Back home, Bob stopped me before opening the door. "If they ask, we just went for a haircut, nothing else. If your mom finds out we went shopping and didn't take her, she'll murder me," he said with a serious look, holding my shoulders and speaking close to my face. When I nodded, he let me go and slowly opened the door to peek inside the house.
"Quick, PJ, go to your room, make sure your mom doesn't see the bags at all costs," he urged me as we entered the house.
"Halt right there!" suddenly yelled from the living room. "What is it that you don't want me to see, Bob?" Mom had appeared out of nowhere, directly in front of us. "Oh, PJ, what a nice haircut, you finally got rid of that awful hair," she said, getting closer to inspect it.
While a few steps toward us, her gaze fixed on the bags in my hand. "That is..." she seemed impressed, "Bob! You went shopping without me!" she exclaimed, and with a sigh, Bob walked over to the couch and sat down.
I slipped away from the commotion, grateful that Bob was receiving his wife's attention in the form of angry shouts. Mom completely ignored my presence. Carefully and trying to ignore Bob's cries for help, I made my way to my room where Gabe was practicing with one of the guitars.
Considering the short time Gabe has had the guitars, he played the strings with remarkable ease, at least to my inexperienced eyes. "That sounds good," I said, apparently startling the boy.
"PJ! When did you get here?" he quickly put the guitar aside, seeming embarrassed that I caught him playing it. I approached him, took the guitar in my hands, and handed it back to him.
"Come on, keep going. I gave you those guitars because I want to see you play them," I said with a smile. With embarrassment on his face, Gabe took the guitar, settled back on the bed, and began playing the strings, one by one, completing a circle.
Happy, I started putting my new clothes away in my wardrobe, still listening to the sound of the strings. "How long have you been doing this?" I asked Gabe, trying not to break his concentration. "Since the end of breakfast," he replied. It had been over three hours since he started.
After finishing putting the clothes away, I noticed a football ball on the floor of the wardrobe. I picked it up and couldn't resist throwing it lightly at Gabe's head to get his attention. When he turned with intrigue on his face, I teased him, saying, "Well, that's enough guitar for today. You'll hurt your fingers. Take that ball and follow me. Let's play with it."
I left our room on the way to the front yard, passing by Teddy's door, where I heard two voices talking. "So the boy I like doesn't have to speak first?" I heard Missy say. "Not necessarily. For example, in Colorado, there was this guy, Spencer, tall, very handsome, but he didn't talk to me, so I spoke first," Teddy replied. "And what happened then? Was he your boyfriend?" Missy asked. "Yes, he was my boyfriend," Teddy lied, laughing quietly at the girls' conversation. I moved away from their door and arrived at the living room.
Mom and Bob were sitting on the couch, Mom crying on Bob's shoulder. When he saw me, he silently asked for help, pointing to Mom and then to the remote control, which was far from them on the couch.
Ignoring Bob, I left the house and went to our front yard. The neighborhood was awake, people walking their dogs, neighbors mowing the lawn, a few women jogging. It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day. I was admiring everything when suddenly, a hit on my head made me lose my balance. Turning around, I saw the football ball on the ground, the one I had thrown at Gabe a moment ago.
"Revenge, PJ!" Gabe laughed from the doorstep.
We played catch with the ball for a while until, from the Cooper's house, Mrs. Cooper greeted us from her doorstep, dressed like the quintessential 90s Texan housewife, with Sheldon holding a green book over his face in front of her.
"Good morning, PJ, Gabe. It's a beautiful day to play ball, isn't it?" Mrs. Cooper said as she waved at us. "Yes, Mrs. Cooper, good morning to you too, Sheldon," I replied cheerfully, returning the ball to Gabe, who also greeted with a wave.
"Good morning," Sheldon said without taking his eyes off the green book.
Seeing her son's behavior, Mrs. Cooper snatched the book from Sheldon's hands and pulled him a few steps toward us. "Sheldon, why don't you join them? PJ, would you mind looking after him a bit?" Mrs. Cooper asked, placing her hands on Sheldon's shoulders.
"No, of course not, Mrs. Cooper. Sheldon, catch!" I said, throwing the ball back to him. "Or ignore it and let it fall," I added when I saw Sheldon not moving a muscle to catch it. "Sorry, Sheldon. Did I throw it too hard? Give it back, and this time I'll throw it more gently," I said, hoping Sheldon would pick up the ball. "Oh, no. It's just dirty, and I won't touch it," Sheldon said as if it were obvious.
"I'll leave him with you," Mrs. Cooper quickly said, heading back to her house, ignoring the looks of disbelief Gabe and I were exchanging.
"Well, you can stay here and chat with us," I said as I approached to pick up the ball. "What did you do today?" I asked as I threw the ball back to Gabe.
