Strings Attached

Chapter Five

Theodore let go of my hand and sat down on a branch. He motioned for me to do the same, and I obeyed. I almost fell as I sat down, but Theodore grabbed me by the waist and whispered, "I got you," making me blush.

We stayed in silence for a little bit, just watching our surroundings. The birds chirped, and I felt myself relaxing a little bit as I saw that the tree was not as high as it had first appeared to be.

I would not die if I fell. I would probably break a bone, but death was definitely not a possibility, unless a serial killer came out of the house and tortured us until our hearts stopped beating, but I doubted that would happen.

Theodore was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Does it scare you to leave your home for college?" he asked. "I mean, do you ever become afraid of leaving everything behind?"

"Why would I?" I asked. "I have nothing to lose. Mom and Brianna said they'd join me if I left, and I don't have any friends, so it's not like I will miss anyone."

Theodore nodded. "You're not leaving anyone behind, I know. But are you afraid of leaving the place you call 'home'?"

I shrugged. "It's not even leaving that scares me... It's being alone for the rest of my life that does." I sighed. "I mean, what if I don't make any friends? Why would college be different from high school?"

"Let's just hope it will be," he said, staring at the horizon with sadness.

"For you? You are kind of popular," I said.

I meant it. The dance club and the jocks seemed to like him. They even hung out with him at lunch, which was not something they did with everyone. They were like an exclusive group that everyone wanted to be in.

"I am not popular," he said. "They don't like me. They like that they have never seen a green-haired dude at their school before. They like that I am not the typical jock, geek, emo, or anything else for that matter. They will only like me until they find out to what clique I belong. They will only like me until they find a label to put on me. Be it 'the weirdo,' 'the jock,' 'the weakling,' or anything else they decide to label me, will chase me for the remaining of the year, and once that label is put on me, they will stop talking to me. That is basically how high school works."

"I had never seen it that way. Perhaps because I have always been the geek to their eyes," I said, sighing.

"Well, if being smart makes you a geek, then I would rather be a geek than a brainless dude with no life. That's for sure," he said, turning to see me and smiling. "Perhaps they are just jealous of our brains, and that's why they make such a big deal out of them."

I shook my head. "I doubt it. They just like to judge those who are different from them."

"Well, it's their loss," Theodore said, giving me a sincere smile.

It was until that moment that I realized that Theodore's smile was very beautiful. It was genuine, which made it a million times more powerful than any other smile I had ever seen.

Theodore not only smiled with his mouth; he smiled with his heart.

Theodore was authentic; he did not need to lie to impress. He was the kind of guy whose smile could melt a million hearts, but he did not seem to know it, which made his smile even more special.

"I think we'd better get down," I said, smiling. "The owners of the house will probably go nuts if they see us."

Theodore nodded and offered me his hand. I accepted it, and we both made our way down the tree.

Once we were out of the property, Theodore pointed at another house and made a comment about how cute the flowers in the house's front yard were. I agreed, and we kept walking around the neighborhood in silence.

"This is way better than studying," Theodore said as we took a right turn.

"I know," I said. "Sometimes it's necessary to take fresh air."

"I couldn't agree more," he said.

We kept walking until we saw another tree, but this one was twice as tall as the other one. Theodore turned to see me with excitement, and I tried my best to hide my fear.

"What do you say? Should we climb this one?" he asked.

"I—I don't know," I said as I stared at the tree's top.

"We'll be fine," he assured me.

"I don't know..." I repeated.

"Come on, Chris. Do you trust me?" he asked, and his grey eyes stared at me firmly.

"I do," I finally said, but I was not sure I meant it. I could not simply allow myself to trust everyone I met.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

I nodded, still unsure, and he grabbed my hand and smiled.

Theodore helped me climb the tree, and just like it happened with the other one, my fear went away as soon as I reached the top.