Chapter 3

John is Derick’s best friend, they have been close since they were young. After Derick’s father died, john was among the reason he did not break because john was always there for him.

After a while of driving they got to school. They parked their bikes and chained it to a pole. There school was just a typical normal school filled with different kinds of people. After Derick’s father died, he was no longer the social type, he did not talk too much people because he had a lot on his mind and a mother to take of care.

And John was the brainy type who was also social, well social with his fellow brainy type. They had already entered the school and were on their way to their lockers.

As they were walking, a group of girls walked past them and John could not help but notice the way Derick was looking at one of the girls.

“You know, I have to tell you this again, she is not in your league so why don’t you stop thinking about you and Celia together.” John got Derick’s attention.

Derick stopped looking at the girl’s direction. “Well I know she is not in my league but it doesn’t hurt to crush does it?” Derick asked.

“Well it does actually, if you crush too hard.” John replied.

“Then I will make sure I don’t crush too hard.” Derick said. ‘C’mon let’s get to our lockers before the bell rings for first period.”

The both continued to walk to their lockers, “But honestly, I still don’t understand why you still have a crush on her, I mean no judgment but I don’t think she is a nice person.” John said as they walked.

“Even I don’t know.” Derick replied.

“This is so unusual for you.” John said.

Celia, one of the most popular girl in school, if not the most popular, your typical popular girl, always with her group and also with an attitude.

Derick and John went straight to their lockers, the bell rang and both of them were going to separate classes for first period. Derick got to his class early and sat down In front of the class as usual.

The teacher came in and started to teach and not too long went by and Celia walked into the class majestically.

“Why don’t you go have a seat miss Celia.” The teacher said to her.

Without saying a word, Celia walked to a seat which was at the back of the class and sat down, then the teacher continued to teach.

As the class went on, Derick would look back at Celia, and he knew he was not focused on the class, it was as if he did not care about that. Celia looked back at him and kept on doing that with no expression on her face, it felt awkward for him that she looked back at him so he just turned back and faced the front of the class.

After the class was over, Celia immediately left the class and when she did that, her girls grouped back with her at the entrance of the class. Derick stayed back in the class packing his books inside his backpack.

When he was done with that, he started to walk out of the class. Right when he got out of the class, he was stopped at the door by three boys. The showed hostility towards him but he showed no emotions to them.

“Hello Derick, I know how you’ve been looking at Celia, you are way out her league so don’t even think you can get close to her.” One of the boy said to Derick but Derick did not reply, he just stood there.

The boys got irritated by Derick’s action so they got more aggressive. “So what will you do now?” One of the boys said as three of them came closer to Derick and Derick just stood there. Because of that, the boy in the middle shoved Derick and said, “Now what will you do?”

“I really need to get to my second period so please just leave me alone.” Derick finally said something and you could tell that he was getting angry but he held himself.

It seemed like the three boys were not done. But then a teacher started to walk pass them slowly. The boys already knew what was happening so they started to walk away with their eyes fixed on Derick.

Derick took a deep breath trying to calm himself. John came in from nowhere. “Why do you always let them do this to you without you doing anything?” John said. Apparently John watched everything that happened between the three boys and Derick from a distance.

“There was no need to do anything. And what is the point, if I do anything it will just get me into trouble and right now I cannot afford trouble because of my mom. So I guess I just have to hold everything in.” John explained.

“I understand but sometimes you have to express your anger well or else it will burst because it has being bottled for so long,” John said. “And also, if you keep on saying nothing to those guys they will just keep coming back to you.” He continued.

“Yeah, well it won’t be forever.” Derick said as he started walking.

“Well let’s just get to the next class before we are late.” John said.

The both of them had class together for the next period. And this time Derick was more focus on the class because Celia was not in the class.

The day was over and Derick was getting ready to go home. He was already outside setting his bike and then John came.

“So how was your day in school?” John asked while unchaining his bike.

“Well you know, the usual and I survived another day. I go again tomorrow.” Derick replied.

“You need to do more with your life, you only get to live once you know.” John said.

There bike were set and they both got on their bikes. “Well, that is why I have to make this life perfect and okay.” They both rode off.

They got to john’s house first since it was closer to their school than Derick’s house. “So same old tomorrow then.” John said to Derick as he stopped his bike and came off of it.

“Yeah, tomorrow then.” Derick rode away.

Now that he was alone, he started to think but he did not think for too long because he just wanted to get home and check on his mother.

It did not take too long for him to get home. He dropped his bike and chained it, then went into his home. He got in and it was dark inside, all the curtains were closed and no light was on. He moved to the living room and saw his mom on the couch sleeping. He wanted to leave her to sleep but he also wanted to make sure that she know he was back.

So he walked to her and shock her softly while calling her. She woke up immediately and got herself.

“You are back home.” She said.

“Yes mom.” He replied.

“How was school today?” She asked.

“It was okay mom, I had a lot of fun today with my friends. And classes are going pretty well.”

“That is really nice to hear,” she said. “What about the girl you told me you have crush on, have you asked her out yet?”

“Well mom, I final asked her out and she said yes.” Derick said with a faint smile on his face.

His mom face brighten up with a big smile, there was no sign of sleep in her anymore.

She hugged him, “Oh my god, I so happy for you, my little boy is growing up.”

“Yeah… I am really tired now so I would need to rest.” Derick said.

“Of course you need to rest,” she said, “And also if you need to eat, I made dinner.” She continued.

Derick was surprised his mother made dinner, she has not done that in a while and he was also glad because he was hungry. “Alright mom, I will take the dinner up to my room and eat it there.”

“Alright, and make sure to get enough rest.” She said.

“I will mom,” he said standing up from the couch and walking to the kitchen.

He saw a plate that was covered so he went to it and opened it. And there was food in it. He closed it back and carried it. He started to walk to his room but as he was about climbing the stairs, he looked at his mother’s direction. He was sad he lied to her but he was also glad that she was happy and that was the only thing that mattered to him. So he continued up the stairs and to his room.

Since his father’s death, Derick’s mom was always sad and depressed, she was hardly happy and that broke Derick. He knew that the only reason she is still holding on was because of him, he was her only hope.

Derick would not do anything about how his life was so he just had to lie about his life so his mother can be happy. Because he knew that if he was happy, his mother will be happy. And he was right, the only thing that makes her happy is knowing that he is happy.