Identity Crisis

Chapter One Continued

There was only one person at the park, when we got there, sitting on a bench, in a black jacket, the collar flipped up to cover most of his face. He reminded me of John Travolta's character Danny on "Grease." You know the pretty bad boy type. He didn't look at us when we walked up to him. Instead, he stared out at the small pond full of ducks. It was amazing how much he looked like Bane except for his ice-blue eyes.

"So, what do you want Bane, you said it was urgent. Who's the girl?" He sounded almost bored as if nothing in the world could interest him.

"This is my friend, Gryffyn. I wanted you to meet her." Bane said giving me a nudge forward.

"You must be Gedeon. Hi, nice to meet you." To my own ears, I sounded almost as bored as Gedeon did. He looked up at me. His eyes were almost lifeless as if he had decided he had no reason left to live, but when he looked at me a spark sprang up in those ice-blue eyes. I thought perhaps I had imagined it, but then he smiled.

"Nice to meet you too, Gryffyn. You're going to school here?" He still sounded bored, but there was more life to his voice now. I was wondering what was really wrong with this guy.

I shrugged and asked, “Yeah, but I haven't seen you around. Why aren't you going?"

He chuckled and looked down at his hands, "I find the whole scene much of a bore, Gryffyn. None of those halfwits can see past their own wants. They don't care about anybody but themselves. The things they teach you, most of it isn't even true, but they make you think it is, and they want you to know it the way they tell it. Nonsense, the lot of it. A waste of time."

Irked by this bad boy wanna be, this should be goth, I had quite a lot to say. “Well, aren't you a fluffy bucket of love and companionship? You think anybody wants to waste their time getting up and going to school every morning for more than half their lives? Yeah, it's a lot of nonsense, teaching the same things over and over again, year after year, it's something to do though. Life has no meaning if there isn't some kind of social interaction of some kind. School may not be the best place for it but having someone to talk to definitely makes it worthwhile. Are you just going to give up because you had a crappy experience? That's pretty lame. I went from getting my homework and lessons sent to me via mail and having only my parents and twin brother to talk to, and the companionship of some very faithful equines, to a public school where most everybody is rude. In fact, today is the first time anyone has talked to me, and frankly it was somewhat of a blessing because I think I was about to become as boring and dreary as you are." So, sue me, I babbled...and vented a little. It does seem a little nonsensical...and I really didn't even know the half of it.

Gedeon looked offended and Bane looked as if he was trying to hide a smile. I addressed Bane, "Looks like this was a waste of both our time. I gotta get home so I can get my boring homework done, so I can turn it in to my boring teachers for my boring grades. See you later."

"Wait, I'll drive you." Bane said and began to follow me, but I stopped him.

"No need. I can walk, it's not too far from here. Besides you two seem to have things that are much more interesting to do than to interfere with my boring life." I knew I was being rude, and it felt good. I also couldn’t help it. He'd irked me and all of my pent-up feelings just boiled over. I didn't even feel any shame for taking it out on Gedeon which kind of worried me. I didn't want to be that kind of person, but then again, my usual self didn't seem to be getting any votes.

When I got home, my parents weren't there, but Zif was, and he was waiting for me. "You don't know who that boy was. The one you drove off with. Why did you just take off with him? You have to be more careful. It's not like you really know anyone around here and what if he had other ideas, huh? What if you never came home again?” Oh, so he was going to play the big brother game, was he?

Rankled even further than before, I yelled, "Mind your own business, Zif! You do at school; home shouldn't be much different." I instantly regretted yelling as I saw how much my words had hurt. It was his own fault though, treating me like he had been.

"You’re my sister, and that guy seems like a creep to me. I don't want you hanging out with him." He said, sounding a little pathetic, like what he said wasn't really what he had meant to say. He was also angry. If we'd been in a cartoon world, steam would have been coming out of his ears.

"Well, that's not really up to you, is it? Like I said, mind your own business, you seem to know what your priorities are most days, I don't know why today is any different." The words were like vomit, coming unwelcomed and unannounced. I left him standing in the living room where he had met me, looking wounded and, if possible, even more upset than before. Well, he wanted to be a douchebag at school, so he could deal with me being one at home. He'd really ticked me off. What was even more amazing about the situation is that it wasn't even like me to be that way. Usually if something were bothering my brother and he approached me that way, had it been any other situation, I would have stayed silent until he broke and told me everything. I just don't think I really wanted to hear what he had to say.

Instead, I ran into the kitchen, grabbed some apple slices from the fridge and ran up to my room. With the stereo cranked up, and my homework sprawled all over my bed, I set to work, blocking everything else out for just a little while. At least until Mother poked her head in and turned the volume down a notch.

"So, you left with a boy, did you?" My mom asked, sitting down next to me on my bed. I rolled my eyes.

"Zif." I huffed. My mom smiled.

"A boyfriend perhaps?" She inquired, a sad knowing smile. I smirked.

"No, just a friend. He wanted my help to talk his brother into coming back to school, but I don't think it went so well. He was pretty down about it. I hope I helped, but I'm not expecting to see the kid tomorrow." I told her. It sounded pretty lame to my own ears even.

"Oh, I see.” She said, averting her eyes and patting my leg. “Well, honey, school isn't for everyone, some kids just don't have the drive for it. Anyway, dinner will be done in an hour if you’re hungry." She kissed my forehead and left. Gosh she was just a wonderful pep talker, wasn't she? I mean, really, way to go trying to make me feel better mom. My mom is usually the best person to talk to, but she isn't all that great at making people feel better because she can be too blunt too often. Perhaps that's what made her such a great author. Oh, I left that out, huh. That's right, my mom rights novels. She is quite the novelist even. I know for a fact that she has over thirty books already published and another five under review. She writes pretty fast, considering she takes care of so much through the day. I sighed, laid back on my bed, and moved my foot to the rhythm of the music.