I looked through the peephole and saw who knocked on my door. Funnily enough, it was the LAST person I wanted to see here.

It was Annika.

I didn’t want to be seen, or see her, so I walked away.

I entered my room and put my contacts and glasses on. I had finished changing and cooking breakfast. I wore a black hoodie and black joggers with my converse. 

They fit me perfectly now that I have grown both in muscle size and height.

I heard more knocks on the door. I just stood in front of the door, eating my toast.

Surely enough, Annika started yelling.

“GREY! OPEN THE DOOR! YOU KNOW I CAN SEE YOU, RIGHT?”

Her yelling sounded more like shrieks. It was enough to wake the neighbors.

I took the cover for the bike out of my bag and put my helmet on my desk. I did bring both of my phones, however.

“GREY! OPEN UP!” She was causing such a disturbance. I really don’t want to see her.

I opened the front door slightly and kept my foot behind it.

“Hm?”

“Gosh! I was going to wake you up, but you changed the lock on the door!”

“Mhm.”

“Let me in. I want to know everything you did without me during these two months.”

She tried to barge into my house like she usually did, but my foot was preventing the door from opening any further than what it already was.

When she couldn’t get through, she looked at me in surprise before twisting her expression into one of anger.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“I can’t let you in right now.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Just because? That’s not an answer.”

“It’s my answer.”

“Well, whatever. I’ll find out what you’re hiding eventually. Let’s walk to school. We’re finally juniors.”

“Yep.” I exited my house and locked the door.

Annika looked a lot different. She wore designer clothes, dyed her brown hair blonde, and grew in height. She carried herself differently than she used to. Now, she gave off an unapproachable vibe.

It felt like she was a queen and I was someone below her. Once again, I remembered why I shouldn’t be friends with this person.

She and I walked side by side, not saying a word, until she broke the silence.

“So, tell me why you weren’t at your house this summer.”

“Do I need to?”

“Yes.”

“I went on vacation.”

“With what money?” She questioned in a mocking sort of tone.

“My money,” I defended.

“To where?”

“Somewhere.”

“You’re being so difficult! Fine, if you’re being that way, then I’ll show you how to answer people’s questions. Ask me something.”

“How was your summer?”

“It was great! I changed my look into something I wanted, got designer clothes, made new friends, and got a boyfriend!”

“A new one?”

“Yeah, Max and Landon were my type, but I didn’t want to lose Max. Landon and I tried it out, but it didn’t work, as you know.”

“Mhm.”

“My new boyfriend’s name is Chuck. He’s strong, fierce, and makes me feel like the only girl in the world.”

“Nice to know.”

“I know, right? You haven’t gotten a girlfriend yet? Are you gay?”

I know she didn’t mean to hurt me, but that last part hit my heart. It hit me hard because that was the centerpiece of bullying from last year.

As a heterosexual 16 year old boy, I was offended. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not homophobic. I just despise when people assume things about me that they don’t know.

I decided to not answer because she wouldn’t care anyway.

Plus, if I said something, then her friends who were waiting for her at the entrance of the school that we were almost to, would have heard me and started their bullying spree again.

By this time, I had separated from Annika and went to get my new schedule.

I had advanced classes this year. My schedule contained no regular or honors core classes.

I am taking AP stats, AP Physics, AICE Gen, and APUSH for my core classes. Then my electives were Weightlifting, AP Psychology, and Braille.

God forbid I go blind one day, I’ll be able to read at least.

The first day happened again. Introductions and all.

“I’m Grey Lennox. I travelled this summer, and I like sleeping.”

“Where did you go?” My AP Stats teacher asked.

“California.”

“That’s awesome! What did you do there?”

“I got a job.”

“What was your job?”

“To give opinions, share ideas, and help my coworkers.”

My classmates’ eyes were staring at me with interest until I answered that last bit. Afterwards, they regained their lifelessness.

Of course I made it sound uninteresting. Why would I needlessly draw attention to myself?

The school day passed by so fast because all we did was an introduction and a ‘get to know what the class is about’.

Finally reaching my house, I went inside and went to see Shiro (my motorcycle).

I put on my jacket, gloves, stuffed the cover into my bag, and headed to work.

My shift at Starbucks was first, so I parked in the lot closest to the barber shop.

I draped the cover over the bike and put my helmet, gloves, and jacket in the bag I carried the cover in.

