Chapter 3 – Mysterious Happenstance

I awoke the next morning to violent shaking. I heard someone saying something, but in my near-comatose state, I couldn’t make them out. Still I shook, almost desperately so as reality started to creep back into my brain.

“Theodore! Wake up!” Aaron whined, his voice finally cutting through the din. “M-Mom’s missing! She’s not here!” Shit. I knew I forgot to tell him something last night. I rolled over and stared at him through sleepy eyes and I saw a huge worry on his face. “I-I looked e-everywhere! A-And she forgot her phone!”

I sat up and struggled to pull him onto my bed. As soon as he realized what I wanted, he leapt into my arms and started to cry. “Aaron… it’s okay. Shh… I know where she is, sorta.”

“Y-You do?” he asked. He leaned back and looked confused. “H-How?”

“She told me last night what she was doing. I meant to tell you when I got the bin of stuff up here to this floor, but I got tired and forgot. I’m sorry, Aaron. I didn’t mean to make you worry like that.”

He wiped his eyes. “A-As long as she’s okay, it’s okay.” He sat Indian-style across from me, our knees touching occasionally. “Where is she?”

“She had to take care of the will thing with the lawyers. Since the snow hit, she and they wanted to make sure the courts saw us living here to make it official that this is our house now. The snow might slow them down, she said. She also mentioned today is the deadline, so hence the extra worry.”

“I guess that makes sense,” he reasoned. I heard Aaron’s tummy growl, making us both laugh. “I’m hungry, Theo. Can you make breakfast?”

“I can certainly try, can’t I?” I said. “C’mon, you can help me.”

“Really?” he asked excitedly. “Mom never lets me help her. She thinks I’m still too young to learn how to cook and not burn myself.”

“I won’t tell her, promise,” I winked at him. He giggled. “At least as long as you really don’t hurt yourself.”

“Okay.” The two of us padded down the steps and veered our way into the kitchen. I asked Aaron what he wanted for breakfast and he wanted some scrambled eggs and maybe some pancakes if I could do it. Luckily, I learned in Home Ec just before winter break how to make pancakes. It wasn’t hard if there was some pancake mix around. I had to enlist Aaron’s help in scouring the cupboards for said box. I paused to go into the fridge and pulled some eggs out. He found the box and handed it to me. I scanned the directions and grabbed a couple more eggs needed along with everything else.

The two of us had a great time making breakfast, laughing and joking around. Like we did before we had to move. Aaron was a big help in all honesty – I don’t understand why Mom doesn’t let him help. I mean, he’s only a year younger than I am. I let him stir the pancake batter once I got it all thrown together, telling him what I was doing as I did it. I even pointed out the recipe directions, telling him what each abbreviation meant like “tsp.” for teaspoon just in case he wasn’t sure what they meant. He even ladled the pancakes onto the skillet we found and got going. I made sure to sternly warn him to be extra careful around it and told him the surface temperature of it was like four hundred degrees. His enthusiasm died a bit but he still did it. The first few pancakes he got a bit too eager to flip, but I told him what I was told – wait for a good amount of air bubbles to form on the top and then flip them. And then use that same length of time as his guide to check the second side.

“That was really fun Theo,” Aaron said as we ate the eggs and some of the pancakes – a few of them were either too gooey or too burnt to eat. But there was enough. “You did a good job.”

“We little bro... we did a good job. Together.” His eyes sparkled some more at the compliment. “That’d have been tough to manage all by myself. I’m really proud that you did the pancakes all on your own.” I leaned over and ruffled his hair like Chris does to the two of us. He giggled.

“Thanks Theo.” We ate a bit in silence, only the sounds of our forks hitting the plates disturbing the silence. I dabbed my last bite of pancake into some syrup and polished them off. I saw a questioning look on my brother’s face. Before I could ask what was on his mind, he shared. “Why do we all get along so well? I mean you, me, and Chris? Some of our others friends had brothers or sisters and they always screamed at one another or purposefully picked on each other. I just… don’t get it.”

“What?” I laughed. “You’d rather me yell at you all the time to get out of my way or to go bother someone else?”

“No,” he laughed as well. “I’d hate you if you did that an awful lot. No, what I meant was how are we so different from the others?”

“I think it just has something to do with how we’re brought up. And how they were. Before… before Dad decided to just… run away from us, I think both him and Mom really loved us. I know Mom still does. And even when they divorced, there wasn’t too much friction between them. I mean, remember when Roger’s parents were splitting up?”

“Mm-hmm,” Aaron nodded.

“Well, he told me once that all they ever did was fight. Before they split. While they split. And even after they split. It just didn’t end for him so he and his brother and sister seemed to take their problems out on each other. I don’t really think any of us yell at each other too often. Granted, I know there are days where you had a bad day and I say something that just sets you off. Or… like when we both were mad and we just kept creating that friction… almost on purpose before…” I couldn’t help but chuckle at it now. “Before you decked my wall.”