"I went to church with my mother. Since we're going to have a talk, I might as well ask you if you've ever had bad thoughts," he asked, for the first time seeming like a regular kid.
"Well, Sheldon, it's normal to have bad thoughts, but the important thing is not to be guided by them. I imagine the pastor considered bad thoughts as a sin and good thoughts as a grace from God, right?" I replied while continuing to play with the ball. "Exactly. That's what Pastor Jeff said, but I don't think I've ever had a bad thought, and I doubt my good thoughts are God's doing," he said.
"Don't tell your mom, but I agree with you on that one. You might not remember having bad thoughts because your own morality doesn't perceive them as such. However, the good thoughts are not necessarily God's doing, or at least that's what I think," I responded.
"My own morality?" he seemed intrigued.
"Yes, morality is a philosophical discipline that studies human behavior. It generally examines the social norms that define what is right or wrong. Your morality is defined by your environment. Like I said, your morality might be different from mine or Gabe's here," I explained as I threw the ball once again to my brother.
"I see. So, according to your theory, some of my thoughts might be perceived as good by me but as bad by other people," the boy said.
"Yes, it's not my theory. I don't know who invented it, and I'm not sure if you can consider it a theory to begin with. But yes, basically, that's it," I said, feeling a little bit embarrassed now.
"You were right yesterday. Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any significant damage in your brain," Sheldon said with a surprised expression. "You seem smart enough to have a conversation."
"Haha, the child genius thinks you're not a chimpanzee, PJ," Gabe said, laughing, as he threw the ball back. Retrieving the ball, I replied, "Yes, thanks for noticing that I'm not an idiot."
"You're welcome," Sheldon said before being interrupted. "Hey, Sheldon!" From the Cooper's yard, a chubby boy approached, holding a chicken in his hands.
"Hello, Billy Sparks. Hello, Matilda Sparks," Sheldon said in a monotone and bored tone.
"I heard you're going to high school tomorrow," the chubby boy said.
"Yeah, so you better find someone else to torment on the playground," Sheldon said, and to my surprise, this chubby boy who seemed foolish turned out to be a bully. I didn't see that coming.
"Torment? What does that mean?" the chubby boy asked, looking intrigued.
With an exasperated sigh, Sheldon explained, "It means to maliciously harass."
"Her ass? Haha, that's funny," the chubby boy laughed loudly, and Gabe laughing too lost sight of the ball, unable to catch it, and got hit in the face, which made me laugh too.
Apparently tired of the interaction, Sheldon said, "Well, this was nice. We were having an interesting conversation before you arrived, so you can leave now."
Seemingly annoyed at being dismissed, the chubby boy said, "Hey, doofus," and brought the chicken close to Sheldon's face. In fear, Sheldon screamed loudly and hid behind the nearest thing he found, which happened to be my body.
Behind me, Sheldon, still hiding, screamed again, making me realize that he was just a little kid and made me feel bad.
"That's enough, Matilda Spark. I think you should go," I told the chubby boy.
"My name isn't Matilda; that's my chicken's name," the chubby boy replied.
"Yes, I know. It was just a joke. You can go now. You're scaring Sheldon," I responded to the boy.
"That's the point of bringing Matilda to doofus. It's funny; look," he tried to come closer, but an object flew and hit him in the face, causing him to step back. "Ow, what was that?" he said, holding his nose with one hand and holding the chicken under his other arm.
"Sorry, I aimed wrong," Gabe said, who had thrown the ball.
The chubby boy moved his hand away from his face and upon seeing a bit of blood, ran back crying and shouting, "Mom!"
Seeing that his bully had run away, Sheldon came out from behind his hiding place, my body, and said, "Thanks, PJ, for trying to make him leave."
"Hey, it was my throw that made him go," Gabe protested, offended. "You should thank me too."
"But you said it was an accident," Sheldon replied curiously.
"Yeah, duh. It was a lie. I did it on purpose. It's funny to see how you got scared. But even I have limits," Gabe said with a smile. "Besides, my 'morality' told me to do it."
"There you have a perfect example, Sheldon. What Gabe did might seem bad to other people, but for the three of us, it's clearly a good deed. That's morality," I told the kid. "Although next time, Gabe, I don't want you to hit someone. Try to handle things differently," I said as I threw the ball back to him.
"Yeah, whatever," Gabe said with fake irritation in his voice, though his face showed the opposite, with a big smile.
"Shelly, what happened? I heard you scream," Mrs. Cooper asked, appearing to have rushed here, if her agitation was real.
"Oh, Mom, it's nothing. Billy Spark scared me with his chicken, but PJ and Gabe made him leave," Sheldon said, omitting the part where Gabe hit him with the ball.
"Is that so?" a very relieved Mrs. Cooper said. "Well, thank you very much, boys," she thanked us.
"You're welcome, Mrs. Cooper," we replied in unison.
