Lams One-Shots

Under The Tree (A)

John's POV

Finally

Senior High

The year I can be independant from my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but sometimes they're overbearing, especially my father.

"Yo, John! Over here!" I heard Herc's voice. Thank God they're here already, I didn't want to look like a loser walking around alone looking for someone. I turned and walked over to Herc.

"You the only one here, bud?" I asked him.

"Nah, Laf and Peggy went to get burgers. You want me to text them, telling to buy you one?" He asked too.

"Nah, mom packed me some lunch."

"Awee that's sweet."

"Yeah, says the dad friend." Both of us chuckled and waited. From a far, I could see a ginger haired guy, sitting on the bench under the tree. He looked like he was reading something while he fed the birds. "Hey uh, Herc? Who's that?"

"Kid's name is Hamilton, I think." He replied, looking at the same guy I was. "Heard he's relentless and won't stop at nothing to get what he wants."

"Sooo, a prick?"

"I would hardly call him a prick. Heard from the canteen he's actually a nice guy, just don't piss him off."

A nice guy, but won't stop at nothing to get what he wants. Really sounds like a prick to me, but hey, whatever.

"Ugh, Jefferson." Herc muttered.

Jefferson walked up to the Hamilton guy and yanked him up by the arm. "Come on, dick, you owe me a homework." Jefferson sneered.

I was about to go and defend the small prick (Hamilton) but, he yanked his hand arm from Jefferson's grasp. "Okay, one, you did that on your own and two, I don't owe you shit." He growled. Damn, thought he was a nice guy.

"We should go-"

"No, I wanna see how this plays out." I waited patiently for the next move, and to no surprise, Jefferson grabbed the poor kid by the collar and slammed his back against the tree. "Shit."

He started muttering some stuff that we couldn't hear, but it seemed enough to make the Hamilton kid tear up.

Jefferson dropped him and started to take his leave. "John-"

"I know. You handle Jefferson, I'll see what I can do with the poor guy."

Herc nodded and started to go after Jefferson. I walked over to Hamilton and squated in front of him. "Hey.."

"Great, someone saw me." He muttered. "You probably think I'm a prick now.."

Uh.. Yeah...

"No, not really." I reassured, even though I was half lying. I sat down on the ground and continued "It's right to stand up for yourself. No one should take your dignity away you know?"

"Yeah, but Jefferson hasn't stolen it." He was still tearing up, and I couldn't help but ask why. "It doesn't matter. What's said is said, he can't take it back."

"Can you at least tell me? My friend is after him right now, would be best if we knew what we're fighting Jefferson for." He still didn't budge. Time to get sentimental. "You're crying. It's something you need to let out. And, judging by how you were sitting here all alone, you don't have many friends, do you?"

He shook his head no. I waited for him to speak, handing him my handkerchief. A few minutes after, he finally spoke up. "He made fun of my mom..."

That's it?

"My dead mom..."

Oh...

I waited for him to continue. "He called her a whore, a slut and a prostitute and that she died from prostrate cancer or something. Lies." He choked on his tears and hugged his knees. I didn't know what came over me, but I wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to my chest, letting him cry. "Everyone knows about me... My past and everything. They know how I dropped out last year because I had to go back to the Carribean to take care of mom."

That was him?

"Mind telling me the real story?"

He shook his head no. "She caught ill. A letter was sent to me. She caught yellow fever and had no one to care for her other than Usnavi, my cousin. But, Usnavi is working almost the whole day, he can't take care of my mom all the time. So, I dropped out and went home. I took care of her the rest of the year, but on the morning of Feburary 19, she wasn't moving anymore. Usnavi was fortunately home and called a neighborhood doctor. He declared her death..."

I felt like I wanted to cry from hos story. No one should be treated like how Jefferson did to him. Hamilton had it rough last year and damn, he needs a break from all the hate. No one deserves to be called 'a son of a whore' because of their mother's past.

"Now that I'm back, some people think I'm nice, but some treat me like I'm an outsider. Which is, kinda true..."

"Hey, you took care of your mother. You went through shit and stress. You're not a bad person. An outsider sure, but you're no different." Damn, I don't know what the fuck I'm saying. "To be honest, I lost three older siblings. I didn't get the chance to meet them, so it bums me out when I think that I was suppose to have older siblings." Okaaay, so I'm doing this. "Being the eldest in my family is rough. Father expects a lot from you  mother always barks out how to be a gentleman, while my younger siblings get to have fun. I sometimes wanted to feel like I'm not the eldest, like I have no pressure upon my shoulders."

"At least you didn't leave your family. My brother ran away... Like how dad did..."

I rubbed his bicep and tried to soothe him down. This feels nice. I don't know why, but it does.

"Alexander..." He muttered.

"What?"

"My name's Alexander."

I smiled and replied; "I'm John."