Aaron laughed too. “That really hurt my hand. I think I scraped the edge of my fist along a stud or something.” He pointed his fork at me and almost dripped syrup onto the table. He quickly took his bite and looked at me again when he swallowed it. “I really don’t suggest you ever punch a wall. Ever.”

Again I laughed.

The two of us cleaned up our areas on the table and rinsed our plates in the sink. Aaron said he was going to run up and get cleaned up for the day. I nodded as he scampered off. I decided to head to the living room to see if we had cable or not. I had to keep Mom honest – I really think she was trying to convince me that we’d have to get satellite or something just so I wouldn’t watch TV for a few days or something. I walked into the slightly furnished room, each piece covered in a drop cloth of sorts. I pulled back the one on the longer sofa and took it to where I thought was the laundry room. I actually guessed right and tossed the sheet into the corner for now – no sense in washing it if Mom ends up just throwing it away. I walked back to the living room and just stared at the room, soaking in its image.

It looked big – a lot bigger than our old one – and my eyes drifted to the fireplace. Flanking it on either side were two recessed bookshelves painted white to contrast with the greenish hue the rest of the walls had. I ran my eyes over the fancy-looking sofa I uncovered as it faced where Mom had put the TV. The deep brownish color of the leather seemed both soft and tough at the same time. I decided to test out its apparent comfort level. I sank into the cushion as it molded to my body. It felt really good. I even sighed as I placed my hands on my belly for a moment. Before I accidentally fell asleep, I reopened my eyes and stood up. Heading over to the TV, I grabbed the remotes Mom had pulled out and turned the device on.

Snow. Of the TV kind.

I sulked a bit but remembered that maybe she didn’t connect the cable to the TV, just to throw me off enough – I normally don’t think to check things like that. I checked out the back of it and indeed, the cable lay dangling on the edge of the table. I put the cord to the TV and attached it. Soon, the snow faded into an actual program and I cheered. At least Aaron and I will have something to be bored over when we find nothing on to watch – it was a weekday after all. I started back towards the sofa.

Suddenly, I tripped over myself and fell face-first on the floor.

“Ow…” I complained once I had some air back in my lungs. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to catch myself. My head stung a bit on the right side since I did manage to turn my head so as to not break my nose. My ear rang as I opened my eyes to try to get back up. Stupid feet – why can’t my body adjust all at the same rate so I don’t make a fool out of myself? Luckily, no one was here to watch me humiliate myself. As I admonished puberty, I couldn’t help but focus my eyes on something.

A few rays of light streaked the floor.

It wasn’t that odd to see sunlight do that, but… where was the light coming from? The only windows in the room didn’t have the right angle to cast the light there and I knew it wasn’t artificial light. Curiously, I glanced around the room, looking to see if the light was reflecting off something. The only thing I could see that could reflect light was the TV – everything else was still covered in cloth. I stepped over towards the light, careful of my growing feet. I studied the angle it struck the floor and part of the wall it was on. It wasn’t that wide a strip of light – about a half inch at best, hitting the baseboards. Again, I looked around to see where it could–

There.

My eyes narrowed towards the floor in front of the bookshelf on the left of the fireplace. A few particles of dust floated in the air and fell into where the light was coming from. The dust I stirred into the air when I took the drop cloth off the sofa. I approached the bookshelf slowly, comparing it to the other one. Both seemed to have a symmetrical layout with at least the same color bindings on the books that populated each. I stood in front of it and sure enough, two ankle wide shadows blocked some light. I turned and my gaze fell back to the shelf on the right. Something felt off about that bookshelf – the one that wasn’t letting light in.

I stepped closer to it and looked at each item on the shelves. My eyes floated over aged and weathered texts, a few candle holders, some old, yet familiar picture frames… nothing really special. I ruled out the pictures immediately – they held most, if not all, of our families’ pictures. Me with Chris when he was thirteen and I three, him holding me in his arms. Me and Aaron after we won our first basketball game when I was seven and he six. Even a couple with all five of us, just before Mom and Dad divorced. I was seven in those pictures. Chris looked absolutely bored but I could tell that, with his hands on either of our shoulders, he loved both me and Aaron. Something I just saw in the one picture – I noticed that we three boys stood a bit off from Mom and Dad, almost like Chris herded us there on purpose. It wasn’t so much that the photographer – whoever it was – would notice, but it was there. I wonder… why Chris would do that. I took a glance at his eyes and, while he looked bored, his eyes focused on our parents. Then I saw something else.

I gently pushed the picture to the side a bit and looked behind it. There was a small protrusion jutting out, almost imperceptibly. I reached out and touched it. I felt a bit of give so I pressed harder. I heard a click. Coming from my left. Slowly, a creaking sound came from there too before a soft thud echoed dully into the room. I backed up slowly and looked over.

The bookshelf was gone.

As I peered at the hole now apparent in the wall, I felt a sharp, cold draft pour through into the living room. Sure enough, there was a small window staring back at me, the one that alerted me to this secret. Ignoring the cold for a moment, I gazed into the opening and saw a set of old stairs heading down into the unknown. I shivered mostly from the cold, but a little bit of morbid curiosity struck along with it. Then I heard footsteps on the stairs.

