An Alienating Secret

Talking to Conner

--Alana--

I parked my car and turned to Anith. "Have a good day at school, honey!"

"Thanks. Have a good day, too." My daughter kissed me on the cheek, and then waved as she stepped out of the car.

I watched Anith go until she was out of my sight. But then another kid caught my eye. Conner. He was coming towards my car. Or, at least, trying to. Conner fumbled with his crutches so much he wasn't making a lot of progress. But he definitely had some interest in the car or whoever was inside it.

I opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind me before walking to Conner. "Hey, is anything wrong?" I asked.

Conner's eyes lit up. "A-actually, I was looking for you. I need to ask you something."

"Well, ask away then." I smiled.

Conner took a sharp breath and looked at the ground. "My dad's a bit worried that you saw my blood. Can you please not tell anyone about it?" There was a pause. "N-not that you would, but we need to take precautions, and-"

"Well, I won't say anything, but there's nothing wrong with your blood being different." At that, Conner looked me in the eye, and I got sad. It was like he didn't believe me. And I didn't understand that. "Why is your family hiding your blood? I mean, I get not screaming the news on roof-tops but..."

"Yeah, exactly. They don't want you to do that." Conner said with a tone and smile I thought was superficial.

"Conner... I won't. But you can't hide it to a point where it'll hurt you. At the play-date, you wouldn't even show me your foot, remember? Even though you needed medical attention. That's all I'm saying."

He avoided my gaze again. "Well, people don't like blood in the first place. I know I don't. Why would they ever want to see it even more freakish and disgusting?"

I sighed. "It's only freakish and disgusting if you look at it that way. Me, it was only a shock, not something so much grosser than normal blood. I mean... You are the way you are. You can never change your blood color."

Conner smiled tightly. "Yeah, well, of course. That would sort of make sense, but..."

"But?" I asked cautiously.

He looked down again. "No, it's sort of stupid."

"No, it's not. Your feelings have value, Conner. Now, you don't have to tell me. But please don't think it's stupid."

"Ok, well, it's just... that I feel sort of alone because of it." Conner took a deep breath. "I can't tell anyone, and I have to make up for it by being... normal in everything else?"

"Conner, green blood is not a flaw. People like you just the way you are."

He sighed. "Well, I just... Anyway, I didn't mean to get you roped into this."

"I don't mind at all!" I smiled. "It might actually be a good thing. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Conner looked up at me, surprised. "S-so, you mean I can talk to you about this sort of stuff, a-and that you're fine with me like this?"

I nodded. "Of course, I'm fine with you like this. I judge on personality, not on blood type, you know."

Conner laughed a bit. "I-is it ok if I get your number? I'm sorry I'm so excited, but I've just never had someone like this before."

"Don't apologize! But... what about your friends? And my girl, Anith? You can't talk to them?"

Conner's face looked sad again. "I shouldn't let anyone else know... My parents would get mad at me."

I sighed. "Ok, then. Let me give you my number."

"I have my phone on me! It's in my backpack." Conner tried to get his backpack off his back, dropping a crutch in the process.

"Ok, let me get it." I said. He directed me, and I got his phone out of the backpack's front pocket. I looked at the cover, which had a galaxy design with some weird symbols Sharpie-d on them.

"Hey, you drew in marker on your phone case?" I asked.

Conner got a bit embarrassed. "I couldn't find any stickers with the shapes I wanted. So I just did that."

I smiled and shrugged. We made a contact for me on his phone ("Mrs. Jerrak, Anith's mom"). And then we made one for Conner on my phone ("Conner, Anith's classmate"). I added a lobster emoji when he wasn't looking. I wanted a raspberry emoji too, but apparently it doesn't exist.

The warning bell sounded. "Oh, school's starting in five minutes!" Conner said, putting his phone in his pocket. "I gotta run."

"Sure do! Is your class far?"

"Nope!" He turned and started heading off.

"Oh, praise God!" I muttered. If it was far, he'd definitely be late for class, the way he walks with those crutches!