Life Changing Experiences
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Again I’m sitting in detention. But I have detention for only three more days. Can’t wait to get out…
Well, about Garfield… I saw this secret file Tara had gotten her hands on. It just showed some basic information about him and provided a bit of background information. They insisted I take it and study it… I don’t know why. But I memorized what it said now.
Name: Garfield M. Logan
Age: 17 (same age as me)
Born: March 19th, 1990
Hair colour: dark blonde
Eye colour: green
Garfield is a boy from a mother and father in Africa. He has no siblings and he was adopted. Nobody knows anything about his real parents. He used to attend an unnamed high school in Africa. He had been the target for many people to pick on, both emotionally and physically. He has had a rough life but he has been able to take it. Not much is known about his foster parents in Africa, but they did care for him well enough for a normal child to live in successfully in comfort. He is now stationed at an apartment building in Jackson Square. (Jackson Square is like the slums of the city. Worst place to live…) He lives there alone and everything is paid for and provided by the school.
That’s all it said. And of course, it figures the school would place him in the most abysmal part of town to live in, too. Judging from the rather large piece of information the secret profile provided, it has been hard for me to decide if I want to mess with this guy at all. I mean, sure, he’d be easy and damn fun to mess with. But, something about yesterday just got to me some how. He sat on that desk and cried, and I didn’t miss it. Now I know a little about why he may be crying. He could be just missing his foster parents from Africa… or it could’ve been from being lonely.
I stopped thinking about reasons as to why he could’ve been crying as he entered the room, his head looking at the ground. He sat down in the same desk, probably not noticing me again. That jerk, Braxter, left again. I wonder where he goes… anyway, I should talk to this boy. I’ve been thinking about him far too much. I shouldn’t be one to think of a person so much times. But he was able to do something no one else can: make me feel sorry for another human being. From the information given by that file thing, it was heart breaking. And now he’s in this city all by himself. It’s just so sad. God, what’s wrong with me? I swear I’m turning into a softie. Regardless, I had to talk to him. I have to figure out some stuff. Normally I don’t take an interest to people, but damn it there was something about him.
“Garfield,” my monotone voice sounded. His head jerked up and turned to look at me, his eyes meeting mine for the first time. It’s true. His eyes were even more beautiful when tears didn’t ruin them. “For whatever reason you were crying yesterday, I’m sorry. I know I acted a little forward, but I only did want to try to help.” Did those words just come out of my mouth…? I didn’t even mean to say them. But I guess he does need to see a little human compassion from someone other than foster parents. He nodded his head in understanding. He turned around and I felt a little disappointed, but he turned around again.
“Your name was Rachel, right?” I nodded my head slightly. “Thank you, Rachel. You’re the first one to ever say something like that to me.” The first one…? What?
“What do you mean first one?”
“I don’t trust you enough to tell you that. But in my whole life, you are the nicest person who has ever talked to me. Even yesterday. I wanted to tell you that after you left, but that jerk had me stay a little longer.” That jerk? Great minds think alike, I suppose… “And I acted a little defensive yesterday, since you… well, you know… caught me crying.” He sounded embarrassed. Well, it wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about. But he did think he was alone, and I guess that was embarrassing. “So, thanks again.”
“You’re welcome,” my monotone voice sounded again. Those are two words I thought I’d never hear. I can’t tell him about the secret file. He doesn’t need to know about it anyway. I guess that would conclude our conversation today. There was nothing else I could think of to say, and I guess he couldn’t either. He turned around and put his head down again. I don’t think it’d be a good idea to do anything to Garfield. He seems nice and that file even said he had a rough life. I don’t think he deserves any shit like that. But convincing Tara’s going to be the hard part… but Kitty will agree.
I got out of detention 20 minutes later. Garfield was still in there. Poor boy. Now that I made my decision, hopefully I’ll be able to get him off my mind. As soon as I exited the school, I lit up a cigarette and started walking home. I heard Kitty’s voice again.
“So boring, Rae. Why are you always in detention?” she asked me.
“You two are never in detention, no matter what we do,” I stated as if I were saying the most obvious thing in the world.
“Why don’t you just skip it like you always used to?”
“And risk getting expelled? I can’t afford that.”
“But you haven’t told us why,” she whined. She was like a child sometimes…
“Because I just don’t want to get expelled, alright?”
“Why is it so bad if you get expelled?”
“Never mind. I have more important things to talk about,” I said.
“OH! Me too. Tara figured out what apartment Garfield goes to. So what we’re gunna do is raid his house when he’s at school.” Raiding his apartment? We’ve done this a few times. Never get anything good from it though. “And smash up the place. He’ll never know who did it, and he won’t say jack shit about it either. He’s too secluded,” she said. I could hear the evilness in her voice. It’s interesting how she jumped to that conclusion rather quickly.
