Other People are Hard

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 17]

Do you know how when you get a new thing you want to use it all the time? You also can’t help wanting to talk to people about it, too.

I mean, the internet wasn’t really new. But having it be really fast was something new. Rune Quest usually took minutes to get to the log-in page. And that’s already on top of having to wait for the internet to dial-up. Those times of waiting for the loading bar to reach the end were over. With the new internet, I could blink and it would be done. And that meant more time for actually playing.

It was the next day after the internet got installed. Jakey and I met up like usual at the bus stop in the morning before school.

“My dad finally got us DSL,” I said proudly. I didn’t want it to seem like I was bragging, but when you’re excited that’s what it can sound like.

“Oh, cool,” Jakey said back. He didn’t sound like he thought it was really that cool.

“It’s so fast, like just as good as the internet the school has,” I continued explaining. I thought I could get Jakey excited with me.

“The school’s is probably faster since they have to connect so many computers,” Jakey said back. Even if he wasn’t as excited as me about my new internet, I was kind of annoyed that he was putting it down.

“My dad said it wasn’t that expensive,” I decided to say.

I was thinking that if Jakey talked his own parents into getting DSL for their house, we would be back on the same level. The bus pulled up and let us on. Jakey wasn’t going to be going anywhere while we were on the bus. I figured it would be the best time to convince him.

“My dad says now we can cut that old second phone line that my mom used to use,” I said. “He said not a lot of people have more than one line. It was actually kind of expensive. But yeah, with this new DSL, you can still use the phone even if you’re on the internet. And, on top of that all, my dad says he can connect his work laptop to the internet at home, and it doesn’t even cost any more!”

“It’s still the same internet,” Jakey huffed. He was just looking at the back of the seat and not me.

“Yeah, I mean…” I began to say. I didn’t know what I meant or what to add. I changed the subject to something I knew he liked more. “Rune Quest loads so fast, now, too. Do you know how it used to lag when you moved to a new area? It goes so quickly, now! I bet I’ll be able to level up so much faster and get to your level. When that happens we can finally try to fight the goblin king!”

“The Goblin King is stupid and he doesn’t even drop anything cool!” Jakey said pretty loud. Some people turned around in their seats toward us. Some people laughed. Talking about Goblin Kings probably wasn’t something the average person did. I didn’t know why Jakey blurted out like that, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk anymore.

When lunchtime came around that day, I hoped that Jakey was going to be in a better mood. If Jakey was going to be permanently upset at me, it would make going to the computer lab harder. I didn’t know what else to do if I couldn’t go to the computer lab. Of course, being Jakey’s friend was important, too, so I wanted to be able to talk to him like normal again.

Talking about things other than Rune Quest and the internet made Jakey less grumpy. We were able to talk a little more at lunch, and then again on the bus back home. We even met up online in game that afternoon. Even with my new fast internet, it was just like the good old times.

Sharing

“So, that new internet is super fast, huh?” My mom asked at dinner.

I realized she was talking to me. I glanced up at her and nodded.

“Must be pretty great,” she continued. “I think I’ll somehow miss the old sounds the internet made when you connected too it. Beeeeep, kshhh, brr,” my mom hissed, trying to copy the sound of a dial-up connection.

I laughed a little bit. Moms can be funny when they want to.

My dad laughed too. “One day when you two have kids you’ll have to explain the old way of getting on the internet, and how it made all those crazy sounds. They’ll never believe you,” he said.

“You’ll have to show me how to use it,” my mom seemed to ask. “How to print, too. I want to go on the internet and find some recipes to try out.”

‘Ugh,’ I said to myself, but only in my head. I had a thought about the rest of my family using the computer. That would end up taking away from my time using it.

I had another thought. If I showed my mom how to do one thing, she would ask other computer questions too. That would eventually lead to a life where I became the person to go to for all technology questions. DVD players, car stereos, cell phones. All of those could have weird problems, and people would assume I would have the fix. But that’s going too far in the future.

“Sure,” I said back to my mom’s question. She would have gotten mad if I said anything else.

“You don’t use any recipes, mom,” Jess said.

My mom nodded proudly and tapped to the side of her head. “You’re right. That’s because I have my own recipes in my brain here. And because I’ve memorized a lot of the ones I learned from your grandma. But one of the women at my work, she brought in these cookies I had never seen before. She said she saw how to make it from a recipe on the internet, of all places!”

“I’d love to taste some new internet cookies,” my dad said.

“Internet cookies?” I repeated. It sounded funny. “What would internet cookies taste like?”

“Maybe they’d just be regular cookies, but made in the shape of ones and zeros,” My dad said vaguely.

“Ones and zeros?” I asked. “Why that?”

“That’s apparently how the internet works,” my dad began to explain. “That’s what the DSL installers said when they came here. That little internet modem box takes the electric signals in the wire and turns them into ‘ones and zeros’ for the computer.”

“Why not any other numbers?” Jess asked.

“Beats me,” my dad said. “I bet Mike will be able to tell us one day.”

I didn’t think I would be able to, so I just shook my head. I didn’t like having to make a promise I didn’t think I could keep.

“Well, the cookies I had at work were a little more exciting than just ones and zeros,” my mom said. “If I end up finding a good recipe, maybe we can have that sleepover we were talking about, Mike. Share the cookies with those friends of yours.”

I didn’t remember the sleepover my mom was talking about. “Sleepover?” I asked.

“One with Jake and Kyle,” my mom revealed. “How much fun would it be with the both of them? We’ll set up the den just for you three. There are those board games that haven’t been touched in forever. Oh, and of course, you can play around on that new fast internet of ours.”

“Oh yeah, I haven’t met this Kyle person yet, either,” Jess spoke up.

