twenty
My Best Friend's a Wingman
t w e n t y ; rainy day
4 years ago, 7th grade
March 17th
The sunlight is blinding as it peeks through the spaces of the bus’s curtains. Shielding the glare with my hands, I try not to take Kai’s sour mood personally. He hasn’t been talking to me all day, which says a lot because we’re always talking to each other or talking at each other. Today, neither of those options are relevant to us. During lunch, I brought up the question that I assumed would be the cause of his silence towards me. When asked if he was mad at me, my only response was a dry shake of his head.
Our typical arrangement on bus rides is me on the window seat and him on the aisle seat.
“Want to listen to my iPod?” I offer Kai, whose hat is doing a better job of blocking away the sun than the smallness of my hand. Another curt shake of his head. His gaze remains downwards, not bothering to even look my way.
Dejectedly, I give up and decide that watching the window is more enjoyable of an activity than trying to deal with Kai’s weird lack of response. The scenery blurs, cars zoom by, and my neighborhood appears in view. This is our stop. I say “our” and not “my” stop is because Kai’s staying at my house until his eldest sister can pick him up.
I found out last year that he has two sisters: Kayla who is four years old and currently in high school, while Katie is 7 years older—a university student. A word I can describe Kai’s family with is that they are very . . . occupied. Kayla has after school clubs to go to, his Dad goes to work all the time, and Katie juggles college with her part-time job. They couldn’t bear to leave Kai at home alone without adult supervision, and my parents were very willing to watch over Kai. (My parents are busybodies, but they also adore Kai for some unknown reasons.) Therefore, ever since middle school started, Kai has made a fixture in my after school schedules. It’s been fun having him over, but I don’t think I can look forward to dealing with his sulky mood at home today.
I hop off the bus once it makes a stop near my neighborhood. Kai has his hands stuff in his hoodie and stalks the opposite direction of where we should be heading.
I chase after him. “Dude! Where are you going? My house is not that way!”
Kai hasten his strides, leaving me behind with no explanation. My dumb backpack bounces on my back, making it a hassle to keeping up with him. I call his name repeatedly, yelling at the top of my lungs for him to slow down. It’s pointless effort because he refuses to listen.
After realizing that I’m wasting my energy, it dawns to me that I can just stop trying and let him be. He could get in trouble for all I care! However, a part of me knows he has become a friend to me. I can’t leave him to run off randomly and get kidnapped or whatever scary things that happen in this scary world.
Stupid Kai!!!!!!!
He finally slows down, but it’s clear that the speed red
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