“I don’t know,” I said with my usual monotone.
“Don’t know what, Rae-Rae?”
“Shut the hell up, KITTEN.” She hated being called Kitten, just like I hated being called ‘Rae-Rae’…
“YOU BITCH!” she screamed as she knocked my cigarette out of my mouth and stomped in it. She stuck her tongue out at me and I sighed.
“You owe me a smoke,” I stated dryly. She stopped walking for a second.
“How do you do that?” she squealed. I raised my eyebrow and stopped.
“Do what?”
“THAT! ‘You owe me a smoke,’ is what you say after I knock it out of your mouth!”
“I don’t follow.”
“Never mind.” We walked in silence for a few more minutes. I needed to convince Kitty before I convinced Tara, or else it’d never work. We have a pact where if one of us doesn’t want to do something, but the other two do, we will do it. We decided on that a few years back. The same goes the other way around. If I can convince her to not do it, then no matter what Tara says we won’t.
“Kitty,” I stated.
“Hmm?” she responded like she wasn’t all there.
“I don’t want to raid Garfield’s apartment.”
“WHAT? Why not?”
“Because I don’t think he deserves it.” She looked at me as if I grew a tail.
“W-what did you just say?” she asked. I could tell she was probably confused. And with good reason too. I’m not one to show compassion for others, usually. And none of us had ever backed out of a house raid before. They were daring and if we got caught, we could go to prison for a few years.
“He doesn’t deserve it. So let’s not do it.”
“He doesn’t deserve it?” she whispered, repeating me. “Rachel, since when do you decide what people deserve and what people don’t deserve? This Garfield is like… he’s like the golden plating. We can raid his house, and he wouldn’t do anything about it, given the information from that file. We can pick on him all we want at school, and he won’t say anything about it. He’s a GOLD MINE.”
“I don’t care if he’s ‘easy’. I don’t care if it will be fun. He is off my list for doing anything to. And I will refuse to do anything to him.” We both stopped, and glared at each other. She sighed.
“Fine, we won’t raid his house!” she yelled, and ran off towards her own house. I guess we’re not going to Tara’s house tonight. At least she agreed with me, so I don’t have to worry about Garfield. Good. Now I can have a full night’s sleep instead of thinking about what would happen if we actually did do something to him. Hm, on second thought I should go to Tara’s and explain what happened. She’s not going to like it, but at least Kitty agreed with me.
I walked up the wooden door and knocked loudly on it. I waited until it opened and came Tara’s face in view, looking as goofy as usual. “RAE!” she yelled and hugged me tight. I swear, every time I see this girl she gives me a hug. But I don’t stop it. It’s a little nice.
“Hey Tara,” I greeted. I walked in her house.
“Where’s Kitty?” she asked worriedly.
“She went home, because something upset her.” I looked at her face seriously as she turned around from closing the door.
“What upset her?” she asked. She motioned for me to follow her up to her room. Once we got in there, which posters of every guy she thinks hot covered the walls, and sat down on her bed, I finally answered her.
“I did,” I said quietly. She raised her eyebrow.
“How?” she asked.
“I told her I don’t think it would be a good idea to raid Garfield’s house. And now, well I guess I’m telling you that too. She got pissed at that, screamed at me, and then stormed off.” I know Tara won’t be happy about this, but she’s more mature than Kitty. She looked like she was thinking for a minute, and then nodded her consent.
“I’m not happy about it, but I think I understand… you LIKE him, don’t you?!” she screeched. Oh God… what was I thinking, more mature than Kitty? This is worse. I rubbed my forehead.
“No, I don’t like him,” I stated simply.
“Come on Rae! Everyone knows you won’t pick on a boy if you like them!” she walked over to her drawer and pulled out a pad. She threw it and it hit my knee. I looked down at it.
“What’s this?”
“It’s his address! I think you need it more than me. Because you got a boyfriend now! Ooooh, I’m so happy for you!” Damn it, she was worse than Kitty at times.
“I do not have a boyfriend and I don’t LIKE him, okay?!” I shouted, standing up.
“Whoa, Rachel. Calm down, I was just teasin’. How come you don’t want to raid his house if you don’t like him?” Uh-oh. This was bad. I can’t tell her about the crying.
“First of all, it’s not just raiding his house. I refuse to do anything to him, because I don’t think he deserves it,” I watched her expression. Nothing. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all. She shrugged.
“Okay, we all have our reasons. I won’t prod why you don’t want to do it. But I have a funny feeling about it. I didn’t really want to do it either,” she stated quietly. I nodded my head. Thank God that was other with. Nobody wants to go through with it, so we won’t. I guess it was easier to talk them out of it than I expected.
