CHAPTER 8
Graham
FOURTEEN YEARS AGO…
“I hate my life,” eight-year-old Lauren said angrily as she came through the door of her home.
I looked at the tow-headed little girl, and wanted to smile at her statement, something that probably shouldn’t be said by a grade school kid, but Lauren was in a school for the gifted, and most of her classmates had several years on her.
Lauren was the brightest of the bright, and she was setting all kinds of records for her lightning-fast progress through school.
Jack had needed to make a run to the store with his dad, and I was studying at the Swift kitchen table, waiting for them to come back with all the stuff they needed for dinner.
I’d had homework to do, and if I wanted to make the high school football team someday, my grades would have to be decent to make the cut.
Putting down my pencil and closing my book, I asked, “What happened?”
She put her backpack on the table, and I wondered, not for the first time, how she managed to carry all those heavy books. “Dennis’s mother said I was a freak of nature,” she said sadly. “She probably thought I didn’t hear her, but I did.”
“Who is Dennis?” I asked, confused.
“He goes to my school. He’s only slightly gifted, so he’s old,” she huffed, tipping up her tiny chin in an effort to act like she wasn’t upset.
“His mom brought you home?” I guessed. All of the students at Lauren’s school who lived in the same area did a carpool schedule.
She nodded as she opened the refrigerator, obviously looking for a snack. “I was sitting in the back seat. But I heard her tell Dennis that I was a freak of nature in a quiet voice.”
By old, Lauren probably meant that Dennis was several years older than her.
I was so proud of my Peanut, but I knew she wasn’t having an easy time in school, and it wasn’t going to get any better. At her current speed, she’d finish high school at least a year before Jack and I did. Maybe more.
Lauren got speculated about by a lot of people because of her brain power, but it made me mad when anybody insulted her. There was nothing wrong with her. “They’re just jealous,” I told her.
She sat down at the table with an apple in her hand. “I’m different,” she said in a moody tone I’d gotten to know well.
“There’s nothing wrong with being different,” I said in her defense. I knew how she felt. “Who wants to be like everybody else?”
Truthfully, I knew what it was like to want to just blend in and not get anybody’s attention. But Lauren had no reason to be ashamed of herself. She should be proud of herself. “Don’t pay attention to them, Lauren. I think they just want to be like you.”
She lifted a brow at me, and I really wanted to laugh. Sometimes she acted like an adult in a child’s body. “Do you think so?” she asked timidly.
I nodded hard. “I do. You’re brilliant, and everybody is just sad that they aren’t as smart as you are.” I picked up my pencil again and started to twirl it around. “I wish I was as smart as you, but I’m not jealous. I just wish I could do better in school. I’m not smart at all.”
She finished chewing a bit of her apple before she answered, “You’re not dumb, Graham,” she said empathetically. “I can help you with your homework. You have attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, but that doesn’t mean you’re ignorant or dumb.”
“I can’t even say the whole thing,” I told her. “I just call it ADHD.”
I would have preferred for Jack and Lauren not to know about my problems, but they’d discovered my ADHD because Jack’s dad had to give me medication when I was hanging out here.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Lauren asked, making me think of her as an adult psychologist.
Peanut had never really been with kids her own age. Her dad had discovered she was gifted early, and she’d never had the chance to go to a regular school. But really, I didn’t think she would have been happy with kids her own age, either.
I shook my head hard. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Even though Lauren and Jack knew I had ADHD, I didn’t talk about my problems with anybody.
She nodded. “Then I’ll help you with your homework if you’ll let me.”
My chest ached as I saw her kind smile. It wasn’t often that anybody offered to help me. But I was struggling with math class, and Lauren, once I got her to slow down, was good at helping me understand.
She was gifted in more than one area, but math was one of her talents.
“Okay,” I agreed. I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to do better in school. “Thanks.”
She rose and threw her apple core away, and then washed her hands. After scooting a kitchen chair closer to mine, she climbed up on it. “Show me what’s giving you difficulty right now?”
I grinned down at her as I put my pencil down to open up my book. It was always funny to see a little girl helping people who were way older than her. “Are you smarter than your teacher?” I asked as I snatched her glasses to clean them.
Lauren might be a genius, but she never cleaned her glasses.
She looked thoughtful for a moment before she answered, “Not yet.”
I laughed before I showed Lauren the problems I’d had difficulty solving.
It had to suck when you knew you were almost as smart as your teacher at the age of eight. But I didn’t see Lauren as different. I just saw her as my friend.
By the time I went home later that night, my homework was all done.
I owed Lauren big time, and I was going to repay her by buying her a teddy bear I’d seen in the store when I’d gone with my foster parents. I’d been saving my lunch money to get it. It didn’t matter if I was a little hungry when I got home from school. Lauren had helped me a lot over the last year, and I wanted her to have a friend around even when I wasn’t with her.
It might take me a few more weeks of saving, but I’d get it eventually.
I thought she’d love it because the teddy bear had glasses just like hers. Maybe she’d feel less alone if she had a smart stuffed animal that was just like her.