Liam's Story - Part Two

The bus stopped just inside the gates to Southview Orphanage, the brakes squeaking as they stopped the heavy vehicle. Liam and his friends stood up and followed everyone off of the bus in a single file line. The bus driver, Harvey Termin, waved them goodbye and shut the door when everyone was off, twisting the key in the ignition, making the bus roar to life with a cloud of smoke from the exhaust. Liam hefted his backpack over his left shoulder and followed Charles into the orphanage, his thoughts racing inside his mind. He was still reeling from what Ratchet had said, still debating on whether or not he should tell the others. Still, his mind said no, not yet. He should wait and see what happens.

He figured that if his friends really wanted to know, they'd bother him enough so that he talked. They'd done it many times before. Charles waved goodbye as they came to a place where the room split into three hallways. "See ya in a little while," Charles said as he and Chris took off down hallway to the right. Evan said goodbye and quickly followed after them.

Danny lightly punched Liam in the arm. "So, what's buggin' ya?"

Liam said nothing, heading down the hallway to the left in silence, brooding over things in his mind. Danny and Samuel exchanged glances, and then hurried after him. Samuel frowned as he watched Liam's silent form. "Liam?" he questioned. "You all right?"

Liam sighed. "Sure," he murmured.

"Where ya goin', Liam?" asked a rough voice from behind them. Liam froze, his shoulders stiff.

"Leave him alone, Gavin," said Samuel, his voice angry. Gavin was a big boy, very muscular, with short brown hair and angry green eyes. He loved to pick on Liam every chance he got, because Liam was small for his age, and rather thing. Also, he didn't have a surname, which always left him open to bullies like Gavin. So far, Gavin had yet to leave a bruise on him, but that could soon change, Liam knew.

Liam sighed and began to turn around, to face his enemy, but Danny grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stay facing forwad. "Ignore him," he said. "Don't acknowledge him."

'Easy for you to say,' Liam wanted to say. 'He doesn't pick on you 24/7, like he does me.' But he didn't say that. He just sighed again and started walking once more.

"Hey!" Gavin barked from behind them. "I was talkin' to you!"

Danny stopped and turned to face Gavin. "What do I have to do to pound it into your head? Leave him alone."

This time, Gavin backed off, but only very reluctantly. "Can't hide behind your friends forever, Liam!" he shouted as his footsteps announced his retreat down the hall.

Liam sighed heavily. 'Ignore him, he says,' he thought to himself. 'Don't acknowledge him, he says. If only he knew that he just made things worse.' He stopped at a door and pulled out his key, slowly unlocking the door. Samuel and Danny stopped with him, and started to follow him in as he entered his room.

He stopped and looked at them, puzzled.

Danny shrugged. "We just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Yeah," said Samuel. "You're more quiet than usual. What's up? Want to talk about it?"

Liam sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. But, if you want, you can come in." he turned and entered the room. Samuel and Danny shared looks, then shrugged and followed him in, shutting the door behind them. He tossed his backpack onto the floor next to his bed as he sat down on it, kicking off his shoes. Samuel and Danny took their shoes off and put them by the door, along with their backpacks.

"So, are you going to Rinchesto's party Saturday night?" Danny asked, trying to start up some kind of conversation.

Liam frowned. "He's having a party?" he sighed. "I wasn't invited."

"Oh...I...I'm sorry-"

"No, don't. It's okay. I'm used to it."

Danny and Samuel shared looks again. "It's not something you should be used to," said Samuel.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I'll talk to Rinchesto tomorrow and-"

"No," Liam said, looking at the ground, his hands clasped together in his lap. "Don't go to such extremes. I'm okay with not being invited."

"But, Liam-"

"Please, I'm okay with it," Liam said softly.

Danny sighed heavily. "I...guess we should be going, then. You probably want to relax, am I right?"

Liam offered a weak smile, though he was sure it didn't look much like a smile. Danny smiled at his effort and moved toward the door, slipping his shoes on. Samuel did the same, and the two left quietly after saying goodbye, and that they would see Liam later.

Liam lay down on his back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He was used to not being invited to things; he was the reject, after all. But still, it made the thing in his gut twist a little more. He was getting sick of pretending that everything was fine, when all he really wanted to do was scream and shout.

But he would not do that. He had kept everything in this far, he could do it a little longer. He sighed again and blew his bangs back as his golden eyes slid closed. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.
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A knocking at his door awoke him. His eyes snapped open, but for a moment, they weren't the usual golden color. They were a sky blue, and very bright. His hair wasn't sandy anymore, either, it was a light mahogandy. He didn't notice anything, even as the hair and eye color changed back to normal. He took no notice of it as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes.

The knocking continued. He stopped and looked at the door, blinking his eyes a few time to clear his vision. Frowning, he glanced at the clock on the wall. 6:45 p.m. He'd missed supper. With a sigh, he rubbed at his temples, trying to think straight.

"Liam?" a voice echoed through the wooden door. "Are you okay? Liam? Open up!" the pounded continued.

Liam sighed and got to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something move, but when he looked, there was nothing there. With a slight frown on his face, he pulled his door open after unlocking it. Because of all the bullies that loved to torment him, he had learned from the start to always keep his door lock, as they had snuck into his room one night and attacked him while he slept. He still had scars. He had never told anyone; what would have been the point? Telling someone would have just made things worse.

Charles stood there, looking worried. "Liam? You okay?" he frowned. "You look pale."

Liam blinked. "M'fine," he said slowly. "I was just sleeping."

Charles frowned. "Sleeping? Danny said he heard whimpering coming from in here."