Again I’m sitting in detention. But I have detention for only three more days. Can’t wait to get out…
Well, about Garfield… I saw this secret file Tara had gotten her hands on. It just showed some basic information about him and provided a bit of background information. They insisted I take it and study it… I don’t know why. But I memorized what it said now.
Name: Garfield M. Logan
Age: 17 (same age as me)
Born: March 19th, 1990
Hair colour: dark blonde
Eye colour: green
Garfield is a boy from a mother and father in Africa. He has no siblings and he was adopted. Nobody knows anything about his real parents. He used to attend an unnamed high school in Africa. He had been the target for many people to pick on, both emotionally and physically. He has had a rough life but he has been able to take it. Not much is known about his foster parents in Africa, but they did care for him well enough for a normal child to live in successfully in comfort. He is now stationed at an apartment building in Jackson Square. (Jackson Square is like the slums of the city. Worst place to live…) He lives there alone and everything is paid for and provided by the school.
That’s all it said. And of course, it figures the school would place him in the most abysmal part of town to live in, too. Judging from the rather large piece of information the secret profile provided, it has been hard for me to decide if I want to mess with this guy at all. I mean, sure, he’d be easy and damn fun to mess with. But, something about yesterday just got to me some how. He sat on that desk and cried, and I didn’t miss it. Now I know a little about why he may be crying. He could be just missing his foster parents from Africa… or it could’ve been from being lonely.
I stopped thinking about reasons as to why he could’ve been crying as he entered the room, his head looking at the ground. He sat down in the same desk, probably not noticing me again. That jerk, Braxter, left again. I wonder where he goes… anyway, I should talk to this boy. I’ve been thinking about him far too much. I shouldn’t be one to think of a person so much times. But he was able to do something no one else can: make me feel sorry for another human being. From the information given by that file thing, it was heart breaking. And now he’s in this city all by himself. It’s just so sad. God, what’s wrong with me? I swear I’m turning into a softie. Regardless, I had to talk to him. I have to figure out some stuff. Normally I don’t take an interest to people, but damn it there was something about him.
“Garfield,” my monotone voice sounded. His head jerked up and turned to look at me, his eyes meeting mine for the first time. It’s true. His eyes were even more beautiful when tears didn’t ruin them. “For whatever reason you were crying yesterday, I’m sorry. I know I acted a little forward, but I only did want to try to help.” Did those words just come out of my mouth…? I didn’t even mean to say them. But I guess he does need to see a little human compassion from someone other than foster parents. He nodded his head in understanding. He turned around and I felt a little disappointed, but he turned around again.
“Your name was Rachel, right?” I nodded my head slightly. “Thank you, Rachel. You’re the first one to ever say something like that to me.” The first one…? What?
“What do you mean first one?”
“I don’t trust you enough to tell you that. But in my whole life, you are the nicest person who has ever talked to me. Even yesterday. I wanted to tell you that after you left, but that jerk had me stay a little longer.” That jerk? Great minds think alike, I suppose… “And I acted a little defensive yesterday, since you… well, you know… caught me crying.” He sounded embarrassed. Well, it wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about. But he did think he was alone, and I guess that was embarrassing. “So, thanks again.”
“You’re welcome,” my monotone voice sounded again. Those are two words I thought I’d never hear. I can’t tell him about the secret file. He doesn’t need to know about it anyway. I guess that would conclude our conversation today. There was nothing else I could think of to say, and I guess he couldn’t either. He turned around and put his head down again. I don’t think it’d be a good idea to do anything to Garfield. He seems nice and that file even said he had a rough life. I don’t think he deserves any shit like that. But convincing Tara’s going to be the hard part… but Kitty will agree.
I got out of detention 20 minutes later. Garfield was still in there. Poor boy. Now that I made my decision, hopefully I’ll be able to get him off my mind. As soon as I exited the school, I lit up a cigarette and started walking home. I heard Kitty’s voice again.
“So boring, Rae. Why are you always in detention?” she asked me.
“You two are never in detention, no matter what we do,” I stated as if I were saying the most obvious thing in the world.
“Why don’t you just skip it like you always used to?”
“And risk getting expelled? I can’t afford that.”
“But you haven’t told us why,” she whined. She was like a child sometimes…
“Because I just don’t want to get expelled, alright?”
“Why is it so bad if you get expelled?”
“Never mind. I have more important things to talk about,” I said.
“OH! Me too. Tara figured out what apartment Garfield goes to. So what we’re gunna do is raid his house when he’s at school.” Raiding his apartment? We’ve done this a few times. Never get anything good from it though. “And smash up the place. He’ll never know who did it, and he won’t say jack shit about it either. He’s too secluded,” she said. I could hear the evilness in her voice. It’s interesting how she jumped to that conclusion rather quickly.
