Because You're Different ✔

5. Unwanted

Sam

I had a funny feeling. Kind of when you knew you did something bad. Only I hadn't done anything bad.

June and I were coming up the driveway, me carrying her backpack like always. I didn't mind helping her. It was just the little things. Opening up a bottle that hadn't been used yet. Tying her shoelaces if we were in a hurry. Letting her borrow my notes if she'd been too tired to take them herself. In no way were these things that bothered me. Anything for a friend, right? June wasn't really that weird — well, she was, but in a good way. June was just different. And other people didn't understand that it was okay. I didn't mind, though, because if other people had realized how cool she was, she wouldn't have been my friend.

June was going on and on about our English lit class. Apparently, she loved the novel we were reading. I didn't — I rather worked on our own book. Not today, though. We were quickly nearing November, and June and I wanted to spend the last couple of hot days swimming in the pool. She couldn't swim well if she were cold: her muscles would cramp, and she'd have a hard time moving.

Together, we entered the house, and I immediately put our bags down. Usually, I'd call out for Nathan. This time, something didn't feel right.

"Nathan! We're home! You won't believe what...-" June started to say, but I shut her up. I heard voices, and they probably weren't hearing us. I knew what it meant. I didn't know how to feel about it.

"What?" she asked, suddenly in a low volume.

"I think they're home."

She looked at me like I wasn't making any sense. "Who are home?"

Without answering, I walked to the kitchen, following the sound of voices, growing louder and louder with each step. June was right behind me.

Mom and dad were standing next to the dinner table. Mom was shouting — Nathan too. The argument was all too familiar.

"I've told you a thousand times, I am not leaving Sam here alone, and that is my decision." Frustrated, Nathan ran his hand through his hair. I hadn't seen him do that ever since June came home with a big gash in her head.

"Yes, and if you hadn't indoctrinated him with the idea he needed to go to public school, he wouldn't be alone, because he would've been at a great boarding school. Stop behaving like a melodramatic teenager, Nathan! It's your future you should be thinking about." Mom was in lawyer mode. My stomach twisted like it frequently did when they were home, and I wished we could've gone to June's house instead — small and shabby, but with the friendly Mrs. Guevara cooking us something heavenly. I'd only been there twice and had felt slightly uncomfortable at moments, like when I found out the heater in their bathroom was broken, or that they had to fix the tap with duct-tape because the landlord was refusing to send a plumber. But Mrs. Guevara made everything better with her nice smiles, asking us all about our book. Would mom want to know about our book?

"I'm thinking about Sam's future, like you should be doing!" And there were Nathan's all too familiar laser eyes. I was still waiting for the day when red beams would actually cut my mom up in pieces.

"Nathan, boy, I won't have you talking to your mother like that—"

At that moment, Nathan spotted us, standing frozen in the doorway. His gaze softened for a second. "June, Sam — go to Sam's room, alright?"

"Nathan!" mom called. "I want to see my boy, I haven't seen him in ages!" And she came at me, a wide smile on her face, and hugged me fiercely. She smelled different. Probably changed her perfume again. I never knew if I liked her hugging me or not, just like I never knew if I liked having her home or not. "Oh, Sam, you have grown so much since I last saw you! You're getting so big!"

"Hi, mom," I said. "Hi, dad."

"Hello, Sam. Good to see you again, son." He grabbed me by the shoulders, smiling at me for a second before quickly hiding his hands in his pockets again. Was he disappointed with me? I assumed so. He was always this weird when we met up. "And I see you brought your girlfriend, huh?" He turned to June, who was wearing a huge frown on her usually cheerful face.

"She's not my girlfriend," I said.

"This is June, and she's Sam's best friend, alright?" Nathan said. "Try to not be assholes for once." And with that, he stormed out of the kitchen, June's gaze following him, her head tilted slightly.

"Excuse our son's language, June," mom said, smiling sweetly. "He's always been quite... rebellious."

"I'm sure he's just upset," June said, and immediately, I saw my parents' faces change. They'd noticed her voice. I didn't even hear it was different anymore, it was just like any other voice. But they were obviously not used to it. "He's never like this."

It didn't take my mom long to recover. She was a lawyer, after all. "Well, then you must not know him very well, sweetheart," she said in slow words, like June was stupid, and I bit the inside of my cheeks. "He's been like this ever since those hormones started raging through his body... Gladly, our Sammy isn't like him, are you, Sammy?"

I didn't answer. I knew it didn't matter if I did or not.

"Oh, that's strange," June said, "I've always thought they were rather alike." She was calm, but I felt her anger radiating from her body, and her left hand was curled into a fist again.

My mom huffed lightly, her fake laugh. "Shall we have something to drink? I want to hear all about your adventures at school!"

Judging by the return of June's frown, she liked our parents just as much as Nathan did.