Aaron.

I didn’t want him to see this yet for some reason, so I darted over towards the hidden switch and pushed it again. Once again, the bookshelf groaned as, this time, I watched it roll back into place. I went over to the sofa and sat down. Just as Aaron turned into the room and saw me, I heard a soft click come from the shelf. Aaron came over and sat next to me. He shivered, causing a few droplets of water to fall from his still overly damp head of hair.

“Man… it’s cold in here all of a sudden.” He looked at me. “Aren’t you cold?”

I turned to him and shivered a bit. “Yeah a bit, but it’s not that bad. You’re just out of the shower – you’re bound to be feeling it a bit more than I would.”

“I guess,” he shrugged. “What’re watching?”

I turned to the TV and saw one of the many courtroom shows on. Thinking quickly, I just laughed a bit. “Oh hell, I don’t know… I kinda just stopped here for a moment because earlier there was some really slutty looking girl trying to argue that her ex-boyfriend cheated her out of five hundred dollars that he promised her for ‘rent’.” I actually air-quoted parts of what I said. Aaron laughed.

“Right,” he drew out. “‘Rent’… gotcha.”

“I know, right?!” I laughed. “But anyway, I kinda spaced out during commercials and just left it here. This one’s… not so funny. Here, you find something to watch. I think I’m going to take a shower myself.” I stood up. “Any pitfalls I should know about?”

Aaron blushed. “Just… be careful with the hot water tap. Especially while you’re in the shower and try to adjust it. That’s all I’ll say.”

“Burned something you didn’t want to, eh?” I laughed.

“Sh…Shut up!” he laughed embarrassedly. “Just… go already.”

“Alright, I’m going. Don’t play with anything sharp ‘til I’m done, alright?” Innocent little Aaron actually flipped me off, not even looking at me. As soon as he lowered his hand, his face was even redder.

Two weeks later…

Aaron and I fidgeted in the back seat of Mom’s new car. “You nervous too?” he asked me in a hushed whisper.

I nodded. “Yeah… I don’t do well in situations like this. I’m not like Chris.” I lowered my voice more and leaned closer to Aaron’s ear. “Remember… not a word to anyone about me… please? It could really hurt me if the wrong people found out.” I sat back up and saw an almost wounded expression on his face.

“Theo… I’d never say anything about you to anyone! Especially not–”

I covered his mouth and leaned close again, eyeing Mom via her rearview mirror. She seemed distracted enough by the somewhat snowy roads. “Geez, Aaron! Not so loud!” I took my hand off his mouth. “Now, even if a rumor gets started about me somehow… I need you to deny it if asked. Tell anyone that asks you that I’m straight and just not looking for a girlfriend right now. For now, you can even use that I’m still adjusting to the area first and, once it’s past that time, that I wanna focus on school work. Okay?” I really wished I had taken the time to talk to him before Mom got back from the grocery store yesterday about this. Now I risked exposing myself to Mom and… I wasn’t ready to face that bull.

Aaron nodded meekly, his eyes almost filled with tears. “I-I’m sorry Theo…” he whispered sadly. “S-Sometimes, I d-don’t realize I’m that loud.”

I playfully pushed him. “It’s okay bud. No harm done.”

He looked out the window. “This time…” he pouted.

“Hey,” I whispered again, getting his attention. “I know I’m kinda asking a lot for you to lie for me. I want you to know that, if somehow you slip up and you at least tell me you accidentally did… it’ll be okay. I promise. This is my secret, so it’s fully my deal.”

His face stoned up. “I’ll make sure not to mess up. For you, Theo. You’ll see.”

“Alright. Oh, and not even to Chris, okay? I… I wanna tell him myself when I’m ready.”

“’Kay,” my brother nodded.

“Alright, we’re here.” Mom parked her new SUV alongside the curb. I got out and Aaron followed me – my door was curbside. Mom got out and placed a hand on each of our backs. No one spoke as we walked into the building and headed immediately into the office.

“Ah, you must be Mrs. Wentz,” one of the secretaries said with a warm smile.

“Actually,” she said with a wan smile. “It’s Ms. Kester now. Sorry, I forgot to mention I reverted back to my maiden name.”

The smile never changed on the secretary. “Oh, that’s not a problem, Ms. Kester. We’ll note that on our files. Are the boys’ last names the same as yours now or…?” She left the question open.

“Nope, theirs is still Wentz.” The secretary nodded.

“Just wanted to make sure we have all our ducks in a row,” she laughed lightly. Her gaze fell to me. “You must be young Theodore.”

“Theo, ma’am,” I said politely.

“You’ll have to let your each of your teachers know that – we have to give them your full name and all. But I’ll try to remember that, okay?” I nodded. I hated being called Theodore. I never really understood why… I don’t like it. I don’t mind Theo at all – in fact, I like my shortened form. What I hate worse than my full name is if someone calls me Ted or Teddy. My anger comes quick and fast when I hear those names used to address me. Maybe when I get older, I’ll just make my real name Theo and eliminate this headache.

