It was obvious that he didn’t have to worry about the things we deal with and it felt like he was living a much easier life. I looked at him, uncertain if it was jealousy or selfishness for me to be feeling this way. We were walking around the garden, after I met his dad and it was already close to seven, which is the time his dad clocks-out.

“Are you coming by tomorrow?” I asked him.

“Sorry, I can’t. I probably won’t be stopping by until Saturday. I have school and my dad will be here the whole time when I’m out.” He tells me as we make our way to the front of the house. “But remember, we’re going out so just look forward to that and maybe I’ll treat you to something for your birthday.”

“No, you don’t have to,” I said, blushing. “The invite was already nice enough.”

“I’m not taking a ‘no’ and making sure you take care of those bruises,” he tells me and started walking away once he saw his Dad pulling up in his truck. “Bye.”

I waved, watching them leave, and stood there at the front door for a while before making my way inside.

It was quiet, as always, and I made my way to the kitchen grabbing something to drink. After being outside with Elliot for hours, the silence in the house felt like it was empty and deserted but it’s always felt like this. I was making my way upstairs when I heard my dad calling me and I walked over to his office.

“Yes?” I asked, cracking the door open a bit so he could see me.

“Have you finished your studies?” He asked me.

“Yeah, I finished it Friday. I just have to read for my literature class.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be spending time with that boy and focus on your schoolwork.” He tells me as he takes off his glasses to look at me. “I can schedule you a tutor for after school lessons and maybe have you do a bit of work at my office as well. School is almost over within a year so putting you in the office will give you a head start.”

“Dad, you know I’m not-“

“Yes you are and it’s final. How else will you continue to be living like this if you're going to slack off.” He cuts me off.

“I’m not slacking off and you know I'm not interested in running your company,” I said, feeling a little anxious about where our conversation is leading. “You know I don’t care about all this… I don’t want it.”

“So you're going to run off like your mother and disgrace your name?” He retorts.

I stood there quietly and I didn’t know how to respond. “I’m not… I’m not saying that…”

“You can leave. We’ll talk more about this later.” He said, reaching for his glasses to put on again and return to his work.

I stood there for a while and I wasn’t too sure if I wanted our conversation to end that way, but I made my way to my room without a word. The week went by that I didn’t bother so much with the kids in my class and they didn’t bother me as well; which I wasn’t surprised. When Friday arrived, I laid in my bed staring up at the ceiling after returning home from school and I thought about what Elliot would want to do tomorrow. I brought it up to my dad on Wednesday, but his reaction was exactly what I expected and he found the idea a waste of my educational time.

I wasn’t too sure what he meant by it since I have never asked to go out with friends or even bring up that I have friends to invite over to the house. I got up to change out of my uniform and make my way downstairs with a few books while looking around to see if my dad was home before going outside. Dad hates it if he caught me talking with the staff, but there was no one else to talk to besides them and they have always been nice to me even if they are scared to get caught.

I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and made my way to my mother’s garden and sat down seeing new fresh roses planted. It’s been nothing but dirt the whole week and it was nice seeing bright roses filling the place. I sat down opening up my school textbooks deciding that I was going to study here before my dad could catch me and I won’t be allowed out of the house for the rest of the day.

“I thought I’ll see you here,” Elliot’s dad said, walking up to me.

I try to greet him every time I see him and kept my distracted as well so Dad won’t be annoyed. “Hi, Mr. Thompson. Thank you for planting the roses again.” I said closing my book and smiled softly as I looked at the flowers. “They look beautiful.”

“Well, Elliot told me how important they were and kept reminding me to get them done as soon as I can.” He said kneeling down beside me and pat on the dirt from where he planted the roses. “They still need some extra care, but I’m sure they will last a long time and we have to make sure nothing else happens to them.”

I glanced at the ground and nodded my head, “I don’t want them to get damaged again… I’m sure no one else will be coming by the house to visit me so it should be fine.”

“And Elliot? I’m sure he’ll come by to visit during the weekends if I bring him along,” He said, like that can be so normal and simple.

I placed my hand flat on the ground and brushed over the grass before shaking my head, “I don’t think that would be a good idea… Tomorrow is fine, but maybe he shouldn’t come by every weekend.”

