The Little Town of Lillston

Dinner with the Waywards

Bryson was given a shirt that was actually his size, which made him very uncomfortable. There was less space for him to hide. He was also given some gray sweatpants, which he despised, but he had no choice, as he couldn't show up to his classes with vomit on his clothes, and the school nurse insisted. Principal Kindell disappeared with Hunter as soon as they had entered the school, leaving Bryson to stare helplessly at his schedule. His mind was elsewhere. He just wanted to go home. He didn't understand why his mother and father couldn't see that. No one would want to go to school after they had been vomited on. They were too preoccupied with Sophia. Bryson hoped she'd be okay. She probably had a simple bug, but still, Bryson had never really seen Sophia get sick before. She was still young.

The bells in the halls rang, and Bryson looked up from the schedule in his hands. Immediately, the halls became flooded with students, mostly older ones. He was in the right wing, at least. He stepped to the side, pressing himself against the wall to avoid being swept away by the oncoming wave of people. They all ignored him; some gave him odd glances, but most just kept their heads down, pulled out their phones, or talked obnoxiously loud. They all had someplace to be. Bryson looked down at his schedule. He needed to head for his science class, room one-thirteen.

A student bumped into him, and the schedule dropped from his hands. Bryson knew it was hopeless. He stared at the paper as it fluttered to the ground, immediately being trampled on by multiple students.

"You're the new kid, aren't you?"

Bryson wished he would stay invisible a little longer. Instinctively he reached for the end of his shirt, only to find it was shorter than normal. He turned to find a girl with dark hair standing there.

She smiled, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I'm Callie."

Bryson had never been approached by anyone before to start a conversation. He was always that one kid who kept to himself and never spoke when he didn't need to. No one bothered to talk to him. He was boring. Surely Callie would see that as soon as he opened his mouth. "Bryson."

"What class are you looking for?" she asked. She picked up the schedule from the ground. "Science... that's where I'm headed! Come on, I'll show you where it is." She made her way down the hall.

Bryson followed her dark hair through the crowd, narrowly avoiding stepping on multiple heels. They turned down another hall which was less crowded, and found room one-thirteen near the end of it. When they entered, the room was full of long tables and chairs, and already, seats were filling up. Bryson took the seat nearest to the door, and surprisingly, Callie took the one next to him. He began to wonder if Callie was even more strange than him. He wondered what she was like, and what people knew about her.

"This is your first day, right?" she asked as she sat down.

Bryson nodded, very aware of his sweatpants.

"Where are you coming from?"

"Just some other town," Bryson said.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

Bryson suddenly recognized the girl. She had looked at Bryson standing outside with vomit all over his clothes. She was also talkative, which reminded him of Mrs. Wayward. "Are you related to Mrs. Wayward?" he blurted. He was surprised he even asked that.

Callie nodded, smiling. "Yeah, she's my mom! How do you know her?"

"She's our neighbor," Bryson mumbled.

The bell rang, and a man stood in front of the class and cleared his throat. He began to talk about the anatomy of plants. Bryson had joined this class at the wrong time. He wasn't a big plant fan.