Chapter 10
Monday
The weekend had gone by smoothly, Andy was liking the Hadisons. Molly and James really cared about him. The only negative thing so far was Tyler. Andy woke up around 7:30 in the morning and saw that someone had left out the school uniform he had to wear. It wasn't too bad, he guessed. I'm in 7th grade now. Can't be wearing pajamas anymore. He remembered in kindergarten when the kids were sometimes allowed to come in their pajamas. That was before everything, back when he was with his mother in that big apartment.
He held the uniform up to admire it. There were black pants with a blank white button up shirt and a forest green jacket top. After showering and changing, Andy looked at himself in the mirror and chuckled at how he looked like a character from Harry Potter. He studied himself, his hair, his eyes and he took a deep breath. It had been so long since he had been at an actual school. The few families he had been in over the years believed in homeschooling. The last time he had been to a school was in 2nd grade when he was with the Simpsons. No, stop, he told himself.
No more thinking about anything from the past. He tried to calm himself to stop the memories from flooding in. I have a chance to start over. Nobody knows me. I'm not going to screw it up this time.
This time the milk in his bowl of Captain Crunch sent a cold burning sensation down Andy's throat. Note to self, always brush your teeth after you eat. He and Tyler sat eating breakfast at the table as Molly chopped some carrots for their lunches. Andy turned his attention to the small tv playing in the corner playing Tiny Toons. Buster Bunny did something funny, he hit someone with a frying pan and Molly snickered at it. The cartoon was ending and Andy looked down at his breakfast. A commercial came on, music, familiar music, then…
"We're back and we're better than ever"
Andy's eyes darted back to the tv. There were two cartoon Good Guys talking and waving.
Impossible! Andy thought. They don't make Good Guys anymore. That's all over. Tyler turned his head from the tv to look at Andy. Then with a mouthful of cereal he laughed.
"Hey dipweed you like you've seen a ghost." Andy didn't take his eyes off of the screen. The animated stiff changed to a kid playing with a Good Guy doll. Making it stand up, hugging it. A soft adult voice spoke over the stiff.
"That's right kids, Good Guys are back on the market!" An animated good guy appeared next to the child on screen and gave him a thumbs up, then turned to the camera.
"We can say 3 different sentences."
Ade due Damballa?? Yeah I know. Andy shook his head. The boy in the commercial turned the doll's head so it looked out at all the kids in tv land.
"Hi, I'm Billy, wanna play?" Andy felt the doll on TV stare into his soul. Then it changed to some car ad. Tyler shrugged then said, "I always wanted one of those when I was a kid." Andy's lip quivered
"No. You don't"
Andy sat in the back of Arthur's car. The elderly black man was focused solely on the road. Andy looked out the window. He saw signs for towns he had never heard of. Gas stations and quick marts offering everything from lotto tickets to foot long hot dogs.
He pushed the hair off his forehead and exhaled through his mouth. Thankfully they didn't take the limousine as it would've been very embarrassing to step out of such an expensive vehicle on your first day. Andy looked out the car door window. He looked at the farm land dotted with cows chewing their crud and chickens waddling around in endless circles.
Andy lifted his eyes to look at the mountains deep in thought. I wonder how that last family I was with, the Pastooks are doing. They were definitely odd. They had four children of their own, wild children all with different mental disabilities. The oldest one, Johnathan, had an obsession with knives and would always show them to Andy. Like this knife!? What about this one!? Or this one?
He stayed there for three weeks. The breaking point came when Andy woke up one night and found Johnathan standing over him. Leaning with his face inches away from Andy's. "Sorry I didn't mean to wake you, I just like staring." He giggled.
Andy ran away the next day. He had to, just to get the orphanage to come get him. Mrs Malkum was not pleased. How could she be, she wouldn't even hear Andy's side of the story. A slap on his thigh ended Andy's thoughts as Tyler leaned over and whispered to him.
"We aren't friends or brothers here so don't go around telling people that. Got it?"
Andy did his best not to make eye contact.
"Okay" he said. Well at least no one will associate me with Tyler so that's something. Andy took a deep breath. Just relax, it's just school. What's the worst that could happen?