Time

A Little Bit Counts

Caden and I met up again at lunch time. He had been rummaging through his backpack until he finally said, "Oh no! I forgot my lunch!" I offered him some of my salad and sandwich but he felt bad. "You need to eat, Caden!" "Well so do you!" I sat there, silent. I gave him half of my sandwich and a chocolate bar. "Take it, I don't like candy." I was glad to see him at least eating something. I ate my salad and other half of my PB&J sandwich. A group of guys came up and said, "Hey, can we sit here? Oh, hey Caden!" The guy looked at me before I could answer and asked, "What's your name? I'm Jared." "I'm Michael, you can call me Mike. Yes, you can sit here. It's nice to meet you Jared." The group of guys sat by us and we all got to know each other. I guess they already knew Caden and knew each other, just not me. "Glad you're making friends, Caden!" Said Yuri, one of the guys. "Thanks guys. It's always a struggle, but Michael is very nice." Caden said, looking at me, and back again. Another guy, Andrew, asked, "Michael, are you emotionless?" It took me a second to answer. I had never thought about this before, am I emotionless? "Maybe," I said. "I have't thought about that before... why?" "Because, you just seem.. I don't know, just not very expressive?" Everyone agreed, including Caden. "Yeah, I guess I could be. What's the big deal about it anyway?" "No, it's not a big deal, it's an observation. Sorry" I stopped him, "No need to apologize. I understand." The bell rang and we took care of our things. "Thanks again for the food," said Caden. "A little bit counts, y'know."