He's Just a Skater Boy (boyxboyxboy)

Chapter 62: Mission Number Two

[Atlas's POV]

Sometimes being at home was suffocating.

I was thinking as I escaped Sunday breakfast, heading outside to shoot some hoops in the courtyard. It was sunnier than it had ever been in a long time and it felt like I was slowly getting roasted from all sides.

On Sunday the family went to church, excluding me. That wasn't because I didn't like church or anything, I was pretty impartial, especially on a day like this those stony gothic churches had some pretty cool air. It also wasn't like I had some issue with religion now that I realised that the first time I'd ever been interested in someone it was a boy.

It was because for all intents and purposes I wasn't really a part of this family, no matter how much they smiled at me and looked at me like I could do no wrong.

That was why I hated breakfast. It was a warm affair even if the house looked oddly clean and marble. They collected around a table with an array of breakfast foods that we seemingly never finished, the light from the floor to ceiling window pouring in, the colourful garden smiling through the glass. It was picturesque, it should have been wholesome.

But I found myself only watching, waiting to be excused, observing as they interacted with each other and then the way the look in their eyes changed only just as they turned to smile at me.

They liked me, but I was different.

The sun fried my brain and I stopped thinking about it, just kept practicing, working myself into a wild sweat, my arms beginning to get tired even as I continued. I didn't ever take things half-way, even if it was just a matter of getting out of breakfast. I was pausing to take a drink when I heard mom's voice calling for me to come back into the house.

I drank as I walked, hoping it wouldn't be something to do with school.

At this point I got the impression they all stopped trying to hint at my parents, who were more than aware of what was going on, to somehow punish me and completely change my character... which was just as well. I did what I was supposed to do there, worked and got good grades, my attendance was always within the okay range, so what if I skipped the odd class or ended up getting into issues with other idiot kids? None of their business honestly.

I spotted her in the open plan kitchen and leaned over, wresting my arms on the kitchen counter. "What is it?"

"I need you to take Lily out." She told me as she was peeling the skin off of an apple with a knife. "Somewhere nice as a treat."

I groaned. "Why, she's old enough that she doesn't need me to go with her."

"She likes you."

"She's annoying."

"But she likes you." There was something stern in her voice this time, I looked up and I saw her staring at the apple as intently as before.

I felt a level of discomfort in my stomach and glanced away, pulling away from the counter.

"Doesn't she have friends to go with?"

She sighed, setting the peels aside and cutting it in half to core it. "She does but she's done so well on her last exam. I wanted to reward her, she said she wanted to go out, eat some fast food." My mother looked up at me. "Then she gave me this look." She sort of pursed her lips and widened her eyes. That meant nothing to me but presumably it meant Lily was insinuating she wanted to go with me.

When she was younger I used to take her out regularly after school for some food, like every other day for a while. That then became every week, then every month, then not at all.