A Battlefield

During the second week of summer, one warm and sunny day, a young teenage boy, named Nathan Price, got up from the bed. Thinking that this was going to be a day like any other. But everyone knows that that isn’t going to happen because, otherwise, what’s the point of writing this book. So let’s move on shall we . . . . . . .

He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth when his mother called out to him and said

“Nathan! Hurry up and have your breakfast, it’s getting cold. ”

“Okay mom, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He replied in an indistinguishable voice to his mother, as he had a toothbrush in his mouth at the time. He had an older brother named Joseph who was, at the time, in college and a little sister who was 7 years old and was named Rosaline.

Everyone was having breakfast and he joined them later on at the dining table. It was a typical morning, his father George, got up from his chair and went to see if they had gotten any mail today. To his surprise, he got a mail from Joseph saying

I’m going to be coming back home next week to spend the rest of my summer vacation days with you guys. It’s been kind of a long year of studying and partying, so I’d really like it if I could just unwind in front of the T.V. and relax. See you then.

-Joe

After reading the letter, George was excited to know that his son was finally coming back after all this time. He showed the letter to the rest of the family with a great big smile covering his face. They were all happy that he was coming back for the holidays and Nathan was even happier than the rest of them. Being a Brainiac means that not many people can understand the kind of person you are. But Joe understood that he was different and needed to be treated as such. So, being around Joe and hanging out with his big brother made Nathan feel like a normal kid. Because that is what Joe wanted him to feel like.

His parents seemed to notice his bright side and often asked him to go out and play, to get some exercise but didn’t try too hard. They kind of liked having a son who would always get A’s and figured that he probably wouldn’t be troubled in the future. Which; obviously matters the most. Moreover, knowing that he has some friends to hang out with, they knew that he wouldn’t get too lonely in his spare time. Being treated as someone who is so special, Nathan just wanted to have a life which was similar to those students who didn’t show much interest in books and studies and just wanted to have some fun, with their friends. Joseph’s return was great news and none of them could wait for a part of their family to come back.

Nathan, having known this great news, went outside to tell his friends all about this as they were good friends of Joseph as well. They liked to call him Joe because it just sounded cooler. Joe was always one of those guys who looked very weak on the outside but was really strong in reality and often got Nathan and his friends out of certain situations.

Nathan had many friends, Ryan Gibson was one of them. He was a skinny, blonde boy who liked wearing sneakers and overalls. Richard and Steven Norris were brothers, who couldn’t be more similar yet be so different at the same time; they were two years apart but still adored Joe as an idol whom they imagine themselves becoming into one day. They wore jean jackets and an attire that would make them seem more like him and not the geeky nerds they always were. Being able to solve maths so quickly made them wear glasses because a T.V or computer screen does not give your eyes as much strain as reading too much does, according to my own personal research, which was an occupational hazard if you were born so smart. And if your parents wore glasses before you were born, then it’s just a matter of blaming it on your parents for giving you the genes.

Rodger Wright was a newcomer to their school who wore checkered shirts tucked into dress pants and hair that was combed from his right side going to his left. He got picked on from his first day, along with Eric Monroe and Jason Gilbert who were the perfect stereotypical cliches for a nerd that could be found in the hallway. They were always the ones being beaten up for their lunch money. Rodger was being picked on at a time when Nathan and his friends were walking down the hallway towards their lockers. Since no one was strong enough to take on the bullies, they decided to wait until they had finished their work, so when they left, Nathan and the rest of them went up to him and helped him up, a new friendship began and continued for the rest of the year. Eric always carried his books in his hands instead of in a bag, had clothes like Rodger and walked like he had a limp in his feet when all this time it was nothing but a sore leg from doing weird positions to concentrate on his work, as some people do. Jason, on the other hand, was a technical genius, he knew every code there was and could write a program that could get him out from inside of a computer virus. Christopher and Albert were his closest friends of all.

Mostly when he got bullied Joe would interfere and sorted things out while he was still in school with them. But since he went off to college there had been no one to protect them and they had become easy prey for the bullies as their sole guardian had left them, and if they ever ran into them outside of school they would get picked on yet again. Nathan told his friends all about Joe’s letter that came in today and all of them were overjoyed to hear this. Nathan had many friends that he made over the years, nevertheless, he couldn’t tell all of them at once so he told his closest friends Christopher and Albert. In exhilaration, Chris said to Nathan

“We should go tell those bullies what they’re in for!!”

“No, no, no, no, no! That would be a terrible idea because Joe isn’t back yet and if those bullies found out about this then they wouldn’t rest until they got their revenge on us for what Joe did to them when he was still here. They also won’t leave us alone for the entire week.”

Suddenly, someone from behind Nathan comes up with a heavy voice that asks them

“Who won’t leave you alone for a week, eh?”

And as he turned around to see who it was, he saw the horrifying faces of the bullies who had harassed them since the first day they saw them. The three boys were petrified of the dangers that were in front of them. As Russ, the leader of the bullies, and his posse came forward towards them, the boys kept stepping back in sync with them. They asked the boys while, still, charging towards them once more

“Who won’t leave you alone?”

“No one . . . . . .”

“And who’s coming to town next week, huh?”

They kept walking back with frightened looks on their faces and after a while, they quickly turned around and started running. For some time they kept on sprinting towards their homes and shockingly reached a crossing since they were running on a sidewalk, on which they got lucky. Fortunately, they lived in a city, so there always was traffic on the roads.

The light at the time was red and they quickly rushed across it, when they got to the other side the traffic light turned green and all of the cars stuck in traffic had moved along so quickly that the gang of bullies got left behind. After being satisfied that they were safe for the moment at hand, they took a breath of relief. But also knowing that this safety would not last for long Nathan asked the others while panting,

“How about we meet at my place tomorrow afternoon to discuss, exactly what we can do to stay away from those guys?”

