C'est la vie
Written by Caleb Wilson
Part 2
Kai
On Thursday Kai Webster, after reporting to the school nurse, limped into the classroom followed by Mr Beardsley. As he went to his desk he looked in the direction where Timothy Clarkson sat and saw the desk was empty. Looking around he saw a few more desks vacant and noticed that the vacant desks were of Hunter and his mob. Realising that something must have happened in the two days he'd been absent from school he leaned forward to question Collin Ross, the nearest boy to him, but was stopped by Mr Beardsley beginning the roll call. For the moment he got a brief account from Ross, but had to wait till the first break to get the complete details of what had happened during his absence. He was told that Clarkson was taken to hospital after the assault. Hunter had been suspended for a week, and his gang for three days, which meant they would be returning to school tomorrow, and Hunter not till next Tuesday
Kai, after hearing what had happened to Clarkson, felt guilty about the incident, and realised that his actions, though not intentional, were instrumental in getting the boy injured. If he'd just told Hunter to get lost and refused to tear the homework out of the maths book none of this would have happened.
During his meal break he asked Mr Beardsley which hospital Timothy Clarkson had been admitted to, as he would like to pay him a visit. He was informed that Timothy was being discharged from hospital on Friday morning so he could if he wished visit him at home.
Saturday morning Kai told his mother he was going out to visit Timothy Clarkson. He'd come clean to his parents in the role that he'd played in getting Timothy injured and his somewhat lenient punishment of being removed from the position as class monitor, thanks to the intervention of Clarkson. He felt the least he could do was to visit the boy and see how he was. He didn't relish visiting him as he wasn't what one would describe as the boy you would most want to hang out with. But in spite of that there was something about him that made Kai realise that Clarkson would be a better friend than Hunter and his mob. In the looks department Clarkson was just ordinary. Sizewise he was diminutive for his age and as for his interacting with others it was unheard of. But still Kai felt he owed the boy and in some peculiar way he felt drawn toward Timothy Clarkson. Now as he neared the door of 26 Brentwood Avenue he took a deep breath and rang the bell.
A dark haired woman in her early to mid forties opened the door and on seeing Kai asked him what he wanted.
"Morning, Mrs Clarkson. I'm a friend of Timothy's and came around to visit to see how he is. I would have come sooner, but I twisted my ankle and have been off school for a few days." To Kai it appeared that Mrs Clarkson didn't seem too pleased when he enquired about Timothy, but nevertheless she resignedly said
"You'd better come in," and when he'd stepped into the hallway, she closed the door behind him saying "He's up in his room cleaning it. If you wish you can go up and see him. After you turn left at the top of the stairs it's the second door on the right."
"Thank you, Mrs Clarkson," Kai responded and made his way up.
He climbed the stairs two at a time and, as Mrs Clarkson had said, turned left at the top of the stairs and gave a gentle rap on the second door. There was no vocal response, but he heard footsteps and the door opened and he was looking down at Timothy Clarkson. There was a startled look on Timothy's face, then
"Kai, what are you doing here?" he blurted out at the tall nearly 6ft boy with blond hair and hazel eyes who stood in front of him. The taller boy smiled at the look of disbelief on the smaller boy's face as he stood in the doorway and responded to Timothy's question.
"Came to see you and find out how you are. I was off school for a couple of days with a twisted ankle and only went back on Thursday and heard you'd been taken to hospital."
"Oh right, come on in and sit down. You'll have to sit on the bed, I'm afraid. No chairs in here," and Timothy led his visitor into the room. After they had both seated themselves Kai said "I asked Beardsley about visiting you in hospital, but he told me not to bother as you were being discharged on Friday morning and I could visit you at home. So I decided to leave it till today and here I am."
"Thanks for coming over, Kai, but you really shouldn't have." Then with a concerned look on his face he said
"Was my mum all right with you visiting?"
"Yeah, she was okay. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason," the smaller boy said looking a bit flustered, then changed the subject by asking "How's your ankle?" Kai looked around the room while Timothy asked his question and continued to do so as he answered
"It's okay. Still a bit painful, but nothing to worry about."
He noticed that besides the bed that they were sitting on the only other furniture in the room consisted of a small wardrobe and a chest of drawers with a mirror standing on top of it leaning against the wall. There was a shelf fitted to the wall at the foot of the bed which had umpteen books stacked on it. The floor had brown lino and nothing else except for a bedside mat roughly 5' x 4'. There was an awkward pause in the conversation till Kai said
"I'm going to the shopping mall to have a look around. You want to come?" Timothy looking nervous, shook his head saying
"I don't think my mum will allow me out and if I asked her she'd most probably get mad at me."