"Come on, Shelly, say goodbye to PJ and Gabe. It's time for lunch," the smiling Mrs. Cooper said as she went back inside her house.
"I didn't tell my mom because I think she'd be one of those people who think what Gabe did is bad," Sheldon whispered to me.
"Alright, thanks, Sheldon," I whispered back.
"Goodbye, Gabe. Goodbye, PJ. Have a good day. See you at school tomorrow, PJ," Sheldon said as he walked away. "Oh, I remembered something. PJ, have your testicles dropped yet?" This time, I was the one surprised, and I missed the ball, getting hit in the face.
After Sheldon left to have lunch, Gabe and I continued playing until I got exhausted, which unfortunately didn't take long. PJ was, or rather, I am in very bad shape. In my previous life, maybe I wasn't the most athletic person, but my work as a paramedic made me gain some fitness. I need to start exercising again before it's too late.
The day passed without anything significant happening. Gabe went out to ride his bike, Teddy continued to stay locked in her room despite Missy having returned home, and I started studying PJ's books and notebooks again. They were battered, with missing pages, and the notebooks had few relevant notes.
The next day.
After taking a morning shower as part of my new routine I decided to go for a short run every morning to try and improve my lacking fitness.
Entereing the kitchen I greeted Teddy and Gabe, who were having breakfast at the dining table. I approached my mom, who was hurriedly preparing sandwiches and packing them, along with different fruits, into paper bags, one for each of us. "Darn it, Bob couldn't have scheduled that meeting later. Now I have to rush to drop off Gabe, then Teddy, and finally PJ. They're going to be late on their first day of school," she muttered with annoyance as she vigorously spread mayonnaise on one of the bread slices.
"Good morning, Mom. Do you need any help?" I asked, moving closer to the kitchen counter to grab an apple. "Sure thing, PJ. Please turn off the sprinklers while I finish preparing your siblings' lunches."
Heading to the front yard, I saw Mr. Cooper and Georgie leaving their house, heading toward Mr. Cooper's van. Quickly closing the sprinkler valve, I ran towards them and called out, "Good morning, Mr. Cooper, Georgie. Since you're going to school, could you give me a ride too? Dad had to attend a meeting with a client, and Mom can't take us all on time."
"Good morning, PJ. Of course, we'll wait for you. Go get your things," Mr. Cooper replied, opening the van door and getting in with Georgie.
Thanking them, I rushed back inside the house. "Mom, Mr. Cooper can give me a ride to school. You can relax now," I told her as I grabbed one of the paper bags, my backpack, and a small suitcase containing my special footballshoes for the tryout.
"Oh, thank him for me, PJ," she said, relieved. As I passed by her, she stopped me by the arm and kissed my forehead. "Good luck on your first day of school," she said, giving me a hug, which I returned. After bidding farewell to Mom and the kids, I left the house, heading towards the Coopers who were waiting for me in their van.
Inside Mr. Cooper's van on the way to school...
"Are you okay?" I asked, as I noticed Georgie seemed upset. "No, stupid bow-tie," he muttered under his breath, clearly annoyed. "Bow-tie?" I asked. "Yeah, my stupid brother lost it, and mom blamed me when I didn't take anything," the frustrated teenager replied with a sigh. "Hey! Don't call your brother that. If your mom got upset, it's because she's worried about Sheldon. Yes, it wasn't your fault, but you can't blame your mom. It seems like you hate the idea of your brother being in the same school as you," Mr. Cooper said.
"How could I not hate the idea of him being in my grade? You know what he's like. They're going to make fun of me," Georgie said, even more annoyed. "Yes, I know, but it's your duty as the older brother to protect him, Georgie. Let's hope your brother can behave a bit in school, and if not, you really don't have to hang out with him, you know? Just make sure he doesn't get hurt," Mr. Cooper said as he parked in the school parking lot.
"Yeah, whatever," Georgie said, storming out of the van towards the school.
"Thanks for driving me, Mr. Cooper," I said as I prepared to leave, but he stopped me by touching my shoulder. "PJ, I know it's not your responsibility, and I shouldn't ask you, but I would appreciate it if you checked on Sheldon from time to time and accompanied Georgie. He's upset with everyone, and I don't want him to do something stupid because of his brother," Mr. Cooper said, showing some concern.
"Of course, Mr. Cooper. Don't worry about it. I actually get along with Sheldon despite his... eccentricities, and I was hoping to befriend Georgie. After all, we might be on the same team. See you later at the tryouts," I said as I got out of the van and said goodbye to Mr. Cooper.
I didn't remember how nervous one could be on the first day of school. The entrance of the school was divided into many different groups. I could see the popular kids with the cheerleaders, the punks dressed in all black, with extravagant hairstyles, piercings, and makeup. There were skaters chatting while doing small tricks, a pregnant girl, and other people who didn't fit into any specific category.
