Redemption(updated 01/08/13)

"Baron, look out!" I had heard these words moments before I tripped over a tree branch in the back yard and landed face down in the grass. I sat for a moment unable to move from the embarrassment of falling in front of my friends and family.

"Baron, you are SUCH a klutz...who falls over a tree branch in low cut grass?" said my 13 year old brother Eric.

"Yeah, well, shut yer face, beaver teeth." I replied in a sarcastic tone. I then sprung up off the ground and turned towards my friends.

'Hey Baron, you feeling the breeze yet?" Said my friend Michael in a joking manner. As soon as he mentioned it, I did feel a very uncomfortable breeze. I looked down to see my pants around my feet. How the hell I didn't notice before, I will never know. I hurried and reached for my pants and pulled them back up as quickly as possible, while my face and neck suddenly increased in temperature.

"Awwwwwww Baron's blushing, that's so adorable!!!" said my other friend Kelly. I don't know if she realized it, but I had the biggest crush on Kelly. I had always secretly imagined her looking me in the eyes and telling me that she loved me, but I was always brought back to reality by the fact that she's already taken.

"Baron, put your pants on, I've got something I wanna talk to you about, and I'm not speaking to you like THAT. Meet me around front in the van." I nodded my head in agreement and zipped my pants back up. My little brother stood in front of me now with a sad look on his face.

"Baron, are you gonna be out all night again?" he said as he took off his little red hat.

"I'm not even sure this time Eric, I'll try not to be okay? cause I know you hate it when I'm gone don't ya?" Eric started walking towards the house, angry from my response. Once he got to the back door, he turned around and began to speak.

"Baron...I'll cover for you again if you need me to." I looked at him, smiled and shook my head no.

"Naw kid, you go ahead about your day, I'll be fine."

"Baron you know you have school tomorrow right? If mom and dad find out about you doing this, there isn't going to be anything good about it."

"I'm going right across the street dad, I'll be fine okay? seriously Eric calm down, they're friends of mine, nothings gonna happen." Eric retreated into the house, his eyes never left me as he closed the sliding door. I chuckled a little and made my way towards the front to see what Michael wanted to talk to me about. coming around the side of the house, there was a huge puddle of mud on the side of the house, usually I would avoid it, but since I was already dirty from the fall, I ignored and walked on through it. I made it from the side of the house and noticed that Michael was across the street.

"Hey why didn't you just come through the front door? You had to know that there was a mud puddle on the side of your own house dude!" Michael yelled from across the street, sitting on his truck next to Kelly.

"Yeah I knew there was, but the front door knob is jammed so its either come around the house or bust the windows out the front and climb through. The back door works, but that kinda causes problems when yer tryin' to go through the back to get out o' the front!" I yelled back. I walked up to the curb of the street, stopped and looked both ways before running out. I slipped in the middle of the smooth street, but quickly recovered.

"Man, what the hell is goin' on with you today Baron? Yer fallin' all over the place." I rolled over and looked at the bottom of my shoes, which was black with what looked like motor oil.

"This one wasn't on me this time man, there's some kind of motor oil or something in the mud i stepped in."

"Well don't you think you should like put something over it or something? That's like a safety hazard or something right?"

"Stop cryin' ya big baby! It'll be fine, it's not like anybody's gonna slip and die in it or something."

"Well whatever dude...here's what I wanted to talk to you about, there's this party tonight right here in this house later on tonight, and you're invited." Michael pointed to the house behind him.

"Wait, right across the street from my house? Cool man, I'm in! Less chance of being caught!" I replied excited about the party. Michael hopped down off the hood of his truck and shook my hand.

"That's what I'm talkin' about! My boy Baron is ALWAYS down for some fun!" I smiled and lowered my head as Kelly smiled at me from over Michaels shoulder.

"Alright dude, I'm gonna go and get some sleep, im kinda tired from all that playin' and what not we did today."

"But we only did like three things today dude. Went to the store, went to the beach, and played catch. You gettin' old on me dude? Michael said patting me on the shoulder. I laughed and turned around, heading for my front door and some well deserved relaxation. I noticed that the blinds in the front window were cracked, Eric's spying on me again, he always is when he's concerned about me. I looked up at the blinds and they quickly shut..heh, busted. I walked around the back of the house, same side i took last time, but this time i decided to avoid the mud puddle. Once I crossed over it, i decided to look at it a bit more, and what do ya know, motor oil. Sometimes my dad works on his lawnmower on the side of the house, don't know why, but he just LOVES the side of the house. He sits on the side of the house, stands on the side of the house, when him and mom argue about something or if he's just upset in general, he retreats to the side of the house to clear his head. I' decided I'd let him know about it when he gets home, let him take care of it..biggest mistake of my life. I continued on about my way, making my way to the back door, I slid it open, expecting Eric to be in the living room...but he wasn't. I called his name, he didn't answer, so i went upstairs and knocked on his room door.

"What do you want Baron? I don't wanna talk to you right now." He said in a sad tone. I didn't know what to say to him, this is different for us, me and Eric get along perfectly, there have never been any moments like this between us. I leaned against his door and softly apologized to him and turned around to go into my room, and then his door opened.

"You know Baron, you've been acting weird lately, the drinking, smoking, partying all night...that's not the Baron I used to know. We used to go out to the park everyday and play, you'd take me to baseball games, tell me about your days at school...what happened to that Baron? I miss the OLD Baron, I feel like I don't know you anymore." I stood there for a moment, my hand on the doorknob to my room, upset for an unknown reason at what he had just said to me. I knew it was true, but I guess I had felt so bad about it, I didn't know how else to respond.

"You know what Eric, you're just a fuckin' kid...what the hell do you know? We did those things sure, but then I made friends, sorry i don't have time for you anymore because I've got more important things to do." I turned around and seen tears in Erics' eyes, but before i could apologize, he stepped back into his room, slammed his door and locked it. I could hear him crying from my door, I wasn't gonna apologize to him just because he's crying, that'd be just like giving up and not sticking to my word. I opened my door, stepped into my room, flopped onto my bed and slowly dazed off staring at the ceiling.