What others think of Abad Potter

Michael Todd thinks Abad Potter doesn't fit in.

Not because of his dark brown skin, his black curls or his foreign name, he isn't a racist after all. Not because of his love for ACDC or Star Wars. Not even because he seems to like the strange girl from across the street, who never talks to anyone outside of her host family.

No, Michael doesn't really has a solid reasoning for why Abad doesn't fit in, nobody ever had.

It isn't like he's unpopular or weird. He's generally well liked, always watches the newest movies, a bit of a class clown.

Most of the time, he's just a normal guy living with a foster family, who doesn't really care that much about high school.

Except the times he isn't.

Except the times when someone asks him where he's from and he just smiles and aswers with the thickest accent: "From London, fellow lad."

"No, I mean where are you REALLY from?"

His smile always just fades and he says as if he's born a hundred years prior:

"Blosher, you're a againster, aren't you? Always been nosey, you people, but alright. My parents are from the colonies, my mum from British-India and my dad from Afghanistan. Bloody hell, it's like nothing ever changes."

He usually goes away after saying this and leaving everyone speechless behind. Blosher became popular again, because he said it that much.

Sometimes Abad just misses the toilet, even if he saw the sign.

"It's a toilet for whites", he would just say.

"It isn't written anywhere!", Sipho always said, forgetting, that Apardheid ended. And that it ended even earlier in the US.

"Nah, when it isn't written, it's still for whites. It's always that way."

Or how he talks about dead celebrities as if they're still alive. There was even the rumor going on that he was on a Beatles Concert, which he always confirmed, ignoring that the Beatles broke up before they were even born.

No, Michael decides, Abad Potter doesn't quite fit in this time.

Jennifer Reagan thinks Abad Potter had a very sad life.

She doesn't really know what happened. After all, it isn't as if they're friends or anything, she just knows that this guy would desperately need therapy.

Like when he talks about his family, just that his eyes widen in realization and he starts talking about his mother in the past tense. As he continues to talk about his father, his older brother, his younger sister and his younger brother, his voice eventually breaks:

"Oh right...they're also dead. Well, not all of them. Maybe Faouzi- I mean, I mean Fleamont, is still alive. I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?", someone always asks.

"I just- I don't know. He wasn't part of the accident, maybe he's still alive, I don't know. My auntie and uncle didn't contacted me...they didnt liked me."

After that, he would just look out of the window. No matter what, he won't start talking again for that day.

It generally seems as if many people died in Abad's life. Except for his mysterious younger brother, he always uses for every person in his life the past tense. His family. His old friends. Everyone from his old life.

Yes, Jennifer decides. Abad Potter really had a sad life.

Robert Jecks thinks Abad Potter is a criminal.

Abad always avoids the police, even if they are unarmed. The same goes for crowded places, but Robert ignored that. He didn't had a explanation why a thief wouldn't love crowds.

Whenever they swim during P.E, he always said:

"Crazy thing, right? Standing half naked in front of girls, who are also half naked and that for school. Rahim would've never believe that..."

Pervert, Robert always thought. Can't keep his dirty little hands from the girls.

Ignoring, that Abad never touched anyone. Ever.

Abad had a doctor's note that allowed him to skip the lesson.

"What is the note for, Abad?", Michael once asked. "Something medical?"

"No, PTSD."

Nobody dared to say a word and even Robert considered, if Abad told the truth.

"It's alright, fellers, nothing to worry about really", Abad said. "It happened a long time ago, it wasn't that bad. I mean, it's the reason I got the met you guys so...."

Silence. So he is a illegal immigrant, Robert thought and had to fight the urge to smile. He was right!

And for the first time ever, he was.

Antonia Tennant never really speaks with Abad Potter, because she doesn't even know his name.

She doesn't know anything about him. Not the things Michael, Jennifer and Robert know about him. In fact, she only ever met him once in her life.

"Taylor Richard?"

"Here."

"Susan Rutuwu?"

"Yes, here."

"Antonia Tennat?"

"Yep."

Abad just laughed quitely, but Antonia still heard it. At first she thought, he made fun of his name. Until he said:

"Wasn't that my name once?"

Michael Todd, Jennifer Reagan, Robert Jecks and Antonia Tennat all didn't know much about Abad Potter and they know it.

One day they happened to all sit in one classroom, not knowing that no one in the classroom cracked the riddle Abad Potter.

Even if they could've, if they just connected all their points.

"I have no plans for today", Mrs. Balzzar said. "We'll watch a movie today. Any recommendations?"

"Let's watch Titanic!"

The girls cheered, the boys (and Mrs. Balzzar), groaned but let democracy win. And Abad?

He just asked for a hallway pass and locked himself in the toilet. As he sit down, he embraced himself, holding him as if he would fall into pieces if he wouldn't.

"Life is pretty bloody, innit?", Abad said, a tear leaving his eye. "I'm sorry Baba. I'm sorry Rahim. I'm sorry Dasi. But I don't need to watch a film about old ships that sink."

He cried. He never does that in front of others, but he was alone. Like most of the time.

"Enough real life experience, some would say", he said. The tears he cried were probably already cried thousand years before him.

It were the tears of the ones, who will never fit (again).

It were the tears of the sad.

It were the tears of the immigrants.

It were the of the lost.

It were his tears.