It took until my feet hit gravel for Sam to perk back up into reality, "Eh? Where are you going?" He stumbled off the bench to catch up with me.
"Off to reconnect you with your Juliet." I replied without looking back at him.
"So you are going to help? You think I should reconnect with her?" He seemed overly excited to have my tacit approval.
I spun around on a heel to face him, "Look, this isn't exactly copacetic. How it got to be this point I have no idea, but you might as well see this through." Turning back around, I got into the car unable to hear his 'ALL RIGHT' before jogging to the other side of the car.
There wasn't much else to be said at that moment, I was exhausted trying to process all the new information so I just kept staring out the window. It was even hard to look at Sam, but he was oblivious to it with his same doofy smile. I think having my tacit approval makes it seem all right to him and right now, I lack the energy to speak out.
***
Beginning of High School Freshman year (4 years ago)
A blaring alarm clock was quickly silenced by a firm, albeit it off mark, slam of the hand. Four minutes of willing my body to move and I was awake for the first day of American high school. It was hard to decided if I should sport my tank top made of Aussie flag or just respond to everyone with the expected "g'day" to alert them that I am in fact an Aussie. Decisions, decisions. I hadn't been in the States for long enough to try and fake an accent, the best I could do was some sort of cockney Matthew McConaughey 'all right'.
I decided to go with a toned down outfit and try to blend in as much as possible, fly below the radar as much as possible. Shuffling downstairs as my mother called after me, I tried to mentally prepare myself for how many times I'd be asked if I personally knew Steve Irwin or if my dad was Crocodile Dundee. I rubbed my eyes as a pancake was presented to me along with milk. Breakfast was finished relatively quickly and the begrudging walk outside to the bus stop began.
5 minutes outside and the journey of American education began at last and unfortunately on this bus there was only one set left open. The glory of being the last stop, thankfully everyone was kind enough to save me a spot next to the biggest dork. I know American and Aussie culture is different, but a dork is a dork and something about the Dragonball Z t-shirt and almost bowl cut hair just gives off that vibe, I wasn't exactly the cool, surfer guy stereotype, but I had a certain image to maintain. Or so I thought.
"HI, I'm Sam." I could almost hear the chubby in his cheeks,
"Glenn." I begrudgingly responded, holding back the accent as best I could.
He held that doofy smile, the one I would eventually grow to admire. It seemed like Sam could somewhat sense I didn't like him and was determined to change that.
We didn't talk much for the rest of the ride to school. It was only 10 minutes so it wasn't the worst experience in my life, that was actually yet to come. So, we parted ways and headed to our respective lockers were I assumed we would never meet again until the bus ride home. I had discovered he would be in a different homeroom and that our schedules were just enough off that there would be virtually no overlap between classes. A few periods into the first day and I had made a few friends thanks to my status as the new foreign kid, it was hard to imagine being Australian as all that exotic but kids that grew up in suburbs are incredibly easy to impress apparently. Maybe life in America wouldn't be so hard after all.
And for the first few days it wasn't that hard at all. I was still primarily restrained to sitting next to Same on the bus, none of the friends I had made rode the bus, and I slowly began to tolerate him. He didn't seem like the best mates for life kind of kid, but he definitely seemed like the kind of kid you pressure into buying you booze with a fake ID just to see if he'd do it. Looking back, I do feel a bit bad for some of the messing with him I did when first there, but it's the pressure of being a new kid. It was never incredibly mean spirited, but it was what many would classify as douche-y.
We didn't talk much for the rest of the ride to school. It was only 10 minutes so it wasn't the worst experience in my life, that was actually yet to come. So, we parted ways and headed to our respective lockers were I assumed we would never meet again until the bus ride home. I had discovered he would be in a different homeroom and that our schedules were just enough off that there would be virtually no overlap between classes. A few periods into the first day and I had made a few friends thanks to my status as the new foreign kid, it was hard to imagine being Australian as all that exotic but kids that grew up in suburbs are incredibly easy to impress apparently. Maybe life in America wouldn't be so hard after all.
And for the first few days it wasn't that hard at all. I was still primarily restrained to sitting next to Same on the bus, none of the friends I had made rode the bus, and I slowly began to tolerate him. He didn't seem like the best mates for life kind of kid, but he definitely seemed like the kind of kid you pressure into buying you booze with a fake ID just to see if he'd do it. Looking back, I do feel a bit bad for some of the messing with him I did when first there, but it's the pressure of being a new kid. It was never incredibly mean spirited, but it was what many would classify as douche-y.
***
It sometimes seemed like Sam never really broke out of that nerdy shell of his. Glancing over at him driving the car, he still held that same smile. It was a bit toothy, like a Cheshire cat type of grin that never fully formed. Just so simple and innocent, much like Sam was. I shifted back to watching the road, trying to get my mind off the recent bombshells and get a more solid handle on the situation. He was an idiot, but it was really hard to imagine he was this stupid. My teeth clenched down harder and harder the more I tried to process through it.
Acting cool in front of him was easy, but acting cool to myself wasn't so much. Exploding in front of him wasn't exactly the best solution, he wasn't likely to comprehend the full extent of what was happening anyways. I sighed heavily, giving up on trying to keep everything pent up, I pulled out my phone.
Hey, what's up? I sent a quick text to Eliza.
......I guess it was a bit optimistic to expect an immediate reply.
What she was a bit terse, again it was optimistic to think otherwise given what had happened.
So something going on?
Nope
I mean between you and Sam
Nope
Want to talk about it?
Nope
Well this is stirring conversation
Nope
It was at this time I figured there wasn't much to be gained from going down that road. Another cigarette was placed between clenched teeth. The rush of the wind pushed some of the initial smoke back into my eyes stinging them a bit. Honestly though, getting air circulating was more than refreshing, arm hung out the window, seat leaned back. It was the closest I could get to relaxed. For a while, I didn't even have the energy to inhale and instead it hung listlessly against my bottom lip as I stared at the roof of the car.
"You all right? It's been a weirdly quiet morning for you." It was a bit of a surprise it took him over an hour to say anything.
"Guess I'm still trying to process things mate."
"Process what?"
"For fu-...what do you think?!" I snapped up, bewildered, ashing into my lap.
"Oh right, right, right. Breakfast?" I couldn't tell if he was changing the subject or trying to make me mad.
"Breakfast? ....Christ," I sighed running a hand through my hair, "Yeah, fuck, might as well. But no Denny's!"
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