I felt the expectations piling up on me. “I don’t think Jakey likes Kyle very much,” I said. I wanted to make it seem like the sleepover was impossible, but not because it was my fault. “Remember how Kyle said Jakey was fat and smelly?”

My mom sighed, “Well, yeah, I can guess that would make Jake upset. You should tell Kyle that makes Jakey feel bad.”

My dad chimed in with some of his usual wisdom. “We’d say you’re their mutual friend. It might be tough, but since you’re between the two of them, you can talk to both of them to even things out.”

“I haven’t talked to Kyle much,” I said. It was another way to make the whole sleepover thing impossible. “He has other friends now that he hangs out with.”

“Well, you were his first friend in a new place, at a new school,” my mom said. It was the truth, but it didn’t change anything for me. “That’s a special thing. And you even told me you play the same game online.”

I shrugged. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Well, nothing is set in stone,” My mom finally said. “Tell them about it and we can figure out a good weekend for it. Even if it’s after Thanksgiving break.”

I nodded but didn’t want to promise anything, so I just didn’t say anything. The moment I finished with my food, I wanted to disappear back into the den to the freedom and comfort of the computer.

My mom stood up right about the same time as me, even though her plate still had food on it. “Don’t go anywhere, Mike. I’d like your help with the dishes tonight.”

I didn’t like doing dishes, but I didn’t feel like saying no anymore that night. That sort of stuff tires you out. With our plates out of the way, we began scraping the plates and loading the dishwasher little by little while my dad and sister finished.

“You know, you and Jess are lucky,” my mom said after they had left.

I thought she might have been talking about not having to do the dishes all the time. Then I thought she might have been talking about the new, fast internet and a fancy computer to use.

“I guess by extension I’m lucky, too,” she said, passing me a plate to finish loading the bottom rack of the dishwasher. “Your dad makes plenty of money for us. That way I don’t have to work full-time. I mean, I don’t really have to work, but it’s nice having extra money for extra stuff, like vacations… even something like the computer.”

I wanted to say ‘thank you’ or something, but even that didn’t seem right. For once, I was fine and happy that it was just my mom talking at me.

“My schedule is flexible. Other moms working full time aren’t always able to be at home so early, make dinners, and help out with homework. Though, I think your homework is a little beyond me these days. Especially the math stuff.”

I nodded a little bit. “Algebra isn’t that hard.”

My mom shrugged. “Well, at least you’re getting it. You know Kyle’s mom, though?”

“Yeah?” I said like I was asking a question. I had seen her and I had said a few words to her, but I didn’t really know her.

“Chrissy has to work a lot. Kyle’s dad isn’t around,” my mom said like it was the worst news possible. “Well, I shouldn’t say it like that. He doesn’t live with Chrissy and Kyle.”

“Kyle has talked about his dad before,” I mentioned. “He says his dad is a businessman and he knows a lot of stuff.”

“I’m sure he does. Mike, this is one of those situations, you know, where a mom and a dad couldn’t really get along. They might still love each other, and they definitely love their child. Kyle, in this case. But it works out better for them to live in different places. That’s actually what brought Kyle out here to our neck of the woods.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “I understand.”

“Well, what Kyle’s dad does for him and his mom… he sends money to her every month. It’s an agreement he has with them. In our case, Dad can be here and help out with laundry, or dishes, or make dinner, or even solve crazy algebra math homework. Kyle’s dad can’t. Money doesn’t really take the place of doing those things, but it helps out.”

“You said that his mom has to work, though,” I said, recalling what was said before.

We had pretty much finished with the dishes by then. All we had to do was put in the dish soap and close the door and push the buttons to turn it on. My mom obviously wanted me there, though.

“Yes, which is why I also said that you and your sister are lucky,” My mom continued. “There are plenty of days when Kyle has to come home to an empty house. He’s an only child. Remember when I said that Kyle could come over any time he wanted?”

“Yeah.”

“It would probably be much nicer for him to be over here, having fun with a friend, instead of being home alone, wouldn’t you think?”

While I still thought Kyle was a little annoying and rude and definitely a liar, I had to agree with what my mom said. “Yeah.”

“It’s great that Kyle has other friends, too. But like I way saying, you were his first friend. And even if he isn’t perfectly behaved, I’m sure you can figure out a way to get along with him.”

I nodded. At that point, I just wanted to get the conversation over with. “I’ll ask him about a sleepover.”

“Yeah, I doubt that’s something he has ever had the chance to do,” my mom concluded. She turned away from me finally and got the dishwasher ready. “See if you can stealthily ask him what his favorite dinner is, too.”

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A New Speed of Cool

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 16]

Humans are creatures of habit. I don’t know where I heard that, but it sounded good. Like, I like to do the things I like to do when I want to do them.

It was well into Fall and I felt like I had school stuff figured out, especially since Kyle had found other friends to hang out with all the time. During the week, I went to all seven of my classes, with a little bit of time in the computer lab before the last two periods of the day. After I came home, I did any bits of homework that I had. After that was done, I turned on the computer and dialed up to the internet for Rune Quest. If you’re wondering, me and Jakey were still trying to get better gear and levels before taking on Goblin Stronghold again.

There’s one bad thing about always doing the same things every day, though. That’s when you have to change something in your schedule. Everything gets interrupted. Even if you try to pick up where you left off, everything feels wrong. You have to wait for the next day to feel like everything is right again.

I think I first realized this feeling when I had to get pulled out of school to go to the dentist a second time that semester. That time, it was to get that dang cavity drilled and filled, if you were wondering.

My sister Jess strangely didn’t seem to do the same thing every day. I always wondered how she did it. Sometimes she hung out with friends at their house, and sometimes they came over to ours. Sometimes she would come home and turn on music in her room and sing. It was whiny girl music or music with a bunch of boys singing all at once. Other times she was in her room quiet, working on homework or something.

