I Can Help

Title: I Can Help

Written by: Hannah Carmichael

A bang sounded throughout the school hallways as the locker door slammed shut.

"Guys let me out! Let me out!" The small boy screamed as he banged his fists against the inside of the locker door. 

"Wimpy Nelson wants to get out." One of the guys mocked. Their laughter echoed throughout the empty hallway as they walked away. Nelson was more than furious this time. This was one too many times and it pushed him too far. Hot tears streamed down his face and he sniffled. He took off his glasses and wiped the tears away with his hoody’s sleeve.

Before the school closed a janitor came by and realized that there was a boy inside the locker. She let him out.

"You okay boy?" She asked.

"I'm not a boy." Nelson snapped at her and walked away.

"Uh… You're welcome." She said in return to his rudeness. Nelson checked his phone. Naturally it was out of battery power to call his parents. "Hey kid, need a ride home?"

Nelson cringed at the word kid. "I'm done right now and that bus ain't comin' back for you."

"Fine." He said realizing he had no other option.

"You okay little man?" The janitor lady asked as she drove him home. Nelson had his arms crossed as he continued to fume over being thrown in the locker yet again. 

"I'm fed up with being thrown in lockers and trash cans and shoved around all the time. Even when they bully me to do their homework they still bully me anyway. I'm sick of it! I'm not doing anyone else's homework ever again!"

"Have you told your parents?" she inquired.

"I've tried to, but my parents live their own lives and don't care."

The janitor continued driving in silence, not sure what else to say. She slowed her driving in front of an average looking house. 

"This it?" she asked.

"Yeah, just pull up here." Nelson pointed. 

She parked her truck in the driveway, as he asked. He stepped out of the truck and paused when she told him, "Keep tellin' your parents, okay little man?"

"Thanks," Nelson muttered. He shut the door and hiked the strap of his backpack up his shoulder as he walked to the house.

Nelson rested his head against the front door preparing himself for the parental reaction when he came into the house. He sighed in annoyance as he thought to himself. "The cicadas are too loud." 

"Nelson?" His mother greeted him. "What are you doing outside?"

"Didn’t you notice that I wasn't here?" He asked. His mother was the epitome of the word ‘beautiful'. It was always a wonder how his dad ended up with his mom. Nelson has always been annoyed that he didn't get his mother's looks instead of his dad's. Things might be different for him if they were. Nelson’s mom looked at his dad wondering if he knew where he was. He simply shrugged his shoulders. 

"Well you're here now, honey. That's what's important."

"Would you stop calling me that already?" Nelson shouted.

"What's wrong?" She said in her usual babying voice whenever she spoke to him. Even his own mother couldn’t see him as anything other than a cry baby.

"Like you care." He muttered as he went to the kitchen. He noticed dirty dishes in the sink." You ate dinner together and didn't realize I wasn't here?"

"Well, we got hungry so we ate early. That's all." She sat at the kitchen table and started twirling her hair. 

"You don't care at all about me do you?"

"Of course we care about you, honey." She reached out her arms to hug him, but he rejected her hug.

"Don't bother." He went to the freezer to find a frozen dinner. His mother's cooking was far from her looks and his dad was too lazy to pick up anything other than a fork. 

"I made some brussel sprouts in ginger ale and beef tenderloin with that yummy garlic sauce. Don't you want any?"

"No, I don't." Nelson said, putting the frozen dinner in the microwave. If anything the garlic sauce was pungent enough to be smelled a block away. The meat was probably tough and chewy. She was never good at picking the right kind of meat, much less cooking it properly. There's no way Nelson would even touch the brussel sprouts. Her desire to try new flavors always resulted in a failed science experiment. Who cooks brussel sprouts in soda anyway, much less eat them in the first place? The microwave beeped and he retrieved the food. His mother nudged her hand against his dad's shoulder. He finally looked up from his tablet.

"What?" He asked. 

"Talk to him," she muttered not so quietly to Nelson's dad. His eyes shifted from her to Nelson and back again as he was registering what he was supposed to do. 

"Oh, um… " his dad was struggling to find something to say. "So you know there's boys and there's girls and when they-"

"Stop, just stop." Nelson said. "You two are so busy living in your own little world that you never think about anyone but yourself."

Nelson stormed up the carpeted stairs to his room and slammed the door. He quickly came back down to grab his food and go back upstairs. 

"And here I thought girls were the ones who were supposed to be emotional." His dad said. Nelson's mother rolled her eyes. "Anybody with a brain can be emotional."

"Are you calling me stupid?" he asked her.

"Nevermind," she said and walked off.

