One Boy, One Girl

I glared at the kid coming. Marshall stared to walk away. “Come on,” he said though his teeth. He was a good five feet away, I ran to catch up with him.
“Hey! You pussies get yo asses back here!” the kid yelled. We kept walking, as if he was just supposed to go away. I glanced back at him; he was still following us with something behind his back. We got stopped by a large group of people just standing in the hallway like sitting ducks.

Marshall turned around to se where the kids went. He was standing not to far away from us. When he chucks something at Marshall, it hit him in the ribs then fell to the ground, it was a chunk of ice. “Ow… asshole!” Marshall yelled. “Let’s get outta here,” Marshall mumbled pulling me though the crowd, pushing the people out of the way, we got a few dirty looks but that’s it.

Once we got out of the crowed we headed up some stairs. “Are you ok?” I asked him as we got to the stop of the stairs, the hall was empty.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said almost in a whisper. He lifted his shirt up looking at the spot he got hit, there was a red mark. The bell rings. He sighed and pulled his shirt back down. We walked a bit and stood in front of a classroom.

“Are you going to tell me who that was?” I questioned. He stared at me for a moment then looked into the classroom. The teacher was talking to the class, we were late.
“His name is DeAngelo Bailey,” Marshall said motioning me to go into the room. We walked in the room causing everyone to stare at us. The teacher stopped and sighed.
“Mr. Mathers, you’re late,” the said strictly. Marshall just stood there staring at him.
“He was helping me find my class,” I butted in.

Mr. Myers looked over at me and smiled. “Oh ok. You must be Lily Jones,” he said with a smile. I nodded. “Well take any empty seat,” he said showing me the room. There was some seats open by Marshall in the back so I walked over and sat next to him.

“So why does the bully you?” I asked turning to Marshall.
“I’m white, small, and retarded I guess,” he mumbled looking down at his papers.
“Does anybody care?” I asked quietly.
“Nope,” he sighed. I looked at him funny. “No one believes me,” he whispered.
“Well that’s dumb!” I whispered loudly, people stared at us.

“Shh you two,” he teacher scolded.
“Sorry Mr. Myers,” Marshall said. Myers went back to teaching by writing a bunch of math problems on the chalk board. I was right; we were ahead of them back home. I decided that I don’t really have to care.

I watched Marshall draw Spiderman on his paper. “That’s really good,” I whispered pointing to the drawing.
“Thanks,” Marshall whispered turning to me showing it off.
I was starting to get bored so I started looking around the room. They had that same old respect poster you see in every classroom in the US. Ha, respect. I don’t think this school knows the meaning of ‘respect’ idiots. The teacher continued to blab on about fractions, which I didn’t care about at all. I let out a sigh and stared at my closed math book.

“Bored?” Marshall whispered staring at me.
“Yeah. What’s with the mono tone?” I whispered. He shrugged and stared at his paper. “What you drawin now?” I asked.
“I don’t know. What should I draw?” he asked whispering.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged.
“You’re helpful,” Marshall laughed slightly.

He stared to draw something weird, I don’t know what it was, I just watched. I never saw a guy draw this good in person. He was really nice. I wondered why people were so mean to him. Maybe he was too nice. “Oh!” Myers said getting everyone’s attention. “We’re outta time,” he said. “Make sure you do page 48, questions 1-20, due tomorrow,” he said as he wrote it on the board. I scribbled down the assignment and got my things together.

Marshall and I walked out the classroom together. “So where’s your next class again?” Marshall asked stopping me from walking.
“Its Social Studies,” I sighed. “With Mrs. Cavern,” I mumbled. He looked at me like good luck. “What?” I asked confused.
“She’s really strict and a bitch,” Marshall explained.
“Great!” I sighed.

We walked a bit and stood by a stair railing. “Where’s your class at?” I asked.
“Not far from yours, it’s Study Hall,” he said. “I’ll show you where your class is,” he said we walked downstairs towards our classes.

“So uh do you have any siblings?” Marshall asked.
“Yeah. An older brother and a younger sister,” I explained.
“Fun. I’m an only child. This is probably a good thing. My mom can hardly raise me. I don’t know how she could raise another child,” he told me. I got to wonder why his mom could hardly raise him.
“Why what’s wrong with her?” I asked. Marshall looked at me like he was trying not to laugh.

“She’s never home; she’s always at bingo or with some guy. She says she’s trying to find me a dad. I think I’m better off without one. If my own dad doesn’t care, why should any other man?” Marshall explained as we walked up to my next class. “There it is,” he said pointing to the teacher. I laughed slightly.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile.
“No problem, see ya later,” Marshall said waving me off. I waved bye then walked into the class.

