Smoking Alone - Stanley Barber

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January 19th, 2018

12:37 am

"Oh come on boys, you'll love it there!" The brother's social worker said to the two boys.
"Yeah Axel, we'll love living in another strangers house until one of us do something wrong and they send us back." Jay, the oldest of the two brothers said to the younger brother in a sarcastic tone.

"Jay, don't speak like that. You don't know about this family, they could be different." Said the balding social worker as the boys both rolled their eyes.
"Who are they?" Axel spoke for the first time in the hour car ride.
"David and Sarah Blue. They have three other foster boys. All around your age and a little younger" Jay looked out the window and watched the outside world on the way to his sixth foster home.

2:03 pm

"And, we're here! Go get your bags from the trunk." Exclaimed the social worker to the two boys in the back seat, waking up Jay in the process.
Jay could always tell if his younger brother was upset. He read Axel like a book. Jay knew that even though Axel looked fine about all of this, he was horrified. When Axel was upset or anxious he would have this certain look in his eyes.

Jay grabbed Axel's hand, stopping Axel from getting out of the old car. Axel looked back at Jay "Hey, don't worry. We've got this." Axel nodded and let go of his older brother's hand.

As the boys were getting out of the car the three of them spotted the Blue family rushing out of the house to greet the boys. The family looked picture-perfect, but you could tell the Blue boys had their own stories and background.

"Boys, this is your new foster family, the Blue's." The boys nodded. "You boys both have your phones, contact me if you need anything." The boy's nodded again.

"Oh, I'm sure they will be just fine!" The woman who Axel assumed was the mother of the family spoke to the social worker. The social worker laughed, waved, and drove off.

LEFT OFF HERE

"Hello, boys. My name is David, and this is my wife Sarah" the wife waved at them.
"These are your foster brothers" The mother Sarah stated. The two brothers nodded.
"I'm Tony!" The shortest boy at the end spoke. He looked around 11 or 10. He had dark hair and green eyes.

"I'm Jason, and yes, I have a soul." The redhead boy laughed at his own joke. The redhead looked to be around Axel's age, maybe a year younger. With green eyes just like the other boy, Tony.

"And I'm Bruce" the other redhead spoke. Unlike the other two boys, he had dark brown eyes and looked around Jay's age. 'What is with this family and gingers' Axel asked himself.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Jay, and this is my litter brother Axel" Jay introduced themselves while messing up Axel's curly brown hair. After swatting Jay's hand away he gave a small wave the family and griped his bags tighter.

"Well let's go inside and you guys can get settled in your room!" Sarah said with a big smile on her face.

The two foster boys looked at each other and followed the foster family to the big white house.

-_-
September 19, 2020

6:42 am

"Jason where's my blue sweatshirt?!" A sixteen-year-old Axel yelled. No reply. "Jason!" Axel yelled again while searching his room for his iconic blue sweatshirt.

"I don't know! Did you look in your closet?!" An older Jason yelled from the other room. "Huh, wow! I didn't think to look there! You're so helpful Jason!" Axel said in a sarcastic tone. "Of course I am brother," Jason said as he walked into Axel's room wearing Axel's blue sweatshirt.

"Are you serious Jason? I've been looking for that for the past ten minutes" Axel said as he looked at his younger foster brother. "You're lucky I have to leave for school right now or I'll be late." Axel said while smacking the back of Jason's head lightly.

Jason went to an alternative school across town. But even if they were in the same school as each other they wouldn't be in the same grade since Jason was only fifteen while Axel was sixteen.

As Axel walked to school he thought about his older brother who had passed away a few months after they arrived at their seventh foster home. Jay died in a car crash while driving home from a small party with a few of his friends. The man who hit him was drunk and did a hit and run. It didn't take the policemen who were tracking the drunk driver long to find him.

"Axeman!" A voice yelled. "Hey Johnny, I told you to stop calling me that." "No can do Axeman. Ever since you moved here and you said your name was Axel, it was decided your nickname was going to be Axeman. The only way I am going to call you anything but Axeman, is if you legally change your name to something else." Johnny Cade explained.

Johnny Cade was the first friend Axel made when he moved to Pennsylvania. Johnny Cade was his real name, yes. His mom just really loved the character. Unlike the real Johnny Cade, Johnny was tall and built and could pass for a senior in college. Johnny was seventeen and the maybe one of the dumbest people Axel had ever met.

"Whatever Johnny Cade." Axel rolled his eyes and started his way inside the school building. "So Axeman, have you found a date to homecoming yet?" Axel sighed and stopped walking once he reached his locker. "No Johnny, I have not found a date. Besides, dances and shit like this are boring and whoever enjoys them probably go hiking for fun or something." "Hey, I take offense to that!" "Whatever Johnny Cade. I got to get to class." Axel said, starting to turn around to go to class. "Oh come one Axeman! at least go for me!" Axel sighed and turned back around. "Fine, Johnny. But I'm not going with a date."

-_-

8:38 am

"And yes, during arousal, there is an increase in all sorts of things, including adrenaline and, of course, blood flow, and the blood flow continues down and then gets trapped within the corpora cavernousa. The penis expands, and this is how the Homo sapient male can hold an erection."

"Hey...hey" Axel heard a voice behind him but he didn't turn around. "Hey orphan" the voice whispered. Axel knew the voice was talking to him when he heard 'Orphan' He turned around "You're a Homo male right orphan?" one of the jocks asked him with a smile on his face. a few kids who heard this laughed. "Fuck off," Axel said while rolling his eyes.

Axel wasn't Gay. He didn't know what he was. Axel never even thought about it. While every boy and girl in his grade were making out and getting knocked up at the age of sixteen, Axel was ether reading a book, or doing anything else. For the two years Axel had lived in this shitty town, he had never really had a crush on anyone. After two whole years of not expressing any romantic feelings for any girl at school, people started to assume that Axel Lockwood was a homosexual.

"From my experience, Mr.file, the holding of an erection is far more successful in the hands of a homo sapien female" A kid named Bradley Lewis joked.

Bradley Lewis was an asshole. Your local douche bag. Axel had never like Bradley Lewis since any time they had ever talked or interacted with each other, it was always never positive.

"Very funny Mr Lewis." Mr. File responded in a sarcastic tone. "Just talkin' Science." Bradley looked proud of his joke.

Axel never found most of the jokes that came out of Bradley Lewis's mouth funny at all. The jokes Bradley had were all about sex or harassing women or rape jokes. Axel never found them funny at all. He found them rude and disgusting.

Axel sighed and put his head down. 'Only a few more periods to go, then I'm out of here for the day.' Axel thought to himself.

Tehe one chapter down, a bunch more to go.