Anthony, at 14, had just finished a middle school football game and was getting dressed to leave.
"Great game, Anthony." one guy said.
"Thanks man." Anthony said.
"Yeah, good game." Brad Herringer said.
Anthony turned to see Brad, a skinny red-head kid who clearly was going through the bad part of puberty. He had the worst case of acne Anthony had ever seen. He wore glasses and had a mouth full of metal.
"What are you looking at, fag?" Anthony said putting his shirt on.
"I'm just telling you good game." Brad said.
Anthony walked towards Brad and smacked him hard enough to knock his glasses off.
"What makes you think you can speak to me?" Anthony said. "Fag."
"Aren't we teammates? I thought we were cool." Brad said.
"I'm not cool with fags." Anthony said pushing him into the lockers.
"Chill!"Brad said holding his hands out infront of him.
"Bitch." Anthony growled. "I'm sorry that's a compliment to you." Anthony grabbed his stuff and left.
Anthony was a good kid around the right people. He had to be good for his mom and dad. However, he needed an outlet. Football was great and all but he still had a void in his soul. Bullying seemed to cover that up for him.
During his brother's high school football game, Anthony and some kids were messing around under the bleachers.
"So Anthony, you taught Fag Brad a lesson?" His friend Tommy O' Heal said.
"He was asking for it. I swear at any minute I thought he was going to kiss me." Anthony laughed.
"You didn't catch any queer cooties, right?" Tommy said.
"Hell, no." Anthony said.
A girl with pretty blonde blonde hair walked past to meet with several other girls.
"Isn't that Trisha Marks?" Anthony said.
"Yeah, it is." Tommy said.
"She has really nice legs." Anthony said biting his lip.
"Oh I see you." Tommy said nudging him. "Anthony got a crush on Ms. Goodie Two Shoes."
"After I'm done talking to her, she'll have a crush on me." Anthony said. He smoothed out his shirt and spat out his gum. He made his way over to Trisha. He politely tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to him and looked as if she didn't want to be bothered.
"Hey Trisha." he said.
"Hi Anthony." she said uninterested. She turned back to her friends.
"You got a minute?" Anthony asked.
Trisha sighed and gave him her undivided attention. "Minute starts now."
"Have you ever been to one of the Junior High games?" he asked.
"I like high school games better." she said. "Junior High don't have as much action."
"Well, you haven't seen me play. With me on the field it's just as action packed as any high school game." Anthony said.
"Oh really?" Trisha said, disapproving.
"Yeah. Come to next week's game." he said with a smile.
"Mm. Thanks but no thanks." she said. "Minute's up." Trisha started to turn back to her group when Anthony grabbed her wrist.
"I'll give you the answers to Mr. Fitzgerald's test." he said.
"I'll think on it. But, what is this I hear about you beating on Brad Herringer." she asked.
"I didn't necessarily beat him up. I may have roughed him up a little." he said.
"Same thing! Why?" Trisha said folding her arms.
"Queer was watching me get dressed in the locker room. There was no way I was going to let that go by." Anthony said. "Would you if one the girls were checking you out after gym?"
"First of all, Brad isn't even gay. He was a girlfriend." Trisha said.
"Who happens to look like a man." Anthony added.
"Second. That's not the story Cady Bridger told me." she said.
"Cady? Really? The school's gossip mule?" Anthony said. "Don't be so childish and listen to someone as dumb as her."
"Childish? Please, you're the one who put a bottle of air freshener in Marcus Shaw's locker." she said.
"Have you gotten a real good whiff of him? Smells worse than a horse's ass."he said.
"You're such a jerk." she said with a look of disgust.
"And you're a prima donna twat with a stick up your ass." Anthony said. Trisha slapped his cheek. Anthony was taken aback. Trisha and her friends left.
Anthony wasn't the best guy, everyone knew. There were his followers and the people who frowned at his name. He'd pay for it soon.
Rayna and her family were at a party. Her and Ben sat on the couch and watched as their aunts and uncles cooed over their new baby sister Maya. Things changed a lot. Tellis stopped coming home from college. Rayna didn't know it was because Tyra had cut him off due to him not majoring in what she wanting him to. Ben and Rayna had to share a room. They turned Ben's room into Maya's nursery. Kevin was trying to stay on Tyra's good side for when he was ready to leave. If she could cut off Tellis, then nothing would stop her from throwing any of her kids to the wolves. And Ben was getting worse. His blackouts got worse and instead of spacing out, he'd become someone that wasn't Ben.
"So, how you kids like your new sister?" Uncle Brian said.
"I think she's cute." Rayna said. "I just don't want to change any diapers."
"What about you, Ben?" he said.
Ben remained silent. Rayna knew it was happening again. She was only 12 and she had grown a sense of what was going on. She knew something was wrong. Everyone inside the house knew. Tyra just ignored it and hoped it would go away.
"You ok, Ben?" Brian said.
Rayna tapped on his shoulder. Ben turned and looked at her. "Don't touch me!"
"Ben come on that's your sister." Brian said.
Tyra looked on with eyes of a tiger. Here it goes again, this imperfection.
"I don't give a damn." Ben growled. Tyra handed Maya off to Quinton, came over and snatched Ben up like a hawk snatches up its prey. She took him outside. Rayna got off the couch and went to the glass door to see Tyra kneeling in front of Ben. He had this blank expression on his face again. She slapped him across his face with such force it made Rayna jump. "Be normal. You are. You can be." she said. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but, you better fix yourself fast. I don't care what you have going on. Get right, now.
Kevin came up from behind Rayna and grabbed her arm. He pulled her aside.
"What's wrong with Ben?" she asked.
"Ben's just sick. I know he doesn't look like it but he is." Kevin said.
"He's not myself. That's all." Rayna said.
"Wait, so you know-" Kevin was interrupted by Tyra and Ben reentering the house. Quinton walked into the room.
"Is everything ok?" Quinton asked.
"Everything is just fine." Tyra said with a fake smile. She took Quinton's hand and went back to join the others. Kevin looked at Ben.
"Are you ok?" Rayna said.
Ben nodded. He was there but there was depression in his eyes. Ben's blackouts were the tip of the iceberg compared to what was to come.
Ben and Rayna sat in their room quietly.
"Momma didn't have to hit you, you know." Rayna said picking at her nails.
Ben stayed silent. He ignored what she said and went to the video game they had set up in their room.
"Ben, it's not your fault. You're fine; you're just different." Rayna said going over to him and sitting next to him on the floor.
"Mom hates me." Ben blurted out.
"No, she doesn't it." she said.
"Yes, she does. I've heard her. She calls me her imperfection. I swear she hates me. Momma don't love me. She don't love us. Do you ever wonder why Tellis isn't here?" Ben said starting up his game.
Rayna fell silent. Ben was right. Tyra really didn't pay attention to the humans she brought into this world. It showed often. From not knowing what they liked to neglecting to help them with their homework. Tyra was more of the birth giver than the mother of her children.
And cutting off Tellis when she didn't get what she wanted was another prime example. Tellis had a passion for teaching but, that's not what Tyra wanted. Tyra wanted him to major in business management so he could help out with the family company. When he protested, Tyra cut off his funds, had his car taken away, cut off his phone, everything stripped away because she didn't get what she wanted.
"Momma cares about us, doesn't she?" Rayna said.
"Why aren't you two in bed?" Tyra said sternly.
Ben and Rayna looked at her. Rayna finally saw it. The disdain and disgust in her face. She was not a mother.
"Get to bed, now." she said cutting out the lights and closing the door.