Sometimes she had ‘extra-curricular’ activities, which meant being at school even if you didn’t have to be. That was the most confusing part. Those sorts of things were something I would never want to be a part of when I eventually went to high school. The worst part of them? Sometimes they caused me and my parents to have to be there.

That day it was a thing called a track meet. It’s a thing where people meet up at a track and run around it all afternoon. They race each other sometimes. It all seemed unnecessary, and it stole my afternoon of playing Rune Quest away from me. All me and my parents could do was watch the running and racing from the stands.

At least we went out to dinner afterward. It was at a fast food restaurant instead of a real restaurant which was kind of nice. Also, my parents focused on Jess and how fast she ran instead of trying to talk to me while I was eating.

When we finally returned home, I went straight to making up the time I had lost. That’s as far as I got, though. As soon as the dialing sound of the internet came on, I heard my mom’s voice from the next room.

“Getting on the internet at this time? Give it a rest for just today, Mike,” she called out. I think she made decisions like that randomly just to annoy me. “It’s already late. Don’t you have any homework to do?”

I thought about all the progress I could have made if I had just been home at the regular time. I was also mad at the loud computer sounds that always told my parents exactly when I was logging on. The computers at school were stealthy, like a spy in a movie, not to mention fast. A plan was hatched in my mind.

The very next day at dinner time, I asked the most important question of my life. “Dad, can we please get DSL?”

My dad swallowed his bite of food and leaned his head in thought. “DSL. DSL? I swear I’ve heard that before. But I can’t say I know what that is off the top of my head.”

“Direct… speed line,” I said. That was the definition that Kyle had said back during his visit. I knew it was probably wrong, but saying it probably sounded smart. If I sounded like I had thought about it, my parents would probably think about too. “It’s high-speed internet.”

“Ah, that’s right,” My dad nodded. He continued eating his food, ignoring my simple request. “Yeah, we have that at my work. It’s quite nice.”

My mom started talking like I imagined she would. “All the internet gets used for in this house is playing video games. Whatever we have now is working just fine for us. The internet is just one of those things that people are going to forget about in a few years anyways.”

Yes, this is something that people said back then. Plenty of people thought the internet was going to be forgotten about, like disco music or sending astronauts to the moon again. But let’s get back to the story.

“I don’t know about that,” Jess spoke up. Jess and I got along, but pretty much always did different things. The fact that she even spoke up at that moment about the topic of the internet made me think she had been replaced by a robot that looked just like her.

“Don’t forget, Jess,” my mom said. “We bought that brand new expensive computer so you can use it too for any school work. Don’t be afraid to kick Mike off his games so you can do what you need to.”

“We have computers in our classrooms now, too, that we can use,” Jess said back. “Even the library has a big area full of them. Mrs. Jackson says we can use one or two internet sources for our research project in History. Do you know how much easier it is not having to pry open one of those huge encyclopedias? No wonder people stopped buying them from you, mom.”

My mom smiled. It was a smile where she was actually upset instead of being happy. “Well, I agree, times do change.”

“I wouldn’t trust anything written on the internet,” my dad said. “It’s impossible to tell who wrote what stuff, and what they’re about.”

Jess sighed and twirled her hair with a finger. “All I’m saying is that it’s easier. And I guess they have that high-speed internet stuff at the school, too. The computers don’t make all those beeps and boops and phone-dialing sounds when you have to connect.”

My dad shrugged. He looked at me. I think he had suddenly remembered my original question. “Well, I’ll have to ask around at work to see if that DSS internet thing is worth it.”

“DSL,” I corrected. “And… Kyle has it at home, too!”

I didn’t want to bring up his name. If I mentioned him, my mom might ask about him. If she asked about him, she might find out that I stopped wanting him to be my friend. But at that moment, trying to convince my dad was the most important thing.

“I see how it is,” my dad laughed. He sat back in his chair, putting a pause on his eating. “You’ve got to have the best of the best to measure up to your new friends. I’ll tell you right now, money and fancy things aren’t the way to good friendships.”

A lot of my dad’s talks came back to talking about money. I think that was a dad thing since dads usually earned a lot of a family’s money. He didn’t know that my desire for DSL had nothing to do with making friends, but he didn’t need to.

“We already pay for that second phone line, Mark,” my mom said to my dad. “I mean, for the convenience, it’s nice, but…”

Even if Kyle wasn’t the best at being a friend, he had taught me a few things. I cleared my throat before telling my parents about the super special fact about DSL. “DSL doesn’t block up the phone lines, Kyle told me. We can get rid of that extra line or whatever.”

My dad grinned. “Seems like Kyle has a lot of information about this internet stuff. And here I thought we had the only technology expert in the world.”

“So…” I said. I said it like I really wanted an answer then and there.

My mom shook her head. That was rarely a good sign. “I feel like we had this exact talk about the computer back in the den, how it was so important for school. And now it’s just a gaming machine.”

My dad clicked his tongue and shrugged. “That’s one thing, and this is another. I’ll ask around, make some calls, and see how expensive it is. If we save money getting rid of an extra phone line, then I don’t see the reason not to take that path. How much do we pay for the dial-up already? Like ten dollars a month?”

A Dad’s Job

Dads do a lot. I think a lot of dads aren’t at home as much as moms because they’re doing all the work for their families. It wasn’t just a thing for my home, I was sure. I had only ever met Jakey’s dad once, and it seemed like he was rarely at home. At least Jakey never talked about his dad. He only talked about his mom and how she was annoying when she was at home with him.

As for Kyle, I didn’t talk much with him, but he still gave me plenty to think about. I had met his mom but obviously not his dad. All I had heard about Kyle’s dad was that he was a businessman. I never learned what business he had or what job he did. He was probably important or something.