I reached Starbucks and got ready to work. I put my bag in my locker and locked the lock.

The apron was put on in a few seconds, because by now, my muscle memory pulled through without me thinking about it.

When I clocked in, one of my coworkers clocked out and patted me on the shoulder.

“Glad you’re back.”

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you. I’m saved.”

And they left.

My shift was for 4 hours.

Since the mall was close to school, students would visit there with their friends on weekdays.

Lots of high schoolers were seen hanging around. The girls especially loved Starbucks.

Order after order, they were endless. I didn’t find it to be unpleasant because if I were to compare it to sorting files in the cosmetology department, this was heaven.

I like making people drinks, because it makes them smile. Not only that, but because making coffee is like an art.

When I create a cup of coffee and see the customer smile, it makes me happy as well. 

‘Ah, this is so nice.’

It was almost at the end of my shift when I heard a familiar string of voices.

Guess who it is.

It’s Annika and her little group.

“Oh, uh what was your name? Black? White?” Max jeered.

“No, I think it was red.” The girl with blonde hair, Beatrice, sneered.

“You guys, stop making jokes. Let’s order.” Annika was laughing as she said this.

“Okay. I’ll have a no-losers latte.” Marley, one of the other girls, said.

““Me too.”” The other girl and Max joined in.

I just stood there waiting for an actual order.

“Grey, I’ll have a vanilla latte,” Annika ordered.

“Same for me,” Max, Beatrice, and Marley said one after another.

I turned around and started making their drinks.

One after another, I finished each of the lattes.

“Total is $23 and 10 cents.” I said.

Annika put her chip in the card reader and put in her passcode.

The receipt printed and I handed it to the group.

Finally, they left and I regained my peacefulness.

My shift ended and I made my way over to the barber shop after clocking out and putting my apron and hat away.

At the barber shop, Tanya greeted me by almost tackling me.

“GREY!!! YOU’RE BACK!!”

“Haha. I’m back. Did you miss me?”

“I did! It’s been so long!”

“Two months isn’t that long, but time is relative.”

“You’re right. But still, I missed having fun with you during work. It was boring here without you.”

“I understand, I understand. Can you catch me up on what’s happened?”

“I already did. Literally nothing happened here.”

“Not that, I’m talking about yourself.”

“Oh. Well, I have someone I like. He came in here to get his hair done.”

“Oh? Did you get his number?” I elbowed her playfully.

“No, but I’m hoping that he comes again.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was around your heigh-- wait you grew!”

“I did. So, is he nice, did you talk, what happened?”

“At first he had really long hair and it looked disheveled like yours, but then he asked me to cut it.”

“And?”

“And after I did, you could really see his face. He was so gorgeous!”

“Hm. Well, if he comes back, point him out to me and I’ll get his number for you.”

“You will??” She made it sound like I was her savior.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

“Don’t mention it. Anything else?”

“Um… this place is getting good reviews from the public. The manager is happy, and I got a raise.”

“That’s awesome!”

“Yeah. That’s about it. What happened during the two months for you?”

“I went to California.”

“Awesome!! That’s where OmniBeauty HQ is!!”

“Mhm.”

“What else did you do?”

“I worked and got paid. Someone offered me a temporary job and I managed to raise a lot after working 3 different jobs.”

“How much did you make?”

“You shouldn’t ask people that, so I’ll leave it to your imagination.”

“Aw.” She pouted.

“Let’s get to work now.”

“Got it.”

We went to work. I swept the floors and Tanya kept up with the hairdressers as their assistant.

The day whisked by just like that.

After work, I visited my mom in the hospital.

When it was nighttime, I went home.

The next day, I heard another knock at my door. Annika brought her friends with her this time.

“Hey, Grey. Want to walk with us?”

“So this is his house? It looks so old. I wonder how many centuries ago they built this.” Max was the first one to insult me.

They all piled up on the previous person’s insult.

Finally, I was given a chance to answer.

“No.”

“But why?” Annika asked.

I just shook my head. If she didn’t see what was going on around her, then there was no point in explaining it.

“Why not? Are you scared?” Max asked in a mocking tone.

“No.”

“Then come and play with us.”

I closed the door and waited for them to leave.

They eventually left, but it was stressful having them near my home. Why? Because they could damage something and I won’t be able to replace it.

