Free We're Working On It by Richard Norway Page A

shame. Johnny will do just about anything that Jeremy tells him to.”
    Cory stared at the other table for a while, recognizing the one that he had bumped into that morning in gym and the other that had followed the first. Cory recognized the first guy, Jeremy, as a typical bully. Every school has them after all. The other guy, Johnny, unsettled Cory, but he didn’t know why.
    Cory quickly put the two out of his mind, and turning his attention back to Kevin, Cory asked, “So why are you here? Where’s your table?”
    Kevin laughed.
    Cory eyed Kevin. “What’s so funny?”
    “I don’t have a table. I never got into that shit so I just sit with whoever I want.” Kevin continued smiling. “I guess I want to sit with you today.”
    The only thing Cory was thinking was that he’d take those eyes any day.
    “Hey dude, I gotta run. If I don’t see you in any more classes today, I’ll see you in Geometry tomorrow morning,” Kevin said as he got up from the table.
    “Okay. See you tomorrow. Oh, and Kevin, thanks for having lunch with me today. I don’t really know anyone here yet so it was nice to have someone to talk to.”
    “What are friends for, man?” Kevin remarked, fluttering his eyebrows, just before he turned and brought his tray to the conveyor belt at the side of the room.
    Cory watched Kevin walk away from the table. No, Cory’s eyes were glued to Kevin as he walked away.
    Cory trembled. He just realized that Kevin had used that word ‘friend’. He was hoping that it was true, that Kevin wanted him for a friend. And to Cory, it had nothing to do with Kevin being as cute as he was. Cory grinned.
    Cory’s first day of school had lasted forever in his mind. All was new to him, but he was glad that it was finally over as he headed for the bus. Getting through the first day was what Richard was talking about that morning, so he started to feel good about his first day. He had now gone through it. It was over. No, not quite. He still had to face ‘the bus’.
    He hated riding school busses. It seemed that all of the tensions of school exploded as soon as you walked on the bus. The bus drivers usually tried to maintain order, some better than others, but no matter what they said, kids just didn’t listen. Cory found an empty seat on the aisle in the middle of the bus and sat quietly as pandemonium broke out around him.
    He got a few looks from some of the kids but mostly they ignored him. No one actually tried to speak to him and he was quite relieved. This wasn’t like being in a classroom where there was a teacher keeping order. This was chaos. If he was going to be called names or hassled, this is where it was going to happen. Finally he breathed out a sigh as he reached his stop and nearly ran to get off the bus, relieved it was over.
    He was let off just three houses away from Richard’s house which made for a welcome short walk home. His mood began to change for the better.

Nine
----
    The Questions
    As Cory approached the house, he saw Richard sitting on the front porch steps.
    Richard was watching Cory as he walked up the front sidewalk thinking Cory looked like he was trying to fake an Irish jig. Finally, as Cory was just a few feet away from him, Richard with a slight grin asked, “How was school?”
    “Oh man. It was great. You know, I might like it here. I think I made a couple of friends already today.”
    “Cory?”
    “What?”
    “Well, are you going to tell me their names?”
    “Oh. Yeah. One guy’s name is Kevin and the other is Matt. Kevin’s from here, but Matt moved here from California this past summer. They’re both great guys. Kevin actually started talking to me right away. He was kind of forward so I tried to be like him and approached Matt myself and said ‘Hi’ first.”
    “So the day turned out okay, huh?” Richard asked.
    “Oh man. I think I’m going to like it here.”
    “I thought so,” Richard grinned.
    He paused for a moment and then Richard’s grin turned