"Don't worry, Timmy," Kai said shortening the boy's name. "I'll ask her, then it will be me she'll have to speak to, not you. Come on, let's go find her," and Kai stood and made his way towards the door with a reluctant Timothy following. They found Mrs Clarkson in the sitting room with Timothy's sister. The moment she saw her brother walk into the room she was out of her seat and running towards him yelling "Timmy, are you going to play with me?"
Lifting her into his arms he pecked her on the cheek. "Not now, Lindy. I'm with my friend, but later we can play."
"What's your friend's name?"
"Kai ."
"Ooh, I have a friend in school who has that name." Just then Kai, after smiling at Timothy's sister and saying hello, turned to Mrs Clarkson asking
"Is it all right if Timothy accompanies me to the shopping mall?"
"I'm not sure," Mrs Clarkson responded. "I don't want him getting into trouble."
"It's all right, Mrs Clarkson. Timothy won't get into any trouble. I'm the last one to let that happen, especially as my dad is an elected member of the local council."
"Your father is a councillor?"
"Yes, he's also Head of the Children's Welfare Board, so I can't afford to get into any trouble. If I did, the newspapers would have a field day and plaster my name all over the front page." Mrs Clarkson looked a bit concerned when she asked Kai "What do you mean Head of the Children's Welfare Board."
"You know, Mrs Clarkson," Kai responded to her question, "like if kids were being abused and ill treated, or in financial need. He works with the local social services department and makes sure that all cases come to a satisfactory conclusion."
Still looking a bit uneasy, Mrs Clarkson looked at her son and said "I suppose it would be all right for you to go out, but mind you don't get into any trouble."
"Yes, Mum," Timothy replied keeping bottled up inside the feelings of exuberance that wanted to burst forth from his mouth in the form of a cheer. He looked at Kai as if he were some kind of super hero freeing him from the chains that his parents had enveloped him in. Gently kissing Linda on the cheek and lowering her to the floor he said "I'll play with you when I come back," and voicing his goodbye to his mother, he quickly followed Kai in his stockinged feet to the front door only stopping to slip on his trainers, then quickly make his way outside.
As they walked down the street Kai started to cross over the road and was stopped by Timothy asking
"Where are you going?"
"The bus stop."
"Umm, can't we walk to the mall?"
"You're joking, Timmy. It's about three miles to the centre. We'll be knackered by the time we get there."
"No, we won't. I walk to school and back every day. That's about two miles each way and I don't get tired."
"Yeah, well, I will. We're going on the bus."
"You can always lean on me, Kai, if you get tired." Kai, getting a bit peeved, said
"Do you really think if I were to put all my weight on you, Timothy, you'd be able to support me?"
"Well, I could try, and in any case I haven't got any money for the bus."
"Okay, do you want to nip back home and get some?"
"I told you. I don't have any money for the bus or anything, and before you say it, no, I can't ask my parents. They don't give me any money." Kai looked at the small fifteen-year-old standing in front of him whom, if he'd not known better, he would have taken to be twelve.
"Don't you get any money at all?" Kai asked in astonishment. "Not even when you go to school?"
"I told you. I don't get any money, not even for school. I walk there and back and I take sandwiches and a drink. So my mum says I don't need any money."
"Okay, then I'll pay your bus fares. Let's go."
"My mum says I'm not allowed to accept charity."
"It's not charity," Kai said getting a bit annoyed. "I bloody asked you to come to the mall with me, so if I asked then as you're my guest. I can't expect you to pay."
"I dunno. If my parents were to find out I'd get a right earful and more." Kai gazed at the smaller boy who had a concerned look on his face.
"And who the hell do you think is going to tell them that I paid for you on the bus?" he said exasperated. "The Queen of Bloody England?"
Timothy smiled. "Okay then, but if I ever get any money, I'll pay you back."
"Shut up and let's go get the bus." And grabbing the smaller boy by the hand Kai dragged him across the road to the bus stop.
When the bus arrived they clambered aboard with Kai showing his pass and paying Timothy's fare. Then they squeezed past the bodies to find room where they could stand side by side in the densely packed bus. The bus took off and with the acceleration Timothy was thrown against his companion who grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him. Looking up he saw a smiling Kai looking down at him. He kept holding onto the taller boy's jacket as the bus made its way stopping and starting towards the shopping centre with more and more passengers squeezing onto the bus till Timothy found himself squashed face to chest against Kai. Moving his head from Kai's chest and looking up into the boy's face Timothy said
"We should have walked. This is crazy."
"I think you're right. We should have walked. I'm getting some mighty powerful odours from all these bodies and they're not nice." Timothy smiled and was thankful he couldn't get the smells; he had his nose more or less buried into Kai's body and quite liked the aroma emanating from him.