Well, back to the topic of my dad specifically. Besides doing what he normally did, he spent the next few days asking around and making calls, just like he said he would. One day he was at home when I got home from school. That was something that rarely happened.

I thought it was something bad. I didn’t think I was in trouble because I had done nothing to get myself in trouble. I learned he was actually at home for a good reason. My dad had been at home to let the internet people inside.

DSL, the high-speed internet that I had hoped and asked for, was now being piped into our house. DSL internet came in a box. Or actually, it went through a box. One of those little computer boxes with different plugs going different places. This one had a lot of lights that told you if it was connected and if it was working or not. I learned from my dad it was called a modem.

Well, one of the wires going to that box was that old dial-up phone cord that used to go to the computer. I guess one of the jobs of the DSL box, err, modem, was to figure out what electronic signals were for the internet and what signals were for phone calls coming to our house. I only cared about the internet signals.

The internet people had made sure that the computer was ready to get on the internet. It was weird that strangers had been on my, or actually, my family’s computer. I guess that was required for them to do their job, and my dad probably trusted them.

There was a new icon on the desktop. Instead of going to one program that dialed up the internet, this new one, as my dad told me, would bring me straight there. I already knew about it from using the internet at school, but he didn’t need to know that. I think my dad was proud that he had learned something new.

Even though I knew the wonders of fast internet from school, having that same experience come to my home computer seemed like a brand new thing. I felt the same as when we had gotten the computer itself. I was at the cutting edge of technology and I could do anything. Nothing could hold me back. So I started up Rune Quest.

<– Previous Chapter | Next Chapter –>

A New Week

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 15]

All that week in Mrs. Carpenter’s class we were just finishing up our stories. The work meant that there wasn’t much time for Kyle to talk to me. I saw him working on his own story, even though he had said that he didn’t want to or need to do it. I felt just a tiny, little bit bad for him since he didn’t have as much time as the rest of us.

In a turn of luck, I didn’t see him on Thursday or Friday in the computer lab. Jakey didn’t ask me where I had been that Wednesday when I had been with the councilor. We just did the same things as usual as if Kyle had ceased to exist. On that following Monday, I learned why I hadn’t seen much of him.

That was the day when the final drafts of our stories were due in Literature. Mrs. Carpenter had given us the weekend to put the final touches on it. I was very happy with the conclusion, with my Squire character taking care of the Knight after he had been injured. It wrapped up the conflict by teaching the Squire that he was important, even if he wasn’t able to fight as well as the Knight. My paper was just about five pages, which is probably the most I had ever written for one paper. A lot of people’s stories weren’t even that long. I was super surprised that even Kyle had a story to hand in.

Those stories got collected right away at the beginning of class. Just after, a miracle occurred when Mrs. Carpenter turned off the lights and turned on a movie for us to watch the rest of the period. I guess she wanted to start reading through all of our stories right away. A little ways through the beginning of the film, Kyle leaned in close to me and whispered.

“Hey, want to come and play football on the field today at lunch?”

“Football?” I whispered back. It was the game we had just started playing in P.E. I knew enough about football to figure out I didn’t like it and that I didn’t know any of the rules. When I was forced to play it there at school, I just ran around and hoped the ball didn’t get thrown at me.

I pulled away a little bit and looked at him. “Uh, no thanks.”

“It’s really fun,” Kyle said back lowly. He seemed too excited about it. “Me and some guys from my math class started playing last week. We have a couple of teams going. Come on, dude.”

“No!” I said almost a bit too loud. I glanced at Mrs. Carpenter’s desk to see if she noticed. I didn’t think she did.

“You can even invite Jake,” Kyle said, poking my shoulder with his arm. “Well, only if you really want him to tackle someone and kill them,” he laughed.

“Shut up!” I definitely shouted too loud that time.

I saw Mrs. Carpenter’s eyes in the light of her little desk lamp. “Does one of you need to step outside?” She threatened.

“No!” Kyle said before me. He sighed and laid forward on his desk, resting his head on his arms. I separated myself from his seat the best I could and just focused on the movie.

Even though I tried to get out before him, Kyle caught up to me leaving the classroom. “You know I’m just messing around, right? We aren’t allowed to tackle anyone. The yard duties get mad at us. We do this thing called a one-hand touch.”

I remembered what Mr. Adams had said to me about dealing with people like Kyle. At the same time, I was still upset at what he had said. “I don’t care about football or whatever! Why do you always have to say junk like that about Jakey?” I yelled back at him.

“Whatever, dude, he’s not here,” Kyle shrugged. “And you can’t say that he isn’t fat.”

“He’s my friend!” I said louder. A few people were looking at us. “Even if he is big and fat, he’s still a nice dude. A lot nicer than you. And you’ve said plenty of bad stuff right to his face. So just stop!”

Kyle huffed at me like it had been the first time he had been told to not be so mean. “Fine. Whatever. You’re gonna make me late for my next class.”

My legs were shaking. Several people from my literature class were looking at me. I took a deep breath and went on my way, happy that he was going to leave me alone.

The Picture on the Background

Kyle didn’t talk to me those next two days in Literature. It was actually pretty nice. I trained myself to not look at him or even in his direction. I thought that if we both ignored each other, he would forget about me. Then I would eventually forget about him and the not-so-great friendship we had together.

It was Wednesday then. Lunchtime, to be exact. I went on my way to the computer lab like I usually did. This time, I spotted Jakey and all the other guests of the lab out front. Obviously, something was stopping them from going inside.

“What’s up, Jakey?” I said. He noticed me. “It’s not closed today, is it?”

I was imagining (and dreading) the thought of having to go to the cafeteria to eat. Then having to play outside under the sun.

“There’s a class in there,” Jakey said. There was a sign on the door. I don’t know how I missed the white paper held up with magnets in the corners.

“A class at lunch?” I asked. “And since when is there a class in here?”