“And why is that?”

I felt shy telling him because I’m worried that he would be upset or that I’m worried that Elliot would be hurt by this news. “Dad doesn’t want me to spend my time hanging out with him or throw away my free time playing around.”

“You're still a kid,” He commented.

I raised my head to look at him and I froze a bit seeing my dad’s car pulling up to the driveway. “I should go. Please, don’t tell Elliot what I said.” I asked, turning back to Mr. Thompson and I can hear the plea in my voice. “I do want to be his friend, but I don’t want him to get involved with everything that’s wrong with my family as well. All of it will be my fault.”

“This isn’t something that would offend Elliot,” He said as he watched me stand up and grabbed all my textbooks from the ground.

“I’m sorry. I have to go,” I said, turning to him and paused for a second wanting to stay a bit longer, but I made myself turn around running towards the house.

I felt bad for leaving Mr. Thompson, but I don’t want my dad to get mad again seeing me outside of the house and also to be talking with the staff again. It’s starting to feel like I don’t know how to make Dad happy and everything I do will only upset him. During dinner, we ate quietly as he looked over from paperwork and I looked down at my plate picking at my food. I reached for my cup, taking a sip, and I can feel like my movements were echoing in the room.

“Dad,” I called.

“Yes?” He said, not looking up from his work.

“Can I go out on Sunday afternoon?” I asked him.

“I thought you already have plans for tomorrow,” He asked me.

“I… I do, but I want to go somewhere on Sunday.” I commented. “It’s not with Elliot.”

“And what exactly will you be doing?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I just want to go out and explore the city on my own. I never get to go out like that and I thought it’ll be fine-”

“No, Michael.” He cuts me off.

“Why not?”

"I already allowed you to go out for tomorrow. You can’t waste your day fooling around like everything doesn’t matter and having people think that you are some wild child who can’t be catered at home.” He returned to his work and started writing.

“What? You know me better than to think I’m a wild child trying to put shame on our name,” I said feeling offended.

“No, and I didn’t want to let you go out  but it was all they wanted as a reward.” He tells me, never looking away from his work. “I offered them money and they still refused it.”

I looked at him and slowly raised from my seat, “You tried to pay them off so I couldn’t go out with Elliot?”

“Well, seems like there wasn’t much to go on after the discussion-”

“Dad, you can’t just do that. Elliot wants to be my friend and you wanted to pay him so that he'll stay away from me?” I asked, disbelief.

I didn’t wait for a reply and stepped out of the dining room to make my way upstairs to my room. I laid down in bed and waited that Dad would come to my room wanting to apologize or give an explanation, but he never did. I hope Elliot wasn’t offended by Dad’s offer and as flattering that he didn’t take the money, will his behavior change? Will Elliot pity me that my dad offered to pay him off so he wouldn’t hang out with me? Maybe it was a good thing I told Mr. Thompson does not let Elliot come by the house so often so Dad wouldn’t see him and try to pull another stunt.

I was able to fall asleep after a while and when I woke up in the morning I felt more tired, but I’m sure it’s from everything that happened with Dad. I laid in bed for a while until it was almost noon and started getting ready to hang out with Elliot. I put on plain blue jeans, but it took me a while to decide on a top until I decided on a nice dark red shirt. It's a bit odd for me to feel nervous, but I am and I really want today to go well and hopefully show that I wanted us to be friends after what happened; even if it meant that he won’t be allowed in the house after hearing my warning. I went outside by the garden waiting for Elliot and when I saw him walk over I quirkily grabbed his arm to pull him away from the house.

“We should hurry up,” I said, leading him to the side gate that the staff usually enter from.

“Hi to you too,” He said, following beside me and I could see that he was curious about my intention of wanting to leave. “Hey, Michael, look-“

“Why didn’t you take the money?” I cut him off. I know what he was going to say. Elliot wouldn’t just stay quiet about being bribed, I know he would rather get that out of the way first.

“I didn’t want the money,” He answered.

“I’m sure my dad offered a lot,” I commented. “He’s not always generous like that to give money as a reward.”

