As we arrived at my house my dog, Frankie came running over with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I knelt down to patted his back and kissed his head. “I’ll play with you later,” I whispered into his ear. I patted his soft, tan fur once more then rushed after my friends who were probably helping themselves to the fridge.

When I walked through the door, I heard Chase laughing with Zeke and saw Charlie standing with confusion on his face., while Nico was running around in the background.


“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Ha ha it’s nothing,” Chase said with chocolate syrup on his huge grin,

The day went on and soon enough my mom left with Brian. As he walked out the door he gave me a cold hard stare. I glared back. What does my mom see in him, he’s a jerk. The only person my mom could be with is Dad.

Zeke soon had to go home because of “family” things. More like his mom having a heart attack about shoes being left an inch from where they belonged. Charlie said something about an unexpected cat appointment and rushed out the door. Nico left too, but because he needed to go somewhere, probably a candy store. Nico his candy, or his meds, but he preferred candy. Chase stayed with me and we joked around playing video games like old times.

“You know man,” he said with a interesting sparkle hidden beneath the splashes of blue within his eyes. “I really miss having our quality time. I know that sounds a bit silly, but I really do.”

“No,” I said my eyes focused back to the video game we were playing. “I know exactly how you feel. And I mean, it’s not the same as it was a few years ago, and I’m not just talking about girls. Even though they’re totally not interesting in me anymore,” I said as I paused the game and faced him.

“Sure they are, just intimidated.”

“Huh?” I couldn’t help it, I cocked my head to the side, imitating Frankie.

“No offence, but just look at you. You’re usually wearing dark clothes and..”

“And what?” I interrupted. “They don’t need to judge me. That’s beyond wrong. People are always judging, it’s not fair.”

“I know. I know,” he said looking down. I guess he was right though, people were always going to judge you anyway.


“Charlie for an example. People are all around him. People love him,” I let my voice trail.

“That’s because he wants them there.” He put his controller down and looked at me dead serious.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. Should I just shut up for the rest of my life?” my voice rising.

“No, don’t do that, Noah, I love you,” he said smiling. Chase told me he better get going, around 10 p.m. so I let him. We said bye and told him that I’ll talk to him some other time.


I wondered my house bored. It was a Sunday and I was bored beyond sanity. I called Frankie over and played with him for a while, but he too soon grew tired of me. The horizon ate the sun and spat out the moon within hours. I laid down for quite a while thinking. ‘Would my life, be better if Dad were still here?’ ‘What if Aaron and Tim came back home to live with us. I feel left out, being the baby of the family, no one to teach to grow old.’