The secretary talked to Aaron for a moment or two while I was lost in my name issue before she started talking to my mother again. “Our principal reviewed your sons’ transcripts from California and I must say she seemed at least pleased with how well-rounded they seem. And nothing less than a B from either of them. I think they’ll do quite well here.” She looked at us. “If you two want to take a seat, we’ve arranged two of your fellow classmates to give you a brief tour of the school and help you both as needed. We found someone that shares most of your classes as well to make it easier on everyone – they’ll help you over the next few days.”

Mom thanked the secretary and said goodbye to her as she had to answer the phone. “Alright boys, be good, all right?” We nodded. “Okay, I’m off to work now but I’ll be back to pick you up since I was informed that there’s no bus route to our address. We’ll have to figure something out more permanent soon.” She hugged us both and stepped out of the building. As she did, two students walked into the office.

One of them was a young girl with curly brown hair, a shy smile and cheery blue eyes. But I didn’t even stare at her all that long. My eyes fell upon the boy walking in with her. His hazel eyes seemed like they could stare their way through any lie or fib easily while his confident smile seemed to keep you at ease long enough for the eyes to do their infiltration. His light brown hair looked to be of medium length with his bangs covering about half his forehead. I fell into a trance, his eyes pulling me in against my will. As much as I loved Shane, this kid… if he had any kind of personality similar to Shane’s, I’d be helpless against him.

“Ah Jeremy and Katie… these are the new students we discussed. Katie, you’ll show young Aaron around, help him adjust and all. Jeremy, you’ll be helping Theo.”

“Hi, I’m Katie,” the girl said as she approached my brother. Tentatively, she held her hand out to him. Just as tentatively, Aaron shook it.

“Aaron,” he said as he nervously tried to tuck a bit of his sideburns behind his one ear.

“Alright, be careful Aaron. If you see me in the halls, don’t be afraid to ask for my help if I can provide it,” I said to him. He nodded at me and the two of them headed out the doors.

My eyes instantly zeroed in on my guide.

“Hey, I’m Jeremy Greene. It’s good to finally meet you, Theo.” He held his hand out. I took it carefully, like it was laced with one of those joke buzzers pranksters liked to use. As soon as my hand closed around his, I had to bite back the urge to moan. His skin felt so soft, so warm. It took a lot of willpower to act normal around him.

“N-Nice to meet you, J-Jeremy. Theo Wentz.” He let go of my hand, forcing me to lose contact with him. I instantly missed his touch. He stepped back a bit and held an arm out.

“After you.” He never lost his smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. I grabbed up my bag and headed out of the office. The halls were quiet as classes were already in session for the morning. A bit of a silence fell over us as we walked. He showed me the vending machines – always a necessity in his opinion – along with the gym nearby. “So, where are you from?” He glanced at me. “If I had to guess, I’d say Florida, Arizona, or California.”

I laughed a bit, mostly due to still being very nervous around this awesomely handsome boy. “Yeah, California. How’d you know?”

“You’re too tan to be from pretty much anywhere else. I mean, look at me – I’m a ghost already. My summer tan has long since fled the scene.”

“I-It’s not that b-bad,” I stammered as I looked at his slightly pale arms. But I really didn’t think they were that bad. His skin had a nice, healthy look to it – not too white or at all pasty-looking. “I-I’ve seen worse tans out along S-San Diego Beach.”

“Thanks Theo,” Jeremy smiled. “Nice thing of you to say.” I couldn’t help it – I blushed. When I realized I did, I blushed harder and turned away from him. “Aw, are you getting all shy on me? I didn’t take you to be the shy type.”

“I-I kinda can b-be, yeah…” I said, still not looking at him. Even though I really wanted to. “Th-This is the first time I-I moved. Not something I-I’m used to.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Jeremy said in that same tone of voice. “Here.” He stopped me and pulled out a piece of paper. He scribbled on it for a second before he handed it to me. “If you ever need anything, just give me a call. I’ll see what I can do to help you out. Day or night.” I took it and stared at the piece of paper, almost burning a hole through it. Immediately, I pulled my phone from my pocket and programmed it in. I looked up and saw him laughing lightly. “That was awfully fast of you!”

“I-I tend to lose things l-like this,” I said as I indicated the piece of paper. I folded it up and put it in my wallet. “I just d-don’t wanna lose your number in c-case I really need it.”

“Fair enough,” he shrugged. “Just so you know, if your phone rings or buzzes during a class, it’ll get confiscated if heard by the teacher. So if you can, put it on silent and you won’t have problems. I probably don’t have to warn you what would happen if it went off during a test or quiz, right?”

“I-I’d guess a lot worse than l-losing your phone,” I mumbled. I tensed.

He slid his arm around my neck.

He laughed. “Hey, you’re not so bad Theo. You’ll get the hang of this.” A few students wandered by us, each of them taking the time to say hi to Jeremy. He said hi back warmly, like he was friends with them. “Hey let me see your schedule. I know we have most of our classes together since I’m helping you out. I just wanted to see which ones.” I pulled out the piece of paper that was brought home by Mom the week prior. I honestly didn’t even look at it yet.