They arrived at the shopping mall and with the rush of passengers jostling to get off the bus they got separated. Kai walking along with the flood of people, turned to speak to Timothy to find the boy nowhere to be seen. He looked around desperately trying to locate his companion, but with the pavement being jammed packed with people all surging towards the entrance to the mall and because of Timothy's size there was little chance of seeing him. He started to walk back against the tide of human traffic twisting and turning till he broke clear of the mob. Then he saw Timothy, standing by the bus that had brought them to the mall looking around in bewilderment. The moment Timothy saw Kai walking back towards him he broke into a huge smile and started towards him. The moment they met up Kai grabbed hold of the smaller boy saying
"You had me worried silly. Why didn't you follow me?"
"I got pushed out of the way by the other passengers when we were getting off and when I did get off the bus I didn't know which way you'd gone, so stayed where I was. I knew you'd come back."
"How did you know I'd come back?"
"Just," was all Timothy said looking up at Kai. He looked down into the eyes that stared back up at him and felt a sense of comradeship with the small plain looking boy. Grabbing him by the shoulder he said
"Okay, Timmy, let's go and stick close this time. It's not too bad out here now, but once we get inside the mall it can get a bit crowded."
They walked side by side till they entered the mall through the huge automatic doors and the moment they did and Timothy saw the throng of humanity ahead of them, he grabbed the hem of Kai's jacket and hung on. Because the shops were having their spring sales there were more than the normal Saturday crowd. With as much time spent trying to avoid other shoppers as moving forward they eventually arrived at the shop Kai wanted to visit. Inside the sports shop it wasn't much better than outside in the mall walkway. There were customers all around trying out or looking at various products. He walked straight to the back of the shop where the trainers were on display and saw what he wanted and picked up an Air Max iD90 trainer and took it over to wait for an assistant to attend to them. Turning to Timothy he said
"I've been waiting to get these. They've reduced them from £120 to £95. What do you think?"
"They are really nice, but aren't they a bit too expensive?"
"No way, Timmy. They've been reduced by £25. It's a real bargain." Timothy shrugged his shoulders saying
"Okay, if you think so, but you only need them for getting from A to B. You're not going to be competing in any sports, are you?" Kai looked at the smaller boy standing by his side and paused to let what he'd said sink in. Suddenly he turned around and looking over his shoulder said
"Come on, Timmy," as he headed back to where he got the trainer from and replaced it. As they exited the shop, he said "You're right. I don't need to spend that much on a pair of trainers. I only really wanted them to look flash."
"I'm sorry, Kai," Timothy said as he followed him out of the store and into the mall, knowing that his remark was instrumental in his friend's decision not to buy the trainers. "I didn't mean for you not to buy them. That was stupid of me. What you want to buy is for you to decide and you shouldn't be influenced by what I say."
Kai stopped walking causing Timothy to stop hurriedly as well and turned to face his friend.
"Timmy, if you had the money, would you buy the trainers?" Timothy hung his head looking at his feet. "Come on, Timmy, answer me." He raised his head at Kai's insistence of wanting a reply and said
"It wouldn't make any difference to me if I bought them or not."
"What d'you mean?"
"The kids at school expect you to look good. They've come to expect it because of the way you've always dressed. With me if I wore the trainers, it would have a totally different effect and would most probably get me noticed for all the wrong reasons. It would have an adverse reaction and most probably get me into quite a bit of trouble. C'est la vie."
"Huh, what was that?"
"It's French and my aunt uses it quite often. It means that's life."
"Okay, but I don't think it would get you into trouble, Timmy. I think it would improve your image."
"Do you realise, Kai, that you're the only boy in our class that has spoken to me socially inside or outside of school. You've also never barged into me or sworn at me when at school or insulted me in any way."
Kai was a little embarrassed by the statement. He'd only spoken to Timothy after the incident with the homework and of course now visiting him from the guilt he felt because of his actions that caused the boy now standing in front of him to be physically assaulted. He had noticed how Timothy had been treated by the other pupils, but had been too involved with his friends and class monitor duties to worry about what effect they had on the boy. Now several days after the homework incident here he was with the class outcast. His thoughts were broken by Timothy saying
"It's okay, Kai. I know you didn't have much time for me at school, but as I said you didn't do the same things as the others."
"Timmy I'm really sorry I umm I shit! It was my entire fault you got hurt if I hadn't gone along with Hunter's plan you would never have been hurt."
He was interrupted by the smaller boy saying, "It would have still happened sooner or later Hunter, or someone else would have found an excuse to have a go at me so don't go blaming yourself."
"God!" he thought, "This kid is something else he's still trying to make excuses for me." He grabbed Timothy by the hand saying, "Come on Timmy, we're going to my place."
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