“I just poked my head in. They’re almost out,” Jakey said, reassuring me. “Teachers can sign up for a time in here and Mr. Tate can teach them a thing on the computers. Like how to find something online. Or type an essay.”

I think I remembered something like that. Mrs. Carpenter said that we would type our stories up after they were finished being read and graded.

The door to the computer lab suddenly sprung open. There was a sudden river of kids pushing their way out, all ready to get to the outside and eat their lunches and talk and run around. They were the opposite of us.

“Finally, freedom!” I heard a familiar voice. “Oh, dang, it’s Mike!”

Kyle had come out with the class. He stopped and pulled his backpack over his shoulder. Even though Jakey was there, he only said hi and talked to me.

“Hi,” I said back. I don’t know what Kyle was waiting for.

“The usual stuff, boys?” He said with a smirk, talking about our games in the computer lab.

“Yeah, the usual stuff,” I said back in the same tone that he had used.

“Cool. Oh yeah, there’s one thing you never told me, Mike!” Kyle said, pointing at me and nearly poking me in the chest. “My friends who I play football with said the cafeteria has pizza on Wednesdays. I got my mom to give me money for it today instead of eating the gross stuff she usually packs! I could have been eating good all this time.”

I shrugged. “We don’t eat in the cafeteria. How would we know what they have there?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, whatever. Well, good thing he doesn’t eat there, or they would run out of food. Hah!”

He was clearly talking about Jakey. I looked back at my friend. He seemed unbothered like he hadn’t even heard what was said. I had heard, though.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I wanted to punch something. I wanted to punch Kyle. I balled up my fist and held it by my side. I was ready to punch him. But I didn’t. Jakey suddenly walked between me and Kyle.

“If you don’t go now, they’ll run out of all the pizza, idiot,” Jakey said lowly.

“Shut up!” Kyle said. He began stomping down the hall. I could hear him still complaining. “Stupid Mr. Tate and keeping us in so late!”

Jakey went inside the lab without saying anything else. I wanted to say something to him, but I could barely keep up. We both sat in our same spots. We both typed in our usernames and passwords like normal. I kept looking over to Jakey.

“You should tell him you don’t like that,” I said finally. “I mean, I’ve told him that it’s rude. But you need to tell him, too.”

“I know I’m fat, Mike,” Jakey said back plainly. One of his hands was moving around in his backpack, searching for his paper lunch bag. “My dad is fat, and my mom is pretty fat too. She says it’s a disorder in my dad’s family. I don’t know what that means. But I don’t think I can do much about it. So I’ll just stay fat.”

“You’re… not fat, though,” I said as if that mattered.

“Dude,” Jakey sighed. There was almost the sound of a laugh in his voice, too. “Do you know how when you get a haircut, and everybody says ‘hey, you got a haircut!’ It’s like, yeah, I know. I went to the barbershop and had it cut. I saw in the mirror. It’s like that. Like, I don’t even care.”

I looked down at my knees. I think I was trying to find something to say to Jakey that was an actual compliment. I suddenly heard him laughing, and that laughing was getting harder.

“Dude, what the heck is on your screen?” Jakey said, his body shaking up and down while holding back his chuckling.

My eyes shot up. The computer had logged me in. The desktop background was changed from the default one. Instead, it was a horrible Paint drawing shining brightly in the dim light of the lab.

If you don’t know what Paint— the computer program— is, it’s the most basic art-making tool that every computer had back then. Anything that you made in Paint had to look terrible. I mean, there were only a few shapes and tools and colors you could use. Everything was pixilated, too. Even if you were a great artist on paper, you wouldn’t have been able to make something that looked good in Paint. Most things people created looked like you had eaten one of those colorful birthday cakes and then threw it all back up.

The picture on my computer’s background was horrible. It was horrible, first, because it was made in Paint. It was horrible, secondly, because it was made to look like a rude hand gesture.

The first time I saw this hand gesture was from the window of a car when I was out with my mom. I knew it wasn’t nice because my mom made a bunch of huffs and sighs at it. I won’t even tell you more about it so I don’t you don’t have to imagine it yourself.

I knew something had to be done about this horrible picture on my computer. I jumped up out of my chair. “Mr. Tate! Mr. Tate!”

The teacher stood up from his corner of the room. It was the first time I had ever seen him out of his seat. “What’s up?”

I was nearly jumping up and down. I suddenly realized that the picture on my screen could get me in trouble, even if I hadn’t created it. I almost turned off the monitor and ran when Mr. Tate approached my desk.

“Oh, well, look at that,” the teacher said, humming and covering his mouth. I think he was almost going to laugh like Jakey.

“I didn’t set it like that!” I said loudly.

Mr. Tate put his arms at his sides and sighed. “I get it, Mike. I know you wouldn’t do something like this. It must have been someone who was in that last class.”

I let myself flop back down in my seat. “Who was here before?”

Mr. Tate rubbed his chin in thought. “I can’t remember. But the same class is coming back tomorrow. Maybe the same person will end up in this spot. Then I can catch them in the act.”

I nodded. When I looked at the picture again, it didn’t seem as horrible as when I had first seen it. “I can change it back,” I offered.

Mr. Tate shrugged. “Eh, don’t worry about it. I don’t have any classes after lunch that will have to see it. Then all the computers get refreshed late at night, so they’re back to their original settings tomorrow.”

I nodded like I understood. I looked at all the icons on the desktop, each being a program that had to be installed. “Doesn’t that take a long time, getting all the stuff back on the computer every morning?”

Mr. Tate put his hands on his hips again. “Actually, no. It’s all automated. Something programmed into the operating system itself. Then there’s this thing called an ‘image’ that has all the settings and programs already built in. When the computer gets told to, it puts everything exactly how you want it.”

