_Chapter 1_
Elliot Warren
Of course my parents wouldn't listen to me when I said I didn't need an assistant.
It has been two weeks now since we moved here and one day since I have gone to school. It was all going too smoothly these weeks except for my school day. It was terrible. I had my problems absolutely everywhere and not the guts to ask anyone for help.
But I mean it was my first day, right? And it was not that bad to begin with. I would have grown accustomed to everything with time but Mom and Dad didn't even pay me attention when I tried to explain that to them. So therefore, they came up with that shitty idea to get me an assistant or caretaker, whatever you wanted to call it, who could help me in school, given that their work is really inflexible. The fact that I already moved for the fourth time in my life, tells a lot.
Thus, it was always one of my biggest faults having difficulties finding friends. And no, not because I was different from every other regular student in school even though it played another significant role in that.
However this time, I was kind of relieved to have moved away despite having many friends - or at least more than I had previously - back home whom I could hang out with, regardless of spending most of my time with them.
It was after I wasn't able to walk anymore. They suddenly started behaving differently. They were strange, starting to cut me off on their afternoon meetings, saying that it would just burden me by tagging along. I can't tell whether they were just being considerate in a dumb way or plain assholes. But judged by the fact that they didn't even want to keep in touch with me, I guess it was the second.
Not that I already had enough problems to get over with. The reason we moved here was not only because of work but because the physiotherapist we had here seems to be one of the best in the country. I didn't really like him, though. That was a big deal since I have to spend every week at that place.
Anyway, pushing these facts aside, everything must, of course, get even worse when my parents came up with that idea. At first I really assumed that it was all just a joke, but then Mom had to bump into a woman while groceries shopping. And now they both seemed to be like best friends. Not only that, apparently that woman had a son in my grade who qualified to be my caretaker.
I only knew because I eavesdropped on my parents' conversation. Usually, I am not a person to stalk people, but they where being suspicious the entire week, so I just had to figure out what was going on. Even I couldn't control my curiosity at that point.
And that is how we got to the place where I had locked myself in my room, upset with my parents and therefore not letting them in.
"Honey, please. You have to understand why we are doing this. We are doing it for you," Mom said after knocking on my door.
"I don't want to hear that!" I held my ear close but it didn't help that much.
"Who knows, maybe you could be good friends. Besides the boy and their parents are going to visit us tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you." That was the last thing she said after leaving me alone.
Yeah right, good friends...
_
Ricky Martinez
"Wait are you telling me that I'll have to play babysitter for some disabled kid?" I widened my eyes. Oh please not, I'd rather take another hundred hours of social work.
"You don't have to take care of him all the time, just mainly in school or at home when his parents leave for more than a day."
"You've got to be shitting me," I groaned and let myself fall on the couch after returning from school or rather the principal's office with my parents.
"Well we both have enough of you causing problem wherever you pass by. You act disrespectful towards your teacher, your school mates and your grades are dropping. You have already been held back. If that happens again, we are forced to send you to a strict boarding school."
I bit my lips at fathers threat. This couldn't get worse.
Maybe to understand my situation, I have to explain a bit more.
So, it all started three days ago. We had that festival in school since our baseball team happen to win the tournament while our basketball team - where I also played in - happen to lose in the finals. Therefore, it got on our nerves how they started pestering us about their victory. Which is why, we decided to get them back for it.
My best friend Christo, aka the biggest idiot on planet had that stupid idea to break into school and sabotage their uniforms since we know that they would be wearing them in the festival. Obviously, we knew how much our principal loves the baseball team, thus we didn't want to do anything too bad. Just put some glitter and stickers on their uniforms and draw beards on their team's school poster.
But when we, and with we I mean Christo, Derek and I managed to break in and reach the boys locker room, we already met the place in a wreck. The lockers were demolished, the uniforms torn and destroyed, it was just all a mess.
And guess who happen to get caught in that exact moment. Ha, you got it. Hence, I was called to the principles office earlier for a damn crime that I didn't even commit. I mean, it is true that I was there and that we wanted to put our scheme into action, but we definitely did not vandalize their stuff. It's not like they believed us, though.
Anyway, Derek got off with two weeks suspension and helping the janitor for another two weeks, seeing as he was the saint angel in our group. Christo and I - we are both born for the trouble - got it even worse. He was stuck with four months of social work and I almost got expelled. But my dear parents seemed to have had a better idea and yup, the principal agreed to it.
So, that is the lovely story as to how we got to my current situation.
"What if I don't want to? What if I refuse?" I crossed my arms. "I mean, you can't just force me to babysit our neighbor's kid." I crossed my arms.
"Of course we can. Else we will force you to cut out basketball practice," Dad also crossed his arms.
My jaw dropped. "No, please not that! Everything just not that," I begged, pressing my lips together. "I didn't even do it. I didn't destroy the locker room. Mom, come on at least you have to believe me!" My hope instantly faded when she looked away.
"Even if you didn't touch their things, it doesn't change the fact that you broke into school at one in the morning," she sighed. "It has already been arranged anyway as well as I already talked to Bianca. It is settled for good. We are going to meet them tomorrow so that you can get accustomed to her son."
"This is just ridiculous!" I groaned. "I really hate you sometimes!" These were my last words before I left to head to my room when I accidentally bumped into my seven year old sister who probably woke up by the loud noise.
"Ricky, what is going on? Did you cause trouble again?" She rubbed her eyes and yawned. I raised her up and went to go to my room.
"No, I didn't. It's just..." I didn't know what to say as I was averting my eyes in glum. "I won't be able to have much time for you anymore, okay?" I smiled, but sadly.
"Nooo, why not?" She whined. "You didn't do anything wrong, right?" My sister Liana was the only one to believe me. She never doubted me and had the odd ability to keep secrets to herself. That's why I never ever lied to her and even if she was young, she was more grown up than the majority of my friends. You see, Liana was adopted three years ago briefly after her father died. Her mother wasn't stable enough to take care of her and consequently, she gave her away.
But I'm glad that we took her in, even though, my parents probably did that because I was already a lost case in their eyes. But she was one of the very few people who looked at me like a normal human being.
"Ricky, what is it?" She poked my cheek. "Why are Mom and Dad angry at you when you didn't do anything wrong?"
"You know about what happened a couple days ago that I told you? They found out today and now I have to babysit our neighbors son," I sighed.
"Isn't it good? Then we can all play together. It'll be fun," she grinned.
"No, you don't understand. He is my age and disabled. That means, it's going to be really annoying pushing him around in school."
"We can still play all together, though," she shrugged. "I don't see the problem. Maybe he can be your new friend."
Yeah right, my new friend...
_____________________
Heeyyy and welcome to "gentle, please" c:
And for all those who already know me from my previous work; Nice that you're back🥰
This story was written out of the blue and it's what I fully wrote in my days of quarantine even though it's published now where my time at home is almost over...
Whatsoever, lazying around wasn't an option, so I sat my ass down and put myself to use... and this work is the outcome.
[Btw: If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out. Like please do cuz I swear I suck at proofreading :x]
Without further ado here comes a regular and yet not so regular love story between El and Rick...
~J🐾