Written: Friday. August 23, 2019.
There were these three boys, and they sat on this one bench; a stone bench, inside of the school in which they went to. This bench was able to fit all three of them. They weren’t really all that big enough to worry about having to fit in that bench, anyway.
These boys came in varying sizes. The one in the far left, their left, was a scrawny kid named Tobias. Toby, he was called. He has was good with words, but never really spoke that much in front of a crowd. He was the soft one from the three. The one that gets picked on, sometimes even by the other two boys by his side. He was of average height. Scrawny, as mentioned before. It seemed that his metabolism was just too fast, that he burned his meals before it went to his arms or legs. An easy target, this boy was. Couldn’t pick up a fight with the tallest kid in the class. But he has, you know. It happened in his freshman year in high school.
He was going about a normal day in class, when suddenly, the biggest kid in the room (one of his classmates — who bullied him, by the way) suddenly took his lunch box from him, and started munching down the warm meal Toby had just received from his mother, since they had lived very near from the school, and that Toby always preferred eating his meals while they were still freshly cooked.
Toby almost always lets it go whenever a tough one takes a crack at his feeble character. But something just snapped inside Toby that day. Maybe it was because of the choice of viand his mother had prepared for the day, which was Fried Chicken Fillet Strips, Toby’s favorite. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
He had stood up to his tall classmate that day. Shouting at him, preparing to fight. He pushed a few times, only to fail at it because of the massive weight his tall classmate was carrying.
The tall dude almost landed a punch on Toby that day, but wasn’t able to finish the blow, when the teacher had suddenly arrived inside of their classroom. He asked what was happening, since he had just arrived — conveniently, at that—in the middle of the supposed brawl. The tall one placed his arm around Toby playfully, showing a smile to the teacher, “Toby and I were just messing around, Mr. Summers.” He had cheerfully said.
Mr. Summers, being the passive teacher that he is, dismisses the commotion, heads towards the teacher’s desk, and starts to call names for the attendance.
Everybody started to go back into their seats, except for Toby, who was looking at his now empty lunch box. Mr. Summers called his family name twice before he had noticed. “Luna…Luna!” Toby had signaled his teacher through a slight raise of his hand, and proceeded to sit down on his plastic cubicle.
“Luna, is there a problem?” Mr. Summers had added.
“Nothing sir.”
This epoch happened in Toby’s life before he had met the two boys that were sitting beside him on that stone bench. He was classmates with the boy on the right, their right. But they weren’t that close yet.
The boy in the middle, whichever’s middle, was named Thomas Ambrosio. Like Toby, his name was shortened to Tom. He didn’t really like being called by the full length of his first name. Because it was the same as this brand of gravy that was bought by everyone in the country. It was the gravy brand that topped the market. You would find a bottle of it in everybody’s household.
Tom never wanted to be associated with “Mang Tomas”. So he went with Tom.
His mother called him Tommy, and so did the girls in school. But since Toby and Tommy sounded too similar, the other two boys agreed to call him Tom.
One thing about Tom, that truly defined Tom, was Tom’s very rich parents. He was a middle child, so that meant that he was either the forgotten kid, or the luckiest kid in the bunch. And from how it looked, Tom was the luckiest kid in the bunch. He didn’t care if his parents forgot his birthday every other year. As long as he doesn’t get the baby-treatment or the adult-treatment, and work in the in-between zone, the Twilight Zone of the sibling life, then Tom was definitely a lucky kid.
He was the one who got the hand-me-downs, could ask for a few more bucks for his daily allowance since both mom and dad were too busy worrying about the younger sister, and scolding the older brother. He was able to play video games and date any girl he liked, and then also play video games with them.
Tom was the cool one from the three boys. Toby was envious of Tom, but that was only because Tom could actually buy his own lunch from the cafeteria, no sweat whatsoever. Toby had to think about how much he could save from his daily allowance, while Tom spent his time figuring out which fast food place to go to with his girlfriend-for-the-week (or longer, if the girl was lucky) after dismissal.
Toby got picked on. Tom had it all. And then there was Drew.
Andrew Romeo, or just Drew, was the third boy sitting on the stone bench. Tom and Drew were of above average height. Drew was a bit taller than Tom, but both were definitely taller than Toby. Because of this, Toby always felt like he was an inferior individual. But then again, Toby always felt like an inferior individual.
