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Rob stood waiting at the bus stop. The early morning air was chilly; autumn was in full swing and the temperature had started to bite. Nonetheless, Rob still rocked his preferred outfit of a t-shirt and shorts. Well, he wore one of his larger shirts today, one that actually covered his midriff. He wasn’t completely immune to the cold. He waited alone, like he did every day, and had every day for years. There weren’t any other kids living in this part of the neighborhood, so, even though this stop was on the bus route, no one else ever really used it. Waiting alone didn’t bother him that much. He was used to it. Used to the feeling. He waited alone at the stop, sat alone at the bus, walked alone through the halls. Sometimes he’d strike up a conversation with someone, but nothing ever came of it. He tried to be nice, sociable, but he just couldn’t connect with people. He didn’t know why. His dads kept telling him that things got better overtime, that he’d find his people, but it had been years, and every passing day Rob grew more and more hopeless that he’d ever-
“Hey!” A rough voice jostled Rob out of his troubled thoughts, and he looked up and around like a startled deer. Down the block and to his right he spotted a familiar face heading his way, Julius. The sight of him made his thoughts feel a little less heavy. For whatever strange reason, Julius was one of the few people he’d managed to form a connection with. He didn’t know why, or how, but he wasn’t at all complaining. Well, it might’ve had something to do with the fact that he’d refused to leave Julius alone for a while, but he’d been trying to help! In any case, Julius eventually let him hang around. Encouraged it even. He hoped they were friends. It was kind of hard to tell with that crowd. But Julius seemed to like him alright.
Wait, what was Julius even doing here?
“Hi!” Rob exclaimed in response as Julius came to a stop beside him. “I’ve- never seen you use this stop before.”
“I haven’t. Just thought I might take a detour, y’know, spice things up a little.” He shrugged. “Besides, I thought I might find you here.” Rob’s grin widened as they fell into silence. Julius had that casual, devil-may-care air about him, the one that Rob had always admired. He seemed fine with the quiet, but Rob felt compelled to say something, to fill the space between them. He huffed.
“I am not looking forward to school today.” It was kind of a weak conversation starter, but he couldn’t think of anything else.
“Why’s that?” It was Rob’s turn to shrug.
“Eh, y’know, the normal stuff. I’m tired. It’s the same stuff every day. I don’t really have any friends. Well, not many. I have- you’re- we’re friends.” He trailed off and Julius nodded, looking thoughtful. Rob glanced around, feeling a little tense.
“Y’know…” Julius finally said, “We don’t have to go.” Rob cocked his head.
“You mean, like, we could skip?” Julius shot him a smirk and his voice picked up a mischievous edge.
“Yeah, let’s ditch this joint.”
Rob shook his head immediately. “What, no! No, we can’t do that.”
“Why not? You just said-”
“Because my dads would kill me if they found out!”
“Which is why they won’t find out.” Rob was the furthest thing from convinced, and Julius clearly wasn’t pleased with this outcome. “Okay, look, Rob, listen,” he said, snaking an arm over Rob’s shoulders and pulling him a little closer. “You are looking at the master of not getting caught. They’ll never know.” Despite the situation (and the position they were in), Rob couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.
“Yeah, you’re in detention all the time because you’re the best at not getting caught.” Julius scoffed and pushed the other boy away.
“C’mon dude, trust me! We’re not doing anything major, it’s just one day. What’s one day, huh?”
Rob would never have thought about skipping even one class before, much less an entire day of school. It was simply out of the question.
But Julius made it sound so appealing.
Or was it only appealing because it was with Julius?
He sighed. What the hell.
“Alright, let’s do it.” Julius’ face lit up.
“Really?” Rob nodded, cracking a smile and Julius’ expression. “I knew you’d come to your senses! So, now that your day’s freed up, what do you wanna do?” Rob didn’t really think that far ahead.
“Uh,” he racked his brain but came up empty. “I dunno. What do you usually do?”
“Well, me and the gang usually go around, do some minor vandalism, y’know the drill-” Rob made a face. “Buuuut something tells me you wouldn’t be into that, okay.” He paused for a moment. “How about the mall. That’s always a good place to start. Your parents won’t be there, right?”
“We don’t have anything we need to shop for, so they shouldn’t be.”
“Great! Mall it is.”
The decision made, the duo scurried away from the bus stop, down the street and towards their new destination. Rob’s hesitation and fear was still there, but it was quickly being won over by his giddiness and excitement and he couldn’t help but laugh. This was a terrible idea, absolutely terrible, and if he was caught he would be dead for sure. But on the other hand, looking at Julius’ face, he felt like he’d never made a more right decision in his life.