The Little Things Give You Away

You’ve got to love the first day back at school, because no matter how much you dread it, it always ends up being better than you expect. Once I realized that I stopped not wanting to turn up for that first Monday. I get excited for it now. All of the clubs start up again. I get to see all of the people I didn't have chance to meet up with in the summer. The odd lonely days at the house disappear and I get to have a laugh at the expense of anyone I feel like picking on. At home it’s hard to do that.

I have a younger step-sister and apparently I used to bully her a lot when I was younger. She was a brat though, not that that makes it all okay. She only comes here for the odd weekend now though, so no more bullying (not that I would). She’s starting at high school today. Apparently I have to look out for her because she’s going to the same one as me. I have no idea if I’ll even end up seeing her there though...Shame.

I'm not an only child, but my sister rarely visits now. She went off to university a few years ago, but she then ended up dropping out. She didn't come back home though. She does on occasions, but not often. At home I don’t really have anyone to talk to or someone around my age to fight with , which is pretty annoying for me. I guess you could say that I love the sound of my own voice, but really it’s just that I like to talk. I have a lot to say. However, most of the things I want to talk about can’t really be discussed with my dad or mum, if you know what I mean. I sort of need a sibling there.

I can’t exactly talk to anyone at home, but my dad’s willing to give me a fight. Don’t worry; it’s not in some child beating kind of way or anything like that. My dad coaches most clubs at my school, some of those things being the boxing and wrestling team, so I get to practise a lot with him. Mum doesn’t approve...she hates violence, but what can you do? My dad and I have a passion for fighting and neither of us is willing to give it up, even for my mum.

So back to what I was saying before: the first day back. In case you haven’t worked this out yet; it’s today. For once I haven’t overslept, which is pretty odd seeing as during the whole holiday I’ve been so lazy that no one has seen me leave my room until at least mid-day, sometimes it can be quite a bit later though.

My dad has tried to get me running in the morning but the way I see it, I can run whenever, for example, I could do it before I go to bed, then come back and have a shower, then sleep. I like that plan better than getting up at five, running, then having to have a quick, most likely cold shower, before heading out to school. Unfortunately, my dad managed to force me out of bed today. It wasn't an easy job though. I came out of my room, kicking and screaming, but now I'm up and out, I’m glad he did it.

It isn't too early, well it is, but for some people this is normal. It’s six now; they’re not expecting me home until at least seven. When I get back they said I can have fifteen minutes in the shower; pretty reasonable, and then we’re going to have breakfast together. I find it weird but we always do that.

Running so early in the morning was kind of refreshing. The cold air against your skin and the fresh smells; it pretty amazing, isn't it? What can I say? I appreciate the simple things.

I was in the rougher part of the town now. The smells weren’t as nice and there were a few more people about over here, but no one dares bother me. I'm a big guy. I work out a hell of a lot; I mean my dad turned our spare room into a gym. I can’t get away from the place. No one messes with me.

A friend of mine lives around here. He’s only moved recently though. Before he was here he had a really nice house, not that the one he’s in now isn’t. I guess it’s just not what I'm used to.

His name’s Riley. We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember. We never went to the same school or anything, but we’ve somehow always been close and, well, we tell each other practically everything. That’s how I know that things have been hard for him lately. He hasn’t told me everything but there are some things that when you’ve known people for a long time, you can just tell.

I know that his parents got divorced a while back and he’s now he’s living with his mum here. They‘re short on money; that’s why the demotion in their house happened. I also know that he doesn’t want to be with his mum. I'm not sure why but I'm sure she’s done something more than just shouted at him a little too much.

The only bright side about this situation is that he’s moving to my school now. It’s not a good school, far from it, but I love it there and soon enough he will too.

As I passed by his house I noticed that my pace was slowing, probably from trying to link things together in my head as I think about him. He’s complicated, you know? But I love that about him.

I thought it was about time to start heading home now, so I left the street Riley now lived on and jogged up the hill back towards where I live. My place is no palace but it’s a great deal better off than down here. Shame really. I'm not sure what makes it a shame but it definitely is.

“I'm back!” I called up the stairs to get the attention of my parents.

As soon as I walked into the house I could smell food, which is always a good feeling when you get in from a run, well I think it is at least.

“How was it?” mum shouted back to me.

I followed her voice and found her in the kitchen. She doesn’t cook that much but when she does I think of it as a real treat. She is really good at it, unlike me, if I might add. I never really understood more than a microwave.

“It was good,” I told her. “I went by Riley’s new place again.”

“Did you see him?” she asked as she put some bacon into the oven. She knows that dad hates me eating that sort of stuff but because I’ll need a bit of a boost for the first day back, it should be okay.

“No, I thought about knocking, but, well, normal people would be in bed now, right?”

“I suppose,” she laughed lightly.

Dad then appeared in the doorway, smiling at us getting along. It isn't hard to be nice to someone once you know them properly; that’s what I found out.

“Can I have a word, Matt?” he asked quietly, letting me know that it was going to be something important.

I followed him out of the room, getting a feeling that he wanted to have this chat in private.

“You and Caron seem to be okay with each other now,” he started. Caron is my step mum. A while ago I hated her guts but now I understand her more and I know she doesn’t want to take my real mum’s place. Even though she will never replace her, I feel as if she does deserve some credit, she’s doing a great job.

“We are,” I smiled.

“Look, I heard you call her mum the other day,” his eyes locked with mine and he gave me a soft smile. “I'm just letting you know that if you don’t feel comfortable calling her that, then you don’t have to.”

I nodded at him, but I knew that I wanted to start calling Caron mum now. She clearly likes it when I do and I know that somewhere up there, my real mum is looking down on me, grateful that I'm actually allowing Caron into the house to be with dad and me.

“I’d best go get showered,” I told him.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “You better had.”

As he walked into the room with mum he held onto his nose. I don’t smell that bad! Trust me; I’d know if I did!

***

After our really over rated family meal, dad offered me a lift into school, seeing as he works there as the coach, but I turned him down, just as I usually do, knowing that it’s a lot more fun to get on the bus with everybody else. An advantage of the first day is being able to laugh at all the people moving up into the school, shaking as they wait nervously for the bus. I used to wind them up and make things even harder for them, but I grew out of that. Plus I know it’s kind of horrible to pick on kids that are like nearly five years younger than you, something like that anyway.

“Hey guys,” I smiled, walking over to Nate and Brad. I’d already seen them a fair bit during the holidays so we didn't have that much to catch up on.

“What’s up?” Nate asked me.

“Not a lot,” I sighed. I hate not having anything to say after questions like that; it makes me feel boring.

“Oh, is your dad going to start rugby straight away this year? I really don’t want to wait for tryouts as long as we had to last year,” Brad muttered. He’s not the only one who was annoyed by dad putting off the rugby tryouts, but I'm hoping he’ll do things differently this year.

“He hasn’t said anything to me but if he tries to leave it again I’ll have a word,” I promised them. There’s a chance that he’d listen to me. It’s a pretty slim one, but as long as it’s there I can have hope.

“Good,” Nate sighed. For him rugby is basically his life. You should have seen how lost he was without it for so long last year. It was worrying.

“Tell you what,” I said, “I’ll go and speak to him as soon as we get to school, how does that sound?” I asked.

“Cheers Matt,” Nate smiled. “I wouldn't be able to live without it. If I had to wait as long as last time...” he said before going off into thought.

I laughed at that, knowing that what he was saying was completely true.