Nobody's Boy

“So what is one’s homework from St Bernard’s school for privileged boys, then?” Sean asked, faking a posh accent. I laughed and smacked him lightly on the head,
“Well I have French to do, and then we can go out,” I had snuck Sean into my room and he sat patiently on the floor, legs crossed, waiting for me to do my work. He looked slightly intrigued by the whole idea of it, which surprised me because I’m sure he’d done homework before, “you look like you’ve never seen homework before ever in your life,”
“The concept is a bit weird to me- I mean you put in the hours only to get more work given to you to do on your time off!” He explained, a confused frown on his brow,
“Your looking at it too much like a job- school is different. I mean I choose to go and get an education; the works all part of it,” I said meaningfully, Sean looked as if he understood me slightly. That was until he coughed ‘geek’ under his breath and smiled innocently at me. I just threw my text book at him,
“If you’re going to be annoying, I might as well give up!” I chuckled, slapping Sean on the head again.
I slid the window open and wandered out, Sean following closely. Carefully we climbed down the balcony onto the patio below and started towards the fence. Only when we go to it did I notice just how high it was- at least six feet. Sean pushed me to the side and in one fluid motion hurled himself over the fence, landing gracefully on his feet.
“How am I supposed to get over? I’m not quite as ninja as you!” I whispered over the fence,
“You really think I’m ninja-like?”
“Not the time, Sean…”
“Ok, here’s what we’re going to do,” he jumped and mounted the fence, “I am going to pull you up to the top, here, and then you can jump down on you own free will, ok?” I nodded as he leant down and grabbed me by the arm as I attempted to scrabble up the side of the fence. Surprisingly, he managed to get me to the top and steady me.
“Wow we actually did-” I suddenly lost balance and flailed sideways, grabbing onto Sean’s t-shirt for support. Unfortunately, he lost his balance too and we toppled down landing in a heap the other side of the fence.
Somehow, I’d managed to use Sean as a cushion for my landing and I now lay on top of him. I peered down at him, noticing that his eyes were shut.
“Sean?” I asked, scrambling to my feet, kicking him in the side slightly, he didn’t move, “Sean, are you ok?” I kicked him again, softly, still no movement. It occurred to me that he might’ve broken his neck on impact, and I knelt beside him, panic rising in my chest,
“Sean answer me,” my hands hovered over his body, to afraid to touch him in case I did more damage, “Sean, please wake up,” I leant in close to his face, studying, checking for movement-
“BOO!” His eyes jerked open and his head moved forward a little, causing me to scream and fall backwards into a bush. I could hear him laughing uproariously, as I wriggled free of the twigs and leaves.
“You idiot!” I charged at him, pummelling his chest, “I thought you were dead! You moron, you stupid, stupid ignorant bastard!” Sean grabbed my hands to stop me hitting him and pulled me into a hug,
“I’m sorry; I just couldn’t resist,” he said into the top of my head, “Friends?”
“Fine,” I sighed, a small smile now playing on my lips, “if we have to be,”
“Good boy,” he smirked pulling out of the hug and ruffling my hair.
We started to walk down the road but after only a few paces, Sean began to laugh again, “Man, you should have seen your face!” I growled jokingly as he began to run, I set off after him,
“Come back here, so I can skin you alive, Sean!” I laughed.
We’d soon settled down on the beach, just talking and watching the sun set,
“Ok, I still don’t know your last name,” I stated, we had decided to find out more about each other after Sean founded the ‘no secrets’ policy,
“It’s Smith,” he smiled, “Middle name?”
“Mark. Age?”
“17. Favourite vegetable?”
“Potato. Birthday?”
“29 December,” he paused to think, then locked eyes with me, “girlfriend?”
“Never…uh…I mean…no,” I blushed a deep red and looked away from him. Sean chuckled slightly and leant back onto the wet sand,
“Good,” he sighed, I turned around quickly to face him,
“What…huh?” I garbled, Sean just pushed his finger to my lips,
“Shhh…no more questions- lets just…be,” he smiled and closed his eyes. I followed suit by lying back on the sand and watching the sky turn different colours. Darkness had begun to trickle through the orange sky, merging with the blues creating a purple stretch above the setting sun.
“Sean?” I asked, turning on my side to face him,
“Yeah, Gav?”
“No secrets, right?” Sean turned on his side, his head resting in the palm of his hand. He nodded at me,
“No secrets,”
“So what did Aled mean about you not being friends with me especially?”
“Nothing- he’s just weird.” Lie number one. I furrowed my eyebrows.
“You sure?”
“Yes,” lie number two, “I guess he just meant he’d never seen me with a friend as great as you before,” lie number three.
I’d always been able to tell when someone lied to me, I guess, with parents like mine, lies are told to me everyday. I just accept them.
I sighed and decided not to push the matter further. Instead I stood up and brushed myself down, “I’m going to go home now. I guess I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah,” he said half-heartedly, his vacant eyes staring out onto the horizon- I couldn’t help but feel my questions and his need to lie had upset him in some way. I shrugged off the feeling and walked back to my house.