The Problem Child

Messed up family?

School was boring as usual and after half a day of tiring a boring lectures, all four of the boys, Charlie, Trevor, Josh, and Conner, had free hours.

Charlie couldn't stand to look at Trevor. Not after all the weird things he thought up yesterday.

Damn his mind!

The four of them - Charlie, Joshua, Trevor and Conner - were near the foundation in front of the school. They had a science test that week and they had planned on doing something like studying in a group. But however, none of them were doing what they should.

They were all minding their own business.

Trevor was smoking his third cigarette that day. And surprisingly enough, he looked as if he was going to go on doing it.

Charlie couldn't help but worry. Those things make you sick. And that guy just happened to be a huge fan of all the sick stuff.

"Man, you do realize that thing kills you, don't you?" Joshua had asked, scrunching up his nose at the unbearable foul smell of cigarettes, only to have a mouthful of smoke blowed on his face.

Josh had coughed and cursed under his breathe as Trevor went on smoking with a despised look on his face, his eyes fixed at some distant point in the sky.

Conner was reading the comics that he brought along with him to wherever he went.

Turns out it was his favorite. Something titled as "World's Finest". Joshua wondered how weird these super heroes' fashion sense could be. They wore their under wears on top of their pants, for God's Sake! And he couldn't believe Conner resended ylthe fact that they had lose those undies in the newest comics. For Christ's sakes, shouldn't he be glad they're gone?! Apparently, as he says, it's classic.

Also, one of the kids in those comics, Robin, as Joshua remembered his name was, wore green pixie boots, a red suit, yellow cape and worst of all, he wore a green scaly panties! It was like he was a walking, breathing traffic light!

Joshua was trying to make small-talk every now and then and was miserably failing to do so when the rest of them were lost in their own worlds.

No one even seemed to notice him trying to talk. So he just had to shut himself up gingerly.

And Charlie, he was desperately trying to keep his focus on the book he was reading, but his mind kept going back to what he was thinking about last night.

He wondered if he looked creepy, making weird facial expressions every now and then as different thoughts from last night came flooding into his eyes.

He let out a loud groan and slapped himself on the face.

"You're acting weird, Charles" Trevor commented from his spot as he eyed Charlie suspiciously.

Charlie pursed his lips and desperately tried to put a smile on his face. "I'm just.... Stressed out, I guess".

Putting a smile on his face didn't work out as it should. So he just gave up and pursed his lips and heaved a heavy sigh. He put the book he was pretending to be reading away and started kicking soil with his head hung low.

Joshua immediately saw this as a chance to start a conversation. So he did.

"So, Trevor. You don't live with your parents? I mean, no one contacted you or anything while you were staying at Cha's place"

Trevor hummed ever so lightly and let the cigarette stump slip through his fingers. He crushed it under his shoes and sat facing Joshua. He heaved a sigh. "Well, I live alone. I am not really in good terms with my folks" he said, nodding to himself. His face was almost completely emotionless.

Conner looked up from his comics. His eyes held a different emotion- was it concern?

Joshua pursed his lips. He had a vague feeling that confronting him about this was a bad idea. Yet, he found himself asking,"W-Why?". He wondered if he really needed to know the answer to that.

"Well.... My dad,... He comes home every night drunk and my Mom is always high on drugs. She even got hospitalised of an over-dose. It was too much for me to tolerate. That is why" Trevor shrugged.

Charlie felt his heart drop. No wonder why he is the way he is. He didn't know what to say.

"Man,..I'm sorry. No one would have to go th--" Joshua started to speak, but was cut off mid-sentence by Conner.

"You guys really believe him? I mean, seriously?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, putting away his comic book.

Conner let out an exasperated sigh. "You know what? I don't even know why I'm friends with you guys anymore. Like, how dumb can a person possibly be?!"

Charlie and Joshua looked at each other in confusion.

Well, were we not supposed to believe him?

Conner gasped in disbelief. He muttered something barely audible to the others and then burst out, "He does live with his parents and they are ,like, the sweetest people I have ever known!" He said throwing up his arms, disappointed that someone could actually get tricked by such big fat lies.

"Heh. Shoulda seen your faces" Trevor smirked as he watched the change of expression in Charlie's and Joshua's face.

Joshua scowled at him while Charlie just chuckled at how easily they got tricked.

"But hey, seriously. You would easily strike someone as a homeless guy with a messed up family" Joshua said, cocking his head to a side, like he was just stating the obvious.

"That's probably because he is just as ugly as a street rat" Conner said and ducked down to avoid the fist that came swinging his way, Trevor's fist, to be specific.

As the two started wrestling on the ground, Joshua asked "Why don't you take us to your place someday?"

"No" Trevor wanted to say, but he was muffled by Conner who yelled "Let's go! Come on, his mom makes the best apple pies ever!"

"Right now?" Confusion dripped off Josh's voice.

"Yep. Right now" Conner said in a simple tone. Actually a little too simple for someone being held in a head lock while having their ears pinched out. He let out a yelp as Trevor did that and moved on to planting light punches on his face and back.

"Er... Don't we have classes, like...in two minutes?" Charlie asked as he wondered if he should pull the guys apart, so they wouldn't end up giving each other a black eye or something. Not that they care about it, but still Charlie couldn't stop himself from weighing his decision on that matter.

"Hn. Who... C-cares? It is bet-ter to sit d-down and p-play ga-ames than s-sleep in.... cuh-laasss" Conner managed to blurt out as he desperately tried to get out of Trevor's grasp. The last part came out as a high pitched yell as Trevor managed to twist his hand.

"Whoa, guys. Just stop! You are going to drag all the attention on us" Charlie and Joshua eyed the few people watching them from afar, probably wondering what was up, and started trying to make an attempt on pulling away the duo as they continued to kick and wiggle around in the air.