Even though he was the tallest of the boys, Drew was the most silent. For Toby’s case of being at a loss for words whenever he is faced with a crowd, that sort of characteristic of his comes from his lack of confidence. In Drew’s case, however, it comes from a lack of interest.
He’s a very self-centered individual. Let that not misinterpret him as an egotistic person. Though Tom greatly applies for that hubris. Drew has his own world. A world beyond the scope of reality, and can only be seen in the realm of the mind; his mind.
Drew was the smartest of the three boys. He was also the loneliest. Not that he was alone, he just felt lonely all the time. Or looked lonely. Either of the two. Toby and Tom could never really figure out which. Drew was a man of a few words, or a boy of a few words, given their young age. He didn’t have brothers or sisters; he was an only child. And his father wasn’t really his real father. But even so, his new father was cool.
He was sort of the same as Tom in terms of having the luxury of being able to buy stuff he wants, like video games or toys. But Drew never really got to enjoy those things with anyone in his house. He was always just by himself all the time. Playing single player video games more often than multiplayer.
Toby sometimes wondered: if he hadn’t met Drew back then and started hanging out with him cause he found him cool and fun to be around, who would Drew be hanging out with? Would he even be hanging out with anybody? Guess that’s a question he was never going to know the answer to.
All three of the boys got along together quite well. Synonymous to one another. If one was missing, it rarely felt the same.
And then there was the bench. The stone bench they always sat on. When it was recess time, or lunch time, sometimes even after dismissal, they would go to that bench, and just hang out. If another group had gone first when they arrived, they would just look for other places to hang out in. But it would never feel right to them. Sometimes they wondered if the bench held their friendship together.
So it was a very shocking moment for all of the boys when the stone bench was being removed by the school-construction workers.
The thing that binds their strong friendship was now being destroyed. What’s going to happen next? Toby, Tom, and Drew looked at each other. And then back at the stone bench, as one of the workers broke it in half using a big sledge hammer.
Little did they know, their whole world was also about to be destroyed.
There were these three boys, and they sat on this one bench; a stone bench, inside of the school in which they went to. This bench was able to fit all three of them. They weren’t really all that big enough to worry about having to fit in that bench, anyway.
These boys came in varying sizes. The one in the far left, their left, was a scrawny kid named Tobias. Toby, he was called. He has was good with words, but never really spoke that much in front of a crowd. He was the soft one from the three. The one that gets picked on, sometimes even by the other two boys by his side. He was of average height. Scrawny, as mentioned before. It seemed that his metabolism was just too fast, that he burned his meals before it went to his arms or legs. An easy target, this boy was. Couldn’t pick up a fight with the tallest kid in the class. But he has, you know. It happened in his freshman year in high school.
* * *
He was going about a normal day in class, when suddenly, the biggest kid in the room (one of his classmates — who bullied him, by the way) suddenly took his lunch box from him, and started munching down the warm meal Toby had just received from his mother, since they had lived very near from the school, and that Toby always preferred eating his meals while they were still freshly cooked.
Toby almost always lets it go whenever a tough one takes a crack at his feeble character. But something just snapped inside Toby that day. Maybe it was because of the choice of viand his mother had prepared for the day, which was Fried Chicken Fillet Strips, Toby’s favorite. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
He had stood up to his tall classmate that day. Shouting at him, preparing to fight. He pushed a few times, only to fail at it because of the massive weight his tall classmate was carrying.
The tall dude almost landed a punch on Toby that day, but wasn’t able to finish the blow, when the teacher had suddenly arrived inside of their classroom. He asked what was happening, since he had just arrived — conveniently, at that—in the middle of the supposed brawl. The tall one placed his arm around Toby playfully, showing a smile to the teacher, “Toby and I were just messing around, Mr. Summers.” He had cheerfully said.
Mr. Summers, being the passive teacher that he is, dismisses the commotion, heads towards the teacher’s desk, and starts to call names for the attendance.
Everybody started to go back into their seats, except for Toby, who was looking at his now empty lunch box. Mr. Summers called his family name twice before he had noticed. “Luna…Luna!” Toby had signaled his teacher through a slight raise of his hand, and proceeded to sit down on his plastic cubicle.