I understood most of what Mr. Tate said just then. I wanted to ask other questions before he went back to his corner. “How do you know so much about Computers, Mr. Tate?”

“Because he studied it in school,” Jakey spoke up. “College.”

“What he said,” the teacher responded. “Computers have changed a ton, especially since I was your age. They were massive things that took up whole rooms back then. They were mostly modern… mostly… about the time I chose what I wanted to study in college. If it interests you, they call it ‘Information Technology.’

“Information Technology,” I repeated.

“Or just I.T. for short,” Mr. Tate added. “But you guys will be able to follow the current technology as it keeps getting better. Soon, you’ll know more than me.”

I didn’t think I would ever know more than Mr. Tate, but I liked the idea.

<– Previous Chapter | Next Chapter –>

Adults Don’t Understand

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 14]

I almost was ready to burst out at Kyle as we went back to the computer after dinner. He had said the thing I had told him not to mention, the thing about going into the computer lab at lunch. I held back. I knew that even angry whispers would clue my mom into something going on. Kyle would have probably said something out loud, too, like how it didn’t matter. It did matter!

He decided to change over to his Rune Quest character. He showed me his armor. It was Mythril like he had said, but only the piece that went over the body. The rest of his armor was bits of iron and even leather, a lot weaker. I think he had probably sold a lot of stuff just to get the strong piece of armor so he could brag.

He was a higher level than me and Jakey, but only his fighting skills. Pretty much everything else, like the abilities to collect stuff and make stuff, was pretty low.

“How come you don’t do any mining or cooking?” I asked. I was hoping for a good answer. I didn’t get one.

“That’s boring. I just want to fight,” Kyle said with a shrug. He was already fighting something, a group of weak goblins near the starting area.

“But then you have to buy your own armor and food to heal yourself,” I said, trying to talk sense into him. I wondered if he even knew about all that stuff.

“I get money from the enemies I kill,” he said. His eyes didn’t leave the screen.

“But, like, there is so much good stuff you can craft too. I just crafted a bow so I can level up my archery and help out Jakey better.”

“Wouldn’t a sword work just as well?” he asked cluelessly.

I didn’t want to put in the effort to talk about the strategy for a three-man group that I had come up with Jakey.

I was almost relieved when the doorbell rang. It was definitely Kyle’s mom. Soon enough after the door opened, I heard our two moms talking. Kyle kept clicking away like he planned to stay the whole night in front of the computer.

He finally jumped up when his name was called from our front room, hurriedly smashing the log-out button. I followed after.

“Hey there kiddo,” his mom said. She was sitting on the couch with my mom. She was skinny, with short hair, wearing a baggy sweatshirt. “And you must be Mike.”

“Hi,” I said. I kind of nodded at her.

“These two had a lot of fun,” my mom said. “Of course, homework calls.”

Kyle’s mom pushed herself off of our couch and nodded. “Sure does. What do you say, Kyle?”

“Thank you for dinner and letting me stay,” He said. He was somewhere between his normal self and his super polite self.

My mom walked them both to the door. I waived as they walked back to their car, and my mom finally shut the door. I wondered if my mom was going to instantly ask about the computer lab, or about what we were playing.

“Okay then, that’s enough time on the computer today, Mike,” she said. Those words I was also expecting, but not what she said next. “He’s a good kid, Kyle. I’d say he’s free to come over any time he wants to… within reason, of course.”

The Longest Weekend

I didn’t immediately have a desire to have Kyle back after that, despite what my mom had said. I kept thinking about how he had gone and talked about the computer lab. I wondered if my mom didn’t hear it in the first place, or if she had forgotten to ask about it. I hoped it was the first.

I tossed about in bed that night, thinking about what could have happened if my mom was paying attention. I thought about what she would make me do at home if she thought I was messing around at school.

By morning I had forgotten all about it. Unfortunately, seeing Kyle first thing that next day at school brought it all back. My anger had been reignited. Of course, I couldn’t just let it out right there in the classroom.

“Hey Mike,” he said first thing before Mrs. Carpenter started calling roll and teaching. “That dinner last night was super good. I asked my mom to ask your mom to get the recipe for that potato thing.”

“Sure,” I said. That was all I said. Kyle tried to talk to me a few times that period, but I just mumbled back or pretended I hadn’t heard him. I even packed up early to avoid talking with him outside the classroom.

When lunchtime rolled around, it wasn’t long before I had yet another encounter. He rushed up to me on the way to the computer lab. “Hey, Mike! What’s up? You stay up late last night having to do homework? That’s almost what my mom made me do!”

“No. What the frick, man?” I shouted. I swerved into him, causing our shoulders and backpacks to ram against each other.

Kyle pulled away, rubbing at his arm before kicking at my ankle. “What the heck are you mad about? I didn’t do anything!”

I stopped and turned to face him. A few people were looking at us, but I didn’t care. “You blabbed to my mom about the computer lab! Last night at dinner.”

“What? I didn’t!”

“Yeah, you did,” I huffed, leaning into him. “You said that me, and you, and Jakey all hang out there at lunch.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You’re a liar! You did!” I yelled. My voice hurt from yelling like that for the first time probably ever.

“I didn’t, you freaking nerd! And if I did, I didn’t remember! And I didn’t hear your mom say anything about it, either. If your mom yelled at you about it, then it was your fault for bringing it up anyway!”

I stomped my foot. I felt my anger dying down. It didn’t have anything real to be mad at. “My mom didn’t say anything,” I said, my voice mostly lowered. “But you could have gotten her on my case.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Whatever! You’re wasting both of our times out here yelling at me. Dork!”

“Don’t call me a dork!” I said, almost laughing. I didn’t want to laugh. Just the way he said it was funny. I was still mad at him though, so I just turned back around, ready to finally go to the computer lab. Whether he followed me or not was up to him.

