Kendall is eating lunch alone. He nearly always eats lunch alone. He's the richest kid in the school, and that is sometimes enough to attract attention, but it's only ever a matter of time before people realise how weird Kendall is, with his embarrassing stutter and inability to look people in the eye. Then they either ignore or hurl abuse at him.
His father hates this aspect of him, Kendall knows. Despite being his heir, the one who will take over the company eventually (his father has promised him that), he's not the son his father wants. Roman may not yet be able to read or write, but both he and Shiv have a God-given ability to make friends. Kendall can do complicated math in his head and has probably read more books than anyone else his age, but he lacks that fundamental skill. His only real friends — and they would tease him mercilessly for thinking this — are his younger siblings. And Connor, but he doesn't really count.
A shadow falls across Kendall on the schoolyard and he looks up from his lunchbox. It's the new boy who started today. He had been forced to stand up and introduce himself to the class this morning, but Kendall can't remember his name.
"Hi," says the boy easily. "You're Kendall Roy." It's a statement, not a question.
"Uh — yeah. Yes."
"You're Logan Roy's son." The boy sits down beside him. "Are you racist, too?"
"Wh-what?" Kendall notices in his panic that the boy's eyes and hair are different to most of the boys here. "No!"
"Good," says the boy cheerfully. "My father says your father is everything wrong with America."
No one has ever spoken about Kendall's father like this in front of him before. He instinctively looks around as if expecting to see Logan there.
"Uh huh," is all he manages to say.
"I'm Sadegh," says the boy. "It's okay," he adds, seeing the look on Kendall's face. "My friends call me Stewy."
Friends… No one has ever called Kendall their friend before.
"Uh," he says again. "My friends call me Ken." This isn't true, only his siblings really call him that. His father does too sometimes, but probably only to annoy his mother, who never calls him anything but Kendall.
"Your lunchbox is cool," says Stewy, looking at the He-Man design.
"He's the best superhero," says Kendall, relieved to have something to talk about.
"What about Superman?"
"He's stronger than Superman," says Kendall, warming to the topic. "Faster, too. He's the most powerful man in the universe."
He and Stewy keep talking enthusiastically about superheroes until Kendall's stutter has almost disappeared. "What would your superpower be?" Stewy asks.
"Invisibility," Kendall says immediately. The idea of being able to disappear and walk around without anyone noticing him is so freeing.
"I'd rather be able to fly," says Stewy. "Or have super strength."
"Yeah, that would be cool too."
By the end of the day Kendall and Stewy have made plans for Stewy to come to Kendall's house at the weekend to play in his treehouse. Kendall goes home with a rare sense of happiness thinking I have a friend, I have a friend.