Chapter 1: Not So Wonderful Life

The bushes at Sam Houston cross middle school were thick. They were so thick that you couldn’t see through them. The only downfall to hiding in these holly shrubs was the sharp points on the leaves. But Wess didn’t have a choice. The alternative was to get beat up again by Richard Baxter, the school bully, and his entourage of brainless thugs. So, Wess decided that being scratched up in the bushes would be better than getting beat up in the open.

Wesson Zayd Miller wasn’t very big or strong. He could, however, run pretty fast thanks to the Bullies always chasing him. At thirteen years old, Wess was barely five foot tall and weighed seventy-eight pounds. He was relatively thin with no muscle tone, thick, curly hair, big ears, and a large bulbous nose. His feet were too big for his body, and there were freckles on his face, neck, and chest. Basically, he’s an odd-looking boy who could really stand out. And stand out he did, especially to all the bullies.

So, by now, it was just another part of his life to get picked on and beat up all the time. One time he even got beat up by a younger girl just because she didn’t like his face. She said it scared her. The fact that he was an orphan didn’t help his case either. He hated the group home. It was worse than school, so he hardly ever went there. He ran away last year and found an abandoned house outside of town.

But sometimes, he has to go back, though, when he gets caught wandering the streets. The police knew him well, so that they would drop him off back at the group home. When they send him back to school, he runs away again. He would always go back to school, though. He had to. Not because he wanted to. He would rather hide in a dumpster all day than go to this school, but if he didn’t show up, the teacher would give him an absence. And if he got an absence, the principal would call the police. When the police caught him, they would take him back to the group home, and he would receive a beating for missing school.

After hiding in the bushes for over an hour, Wess decided the coast was clear and crawled out from behind the bushes. Looking around, he didn’t see anyone. Good, Wess thought, no one is around. He felt like this was his lucky day. For the first time since he started school, he escaped his “after-school beating.” As he followed the sidewalk towards the front of the building, he couldn’t help letting out a small laugh. It was a good day! He continued up the sidewalk to the corner of the building. As soon as he got around the corner, he ran into someone and almost fell.

“There you are,” said Richard, “You almost missed your appointment for today’s beating.”

“See,” said Dane, “I told you he didn’t leave yet.”

“Shut up,” said Richard, “Let’s get this beating over with, so I can get home. My Mom will kill me if I’m late for dinner again.”

At that moment, Wess had enough. When he went to see the counselor, Mr. Ward, He told Wess that the only way to stop a bully was to stand up to them.

“Bullies are basically cowards,” Mr. Ward said, “ If you stand up to them, they will leave you alone.”

That was terrible advice!

“I’m tired of you always picking on me,” Wess said in a voice as loud as he could muster.

“What are you going to do about it?” Richard asked.

“This,” said Wess. He balled up his fist and swung it as hard as he could, aiming for Richard’s head. Richard easily dodged it and swung back, catching Wess in the side of the head. Wess instantly went down. Before he even hit the ground, Richard was already kicking him. Wess just rolled up in a ball as a barrage of kicks followed from all around. After a few minutes, he felt like he was going to pass out.

“Hey!” somebody yelled. “What are you doing?”

Suddenly all of the kicking stopped and was followed by the sound of feet running away. What made the bullies flee? Wess tried to raise his head to see, but it hurt too much. He had to take a minute, but he finally managed to roll over. Wess couldn’t see much, though. The sun was shining too brightly, so he put his hand up to shield his eyes. Someone was right in front of him now. Before he knew it, whoever it was grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet; now, he could see who was there.

It was a girl! She looked to be five foot six, maybe one hundred forty pounds. She wasn’t skinny, but she wasn’t overweight either. It was hard to tell her exact body type because of the oversized loose clothes she wore. She had long, straight red hair and a plain face with large glasses. Wess had never seen her before.

“Why did you help me?” Wess asked. “Were you worried that you wouldn’t have a chance to beat me up too?”

“If you’re into that, I guess I could use a new punching bag,” she said, “But I would rather call my punching bag Richard if you know what I mean.”

“I’m sorry,” Wess said, “I’m just used to everyone beating me up. No one has ever helped me before. I think that even the teachers want to beat me up.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” She said, “But I’m new here, and I’m not exactly on the popular list myself. My name is Carolyn Jones, but you can call me C J.”

“I’m Wesson Miller,” he said, “call me Wess.”

“Okay, Wess, would you like me to walk you home?”

“No, thank you, I’ll be fine.”

“Can I walk you home anyway?” she asked.

“No, I said I’ll be fine.”

“Why not? You don’t want to be my friend?

Wess never had a friend before, so he didn’t dare to hope that he had found one now. On the other hand, Wess desperately wanted to know what it was like to have a friend. He decided to go along with it but would keep his guard up so he wouldn’t get hurt emotionally as well. Physical pain, he was used to, but even he knew that he was too weak to handle that kind of rejection.

“The truth is,” he stated, “I’m a homeless orphan. I don’t want to go back to the group home Because I ran away from there. The only place I have to go is an hour and a half walk from here.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know things were so bad for you. Now I’m happy I decided to help.”

“I don’t need someone to feel sorry for me. If that’s why you’re trying to be my friend, I would rather you beat me up.”

“I might beat you up if you’re implying that I may be that kind of person! Seriously though, you should come to my house. It’s just my dad and me, and he won’t mind.”

He tried to argue, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer. He thought about it, and he decided that if they were going to be friends, he should at least give her the benefit of the doubt and take this time to get to know her. When he agreed, she pulled out her cellphone and pushed a single button. Twenty minutes later, a car pulled up. She told Wess to wait there as she walked over to the car to talk to the driver. A few minutes later, she walked back to Wess. Telling him to come with her, she grabbed his arm and led him to the car.

“This is my dad,” She said as they got into the car.”

“Pleased to meet you, Wess,” he said, “I’m Robert Jones, but you can call me Bobby.”

“Thank you, Bobby. It’s nice to meet you as well,” said Wess.

Bobby turned around, started the car, and shifted it into drive. As they were driving, Wess noticed that they were headed in the same direction that he would go to get to his abandoned house. As they drove, Wess just looked out the window while listening to C J talk. Somehow, her voice seemed very relaxing to him. He was finding it hard to keep his eyes open. The next thing he knew, He was waking up in a large bed.

He looked around and discovered that he was in a large bedroom. Sliding out of the king-sized bed, he walked to the window, tripping over something on the way. When he finally got to the window, he pulled the rope at the side. The curtain opened, flooding the room with light. He could now see that this was an old-fashioned-looking room with a four-poster bed. The posts towered over the bed so high that the tester nearly touched the twelve-foot ceiling. There was an extra-large wooden trunk at the end of the bed. He tried to open it, but someone had locked it.

He continued to explore. On the wall opposite the bed, there was a wardrobe. He opened the ornately decorated doors. It was empty, but it seemed like there was enough room to get lost inside. At the front of the room, there was a vanity complete with a huge mirror, a high back wooden chair, and drawers at the side. In the back corner of the room, there was a door. And on the other side of the wardrobe was a sitting area.

This room is excellent, he thought. But how did I get here, and where am I? He started to walk toward the door, but before he got there, the door opened. Standing in the doorway was C J. She looked different now, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He looked her up and down. It wasn’t the dress she was now wearing. It hid as much as the loose clothes she was wearing before. It also wasn’t the way her hair was now pulled back and tied. Then he realized she didn’t have her glasses on. Without her glasses, her face didn’t look so plain.