“Luna, is there a problem?” Mr. Summers had added.
“Nothing sir.”
* * *
This epoch happened in Toby’s life before he had met the two boys that were sitting beside him on that stone bench. He was classmates with the boy on the right, their right. But they weren’t that close yet.
The boy in the middle, whichever’s middle, was named Thomas Ambrosio. Like Toby, his name was shortened to Tom. He didn’t really like being called by the full length of his first name. Because it was the same as this brand of gravy that was bought by everyone in the country. It was the gravy brand that topped the market. You would find a bottle of it in everybody’s household.
Tom never wanted to be associated with “Mang Tomas”. So he went with Tom.
His mother called him Tommy, and so did the girls in school. But since Toby and Tommy sounded too similar, the other two boys agreed to call him Tom.
One thing about Tom, that truly defined Tom, was Tom’s very rich parents. He was a middle child, so that meant that he was either the forgotten kid, or the luckiest kid in the bunch. And from how it looked, Tom was the luckiest kid in the bunch. He didn’t care if his parents forgot his birthday every other year. As long as he doesn’t get the baby-treatment or the adult-treatment, and work in the in-between zone, the Twilight Zone of the sibling life, then Tom was definitely a lucky kid.
He was the one who got the hand-me-downs, could ask for a few more bucks for his daily allowance since both mom and dad were too busy worrying about the younger sister, and scolding the older brother. He was able to play video games and date any girl he liked, and then also play video games with them.
Tom was the cool one from the three boys. Toby was envious of Tom, but that was only because Tom could actually buy his own lunch from the cafeteria, no sweat whatsoever. Toby had to think about how much he could save from his daily allowance, while Tom spent his time figuring out which fast food place to go to with his girlfriend-for-the-week (or longer, if the girl was lucky) after dismissal.
Toby got picked on. Tom had it all. And then there was Drew.
Andrew Romeo, or just Drew, was the third boy sitting on the stone bench. Tom and Drew were of above average height. Drew was a bit taller than Tom, but both were definitely taller than Toby. Because of this, Toby always felt like he was an inferior individual. But then again, Toby always felt like an inferior individual.
Even though he was the tallest of the boys, Drew was the most silent. For Toby’s case of being at a loss for words whenever he is faced with a crowd, that sort of characteristic of his comes from his lack of confidence. In Drew’s case, however, it comes from a lack of interest.
He’s a very self-centered individual. Let that not misinterpret him as an egotistic person. Though Tom greatly applies for that hubris. Drew has his own world. A world beyond the scope of reality, and can only be seen in the realm of the mind; his mind.
Drew was the smartest of the three boys. He was also the loneliest. Not that he was alone, he just felt lonely all the time. Or looked lonely. Either of the two. Toby and Tom could never really figure out which. Drew was a man of a few words, or a boy of a few words, given their young age. He didn’t have brothers or sisters; he was an only child. And his father wasn’t really his real father. But even so, his new father was cool.
He was sort of the same as Tom in terms of having the luxury of being able to buy stuff he wants, like video games or toys. But Drew never really got to enjoy those things with anyone in his house. He was always just by himself all the time. Playing single player video games more often than multiplayer.
Toby sometimes wondered: if he hadn’t met Drew back then and started hanging out with him cause he found him cool and fun to be around, who would Drew be hanging out with? Would he even be hanging out with anybody? Guess that’s a question he was never going to know the answer to.
All three of the boys got along together quite well. Synonymous to one another. If one was missing, it rarely felt the same.
And then there was the bench. The stone bench they always sat on. When it was recess time, or lunch time, sometimes even after dismissal, they would go to that bench, and just hang out. If another group had gone first when they arrived, they would just look for other places to hang out in. But it would never feel right to them. Sometimes they wondered if the bench held their friendship together.
So it was a very shocking moment for all of the boys when the stone bench was being removed by the school-construction workers.
The thing that binds their strong friendship was now being destroyed. What’s going to happen next? Toby, Tom, and Drew looked at each other. And then back at the stone bench, as one of the workers broke it in half using a big sledge hammer.
Little did they know, their whole world was also about to be destroyed.
End of Chapter.
* * *
Click HERE for the next chapter!
* * *
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