Don't Call Him That

Chapter 2

When the last bell finally rings, Erik looks at me with a confused expression on his face.

"We... we leave now?" He asks, looking around at all the students rushing to go home. I nod and Erik closes his eyes. "No, no, no, don't wanna leave... can't..." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Erik, I'll see you tomorrow. And besides, we can always wait together until our parents come." He looks at me and sighs. We walk to the lobby and sit down on a bench. Erik rests his head on my shoulder. Then of course Teresa walks by.

"Aw, look how cute! You guys must be dating now, huh?" Erik looks up, kind of confused. I stare Teresa in the eyes.

"We're not dating, okay?" I say, more defensive than I should be saying it. "We're just friends. You need to calm down. You're jealous of everyone, Teresa." She slaps Erik when no one is looking and walks off. Erik glances at me and sighs.

"She hurt me," he whimpers.

"I'm sorry, Erik... she's horrible." We walk outside and Erik sees his mother.

"h-h-have to g-g-go," he stutters, tears running down his face. We hug and I can feel him trembling. I really wonder what could be going on at his house. My mom comes to pick me up and I get in her car.

"So, how was your first day back?" she asked.

"Good." She glances at me.

"And how was your partner... person?" I sigh.

"He's nice. I have to take my classes online though because he wants me with him all day."

"Well, just remember what a nice thing you're doing for this kid. How's Teresa?"

"She hates me now. She says that I 'left her for a retard' but I told her that I can still be her friend and be friends with Erik."

"So your new friend's name is Erik?"

"He's not exactly my friend, Mom," I say, sounding kind of whiny. I hate to say it, but it's true. I act like I care about him more than I actually do when I'm around him.

"I hope you don't act this apathetic around him, Clarkson. That can hurt a person, especially someone like Erik." I roll my eyes.

"It's not like he can understand. I mean... he's still only doing second grade math... and he's struggling! I doubt that he can understand the fact that I don't care about him that much. I mean, I wanna be nice to him, but I have an actual life and he doesn't."

"Why don't you invite him to go out with some of your other friends?"

"Mom, no! Erik is going to do something embarrassing like wet his pants in public and then I'll have to explain everything... it would be a mess," I say.

"Erik would appreciate it," my mother whispers. "Kids like Erik just want to be like regular kids. It's not their fault that they can't do everything you can, and it's not their fault that they wet their pants sometimes." She looks at me. "I hope you know that, Clarkson."

"I do know. I told myself that every time Erik did something today because I knew I'd start getting annoyed. I told myself 'he can't help being this way' the whole day."

"Good. Now let's wait until we get home to tell your sister and your dad about Erik. And I want you to act more like you like him. Just try, Clarkson, because it sounds like Erik really wants to be your friend. Get to know him, I guarantee you'll think of him differently in a few weeks. It's only the first day of school." I sigh and look out the window.

"Yes, Mom."
When we finally arrive home, my little sister Cosette is waiting at the door. She's about twelve years old, so she can probably do higher levels of math than Erik. Not like that matters or anything.