Excerpt, Matthew Jackson's Freshman Year

Chapter 11
The New Group
Sixth grade.

Jack.

Those were the first things that hit my mind when I woke up one late February morning. I hadn’t seen much of him or spoken to him since the night at the dinner dance when he tried to get me to dance after seeing Ashley and Charlie take their dinner dance photo right in front of me.

I had only seen him outside of school four times since we first met in sixth grade, three of those times being at his birthday parties in middle school. I was missing those times now. Like with Carlos, it would be nice to hang out with Jack again.

I got to my locker at school that morning when I saw a boy standing directly across the hall. There was something different about him – or in this case, similar. He looked exactly like me. He was first to point it out, too.

“You look exactly like me!” he exclaimed.

“No way!” I exclaimed back, but in a sarcastic tone.

“I’m Stephen,” he came up to me and introduced himself.

“Matt,” I told him, and we shook hands. He told me about how he was a sophomore at the school and more about his classes until the first bell rang and we went our separate ways.

The first half of the day went on as normal. I told Richard about Stephen when I saw him in lunch.

“Oh, I know him. He’s part of my group of friends,” he said. I was in shock. I didn’t know Richard knew Stephen. They were even in the same friend group, which must’ve meant that they were close, too.

“Oh, really?” I asked. Richard nodded as he ate his chicken sandwich.

“Yeah, it’s me, Stephen, our friends Jack, Kyle, Karen -”

“Wait. You know Jack and Kyle?!” I asked even more surprisingly. I had talked to Kyle all the time in middle school but hadn’t seen him since we graduated.

“Yeah. Kyle and I have been friends since elementary,” Richard answered.

“Are you guys hanging out after school?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Can you ask if I can tag along?”

“Sure.” Alexis then came over and sat next to me.

“What’s up, guys?” she asked.

“He knows Jack, Alexis,” I said to my sister, pointing over at Richard.

“Jack? That kid you used to text all the time?” she asked.

“Yeah, him.” Alexis then turned her attention to Richard.

“How do you know Jack?” she asked him.

“I met him last year,” Richard said. “He invited me to his house to hang out one day and we’ve been hanging out ever since.”

Richard and I discussed about how we each met Jack and the times we had together. Jack had said I could come, and he’s excited to hang out with me again. That got me excited, as well. I couldn’t wait to see him and hang out with him again.

Richard texted me at the end of the school day that the group was already at Jack’s, and I would have to walk to his house. I didn’t mind it, however.

It took me fifteen minutes to reach Jack’s house. I heard voices in the backyard, where we had played hide and seek at his birthday parties once it had gotten dark, so that’s where I headed towards first.

There were a couple of kids there. There was Jack, with his big poofy black hair, tan shirt, and blue jeans. Then there was Kyle, who wore a black Beatles sweater, black jeans, and a black bowl top haircut, just like Mike’s from T.I.M. had been.

Richard was wearing what he wore in school. The last person I saw was the kid I met today before homeroom, Stephen.

“Mini me!” he yelled and pointed at me. He knew me five minutes and had already given me a nickname. I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or if I should be worried for any reason.

“It’s been a while.” Kyle came up to me and we slapped hands.

“Hey, Matt,” Jack said to me. After I reunited with everyone, we played some football. At halftime, a boy smaller than the rest of us came out from the back door and down the steps that led to the door.

He sort of looked like Jack, except he had glasses and his black hair was more like a horse’s mane as it went down way past his shoulders.

“Hey. I haven’t seen you since I was in sixth grade,” the boy said to me.

“Do I know you?” I asked. I didn’t recognize him at all.

“I’m Harold,” he said. I then looked back into my mind.

Seventh grade.

The one time I hung out at Jack’s house.

I was walking to Jack’s house by myself. I was going to hang out there for the first time since his birthday party the year prior. That was the first time we had hung out outside of school, so this was technically the second time.

I got lost and was about to head back home when Jack called me and asked where I was.

“You lost?” he asked.

“I think so,” I answered. He directed me to his house, staying on the phone with me the entire time.

I entered the living room and looked to my left to see a boy sitting in a computer chair. He had frameless glasses and his hair sort of resembled a bowl top, but it wasn’t exactly that.

I remembered him now. Harold was Jack’s brother. That was the only time I had seen him – at least, it was the only time I remember seeing him until now.

“Oh, yeah. It has been a while,” I said to the boy with the mane now standing in front of me.

Harold joined us for the second half of our backyard football game. My team won 45 to 14 and we went back inside for some Domino’s Pizza, which Jack and Harold’s parents ordered for us every time I was there for a birthday party, and cans of lemon Brisk iced teas. Francis, another old friend of mine from eighth grade, came soon after we began eating pizza. He told me he was also part of this friend group.

After eating, we played some Nintendo Wii. Around eight o’clock that night, Jack announced we were going back outside.

“For what?” I asked.

“Manhunt!” he answered. I was jumping up and down in my skin. I had such an amazing day thus far hanging out with Jack, Kyle, Stephen, Richard and Harold already. Now, we were going outside to play some manhunt.

We went out on the back porch, which was huge because Jack and Harold lived in a duplex. Stephen, Kyle, Harold and Richard began to argue about who would be first. Stephen finally spoke amongst the rest of them.

“I’m the oldest, so I’ll decide how we’ll decide who’s it,” he said. “Everyone stand in a line.” We all lined up horizontally, standing next to one another.

“Eeny, meeney, miney, Kyle!” Stephen shouted, pointing at Kyle.

“You bitch!” Kyle shouted, and we all shared in laughter. Kyle went inside and began counting to fifty.

We all ran and hid around the backyard, and some went through the basement door, down into the basement. I hid behind the one tree in the top right corner of Jack and Harold’s backyard.

Francis hid under the stairs of the back porch that led down to the backyard. Jack, Harold, and Richard went into the basement. Stephen hid on the side of the house, next to the basement door.

I heard the porch door open and crouched in my spot behind the tree. Kyle caught Stephen first, then Francis, then me.

“I’m guessing the rest of them are in the basement,” Kyle said. We all went into the basement and began searching for them.

Richard was hiding under the stairs that led back up to the first floor. Jack hid behind the spare refrigerator in the basement and Harold was in a garbage can in a little room in the basement.

After manhunt, we turned the lights on, sat in the basement and played truth or dare and talked about first dates. My dad came and picked me up around nine o’ clock that night.

I hated that the night had to end, but I was so happy to have had what was possibly now the best day of my life.

“Did you have fun?” my dad asked as we reached that crossed over to the side of town where we lived.
“Yeah,” I answered with a smile. “It was the greatest.”

Ashley was extremely angry at me for not texting her basically the entire day, but I didn’t care. I had enjoyed myself more than I ever had before.