“H-Here,” I said as I handed it to him. His eyes darted over it and his smile seemed to get wider.

“Cool, we have all but one class together. Even lunch. If you want, you can sit with me.”

I hesitated. “Y-You don’t have to. I-I mean, if you have your gr-group of friends and–”

“Theo, it’s okay. In fact, I insist. I want to make you comfortable here, man. I mean, that is my job right now, right?” He chuckled as he pointed out the library as we walked past it.

“I-I guess it is,” I said as I grabbed my one elbow shyly. I don’t think this kid knew what he was doing to me. Each word he spoke tickled my heart and made me feel like I was being filled with helium. Each small little gesture made me want to capture each one on film so I could watch later with how cute they all seemed. Suddenly, he stopped me.

“Theo, are you okay? I mean really?” His eyes changed and filled with an overflowing amount of compassion. Combined with the intensity of his stare, it made me totally breathless and weak in the knees. “You seem almost… scared.” Damn it Theo, snap out of it! my mind screamed at me. For all you know he’s totally straight and would kill you if you keep swooning over him like a love-starved idiot!

“F-Fine… just… first day jitters,” I lied. He leaned back and stood up, eyeing me a bit before the smile came back. Again, he threw his arm over my shoulders.

“Okay, just making sure.” Jeremy pointed a few things out as we passed them and told me about them. Slowly, he started telling me things about himself while finishing up the tour and somehow, that actually calmed me down. They were small, inconsequential things and I was probably just imagining this, but learning those little bits of him gave me the feeling of a more solid connection to his inner self, the one that gets exposed only to the rarest few people. It made me feel special all of a sudden. I know I’d only share myself like that with people I felt like I could trust. He started tossing in a few jokes here and there and I found myself loosening up to tell a few back or even tease him a bit about things he told me about himself.

We found ourselves back in the lobby. “I guess the tour’s over?”

“Yeah pretty much. We could go to first period but I was told I could take the whole time showing you around and answering your questions, so…”

I laughed a bit. “No, it’s cool. Can we just hang out here ‘til the bell rings?”

“I think we’ll be okay as long as we’re quiet and keep most of our conversation school-related.” He rolled his eyes at that.

“Right,” I laughed.

“Theo, you’re pretty cool, you know that?” he said. “I mean, yeah at first you seemed all uptight and nervous about something but now you’ve relaxed and let me in a bit.” He smiled again, making me smile. “I’ll just have to get more out of you later.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing, it’s just my way of saying that I think of you as a friend already. I still remember when I was the new kid back in fourth grade. Most of the kids here have been all their lives and at that age, the cliques were already forming. So instead of pouting about it and trying to worm my way into one, I just did what I do best.”

“What’s that?”

“I talk to people.” His eyes swept over the empty lobby. “Now, most of the kids that didn’t even want to know me back then actually know who I am now. It’s just who I am, not being able to turn away anyone if they talk to me.”

“Oh… so you’re one of those,” I smiled. His head snapped back to me.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he laughed.

“You’re what I’d call someone back home a ‘yuppie’.” He laughed a bit louder. “Always needing to talk to people, wanting to fix the world one broken person at a time.” Again I arched an eyebrow. “Isn’t it tiring?”

“Nah man,” he said easily. “I’ve been doing it for almost five years now here and even before that. It’s just who I am. How I roll. It keeps me busy from getting into trouble helping others get out of it. Well, as long as it’s not illegal. I’ve seen what kinds of trouble they are, even in a small town like this. I want no part of any of it.”

“What kinds of clubs does the school have?” I asked, thinking about things a bit serious for a moment. “Are you in any?”

“Some. There’s quite a few. Anything in particular you’re looking for? Maybe something you had back in Cali that you didn’t join but might here?”

“Um… yeah. There are a few that I thought about joining back home but didn’t have the courage to do it without my friends ragging on me about it.” Before I could give examples, the bell rang. “I guess I’ll have to ask later.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. Most of the scholastic clubs – meaning a non-sports one – take new recruits year-round. There are a few exceptions but not too many. Plus since you’re new, those few exceptions usually make… exceptions for new students.” He smiled again and I had to do all I could not to swoon. He grabbed my hand and hoisted me to my feet. “Alright, up we go. Off to Social Studies. No more moping around like a new student now.”

“Hey!” I said. “I am a new student.”

“Not anymore you’re not,” he said. “C’mon, I’ll show you the normal way today since if we’re a bit late, the teachers will understand. Tomorrow, I’ll show you all the hidden shortcuts I know.” I smiled as he said that. He’s willing to show me all his cool little time savers! We walked down the halls towards my first class of the day at the new school. I couldn’t believe as we walked how many people did stop for a moment to at least just say hi to Jeremy. Each time one was tossed at him, he served one right back, always with a smile. After each one though, he always looked back at me and just chuckled a bit almost in embarrassment. Maybe my original assessment of him was wrong. Maybe he’s one of those that knows who everyone is, but very few, if any, know anything in-depth on Jeremy.