School that Friday came to a close and I found myself back at home with the whole weekend ahead of me. To my surprise, the topic of the computer lab never crossed my mom’s lips that evening. I couldn’t help thinking of the reasons I was still miffed with Kyle, though.

That weekend, I returned to my regiment of Rune Quest. I went back to my mining that Kyle had taken me away from. I was collecting materials and gaining experience just as usual until my chat flashed with a new message.

FirePlay3r has logged in.

I had forgotten I had added him to my friends’ list. My heart suddenly was beating faster than normal. If he noticed I was on too, he would want to chat and even play with me. My Kyle meter was already at max. I did the only thing I could think of, which was to log off right away.

I kept my Rune Quest hours to a minimum that weekend, avoiding a meet-up with Kyle, even if it was virtual. I did a lot of flash game playing and some browsing of the Rune Quest wiki, even if it loaded really slowly on our internet. I didn’t want to go do chores or other boring stuff that might clue my parents into thinking something was wrong. When something was wrong with me, they often blamed the computer and being on it too much. That was garbage.

That Monday came around after an extremely long-feeling weekend. Long feeling, but not in a good way. Kyle was there, in my first period, then in the computer lab, just being himself. I was able to talk to him like normal, mostly. I was kind of dreading the thought of him asking to play together online or even again at my house.

That Wednesday, one of those calls came to my science class, just before we got to go to lunch. “Mike,” said Mr. Jones said from the classroom phone. “Head to the office before you go to the cafeteria for lunch, okay?”

At the office, I had the same treatment as the time before. The lady behind the desk said hi to me. “Seems it’s Mr. Adams again. You remember where his room was, right?”

I answered that I did. I went up to his door which was held open like it was inviting me.

“There he is,” Mr. Adams twitched his head back at me from a pile of papers on his desk. “Come, sit. Oh, and the door.”

I guessed I was going to be there for a little bit. I set down my backpack and found the seat on the couch. I couldn’t remember if he told me I could eat there, but I wasn’t going to anyway.

“Now, I know I invited you here today,” the counselor began, turning his chair to face me, “but I think I completely forgot what I was going to ask.”

I didn’t fully believe that was true. “Can… I go, then?” I asked hopefully.

Mr. Adams slumped his shoulders and laughed one little laugh. “Well, I suppose I could let you go. But if I just sent you right back out, the ladies at the front desk might think I’m all harebrained and can’t do my job right. But while I’m remembering, how about you tell me what’s new with you?”

I shrugged. I was a shrug fully on purpose, not accidentally copying Kyle and the way he did it all the time. “I dunno,” I said.

“No new friends?” Mr. Adams asked. “I think I heard one of your classes got a new student.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” He repeated the same sound. His sound sounded more interested than mine.

“Yeah, actually. His name is Kyle. We sit next to each other in Mrs. Carpenter’s class.”

Mr. Adam’s eyebrows danced up and down before he responded. “Well, excellent. Make as many friends as possible, is what I say. Once you’re an adult, making new friends is harder. So the more you make now, the more likely you’ll have some sticking around when you’re all old like me.”

Despite his bald kinda head, Mr. Adams didn’t look that old. “You don’t look that old,” I said.

“Well, probably older than a lot of parents of Middle School kids,” he said with a sigh. “Now there’s no way you made friends with this Kyle right away. Tell me about it. What’s he like? Maybe I’ll run into him one of these days.”

I tilted my head in thought. “Actually, I think I talked to him first. After Mrs. Carpenter sat him by me sat him by me, of course.”

“Ah, one of those accidental friendships,” Mr. Adams hummed. “Those can be the best.”

“Yeah, and it turns out he plays the same online game as me and Jakey.”

Mr. Adams snapped his fingers like something had just popped into his head. “Ah, that’s right. You’re always heading to the computer lab at lunch. So, playing games at recess, are you?”

I looked down at my lap. I thought about what my mom would be saying if she knew that’s what I was doing. I thought about Kyle accidentally blurting out about it to my mom.

“Well, it’s your recess after all,” Mr. Adams said to end the awkward silence. “As long as you’re being safe and responsible, you’re free to do as you like. And Mr. Tate wouldn’t have his room open if he didn’t want kids in there. So, this game is online, huh? How does that work? Do you two fight each other in it?”

I sighed and began to answer. “Well, there is PVP— player versus player, where you fight other people. I like a lot of the farming and gathering and crafting parts, though.”

“I see,” Mr. Adams said, nodding.

“Kyle doesn’t like any of that stuff, though, He came over last week and we hung out. We played on his character…” I said. I leaned on my legs, looking away from the counselor. “He’s… he’s…”

I don’t know why, but I started to cry at that moment. I think it was because of Kyle. Every time I thought about him, my heart pulled itself into a tight ball— and not in the good way when you like someone. I thought about how he had broken his promise. I thought about how he had yelled at me the other week. I thought about how seeing his name in game made me want to log off.

My eyes were all blurry and my nose started to run. I couldn’t put any words together.

“Take your time,” Mr. Adams said. He scooted his chair over and put a tissue into my hand.

I sobbed for a little while, looking away from the counselor. “I don’t want to be Kyle’s friend,” I said as my tears and snot began to dry up and I was able to catch my breath.

“Let me put it together if to see if I have it right,” said Mr. Adams. He was leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. “You thought Kyle was going to be another nice person you could hang out with. Someone who liked the same things as you. Birds of a feather. But he ended up being not the person you thought he was? How close am I?”

I wiped my eyes with my arm and nodded. “He’s not nice. He makes fun of Jakey. He says he’s fat and he smells. He always brags about his stuff being better than mine. He’s a liar, too. When he came to play… he acted all nice and stuff around my parents… but that isn’t him. And… he broke a promise and won’t apologize.”