The next day Nelson wandered through school with a dark cloud of hate for everyone around him. He wondered what he could do to earn some respect and not be picked on anymore. Nelson sat alone in the lunch room in his usual societally designated spot. In the corner and out of the way of the common crowd was his own seat at his own table. He glared at the group as they went through the lunch line together. Randall, the guy responsible for pushing Nelson into the locker, had his food tray in hand and was about to go to his table. Nelson wished there was something he could do to make his life better.

"Watch it man! What's the matter wit' chu?" an intimidating guy asked, as he nearly got food dumped on him by Randall. Randall was startled by the intensity of the guy he ran into. Nelson recognized him as Kenny. He wasn’t the kind of guy to cross even on a good day. He and the rest of the gang following him sneered at Randall as they passed him. Nelson grinned. He finally got his answer.

After school he sought out the gang he saw in the lunchroom. They were hanging around a shaded part of the cement wall bordering the school. Nelson walked up to them and their conversation stopped as he approached. They looked him up and down.

"What chu starin' at?"

"I want to be a part of your gang." They all looked at each other and laughed. Nelson remained standing there. He had anticipated their reaction so it came as no surprise to him. 

"Are you for real?" Kenny asked.

"My name is Nelson." He held out his hand to shake his. The guy, obviously the leader of the group, looked at Nelson's hand then back to Nelson. The lead looked around the group trying to get some reactions and approvals.

"Alright, you can be in the gang."

"Really?" Nelson's eyebrows raised.

"But there's a catch. If you want to be a part of the gang you've gotta steal somethin' from EZ mart. Why don't you steal us a box of choco bars."

Nelson thought about it for a moment. If he stole he could be a part of the group, if rejected the proposition then he would continue to be bullied. It would be awesome to see Randall cower again like he did in the cafeteria. 

"Okay," Nelson said. They snickered as he walked off.

Before approaching the store Nelson took his glasses off and put them in his pocket. He also took off his hoodie and ruffled up his hair. The fewer ways the cameras and cashier can identify him the better. He left his backpack just outside the store and went in.

"Excuse me sir," Nelson said to the cashier, trying to avoid eye contact. "I need a whole box of choco bars."

"No problem kid," the cashier said as the large man wandered to the back room. Nelson pulled out his wallet. Despite having dumb and dumber as parents he did have the perk of a weekly allowance. Well, whenever they remembered to give him his allowance. Many times, he had to ask for it, because they forgot. The guy came back with the box and set it on the counter.

"How much?" Nelson said with his wallet in hand. The cashier told him the price. "It looks like I can buy two. Could you grab me another one?"

"Sure thing, kid," he said before going to the back room. When he came back Nelson was gone along with the box. The cashier ran out after him.

"Hey kid!" The cashier shouted at a kid he saw walking down the street. He grabbed his shoulder to turn him around, but he saw a kid with glasses, hoodie, and a backpack. His brown hair was finely combed back as well. "Sorry, wrong kid."

Nelson grinned as he watched the cashier run away looking for him. He walked on toward the school with a proud smile on his face.  

When Nelson got back to the group he set his backpack down on the picnic table and pulled out a box of choco bars. They were all surprised he not only agreed to do it, but actually pulled it off. He broke open the box and passed out the choco bars. 

"Alright, you one of us now." Kenny said with a side smile. Nelson also smiled with a slight grimace, as he finally got what he wanted for a change. 

"Why do you want to be in the gang anyway?" One of the girls in the gang asked Nelson.

"I'm sick of being bullied. No one will bully me if I'm hanging out with you guys."

"Someone bully’n you? Who?" She asked.

"The guy who nearly dumped food on you at lunch today," Nelson said.

"Yeah, man, you can hang with us." Kenny said. He pointed out who was who of the gang. "I'm Kenny. That's Gigi, Renee, Gordon, Daren, and Pablo." 

"Nice to meet you all." Nelson said. Randall and his group were passing by when they stopped as Nelson caught his attention. Kenny noticed him and casually walked over. The two guys with him followed. Nelson grimaced at the sight of Randall and his friends' nervousness as Kenny approached them. 

"Pickn' a fight with someone your own size that's fine, but pickn' on little kids. Nah man, that's not cool. You got me?" Kenny said. It took a moment for Randall to get a hold of his words. 

"Y-yeah I got you." Randall responded. He and his group walked off as quickly as they could. Kenny and his guys walked back to join the rest of them. 

"You good kid?" Kenny asked.

"It’s Nelson actually, and yes I'm fine." He smiled. 

“Welcome to the gang,” Gigi said. She heard a ding on her phone and groaned when she saw the text. 

"What's goin on?" Renee asked. 

"My mama gettin on me about my grades." Gigi responded. "I can't help it if my homework is hard."

"Text your mom back and tell her you found a tutor." Nelson said. He sat down at the picnic table. "I'll help you out."