We arrived to Social Studies with a few seconds to spare. Jeremy dropped me off at the teacher’s desk as he found a seat. “Hi, um… I’m new to your class. I’m Theo Wentz.”

The teacher looked up at me and smiled politely. “Hello. I just got your records a bit ago to see how far along you were at your old school. I’m Miss White.” She stood up and stood next to me. “Class, listen up.” The class quieted down and my anxiety went skyrocketing. I hated being displayed like this, but I really didn’t have a choice. “This is our new classmate, Theo. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?”

“Um… h-hey,” I said with a nervous, half-wave to the class. “I’m from… uh, San Diego originally and just arrived in the area about two weeks ago. It’s really cold here.” Everyone laughed. I didn’t feel like sharing anything else, so I just clammed up and rocked a bit on my feet.

“Okay Theo… you can sit down behind Jeremy.” Relieved to have the spotlight off me, I shuffled my way to the desk indicated. Jeremy turned around and smiled at me before he spun back to face the teacher. “Today we’re going to be talking a little detour from our regular lesson and ease Theo into the class. Let’s discuss a few things about Pennsylvania… maybe even some local folklore a little bit later if there’s time. Can anyone tell me what ‘Pennsylvania’ literally means?” A few hands went up. “Let’s give Theo a shot at this. Theo?”

I thought back onto my history lessons for a moment when something came to me that sounded at least good if not right. “Um… ‘Penn’s Wood’. Referring to, uh, William Penn getting the charter for a colony from King Charles II in the late sixteen hundreds to clear a debt to his father.” The room was silent when I decided I said enough. In fact, I realized they all stared at me. Including Miss White, although she was the only one with a smile on her face. Well… her and Jeremy. I tried not to look at Jeremy, otherwise I’d be lost in his eyes.

“Very good, Theo! I’m very impressed that you knew that much about your new state.” I couldn’t help but blush as everyone still stared at me. It’s like I grew a second head or something. “Theo answered most of the others questions I had right away, so I think I’ll go ahead and let you all work on this worksheet I printed out a bit ago. You may work with one partner on it.”

Quickly, Jeremy turned around. “You wanna work together?”

“S-Sure,” I said. I was actually relieved he asked me as I sensed a feeding frenzy for most of the class to want me to “help” them with the worksheet. The papers were passed out and desks swiveled in various degrees as people paired up.

“That was pretty cool. How’d you know that already?” Jeremy asked.

“Uh, I read it somewhere I think,” I stammered, not wanting to tell him that on occasion I’d read through entire textbooks if I found time to. Like study halls or whatnot.

“Hmm… interesting,” he said coyly. “State capital of Montana?”

“Helena.”

“Minnesota?”

“Saint Paul.”

“Washington?”

“Olympia.”

“Damn, I thought you’d for sure say Seattle,” Jeremy laughed. “You seem pretty smart. I like that.”

“I-I guess…” I said, trying to brush the compliment away.

“I mean it,” he said, taking the laughter out of his voice. “Don’t belittle yourself just to fit in. If you’re smart, don’t be afraid to show it as long as you don’t rub it in other people’s faces on purpose.”

I brought my eyes up to Jeremy’s. I couldn’t help but blush, but it wasn’t as strong as before. “Thanks, Jeremy.”

“No sweat.” We breezed through the worksheet in record time. The two of us chatted aimlessly for a while. As we talked, the more I learned about this kid, the more attractive he became to me. It was getting a bit hard already not to tell him I thought I loved him. I stated mentally kicking myself for possibly falling in love with a homophobe. I didn’t know how he even felt about gay people. It’s always safer to err towards that extreme.

With about ten minutes left in the period, Miss White asked for all worksheets to be handed in to her. Once all the desks were realigned she spoke. “Okay, let’s finish the day off with something a bit more fun. And just to warn all of you, tomorrow we’re back on track talking about the Constitution and how it replaced the Articles of Confederation, why the Articles didn’t work and what sold the Constitution as the way to go.” The majority of the class groaned; Miss White laughed. “I told you. Now, let’s fill Theo in on some local stuff. Anyone feel like sharing something, to give Theo a ‘lay of the land’, so to speak.” Only a couple of hands went up. “Go ahead Joel.”

Joel sort of faced me while sort of facing Miss White. “There’s this one legend my older sister told me about this one place. Kinda isolated from everything. Anyway, this house used to just be a small cottage back in like the eighteen hundreds or something. Most of that family moved out west – to California, funnily enough – searching for gold I think. One of the settlers heading out that way passed by the cottage and found a young man, about twenty three or so, dead in his own room.”

“Ah, that’s just a story!” a girl next to him smiled as she said it. “I heard that one when I was five.”

“Theo didn’t hear it,” Joel mused. Miss White urged him to continue – there wasn’t much time left. “Anyway, I’ve heard rumors that old man Kester was somehow related to that guy. That everyone that’s owned that place has some relation to that man.” I suddenly felt really I was punched. Kester?