I didn’t know where to sit so I just stood there looking around like an idiot. “You can sit here,” a skinny black girl said pointing to the chair next to her.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile as I sat down next to her.
“I’m Ciara. What’s your name?” she asked.
“Lily,” I said smiling. The teacher walked in the room. Oh great, now its fun time I sighed.

~~~

I walked into the lunchroom after my third class, I have six. It is kinda larger than mine back home. The tables are red, chairs black. Most of the school is red, black and blue. Funny how that is, the gang colors in a school… not any school this school. Marshall wasn’t there yet, so I waited underneath the stairs. There was a platform you could sit on, I sat in the corner and waited for Marshall.

“Oh look its Marshall’s bodyguard,” DeAngelo said walking past me. I gave him a dirty look.
“Seriously?” I questioned. “You pathetic,” I said annoyed as he walked away to a lunch line. Marshall finally walked downstairs. He didn’t see me; I stood up and grabbed his shoulder.
“Hi,” I said. “Didn’t know where to sit,” I explained.
“Oh. Over there,” Marshall said pointing to a table with some other white boys sitting at it. The table was off in the corner next to the windows.

I walked over to the table with Marshall, he sat down, I just stood there.
“You gonna eat?” I asked confused.
“Yeah. When the line goes down,” Marshall said quietly.
“Ok,” I said while pulling a chair up next to him. It was silent for awhile.

“Who are you?” one of the boys across the table asked looking up from his food.
“Lily,” I said confused, this was a bit awkward, it was like he demanded to know who I was. The boy smiled, he looked a lot like Marshall, but he said he was an only child.
“I’m Ronnie,” he said reaching out for me to shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” I said putting on a smile.
“He’s my uncle,” Marshall explains. I gave him a funny look, how does that work, they look the same age. I never really heard of an uncle being the same age as his nephew. Weird.

“My mom had me late in life, we’re only a couple months apart,” Ronnie explained. I nodded my head.
“Yeah, and my mom had me when she was 17 so yeah,” Marshall added in. I nodded in understanding. “Oh, the line is shorter, lets go get food,” Marshall mumbled pointing to the line.
Marshall and I got up and stood in line… we ended up getting chicken nuggets, green beans and some rice and a milk. I stood behind Marshall in line waiting to pay.

“I’m on the free lunch list,” Marshall said quietly.
“What’s your name sonny,” the old lady asked, she looked like my grandma, glass, same curly white hair, and she shook a lot.
“Marshall Mathers,” Marshall mumbled. The lady looked up at him.
“Huh? Speak up boy,” he said.
“Marshall Mathers,” Marshall said louder and slower for her to hear him.
“Oh thank you,” the lady said. Marshall walked away annoyed. I paid for my food with cash then joined Marshall and the others at the table.

There were two blondes sitting at the table now. They were over weight and they looked like they were nerds who didn’t care about anything but being smart. I rolled my eyes as they stared at us. Yeah, quit your lookin you idiots. I hated when people stared at me for no reason.

~~~

I walked out of the building at the end of the day. I sat on a bench where Marshall told me to wait if I got out before him. He comes out within three minutes. “What took you so long?” I asked.
“I got screamed at for being late to my last class,” Marshall explained. I nodded. “Ready?” Marshall asked. I nodded. “We can take the bus or I can walk you home,” he said.

I thought about it for a moment, walking does sound nice. “It’s cold though,” I said. He looked at me and smiled.
“You can were my jacket,” Marshall said taking of his jacket and handing it to me. I just had my sweater, the snow was going away but it was still kinda chilly.
“Thanks,” I said putting it on. We walked down the side walk a bit.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Marshall shrugged. “We could go to my house I guess,” I suggested.
“Uhh sure?” Marshall said a bit unsure about it.
“Marsh, were are you going?” Ronnie yelled a few feet behind us.
“Lily’s!” Marshall yelled turning around looking back at Ronnie. “I’ll see you later!” Marshall added as we headed to my house.

~~~

We walked into the house. My dad was sitting in the living room trying to hook up the TV. “Hey, who is this?” my dad asked as he heard us come in. He was sitting on the floor reading a manual.
“Marshall, a friend I met,” I explained. “Can he stay for dinner?” I asked randomly. I glanced over at Marshall who shrugged.

“Sure, but what about your room?” my dad asked. “I want you and Nick to have it unpacked by this weekend,” he added in.
“I can help,” Marshall cut in.
“Ok. But leave that door open,” my dad said as we headed towards the front where my room was. I shook my head at his comment, parents.

“Interesting dad,” Marshall said.
“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. Marshall and I were fixing up my side of the room when Nick walked in.