I’ve had an ominous feeling throughout the day. I didn’t know what it was for, but I didn’t think it would be anything good.

When I got home, I went to work after leaving my school stuff in my room.

I completed both my shifts and then visited the hospital.

My mother was the same as always. She looked like she was sleeping.

I hoped, prayed for her to come back to me. But in my heart, I knew that it wouldn’t be that easy.

When I reached my house, I put my bike away and went to my room so I could sleep.

However, in my room, I heard something.

No, to word it more precisely, I heard the outside.

I heard the crickets and the wind. I was standing in the doorway and walked to the window where my curtains were fluttering as the wind was blowing.

I then felt uneven surfaces from where I was standing.

‘Oh shit.’

It was glass.

I was stepping on glass right now.

Thank god I didn’t take off my socks, else my feet would have been seriously cut up.

I reached towards my sock drawer and pulled out another pair of socks then jumped through the doorway and landed on my butt, trying to avoid letting my feet touch the ground.

I took my socks off carefully and threw them on the pile of glass.

When I put my new socks on, I went to the garage and got the broom.

I swept up the glass for what felt like an eternity. Man, glass goes so far when broken.

While sweeping, I found a rock.

This is destruction of private property.

I had a feeling of who might have done it, since he’s been after my head since last year.

Even if there was DNA on the rock, I couldn’t accuse him since it could frame an innocent person.

After cleaning up the mess, I looked around each room of the house and made sure nothing was taken and no one was here.

I reacted quickly with how to deal with this. I boarded up the window and left it there until the maintenance guy could come.

Great, now I need to replace my window. I had $1.7k left in my savings, and it’d take $500 to fix the window.

If I was being honest, I’d move states, but I couldn’t because my mother is here. They can’t just transfer her because she would die if they tried.

Day after day, I’d get picked on by Annika’s group. I had fixed the window and got paid for my work at Starbucks and the barber shop.

About 3 weeks later, a package arrived at my doorstep.

I brought it into my house and opened it.

It was the newest edition of OmniBeauty hair, makeup, and clothing design products.

Immediately, I called Tina.

“Thank you so much!”

“Of course! We’re sponsoring you, after all.”

“And I’m honored to be sponsored by you.”

“I’d be foolish if I didn’t try to grab you first. Anyway, why aren’t you uploading videos? There’s been no activity since last year.”

“Uh, you see... “

And so I told her everything that happened to me these past weeks. The main points.

“Well, I’m glad you got yourself a bike, your bills are stable, but those kids keep causing you problems.”

“Yeah. It sucks and I don’t have anyone to use for videos now because she sided with them.”

“I see. Why don’t you move here?”

“If they pull the plug, then my mom will die and I’ll be forced to move in with my dad’s family. They’ll probably treat me worse.”

“I understand. Do you want me to give you some support money?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m working the best I can.”

“Okay, well, if you get enough subscribers, you can get paid for your videos.”

“I understand, but I’m not there yet. Do you know of any ideas I can use for videos once I get a model?”

“How about you use what you’ve learned this summer?”

“I should have thought of that! Thanks. I wish I could see you.”

“I’ll come back soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

And the call ended.

 

Every day, the harassment got worse. It went from verbal abuse to mental abuse, then onto identity abuse. A few times, they damaged my house or harassed me at work.

Annika didn’t do much to me. It was when Max, Beatrice, and Marley were without Annika, that they bullied me.

This went on for months and months, until it was Summer once again.

 

However, my channel grew bigger and bigger. The girl I met two years ago in the diner was one of my new subjects. She doesn’t know what my channel is, but she gave me consent to record with her.

She had jet black hair, black eyes, thin but dark eyebrows, and chestnut skin.

She was 5’7, and 20 years old when I met her.

I went to the mall with her and found jobs at the salon and Starbucks.

Unfortunately, I got fired from Starbucks because multiple events of bullying at my job included lodging false complaints against me, which was harming the reputation of the cafe.

I looked for a new job. I found a place called 21 Fitness. It was a gym and I was given the job of a receptionist. That means, I’d stand at a desk and wait for people to check themselves in at the gym.

I guess a good benefit was that I could use the equipment for free after hours.

I started this job about 6 months ago.

And as it turns out, Aaliyah goes to the same gym I work at.

