Something More. Something Different

Chapter 3: A Little Background Check

Chapter 3: A Little Background Check

Reiss

It was in second grade when I first met Harper Kennedy. I must have been seven or eight at that time. I was new in not just the school but the whole town as well. And making friends was difficult, especially when you're an introvert. But yeah, meeting Harper wasn't classified as a mistake but it was definitely horrible. Awkward, for starters.

I remembered our first ever conversation back then. We were both in speech therapy. My dad decided to finally do something about my lisp. And as for Harper, he also had a "lisp", I don't know. That was what he told me. But I suspect that it's the truth, yeah until now he still hadn't clarified that yet and I don't think he plans to.

"Hi." he once said to me. Harper used to have dark brown hair before he dyed it black. It reminded me of mud and I remembered how it shone when the sunlight catches it.

"Hi. Hey. Hello." I thought about it for some time and I've realised that yeah, maybe that sounded too desperate.

"So, you must be new here." That was when I noticed how blue his eyes were. It was the color of ocean and it has its depth .

"Yeah." I was too young to recognize what the butterflies in my stomach were for but I remembered how prominent they were.

"I'm Harper by the way." His smile showed both his dimples.

"Reiss." I avoided eye contact with him. I didn't know why. I just felt the need to.

"No, it's Harper. I just said it."

"No, what I meant was that my name's Reiss."

He laughed for the first time. "Yeah, I was just fucking with you. Of course I knew what you meant."

I remembered myself gasped. "You said the f word." I was a pretty good kid back then.

He shrugged. "What? Fucking?"

I gasped again. For crying out loud! I was eight at that time. "You said it again. That's so evil. Take that back. We're not allowed to say stuff like that."

"What's wrong with it? My brother says it all the time."

"How old is your brother?"

"Old enough to talk."

I think I giggled after he said that. I admired how witty his answer was. "Well, don't say it again. Your parents won't like it."

"My parents were the one who taught me that word. And you're saying they won't like it? Irony at its finest." Then he clapped his hands and chuckled.

"I don't know what that means but okay. You don't have to take it back."

He grinned at me goofily. "I'm glad you understand."

I looked at him. "How old are you again?"

"We're both eight."

"You don't sound like an eight year-old."

"It's because I'm the future Charles Darwin. " His laugh was infectious.

"Why are you here? Like in speech therapy?" I asked him just put of mere curiosity.

"Why are you here?" Did he just answered my question with a question?

I frowned. "I have a lisp."

He nodded and high-five me. "Me too. I also have a lisp thingy. We're the lisping duo."

I narrowed my eyes. You're so weird. And oh yeah, I don't believe you