“It doesn’t matter-“

“We have the money so it doesn’t really affect us if you wanted more-“

“Wait. Just wait,” Elliot cut me off this time and sighed heavily as he pulled me to the side and lead me away from the driveway. “Let’s go to my truck and talk there.”

“Truck?”

“Yes, how else are we going to places?” He said walking towards the end of the block and you can see his truck; it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the neighborhood’s car. He unlocked the car once we approached it and sat inside quietly until one of us spoke.

“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling a little foolish after I reflected on the things I said to him. “I know you wouldn’t accept the money and thank you for not doing that.”

Elliot didn’t say anything aside, nodding his head and putting his keys in the ignition so his truck can warm up. “I know I grew up differently compared to you and money maybe something our family needs at times, but buying out a day to hang out with a friend felt horrible.” He tells me as he glances over at me and I can tell how upset he is. “You were excited like having to go out with a friend was the greatest birthday gift you have ever received and I didn’t want to take that away from you. No, money can’t buy that for you. Well, not really cause you to need it to buy things when hanging out with friends, but you get what I’m saying.”

I smiled, “Yeah.”

“Alright. Buckle up,” He said as he put on his seat belt and started driving.

I didn’t say anymore since it seemed like Elliot didn’t have any more to say and I think we’ve both said enough that we were able to settle everything. He drove for a while and I wasn’t really sure where we were going since I hardly know the area; I always had a driver taking me everywhere and I also wasn’t allowed to go anywhere on my own. It was exciting to be out on my own, but I will admit that I am a bit nervous being out freely and I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I was looking out the window, curiously looking around, when I saw bright lights ahead of us and the street became crowded as people were walking around making their way towards the bright lights.

“Where are we?”

“In my hometown. There is a street fair going on this weekend and I thought we can spend our time here,” He tells me.

I tried to process this before turning to him, “Street fair? Like an actual carnival with roller coasters, street food, and where they have fish for prizes?”

“Yeah. Exactly that.” He chuckled, parking his truck, and turned to me. “Is that fine? I’m sure this isn’t exactly what you expected…”

I unbuckled myself and it felt like a kid waiting excitedly to get out of the car, “Yes, it’s absolutely fine. I’ve always wanted to go to a street fair.”

“Great. Let’s go before it gets more packed,” He said beaming and we both make our way to Main Street.

We walked down the street and there were rollercoasters lined down the block that I’ve never seen before or ridden on. I wondered if we’ll be going on some of these rides and try any of the food that they are selling. There were a few booths selling toys, jewelry, clothes, and so many other things that I can’t see as we’re walking by them. We got in line after a while, I was a bit distracted until it was our turn and I noticed that Elliot was buying tickets.

“I can help pay,” I said as we stepped to the side after Elliot received the tickets.

“It’s fine. This is my treat and we did have a bit of a bad start with the whole money-bribe situation,” He said, putting the tickets away and we started walking. “So which ride do you want to go on first?”

I bit my bottom lip as I watched him uncertain on how to respond to his statement and looked at the roller coasters around us, “I never been on any of these rides before and we didn’t have a bad start. I was just confused and happy about the whole thing.”

Elliot smiled glancing over at me, “Well, we can just forget it all and just enjoy the night. We’re going to go on this ride and see how you can handle it before going on the bigger rides.”

We made a line with the rest of the crowd and we continued on with our discussion about things they have at the fair. I had a few things in my head that I would like to do before going home and things I was curious about trying that I know my dad would never approve of. We got on this ride called Tornado and it just spins us in circles as it moves in the air. It made me a little dizzy, but I had fun with it and that showed Elliot that we can try other rides once we got off. There were one or two that I turned down because it seemed intimidating, but after the third ride, we started making our way down the road looking for a good food vendor.

“Have you tried street food before?” He asked me as we stopped at a booth that served Mexican food.

I looked at the menu before shaking my head, “No.”

“Well, we don’t have to be picky because there are other places that have burgers or hot dogs. This one has pizza if a burrito doesn’t call your attention,” He tells me as he looked around the area.

I felt a little shy before shrugging my shoulders, “Maybe a burger and fries sounds good. I haven’t had a good burger in a while.”