My coworkers don’t really talk to me unless they need something, so it’s a pretty lonely job.

I work out every night after my shifts.

My shift at the barber shop got moved up to 3-7 and my work at the gym was from 7:30-11

With these two incomes, I was making about $3,262 a month. I could pay the bills and have enough money to eat and put into my savings.

During the school year, Annika got a car and her license. She finally stopped bothering me every morning.

I regularly had conversations with my friends back in California.

My savings held $8,224 because every month, I’d put 20% of my earnings into my savings.

I visited my mother every day and talked to her for a small while before leaving. I also made sure that she was properly being taken care of and asked the staff to tell me if a new nurse was taking care of my mom.

The flip phone I used for commission work rang quite often.

Of course, everyone who got my number from the card would be calling from California. Since I was in Florida and had school, I couldn’t just fly there and come back in a day.

I did, however, let everyone who called know that I’d be returning this summer.

During the last month of school, I studied my ass off and got through my finals. I booked a plane ticket the day before Summer started and called Tina to let her know beforehand.

Because of everything that had happened this year with the bullying, job change, commissions, and more, I had gained a lot of life skills.

They’re things I should know as an adult while living on my own, such as managing my finances, how to read and deal with people, and more.

The bullying helped me become immune to what people say about me and pretty much forced me to not trust anyone. But because of that, I learned how to read people based on their actions and the tone of their voice. It’s easy to find someone’s true intentions if you observe them closely.

I learned a lot about styling people’s hair as well. 

One crucial thing to know is that you can put a hairstyle on anyone and call it a day. But to make someone’s style look good, you need to know more about the person and their personality.

If someone’s more carefree, then their hair would look better loose, and tight if they’re more formal and proper.

A person’s hair says a lot about them.

Take me for instance. Without my hair combed and whatnot, you’d assume I was a slob, or someone who doesn’t care about anything. I’d look like someone who’s living life just for the hell of it.

However, when I style my hair, it makes me look like someone who tries to make themself presentable. It makes me look more responsible than with my hair unkempt.

Before I left, I visited the hospital to tell my mom that I’d be leaving for a few months.

With all of this said, I finished packing, got on the plane, and left for California.

 

6 hours later, I arrived at the LAX airport.

Tina sent someone to pick me up, so when I arrived, there was a man in a black suit holding a sign with my name on it.

I walked over to him and he greeted me with a polite bow.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Shay. This way please. The boss is waiting for your arrival.”

“Thank you for your guidance.”

And we left. Of course, I didn’t forget my bags.

 

When we were in the car, I saw a bright billboard sign promoting OmniBeauty. It wasn’t all that surprising, but it was still fun to witness.

I felt so honored that I had met Tina and had been given this opportunity.

 

When we arrived at the building, people were just getting in for work.

I wormed through the masses of people and stopped at the elevator.

While waiting for it to arrive, someone called out to me.

“Shay? Is that you?”

“Hm?” I turned around only to see Charity walking in.

“Oh, it is you! Is it summer already?”

“Yeah.”

She hugged me. Even though I was way taller than her now.

While she was 5’7, I grew to 5’11. It was quite the height difference.

I was finally released and started chatting with her.

“So, did you guys miss me?”

“Of course! We all loved having you around, and now that you’re back, we can finish up on a lot more work!” She had the biggest smile on her face, grinning from ear to ear.

Meanwhile, I was a bit dejected. “Oh, so you only missed me because I helped ease your workload.”

“Of course not! You lighten up the office and make everyone’s mood beam. Come come, I want to show everyone how tall you got and we want to know everything that happened during the time you weren’t with us.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve got to meet the boss for a short while and discuss my details for this summer. I’ll come over right away and greet everyone once I’m done, okay?”

“Sounds good! I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Yes ma’am. See you later.”

With impeccable timing, the elevator dinged and I got on.

I pressed the Floor 50 button and watched the doors close.

The man who escorted me got lost in the crowd. I found it amusing because he looked so tough. Well, some people can’t overpower everything on their own.

Before I knew it, I heard the familiar ding and slide noise of the elevator arriving at the 50th floor.

I walked out with my bags and approached within 5 meters of Tina’s desk, where she was sitting.

She was facing away from me as she spoke.

“So, we meet again, Mr. Shay.” Her voice had a dangerous touch to it that made her sound like a mob boss.