She was being nice. I liked it when she was nice.
She put her arm around me and I shoved her back.
“Whoa, what was that for?” she asked me and I knew I had done something wrong. She wasn’t smiling anymore. She didn’t look like she wanted to be my friend.
“He doesn’t like to be touched, Dania. Everybody knows that,” Ellie said. I shook my head. That wasn’t true. I liked it when she touched me. Sometimes Ellie would hold my hand and that felt nice.
Ellie was frowning again and that made my stomach hurt.
Dania said something to Stu and then they were smiling again. “Come on, Freaky. Let’s go to your house. I won’t touch you. I promise,” Dania said.
“My name isn’t Freaky. It’s Flynn,” I said as we started walking again.
“Freaky Flynn. Yeah, I know,” Stu said. He was walking beside me.
“No. Not Freaky Flynn. Just Flynn!” I told him. I hated that name. It made me mad when people called me that. I never wanted to hear it again.
Stu patted my arm and I pulled away. He laughed. He was laughing at me. I wanted to hit him.
“Stop laughing at him, Stu. Be nice,” Dania said, hitting his arm. I liked Dania. She was nice.
My feet were really cold. I needed to take my socks off. My toes hurt. I couldn’t walk while my toes hurt.
“Why did you stop?” Dania asked.
“My socks are wet. I need to take them off,” I told her.
“Let’s walk up to the bridge and you can take them off there. I’ll help you,” Dania said and I was smiling again. She would help me. She was my friend now.
I looked at my watch. “We will be at the red barn in four minutes. That’s two hundred and forty seconds,” I told them, proud of myself for not needing the paper Mom had made for me. I could tell them without looking at it.
“Two hundred and forty seconds, huh? Well that’s good to know,” Dania said.
“Guys, seriously. We should be heading to the diner,” Ellie said from behind me.
“I want them to come to my house, Ellie. Just like you do,” I said and she looked mad again. Dania started laughing. I laughed too because she was my friend.
“Oh really? Like Ellie? She comes to your house?” she asked me.
I started to nod but Ellie shoved me from behind and I stumbled forward.
“Shut up, Freaky! You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” she yelled and it hurt my ears. Ellie hurt me and I wanted to cry. Why was she being so mean?
“Stop being so nasty, Ells. You’re upsetting Flynn,” Dania said and she gave Ellie a mean look. Why was Ellie hurting me?
“You’re a bitch,” I said to Ellie then Stu and Dania started laughing again. I never said bad words. I didn’t like them. But I knew what a bitch was and Ellie was being one.
Ellie’s mouth was twisting in a strange way and I pointed at it.
“You’re doing that thing with your mouth again. Why are you doing that?”
Dania and Stu were still laughing.
“Am I being funny?” I asked them.
Stu hit my back and I moved away from him. He held his hands up. “You’re the funniest dude I’ve ever met, Freaky.” He covered his mouth with his hand. “I mean, Flynn,”
Stu wasn’t being so scary right now. Maybe he wouldn’t hurt me anymore. That made me feel really happy.
