Grump - 1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Grump

Chapter One: Prologue

"Peter, I still don't understand why you talk to him. No one talks to him willingly. I don't want to call him names, but still he is so... unpleasant. I...." Sally had noticed the attention Peter was giving to Sam. She was wondering why?

"Sally, I just like him. I don't know why. He can be so funny and sometimes when he smiles ...." Sam had something Peter wanted, but what?

"What? That grump can smile, I don't believe it and where does funny come into it? And something else I don't understand, even when we were little you liked everyone that was "different" to put it kindly. Remember Tom in the fourth grade, our own bully in training, you liked him. And what about Jeff, that dirty little boy who was always eating his own snot, that was so gross. And all the others you liked. Peter, you are so weird." Yes, he was weird and wonderful.

"Thanks Sally, I love you too. What does that revel about you? Besides, Tom and Jeff are our best friends." Peter pushed a french fry at Sally's nose.

Sally knew she was "different " too. It was her looks. People never shut up about them. And it was hard too, how can you complain about beauty. But Peter, he never mentions it. She even asked him once about it and Peter said: "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and I don't even care that you have webbing between your toes." And that was that.

Sally smiled big and she could feel her skin flush, only Peter could do this. If only it was for her alone. How many times had she seen girls and even the boys smile big and go all goofy because Peter said hello. The guy was magic. Yes, Tom and Jeff were our friends, now. But would they be without Peter, well being Peter? Anyway lunch was over, time to go inside. It was a good thing that years of exposure to Peter's charm had given her the equilibrium to resist otherwise ... well best not to think of otherwise.

In the courtyard garden, on the other side of the wall, Sam took a deep breath. He never cried, not any more. But no one had called him Grump since the seventh grade. Worse names had taken precedence. Those two had talked about Grump for the entire lunch break. Not much he could do about that, he did the smart thing and kept quiet. Grump always knew Peter was the shit, it was a fact verified in the encyclopedia and everyone just loved to smell his crap. The exception was him, yeah Grump, he would never lick Peter's ass. He swore it. Yet every day, it was like a torment, Peter would find him some how and always start with: "Hey Sam, how are you today?" It was just plain awful.