“Theo? Are you okay?” Miss White asked. “You look a little pale.”

“That’s my mother’s maiden name…” I semi-blurted out. There were a few idle conversations going on as Joel rehashed what apparently was a local urban legend. They all stopped when I spoke. Again, all eyes turned to me. “Wh-What? D-Did I say something?”

“You’re the ones living–” The bell cut off the question or statement. No one seemed to be in a hurry to leave. And not a single eye left me. I felt an enormous pressure fall onto me… one I never felt before – not even about me being gay! I couldn’t explain it. All I knew was I had to leave the room. Fast. I grabbed my bag and just tore out of the room, even ignoring Jeremy’s cries to wait. I found the nearest bathroom and just sunk to the floor. Everyone knew who my great-great uncle was? Was there something about him that I should have known and maybe not drawn attention to how we’re related? As I felt the pressure leave, a burning desire to learn all I could about that house started to ignite within me.

The door opened.

“There you are!” It was Jeremy. He crouched down to bring him to my level for the moment. “Are you okay, man? I told you to wait.” He really looked concerned.

“I-I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Will this… connection to Thad Kester be… bad for me and my brother here?”

“I can’t say for certain one way or the other,” Jeremy answered honestly too. “I don’t know much about Thad honestly – it didn’t seem worth it to chase rumors and just easier to think of them as false. Just so you know, I don’t care who you’re related to. For all I know, you have a fourth degree connection to the President and it still won’t matter. You are you. Connections are just that – connections. They make help or hinder you a bit, but they’re not you. You get me?”

“I think so.” I groaned as I pulled my phone out, tapping out a quick text to Aaron. “I need to warn Aaron about what I just admitted to. I hope this won’t freak him out. It’s doing a number on me already. And I know nothing about Thad except that he was my mom’s great uncle. That’s it.”

“Maybe we should take some time and learn more about this relative of yours. Arm you with facts – or what facts are known around here.” He helped me back to my feet. “Maybe in study hall we can hit up the library?”

“Sure,” I said with a nod. “I really need to know more about him before I keep saying he’s my great-great uncle.”

By the end of third period, at least half the school had heard about what I said in my second period class. I swear, political campaigners need to hire an entire school of teenagers to spread their agenda around. By the end of the day, ninety percent of the area they’re trying to sway will have heard the news. Probably at least ten times.

I walked through the halls and some ignored me when Jeremy tossed around his greetings while others looked at me very strangely. Some of the looks were almost reverent, like I was some kind of hero or legend. The others were more… hateful. Scary. As we headed towards study hall I saw a few kids surrounding… Aaron? I watched his face and he looked upset. Very upset. And I got all sorts of pissed off.

“… related to that weird ass crazy man that chopped up little kids, huh?” one of the older kids – probably a sophomore since the building was actually grades seven through twelve, given his size. “We don’t like crazies like that in our–” I tapped the teen on his shoulder. He started to turn towards me. “Who the fuck–”

My fist in his stomach shut him up.

Before he could recover, I slammed him into the nearest wall. “I don’t give a fuck what you heard. That’s my brother you’re talking you, you piece of trash! You don’t talk to him again, you hear? Next time, it’ll be your balls, not your stomach. I’ll make sure you can’t have kids if this is the kind of person you’d raise them to be.” I didn’t punch him again but I did grind my fist a bit into his belly for a couple of seconds before I pushed off him and pushed him to the floor.

“Th-Theo!” Aaron shouted, realizing it was me that saved him – he was in a bit of a shell-shocked mode when I interrupted the sophomore. Aaron didn’t care who was around – he ran over and hugged me tightly. “You saved me!”

“No sweat kid,” I said as I ruffled his hair. “You remember Jeremy from this morning, right?” I said as I turned, but he wasn’t there. In fact, he had his face in the sophomore’s and he didn’t look happy. Not at all.

“Yeah, he’s your guide. Is he helping you get around?” I saw Aaron’s head fall. “Katie’s not helping me all that much.” I thought I even heard a small sob slip out of him. “I-I’m getting so l-lost here, Theo! I-I even found my way into the u-upper classman area. You kn-know… for just the juniors and seniors?” He looked up and his eyes were wet, but he held the tears back. “I was so scared! I thought I was gonna get beat up by one of them!” My face turned into a scowl.

“Where is Katie?” I asked just as Jeremy walked over.

“Did you know that was my cousin you just punched?” Jeremy said neutrally. I turned to him and he threw his hands up. “No, don’t apologize. He’s not one of my favorites, that’s for sure. I just had to… remind him why it’d be a bad idea to pick on your brother or seek revenge on you. A West Point-type reminder… if you catch my meaning.”

“Do you know anything about the guide that’s helping Aaron around?”

“Yeah, a little. Why?”

“Well, it seems that she’s dumped him and he’s getting lost. Walked into the upper classman area and everything.” Jeremy’s eyes bulged.

“That’s not good.” He turned to Aaron. “Hey, let’s go to the office, alright?”

