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But it seemed that my effort to go unnoticed by simply minding my own business under the shade of a tree was futile. Because two kids had just approached me. They looked like they could have been right around my age, and if nothing else, they seemed friendly enough. I intended to remain cautious, though.
“Where did I get what?” I countered.
One of the boys lifted a hand and pointed at my face. “The black eye and the bruise on your cheek.”
Right.
There was that.
Maybe it was foolish of me to assume that I could have had any chance of remaining inconspicuous with my face looking the way it did. As it turned out, Jimmy had done a significant amount of damage to my face last night.
Taking in the appearance of the two boys in front of me, I noted a few things. Physically speaking, they were near opposites. One had blond hair, and the other had brown. The boy with the brown hair was slightly shorter than the other, and he had a stockier build. That said, it was clear to see that they were a bit malnourished. I wondered if they were eating even a single meal a day. And their clothes were worn and dirty.
Despite having some sympathetic feelings toward them, I decided it was best to make sure they knew not to mess with me. Looking out for myself first was part of survival, wasn’t it?
So, I lied. “I got into a fight with the last person who thought it was okay to try to take my things.”
Their brows pulled together. “How much did they take?” the blond-haired boy asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“But have you seen your face?” he asked.
I did my best to cock an eyebrow using the eye that wasn’t swollen and countered, “He might have gotten in a few good shots, but you haven’t seen his face.”
On the off chance that these boys saw me as an easy target, I wanted to do whatever I could to dissuade them from messing with me. Neither one of them looked like they believed a single word that came out of my mouth.
“Are you out here alone?” the shorter boy asked.
“Who wants to know?” I retorted.
Without saying a word, he sat down off to my left side. The other boy sat directly across from me. Only when they were seated did I get an answer. The shorter boy with brown hair said, “I’m Archie.”
“I’m Garrett,” the other revealed.
I looked between the two of them, wondering if I could trust them. Recognizing the fact that I didn’t have anyone else, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. “I’m Hanna.”
“Cool. Nice to meet you,” Garrett said.
“You, too.”
The next thing I knew, I watched as both Garrett and Archie pulled their backpacks out from behind them. I hadn’t even noticed they were wearing them. My eyes remained on them as they opened the backpacks and each pulled out a brown paper bag.
Archie looked inside his, saw whatever was in there, and returned his attention to me. After glancing down in the bag just one more time, he asked, “When was the last time you had anything to eat?”
“I ate lunch at school yesterday,” I answered honestly.
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, both boys froze and looked at me. “You’re in school?”
“Yes. No. Well, I mean, I…” I stammered, trailing off because I wasn’t sure how to explain it. Then, because I believed this was one of those things that required honesty, I shared, “Yesterday was my last day.”
Understanding washed over their faces. I wasn’t sure they’d gotten all the answers they were looking for, but I had a feeling they could relate to me. Even better, they didn’t ask for an additional explanation.
In fact, they proved just how kind they were when Archie held out a banana and said, “Here. I’ve got two of them.”
As I took the banana from him, I replied, “Thank you.”
“And there’s plenty of bread for us to split, too,” Garrett declared, pulling out a loaf of freshly baked bread. My mouth watered at the sight of it.