“I don’t know,” I said with my usual monotone.
“Don’t know what, Rae-Rae?”
“Shut the hell up, KITTEN.” She hated being called Kitten, just like I hated being called ‘Rae-Rae’…
“YOU BITCH!” she screamed as she knocked my cigarette out of my mouth and stomped in it. She stuck her tongue out at me and I sighed.
“You owe me a smoke,” I stated dryly. She stopped walking for a second.
“How do you do that?” she squealed. I raised my eyebrow and stopped.
“Do what?”
“THAT! ‘You owe me a smoke,’ is what you say after I knock it out of your mouth!”
“I don’t follow.”
“Never mind.” We walked in silence for a few more minutes. I needed to convince Kitty before I convinced Tara, or else it’d never work. We have a pact where if one of us doesn’t want to do something, but the other two do, we will do it. We decided on that a few years back. The same goes the other way around. If I can convince her to not do it, then no matter what Tara says we won’t.
“Kitty,” I stated.
“Hmm?” she responded like she wasn’t all there.
“I don’t want to raid Garfield’s apartment.”
“WHAT? Why not?”
“Because I don’t think he deserves it.” She looked at me as if I grew a tail.
“W-what did you just say?” she asked. I could tell she was probably confused. And with good reason too. I’m not one to show compassion for others, usually. And none of us had ever backed out of a house raid before. They were daring and if we got caught, we could go to prison for a few years.
“He doesn’t deserve it. So let’s not do it.”
“He doesn’t deserve it?” she whispered, repeating me. “Rachel, since when do you decide what people deserve and what people don’t deserve? This Garfield is like… he’s like the golden plating. We can raid his house, and he wouldn’t do anything about it, given the information from that file. We can pick on him all we want at school, and he won’t say anything about it. He’s a GOLD MINE.”
“I don’t care if he’s ‘easy’. I don’t care if it will be fun. He is off my list for doing anything to. And I will refuse to do anything to him.” We both stopped, and glared at each other. She sighed.
“Fine, we won’t raid his house!” she yelled, and ran off towards her own house. I guess we’re not going to Tara’s house tonight. At least she agreed with me, so I don’t have to worry about Garfield. Good. Now I can have a full night’s sleep instead of thinking about what would happen if we actually did do something to him. Hm, on second thought I should go to Tara’s and explain what happened. She’s not going to like it, but at least Kitty agreed with me.
I walked up the wooden door and knocked loudly on it. I waited until it opened and came Tara’s face in view, looking as goofy as usual. “RAE!” she yelled and hugged me tight. I swear, every time I see this girl she gives me a hug. But I don’t stop it. It’s a little nice.
“Hey Tara,” I greeted. I walked in her house.
“Where’s Kitty?” she asked worriedly.
“She went home, because something upset her.” I looked at her face seriously as she turned around from closing the door.
“What upset her?” she asked. She motioned for me to follow her up to her room. Once we got in there, which posters of every guy she thinks hot covered the walls, and sat down on her bed, I finally answered her.
“I did,” I said quietly. She raised her eyebrow.
“How?” she asked.
“I told her I don’t think it would be a good idea to raid Garfield’s house. And now, well I guess I’m telling you that too. She got pissed at that, screamed at me, and then stormed off.” I know Tara won’t be happy about this, but she’s more mature than Kitty. She looked like she was thinking for a minute, and then nodded her consent.
“I’m not happy about it, but I think I understand… you LIKE him, don’t you?!” she screeched. Oh God… what was I thinking, more mature than Kitty? This is worse. I rubbed my forehead.
“No, I don’t like him,” I stated simply.
“Come on Rae! Everyone knows you won’t pick on a boy if you like them!” she walked over to her drawer and pulled out a pad. She threw it and it hit my knee. I looked down at it.
“What’s this?”
“It’s his address! I think you need it more than me. Because you got a boyfriend now! Ooooh, I’m so happy for you!” Damn it, she was worse than Kitty at times.
“I do not have a boyfriend and I don’t LIKE him, okay?!” I shouted, standing up.
“Whoa, Rachel. Calm down, I was just teasin’. How come you don’t want to raid his house if you don’t like him?” Uh-oh. This was bad. I can’t tell her about the crying.
“First of all, it’s not just raiding his house. I refuse to do anything to him, because I don’t think he deserves it,” I watched her expression. Nothing. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all. She shrugged.
“Okay, we all have our reasons. I won’t prod why you don’t want to do it. But I have a funny feeling about it. I didn’t really want to do it either,” she stated quietly. I nodded my head. Thank God that was other with. Nobody wants to go through with it, so we won’t. I guess it was easier to talk them out of it than I expected.