As I walked inside the school, I felt some glances on my back and murmurs behind me. Being in a small town, it was natural that people would wonder who I was. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still felt the pressure.
Inside the doors, I ran into Georgie, who was talking to three other people. As I approached, Georgie noticed my presence and said, "David, Alan, Brock, this is PJ Duncan, my new neighbor. He'll be trying out with us." He introduced his friends to me, "We've been friends since middle school. David is our HalfBack, Alan is the FullBack, and Brock, along with me, are the Offensive Guards."
Greeting everyone with a high-five, we started walking towards the classroom while they were discussing the most common topic among teenagers their age: girls, breasts, and butts. At some point in the conversation, they asked me, "Hey PJ, what kind of girl do you like, ones with big butts or big breasts?" I replied, "Well, I've never really thought about it. I guess it doesn't matter to me, honestly." As soon as I said that, they fell silent, looking at each other until Brock spoke up, "Yeah, you're right! It doesn't matter whether they have a big butt or big breasts; both are great." He then asked for a high-five, and I happily obliged.
When we arrived at the classroom, I sat next to Broke at one of the two-seater tables. They continued discussing other topics now that we were surrounded by more people in a smaller space – from comics to music and last week's game. Occasionally, they asked for my opinion in a discussion, "Who do you think would win, Spiderman or Rambo?" or "Which robot do you think is cooler, Terminator or Robocop?" They kept going until... "Isn't that your brother Georgie?" David said, pointing at the door.
Standing at the door, looking like a little adult with a tucked-in dress shirt and a briefcase in his hand, Sheldon scanned the room. When he spotted his brother and me sitting at the back of the classroom, he waved at us and approached, "Good morning, PJ. Have you noticed that many classmates break the code of conduct? Do you think their morality prevents them from following the rules?" he asked, intrigued.
"No, Sheldon, I think this time they're just people who want to dress how they like," I replied to the boy, who furrowed his brow in confusion upon hearing the answer.
"But you told me that..." he was saying when "Go sit down, Sheldon, don't talk to us during class," Georgie said, exasperated.
"But I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to PJ," Sheldon said, causing his three old friends to mock him.
"Yeah Georgie, he was talking to PJ, not you," Broke said mockingly, "don't interrupt his conversation, you disrespectful little guy," Alan added to the joke, trying to imitate Sheldon's way of speaking.
"You see, even your friends understand," Sheldon said petulantly.
Georgie seemed about to explode, so I intervened, "Come on, Sheldon, go find a seat, class is about to start. If you're not seated when the bell rings, you'll be breaking a rule," I said in a playful scolding tone. Surprised, Sheldon quickly picked up his briefcase and briskly walked to the front of the classroom, where a girl with glasses occupied a desk. A second later, the bell rang, causing Sheldon to jump in his seat and turn to me, giving a thumbs up with a satisfied smile.
"Thanks for that," Georgie said, smiling.
"Don't mention it," I replied, smiling back.
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Author's thoughts
I am not a believer, but I don't like being disrespectful. Everything written in this chapter is without the intention of offending any religious person or religion. The main character doesn't believe in God and is not afraid to say it. I hope I haven't offended anyone, and if I have, I apologize.
Again, I am not American, so I don't know how high school works or how football works. While writing this chapter, I did some research on the positions of the players, but I'm not sure if the lineup I created is correct, nor do I know if freshmen can play on the school team. It's all based on the idea from the first chapter of Young Sheldon.
David, Alan, and Broke are characters from some high school football movies (I have to watch them) (The movies are Remember the titans and Facing the Giants) to better understand their personalities because in this first arc, I plan to make them recurring characters in the story.
Now, in other news, 15k words finally achieved!!! Many thanks to all who have been reading this story even before it could be on the rankings. Now that we've reached 15k words, I hope more readers will come, and with them, more power stones (MORE MORE MORE!!!).
For the first and last time, I want to thank the people who gave stones before reaching the ranking (if we reach it, I fervently hope we do).
Thanks to: shuppandi, Dan_Stone, lazyyass, sirraven, ChoasD, Bilal_Irshad_4549, Jimmy_Reyna, Renzreadsalot, Amanda_Botelho_Fre, crazy_knigth, PlumTrees, I_just_read_123, Noobbea, ronysa, and DAFR.
Special thanks to Victor_Venegas, Luicfer_2807, and daniel_lucas for leaving a 5-star review even though I'm not so sure I´m worthy receiving them yet.
I would also like to thank BBN97, DaoistyxNV2e, and Godkinhdhfrhdgg for commenting on the chapters. I really appreciate the feedback and supportive comments.
You have no idea how happy I am that you like my story.
That's all, if you find any errors, please comment so I can correct them. See you later.
PS: The Discord is almost ready; I've been studying to make it as aesthetic as possible :D.