't have to go through this alone. You have friends."
"Are you my friend?"
"Yeah."
"Then I have one friend. And a dog."
"Then that's two friends." She said, trying to sound optimistic. She has no idea how much of a friend dug is, if she knew that he could talk she might be scared off, so I don't mention it yet.
"Great. I have two friends." I say sarcastically.
"You'll get through this. I'll help you." She promises. And I believe her.
And at the same time I don't. I don't know what to think. But at least I have another friend. I'll take what I can get. I just hope the dreams don't come back. Though she'd probably help me with those too.
Again, Happy Thanksgiving!