“I see. That’s a lot,” Mr. Adams said, nodding his head up and down. “I can imagine that your parents think he’s a nice dude, though, and you can’t say otherwise. He probably got a talking-to before he came over. ‘Oh Kyle, my son, be on your best behavior when you go over there,’” he added, talking like a grumpy, old mom.

“My mom said it was fine to have him over anytime,” I said, a final sniffle coming to my nose.

“But, obviously, you don’t want that. Does Kyle know that his actions are upsetting you? It doesn’t sound like he’s intentionally being a bully, at least to you, but he deserves to know if he’s putting you down. Nobody should force you to be his friend, but if you can talk things through and make it better, wouldn’t that be the best thing?”

“I guess,” I said, slumping back in the couch seat.

“Jakey might do the same thing if he feels like he’s been put down, too,” Mr. Adams suggested. “Standing up for him never hurts, either. When someone is being a bully, or just mean, they often stop when a third person calls them out. And… if Kyle doesn’t want to change how he talks with you two, I’d say it’s fair if you don’t include him for a while. He will realize that he drove away a friend acting that way.”

I nodded. Deep in my stomach, I felt two things. First was the weight of all my worries being lifted up, even just a little bit. Second was the hunger from not having eaten lunch yet.

“You said I could eat in here, right?” I asked sheepishly. I didn’t want to head out to the computer lab where the others could see my red eyes and nose from crying.

“You may stay here in the office until the end of the day if that’s what you need,” Mr. Adams offered.

“I’ll… probably go to my next classes after lunch,” I said after a few moments of deciding. Sitting around in an adult’s office for several hours seemed a little awkward.

“Still a good student despite it all,” Mr. Adams concluded.

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Dinner with a Friend

The Place Where Promises Aren’t Kept [Chapter 13]

Just about the time I suspected, I heard my mom’s voice from the kitchen. “Dinner in ten, boys.”

My mom’s estimations were always longer than what they actually were. Kyle had been wandering around with my character in the desert for a while, seeking out any challenges that might lie there. With the announcement from my mom, he unfolded himself from the chair finally.

“Let’s stay logged in so we don’t have to wait for the dial-up to connect us again,” he said as if it were the best idea ever.

“That’s what I usually do,” I began, “if my mom doesn’t tell me to get off, anyways. She bugs me to show her all the homework I bring home.”

“That’s annoying,” Kyle said back. He stretched his feet to the ground and shoved the chair back from the desk. “But whatever she’s cooking smells good. We should hop on my character after we get back.”

“Perfect,” I said with a nod. A thought suddenly popped in my head, just in case the topic came up over dinner. “Hey, don’t tell my mom that we hang out in the computer lab at lunch. She’d be even extra annoying.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said like he was half listening.

“You promise?” I said a little louder. I tugged on his shoulder to make sure he was listening.

“What the heck dude? Yeah, okay. I promise.”

My mom looked like she had seen a ghost when we came out to the dining room early. “Well, our two little warriors have worked up an appetite, haven’t they?”

“I can help you set the table, Mrs. Patricia,” Kyle volunteered immediately.

My mom’s neck snapped back in surprise. “Well, what an offer. But Mike’s dad already got that all set for us. Here he is now.”

I didn’t even hear or notice that my dad had come home. “Ah, the guest of the evening,” he said as he entered the room.

“Hello, sir,” Kyle said, offering up a hand to shake my dad’s.

My dad hand-shaked back with a grin on his face. “Well, what a fine grip. You could teach Mike a thing or two.”

My mom interrupted the meet and greet. She had a heavy casserole dish in hand and was bringing it to the table. “Well, I’m sure that all these manly-men won’t be able to proceed with empty stomachs. Let’s all have a seat and dig in.”

Kyle was like a different person in front of my parents. He ate neatly, made eye contact, and barely gave one single shrug. The cheesy potatoes my mom made were good, but the meatloaf to go with them was just okay. Kyle ate them both down without complaint.

“May I use your restroom?” he asked midway through dinner.

“Of course,” my mom said, pointing a finger down the hall. “The door on the right, right on the way to the den with the computer.”

After the door to the bathroom closed, my dad nodded happily. “Good kid.”

My mom nodded along with him and raised an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, what a great friend. You two having fun with your game in there? You’re letting him play, right? You could also get a board game out after we clear the table here.”

“Yeah, mom,” I said with a little bit of a tone.

When Kyle came back, my mom was ready with another suggestion. “Too bad the school night has to cut this stay short, Kyle. But I’m sure we can have you over again. Maybe a sleepover, even. That sound good, Mike? Even Jakey would be welcome. You must have met Jake, right, Kyle? Especially since you rode the bus here today.”

“Ah, yeah,” he said, kind of shakily.

My mom nodded as if she understood his tone. “I get it, Jake is kind of an intimidating kid, being so big and old.”

“And smelly,” Kyle said, revealing the person I knew.

“Ah, well,” my mom said, pausing. “There is that. That’s puberty for you, though. Mike’s older sister is the super girly type with all her makeup, but there was a time before she learned about daily showers and deodorant, too. You two will also have to deal with your own bodies going through those changes.”

“Yeah, my mom tells me about that,” Kyle said, nodding.

“If you can get through to Mike, here,” my dad spoke up, holding a fork in the air, “then you could get along with anyone. Period.”

“I don’t know about that,” Kyle shrugged. “I mean, I have talked to Jakey a little bit when we’re in the computer lab at lunch.”

I nearly dropped my fork at the mention of the computer lab. I wanted to kick Kyle under the table, but I figured it might have caused too much noise, or I might end up kicking my mom accidentally. I glanced over at her to see if she had been paying attention. She seemed more focused on Kyle and her dinner to have recognized the words ‘computer’ and ‘lab.’ Kyle didn’t even look at me.

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