The English Boy

Chapter 4

Three months in England, and I am loving it. 

I actually loved England even before I first stepped foot here because I'm a huge fan of the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. I guess I just didn't like the fact that secrets were kept from me ever since I was born, and I unleashed them only when I arrived in this country. Besides that, I'm getting used to being with my dad. My first few weeks here, I hated him. But then he took me to lots of different places in Yorkshire, my hatred for him slowly diminished. I know. It took me long enough to realise that he is just being there for me after sixteen years of not showing up. He did feel guilty for leaving mom and I behind and now, he's just trying to be the best father he could be to me.

Ilkley is a town. I used to live in Manila. Basically, the Capital of the Philippines and I used to live in the city. Although there are somehow many kids my age in this town, I still haven't made any friends and I don't think I would want to make any friends here. I guess all I'm saying is that a best friend is a very irreplaceable in a person's life. So, there's no way I am going to replace Jenna. George has two daughters, but they are both under ten years old. But still, I go to their house and either babysit or play with them. And the boy I met at dad's dinner party when we arrived here, Callum Samuels? I begged dad not to let me hang out with him or something like that because things will go nuts if I have to like...hang out with him. Besides, the last time we talked to each other was that time at his school when I suddenly flipped a switch when he was trying to help me out by preparing for school, although I still had three months to prepare back them. So, I'm kinda embarrassed up to now. Why? Because I'll admit, it's actually my fault. I admit that I could be short-tempered and shallow at times.

As I said earlier, Dad took me to a lot of places in Yorkshire. First, he took me to see the Ilkley Toy Museum. Although I wasn't interested in toys at this age, I liked it. Dad even said that if I'm a little bit younger than my age, I would've loved it even more, in which I agreed. But I was really impressed with the Toy Museum. It houses a private collection of toys dating from 350 BCE to modern times, and is open to the public, schools and groups. It opens at weekends. Then he took me to see the moors. I wouldn't call the moors boring. It's more of like "peaceful" than "boring". Everything is just filled with Tranquility. And then he took me to see Cherry blossoms near the town centre. What I missed a lot about the Philippines is hanging out with Jenna at BGC. Dad is aware that I hang out with Jenna a lot there. So, he took me to The Grove, Ilkley's shopping street. It's just a place for shopping (obviously), and eating since the whole place is crawling with restaurants, and I don't think there's a place for me to skateboard around these parts. I mean, there are a few places where I could go skateboarding, but I don't want to go skateboarding by myself. I want Jenna with me. I don't know. I guess it didn't really feel right for me to do weekend activities and such without a right-hand, which is Jenna. She is always my right hand, along with my mother.

That same night, dad told me to get some sleep because there'll be more surprises the next day, and there was!

When I woke up the next day, I immediately took a bath, dressed up and went downstairs to have breakfast, and to see what kind of "surprise" dad has for me this time.

To my horror (and "surprise"), Callum was having breakfast...in our kitchen! He was sitting next to dad and talking to him...about Grace Randolph, Which I believe is Callum's school, and will be mine soon.

I was going to head back upstairs because just by looking at him inside the house, I already know, dad called him to socialize with me, but as everyone may already know, I'm not good at socializing with the opposite sex. Instead, I'm good at avoiding them. We talked before, I know. But once again, that was three months ago.

I was going to head back upstairs to my room to avoid him, however, it was too late-

"Joe" dad called