“That sounds like great idea, except for the fact that we can’t get to your place with those guys roaming around all the time?”

“Au contraire Mon frère, you can just ask your parents to give you a ride to my house. That way we kill three birds with one stone. No one bothers you on the way . . . . Your parents know where you are, most of all we can do what we want in complete silence.”

“That does seem like a viable idea, but can you answer one thing before we part ways?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Was it really necessary for you to use French, back there?!”

To Nathan, Albert had quoted, with sarcasm being shown clearly in his tone. To his sarcastic question, Nathan gave a scathing reply

“Yes, yes it was.”

“Alright then, we’ll see each other tomorrow.”

“I’m sure we will.”

After that intervention, all the boys ran as fast as they could to their homes from being chased by the group of muscle heads that day. The moment Nathan walked into his home he was tired, sweaty, out of breath and seemed troubled to his parents the second they saw his condition. He had slammed the door shut, very loudly, with his clear frustration about something that was bothering him. They calmly enquired about what appeared to be the problem by asking him:

“What’s wrong Nathan? Why do you look so frustrated all of a sudden? You were fine this morning.”

“It’s just Russ.”

“What? Him again, Nathan, why can’t the two of you just get along?”

George yelled, in a furious manner.

“DAD . . . .”

Nathan gave him a stern shutdown and continued his part of the discussion

“You know that he’s the one who picks on me. I neither started the fight nor return the favor by fighting back. I don’t believe that everything can be solved with violence.”

“I don’t care! If you don’t fight with him, then go a few rounds with him. He’s not going to stop this and before long you’re going to wish that you had fought with him.”

“There is no way that I’m going to say that because I can handle whatever comes at me.”

“Well, then you’re surely ready for this as well.”

“What am I ready for?”

“If you don’t handle this problem sooner or later I’m not going to have any other choice but to call his parents.”

“No, please don’t. If you do that then he’ll blame me for it and get on my nerves even more than before!”

“Then either you start fighting your own battles or you ask for help from someone who will.”

Once the little `talk’ was over, Nathan stood up and be certain that no one would listen to him, he went to his room, very intensely shut the door and sat down on his bed. Afterward, he began to ponder on the topic at hand and understood

“Maybe dad’s right about this. If there was someone who could take care of this once and for all then there would be no reason for anyone to fight.”

He then grasped the point that he should ask the person who has shielded him from the outside world all his life. He dashed to the telephone in the living room to call his older brother to ask him what he should do in this problematic situation. When Joe picked up the phone he asked

“Who’s this?”

“It’s Nathan.”

“Nathan? What’s wrong?”

“I wanted to talk to you about a little problem I’m having.”

“And what problem would that be?”

“It’s something you’re quite familiar with.”

“Nathan, just tell me!”

Nathan then told everything that had happened earlier and explained to him that no one is with him on this and Joe asked him:

“Why, are you telling me all of this?”

“I was thinking maybe you could help me figure out what I should do about the problem I’m having?”

Joe replied to Nathan on his ridiculous question rage.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“What? Is it something I’ve said?”

“YES, IT IS!!”

“Then tell me, what’d I do!?”

“Try to understand this as carefully as you can. If you want to do something about your problem then you have to do it yourself. No one will be around to save you all your life.”

“Are you trying to imply that I can’t protect myself?”

“NO! I’m trying to say that you have to learn to fight your own battles before you can ask someone to help you with them.”

“But what do I do then?”

Said Nathan, who was befuddled by the fact that he couldn’t take care of one single setback, Then Joe told him

“If you need to resolve anything you first need to think about the issue that concerns you the most. If that can’t be done then you need to locate a helping hand or hands so you can talk over the problem with them.”

“Alright then, I’ll give it a try. But if this doesn’t work I’m going to blame you for everything that goes wrong.”

“Fine, do what you like. But you can bet your summer vacations that it will work.”

Nathan puts down the phone and wonders:

“If Joe was right, then what should I do to take care of this. There’s no way that I can do any of this on my own. I really DO need to find someone to assist me with my predicament.”

Since he looked worried his parents asked him

“Nathan, what seems to be the matter?”

“Oh . . . . It’s nothing. Really, I just don’t know what I’m going to do about my little dilemma!”

“The Russ thing, you need to calm down for a moment, take a deep breath and peacefully think about it.”

Sarah, his mother, articulated to Nathan with a quiet and soothing voice that helped him think a lot more clearly.

“Thanks for clearing things up, mom.”

“It’s not as easy as you might think, but it’s one of the many roles of being a mother. Especially to a son who might need, ‘clearing things up’, now and then.”

Afterward, Nathan’s face lit up with a warm smile and he started to feel relieved from all the tension. Sarah got up and went to bed, meanwhile, thinking about what both his brother and mother had told him he wanted to come up with something fast. As he moved on from the current problem he had just gotten over from, he realized of the other problem that might occur

“What if nothing happens and I can’t stop being bullied. What if no one helps with my situation and I get left alone, again.”

Thinking of what he should do about these problems before any other pop out of thin hair, he started to imagine the unfathomable uncertainty of anything that would happen. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead when he started to think of everything that may possibly go wrong. This had put quite a load on him and he thought that it would be best if he shared it with someone. So he went to bed after this and right before closing his eyes he told himself

“Whatever happens tomorrow, I’m going to talk this over with my closest friends and deal with it using their help as much as I can. I have a feeling that I might need a lot of it.”

Nathan, as he said this, uttered it through great adamancy of sticking with it.