Liam frowned. Whimpering? Why would Danny hear whimpering? Had he whimpered while he had been asleep? He didn't think so; he didn't remember dreaming. But then, who knew? "No," he said. "I'm okay. There was no whimpering. Tell him he needs to get his ears checked," he said, offering a small smile.

Charles smiled, but it looked a little forced, a little worried. "Are you sure you're okay? Does this have anything to do with whatever happened with Skimmer and Ratchet?"

Liam's frown deepened. "I'm fine," he said again.

"So you've said," said Charles. "But is it the truth? You've got friends, you know. You can talk to us."

Liam sighed. "I know," he said. "I'm fine, really." he finally looked Charles in the eye. "Really," he said again. "I'm fine."

Charles frowned at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded his head. "If you say so, Liam," he said softly. "You missed dinner, so I brought something back to you." he held up a sandwich and handed it to him. "Ham and cheese, your favorite."

Liam smiled as he took it. "Thanks, Charles. I appreciate it." he pushed his door open a little more. "Want to come in?"

Charles smiled. "Sure." he entered and took his shoes off at the door. "Are...you sure you don't want to talk about what happened?"

"Charles-"

"I know the others have been asking you and asking you, and I'm sure I've asked a few times myself, but still...it's not good to keep things locked up like that, you know."

'Don't I? I've been doing it for quite some time,' he thought to himself. "I know," he said. "But I just don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe later. Okay?"

"Sure," said Charles. "I understand."

Liam smiled again. "Cool." he took a bite of his sandwich. "Mmm, good."

Charles smiled. "Yeah, though you might like it. Oh yeah, I just remembered. Jullian, you know him? Well, anyway, he's invited you and me and a few others to a small get-together he's having at the cafe down the street-"

Liam choked on his food. Charles hurried to him and thumped on his back a few times until Liam could stop coughing. Charles hurried to the small refrigerator in the room and pulled out a bottle of water, tossing it to him. Liam nodded in thanks and took a drink.

"Better now?" Charles asked, looking him over worriedly.

"Yeah," he choked. "I--I'm invited?" he couldn't believe it.

Charles nodded. "Yeah."

"Wait--I'm invited. I'M invited. I'm...invited. Nope, no matter how you say it, it just doesn't sound right," Liam said, tasting the words on his tongue.

Charles smiked at him. "You kidder. You know Jullian, he likes you. You talked to him before, remember?"

"Huh?" asked Liam. "Oh yeah, in the cafeteria for supper. He sat with us that one time."

"Yeah," said Charles. "It also happened to be one of the rare times when you just wouldn't shut up. He had fun that night. So did you, if I recall correctly, and I believe I do."

Liam sighed heavily. "You do," he said. "So...I'm invited? It still sounds weird..."

"Yeah," Charles chuckled, "you're invited. Tomorrow at five at the cafe down the street. Don't forget," he said, then winked. "Or fall asleep."

Liam sighed. "One time I fall asleep and miss dinner, and I never hear the end of it," he grumbled to himself.

Charles laughed. "Now, there's the Liam I know."

Liam smiled and shook his head. "Thanks," he said.

Charles nodded, knowing what he meant. He meant thanks for cheering him up from his glum mood, and bringing him the sandwich. "No problem," said Charles. "Just don't miss dinner again. They were worried and forced me to come lookin' for ya."

Liam chuckled. "Forced you? Well, gee, that makes me feel SO loved."

Charles smiled and lightly punched him in the shoulder, a gesture of friendship. "Well, I have homeworkd to do and a test to study for. See ya tomorrow on the bus, then."

Liam nodded and opened the door for Charles. "Sure thing. See ya. Hope the homework goes well."

Charles nodded. "Bye, then," he said as he left Liam's room. Liam closed the door after he left, locking it for the night. Slowly, he picked his backpack up off the floor and tossed it onto his bed as he plopped down next to it. He unzipped the bag and pulled out his Literature book, along with a pencil.

He chewed on the end of it, a force of habit of his, as he thought over what to write. He had to write an essay about Charles Dickens. He hadn't read much of his work, save for the few excerpts they read in class, and didn't quite know how to start. Normally, he was pretty good in Literature, Language if you will, and was currently getting an A in that class.

'Unlike Danny, who has a D,' he thought to himself with a chuckle. He wasn't laughed because his friend wasn't doing so well in that class; he was laughing because Danny chose to get a D, by doing his homework and tearing it up in the teacher's face out of pure boredom. That had resulted in many trips to Skimmer's office because of those stunts, and had even gotten him ISS on three occasions.

Danny didn't really care, though. Liam knew he'd care if it happened to him, but Danny just passed it off as a part of life and moved on, hardly ever dwelling on the past. Liam wished he could be more liked him, not dwelling on what had happened. As Danny said, it was just 'water under the bridge'. It couldn't be changed, it was in the past. Let bygones be bygones and whatnot.

Liam sighed and carefully began his essay, listening to the thunder as it gave a sudden roar outside his window. The rain immediately began to drizzle and pound against his window. He got off of his bed and shut his window, pulling the blinds down, and the curtains shut. He had a thing about the rain, nowadays. He didn't like it much. He figured it was because he was found in the rain when he was three, that it was some locked away memory of his childhood.

It was strange, really. From the ages three to eight, he couldn't really remember anything. A few things here and there, but for the most part, he didn't remember. He wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to remember, or because something had happened to make him forget. With a sigh, he settled back down on his bed and picked up his pencil.

Enough about the past, he decided. What really matter was the future. He could do nothing about what had happened, he couldn't change anything. He sighed again and started writing once more.