It didn’t take long before Mom bought me an alarm. By third grade she was getting calls from school about how I was starting to miss school. She hated talking to anyone at school. She didn’t trust teachers. She always said that they were judging her. They thought they were better than her. I didn’t see it. I didn’t believe her. I knew that getting up was not something Mom wanted to do. Dad had odd jobs when he wasn’t high, so I couldn’t count on him. I spent all of third and fourth grade getting myself to school.
I went to school because there was nothing better to do. I wanted to do well. I also loved math. I guess I was good at it. It felt good to see the looks on other kids’ faces when they’d see that A on my test. They didn’t think a kid like me could get good grades. But my grades really didn’t matter to Mom or Dad. So the teacher’s threats about getting my homework done didn’t bother me. I did well enough on tests. I soon figured they wouldn’t fail me even if I never did homework. I made it all the way through eighth grade. I did just what I needed to do and no more.
I had better things to do. I spent little time at home. Mom and Dad didn’t care anyway. For a few years I hung around my building. I would start at the playground. It wasn’t long before most kids didn’t want to play with me. They said I always wanted things my way.
At age thirteen I was bored. That’s when I met Kaden Cruz. He was a couple of years older. He was leaning against the fence at the far end of the playground.
“Hey.” He smiled at me as I walked toward him. I had never met him, and I had nothing better to do. I thought his cut-off shirt looked cool. His light brown skin boasted a small tattoo. It looked like a band wrapped around his wrist. I couldn’t quite see what it was. I didn’t want to look too hard. I was afraid he’d get mad. Like it was none of my business.
“Hey.” I nodded at him.
“TJ, right?” he asked.
I tried not to look surprised. “Yeah. How’d you know?” I shifted to lean on the fence as well.
“Been watching you.” The boy nodded toward the playground. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, so I just nodded back. There was some silence before he said, “I’m Kaden Cruz.” He reached out his hand and I took it. He squeezed it and pulled my shoulder into his shoulder and then backed off again. We looked like two kids trying to be tough. I didn’t realize then how tough we really were.