“W-Will she get in trouble?” Aaron asked. Leave it to him to worry about others’ problems before his own.

“Probably,” Jeremy said. “But she’s supposed to be showing you the ropes here and she’s not doing that. Something really bad could’ve happened to you when you walked into the upper classman hallways.”

“I-I-I know!” Aaron said, a few of his tears slipping out. “B-But this really n-nice senior h-helped me out. Sh-She stayed w-with me a-and walked me to my locker.” The three of us walked towards the office.

“Shoulder length black hair, really nice smile, has really blue eyes? Called you sweetie a lot?” Aaron nodded his head vigorously.

“Yeah! That’s her! She was so nice to me! Just like my brothers are.” He started to pout. “Why couldn’t Katie be like that and just be nice?”

I arched an eyebrow at Jeremy. He smiled. “That’s my sister, Karen. Doesn’t live up to our namesake though.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

“Blue eyes,” he said as his smile got bigger. “Last name of Greene…”

I rolled my eyes really hard. “You don’t either, you know? Yours are hazel.”

“Still some green in them, right?” I nodded a little, giving him that. “She’s the only one in the family with blue eyes. But they suit her, I think.” The three of us walked into the office. “Hey Aunt Camille. I need to let you know about something.”

Before he could continue, I said, “Sister, cousin and an aunt? At this school?”

He smiled sheepishly. “I have a really big extended family.” He turned to the secretary. “You know that Katie girl that was assigned to show Aaron Wentz here around?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, she’s kinda not. He wandered into the upper halls at one point, but luckily it was Karen that found him.”

“I’m really sorry about that, Aaron,” the secretary said sadly. She turned back to Jeremy. “Until I can get a reliable replacement for her, would you mind if you helped him out? I’ll make sure to explain to all your teachers.”

“Sure, I don’t think Theo will mind his little bro tagging along for a bit. Right guy?” Aaron beamed at Jeremy.

“Really? You’ll help me? That’d be sweet!” He turned to me. “You too Theo?”

“Sure thing, bud. Family comes first. Always.” Again, my little brother hugged me.

“Theo you are awesome. I can’t say that enough.” Suddenly, he let go and I saw a blush cross his face. “I-I probably shouldn’t do that, huh? I’m probably embarrassing you in front of Jeremy. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay dude,” I said with a smile. “I don’t ever want your feelings hurt. You’re my bro.”

We all walked out of the office as Jeremy’s aunt started informing our teachers. “I’m thinking we’ll just go ahead and make sure Aaron gets to where he needs to be and then we’ll get to our class.”

“Works for me.” I turned to my brother. “Let’s see your schedule.” He produced it and I passed it off to Jeremy.

“Oh cool you have our lunch little dude. You can sit with us until you make some of your own friends. Even still, they can join us.”

“I-It’s hard for me to make friends,” Aaron said sadly. “I-I must do something wrong to scare everyone away. I don’t know what it is I’m doing either…”

“It doesn’t matter Aaron, you can still sit with me. I don’t care. But I think you’re being hard on yourself bud. You can make friends… you just gotta try somehow and if they don’t want to be your friend, then it’s their loss.”

“Yeah dude,” Jeremy piped up. “I’ve only known you for like ten minutes and you’re cool in my book.”

“Really?” Aaron asked, hopeful. Jeremy nodded. “Cool!” He ran over and hugged Jeremy. He looked a little awkward but took it in stride.

“He’s a hugger,” I just said with a small shrug. Jeremy laughed a bit as the two of them finally separated.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Jeremy said. He looked a little nostalgic suddenly, like he was far away. We had arrived at Aaron’s room finally.

“Alright, just wait for us here and we’ll come and get you for lunch. Cool?”

Once more, Aaron hugged me. “Cool. Thanks again, bro. You too Jeremy.” Aaron walked into the classroom and introduced himself to the teacher. I tossed my arm on Jeremy’s shoulder and loved every second of it. He seemed like he needed it.

“You okay man?” I asked. “You look… lost. I’m the one that’s supposed to look lost.”

“What? Oh yeah… right.” I got concerned for my new friend – he wasn’t himself.

I stopped. “Jeremy, what’s wrong?”

“Just… remembering something sad. Something I don’t like to think about.”

“Want to talk about it? I know you’ve only just met me in a sense but I can keep a secret.” God knows I can keep a secret. I looked closer at the easy-going kid that was assigned to help me today. Now it seemed he needed me to help him and while I wanted to, I didn’t know enough to probe carefully into the matter without hurting or upsetting him. “J-Jeremy?”

He looked up at me with a tear-streaked face. “M-Maybe later… okay? I-I’m not quite ready t-to talk about it.”

“Um…. Okay…” I said forlornly.

“L-Let’s get to study hall and go to the library a different day,” he almost whispered. He started down the hall, his head hanging a bit. I watched as someone walked by him and said hi. I was surprised to see that he didn’t return it. Quickly, I shook myself out of my observance and caught up to him. Like he said, maybe once we got to know each other better he’d be willing to share.