JUNE - And the Aeternae

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

THE UNSUNG HERO

1982

Ridgeway Middle School, Phoenix, Arizona.

Dominic stood at the school hallway looking completely lost, it was his first day at Ridgeway.

"Get the fuck out of the way black boy!" A voice growled and was soon accompanied by series of laughter as a group of school bullies bulldozed their way past Dominic, hitting him against the wall and thereby, making him loose a hold of his books. He knelt to pick up the books one after another and was soon assisted by someone who also knelt to help him pack up.

Dominic looked up at who his helper might be, and right there a set of light brown eyes, a pale white skin and dark curly hair met his gaze.

"I'm sorry, this shit school has a lot of them." The boy said as he helped Dominic pack up. They both stood up after.

"Thank you." Dominic said shyly.

"Oh don't thank me. Don't let those idiots get to you, okay?" The boy said as Dominic nodded in response.

"I'm Scott by the way, Scott Griffith." he introduced himself.

"I'm Dominic. Dominic-" Dominic said and paused.

"You don't have a last name?" Scott joked.

"No i don't." Dominic followed up with a sarcastic response as they both shared a session of laughter.

"Are you new here?" Scott asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh right. What grade are you at?" Scott asked.

"Uhm, I just got into the sixth grade." Dominic replied.

"That's interesting, how old are you? Sorry, I'm a talkative." Scott joked as Dominic revealed a brief smile.

"I'm ten." He answered.

"Cool. I'm thirteen, eight grade." Scott said.

"Oops, that's the bell. I'll see you around." Scott said and winked at Dominic before walking away.

Dominic smiled to himself, what seemed to be a horrible start to life at Ridgeway suddenly took an instant twist upon meeting Scott Griffith. Scott seemed like an angel sent from heaven to help cheer him up as Dominic was at the verge of tears for what he suffered at the hands of the bullies.

School was closed the for the day and Dominic hoped to see Scott again, he stood by at the lobby waiting for him.

"There you are!" Scott exclaimed and ran up to him.

"Hi." Dominic greeted shyly.

"Dominic you have to loosen up, you're a man, you gotta be tough." Scott said and nudged Dominic's shoulder.

"I'm not a man. I'm a boy." Dominic responded.

"You're a man Dominic, and a man gotta be tough." Scott said more seriously as he looked into Dominic's eye, Dominic swallowed hard and nodded nervously.

"You live around?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I trek home everyday myself. Highland Ave."

"You trek home everyday? That's one hell of a distance. I live there too. So maybe we'll go home together?" Scott asked.