A New Friend

A dust storm was going on in the middle of the evening. This is the time of the day when me and my friends come outside to talk and bike around obviously wearing funny masks. It was the middle of summer and also the middle of Covid- 19. We had online classes going on. And we had nothing to do after school except for dong homework. We usually played video games before school had started. But as soon as school started, my parents restricted my screen time.

           I play with three people. They are all my age and in the same school. Their names are Evan, Chris, Jacob. We are moving on to eighth grade in a month. We all go to the same school.

The dust pushed our door back and made a ‘screech’ sound. The winds blew swiftly.

           A month later…

           It was my first day of eighth grade. Everyone was greeting me ‘Hi Melvin!’ on the screen. And I replied back. Me, Evan, Chris, Jacob were in the same class. There was a new student in my class. Apparently, he was the only new person in our grade this year. His name is James. He is a slim, tall guy with dark brown hair. It was online classes. No one had really left the school in our grade. But that was fine.

There was a dust storm in the evening again. But this time I wasn’t scared to go outside. Mainly I went outside because it wasn’t that windy and dusty, it was mild. I came outside and biked for 10 minutes.

           Then is started to get windy. I couldn’t see anything. I went in front of a house that looked like mine and tried opening. Nothing happened. Then I knocked on the door hard. A boy with dark brown hair opened the door. He was slightly taller than me. It was James. He silently let me in. I told him what happened and he started laughing. He said he had just moved in because the school was much closer from here and he and his brother are in the same school. I called my mom and told her I was at my friend’s house for a while.

           Soon the storm settled down. I bid goodbye to James and his parents and left for home. I was starving and I had just feasted on cookies James’ mom had made. My mom didn’t seem to care that I had come from somebody else’s house in the middle of Covid-19. She told me to take a bath and get some snacks.

           At least my evening wasn’t boring. I had made a new friend in the most unusual and different circumstances.

           School was starting to get harder so me, James, Evan, Chris, and Jacob, decided to make a study group. We would do it an hour after school to give our eyes rest from so much screen time. We were going to go over stuff we didn’t understand and also the homework.

The teacher had given us permission to make study groups because she said that would give students the will to participate and understand stuff we weren’t able to understand before.

           A week later…

           It turns out the study groups were actually helpful. I wasn’t able to process the information about the Gilded Age. But James explained it clearly. And James was unable to understand the Scientific Method. So Evan and Chris explained. And sometimes we even did some fun things. We talked about games and sports.

           James is a really good friend. He even bought a bike this week. And now we all ride together. It is very hot outside these days. We’ve been getting heat warnings. So it’s a good thing online classes are going on.

           Me and my friends play soccer with James as well. Other people from the neighborhood come to play with us at a field which is far from my house. About a mile. We have a huge field to play anything we want. There is a basketball court near it as well. That’s how great our neighborhood is.

           We play in the court every day. But one day, some kids came to the field we were playing in. They looked at least two years older than us. They looked tough and rough. I think I had seen them in eighth grade last year. But they all had moved to a different school.

           They started playing on our spot. We all stopped. They stopped as well and gave us their scary grins. The tallest of the dudes stepped forward. He was a tall, bulky guy with Nike tees and shorts. He had those spiky soccer cleats that scared most of my friends. The taller of the dudes picked up the football and threw it at my friend Chris. He howled in pain. James’s mood had changed as well. He stepped in front of the boys while I went to check on Chris. He stopped right in front of the taller dude and the dude gave a cruel smile. James lined up with them and picked up a soccer ball. Everyone followed. Then everyone including James threw the balls at us. We all ran to our homes. While I was running I could hear the laughter of James’s and his friends’ getting louder. We had been betrayed!

           I didn’t talk to James for a few weeks. But I still didn’t forget that day when he had betrayed us.

           But one day when me, Evan, Chris, and Jacob were riding, we saw James fighting one of the people he was with weeks ago. He had probably said something to them and they had gotten into a fight.

           He came running towards us. He told us to come behind him. We followed. When we reached a place where those guys were sure not to follow; James told his story. We listened to him while Chris glared at him and cursed under his breath.

           James said that he knew one of those people. They were from his previous school. He was friends with them. Like BEST friends. “I met them after so many years. An- and we used sign language to talk to each other. And that’s how they told me to come join me and betray them. Then I was thinking, sure why not and joined them and did what they said foolishly.” Everyone was silent, like half of the movie had ended and now it was time for an interval. He gulped down some water from a water fountain. There were bruises on his cheeks.

           He resumed, “And then I didn’t come outside for a few days. I came today and asked them if I could play. The tallest one pushed me down to the floor and I fought back. But all of them charged at me and I saw you guys and then I ran away.” That was a total Bruh moment. He said that he was sorry for betraying us and said that he would never do that again. He said sorry and brought out his bike. We just said sorry. And then we all rode with him again, wearing our funny face masks.