In the land of Wales, there lived a young boy whose name was Caden. He lived with his mother and father in a remote village on the country side of Whales. He wasn't poor by any means, his parents simply wanted to enjoy the peace of the country side and live peacefully. His mother was a simple housewife who took care of the house and Caden, while his father was one of the village's doctors. When his father got a recommendation from a highly esteemed medical hospital in America, Caden was forced to leave his birthland and migrate to America.

When Caden enrolled in a private school in America, he found it easy to make friends. Because of his amazingly sociable personality, he instantly clicked with the other elementary school kids, he even became part of many friend groups. His light brown hair and green eyes made him unique to everyone around him, which made the other kids more fond of him. On his first day of school, he was instantly the talk of the town. It wasn't difficult for him to adjust to the norms of America, and in only just a few weeks, he was already like a local.

Even though he was now one of the big shots of their school, there was one kid with whom he didn't interact with much, the kid who sat beside him. The kid was silent and didn't interact with people much. Whenever the teachers asked him questions, he would respond with the least amount of words possible, almost like a cryptic message, and most of the time, he wouldn't respond at all. And when he would do something, he would do it with the least amount of effort possible. Caden couldn't quite make up his mind if the kid next to him was either lazy or shy, as no one really knew the kid well enough to fully explain his personality.

Caden observed the kid more and more, he watched him during classes, during recess, and during lunch, but he still didn't know anything about the kid.

A few weeks passed, and Caden has found his main friend group, which consisted of him, a bald kid, a tall kid, a fat kid, and a snobby girl. His new friends were certainly not ideal, as they were a bit of a bully to other schoolmates, but Caden didn't mind it, he was happy as long as he had people that he could call his friends, especially since he had left all his friends back in his country, he was simply lonely and starving for friendly interaction with others. He didn't want to feel left out, but luckily for him, he developed a friendship with the said kids, and after a few weeks, they were now close friends. Caden enjoyed the company of his new friends, they went to the arcade together, ate lunch together, and even went to the mall together during the weekends. It was certainly fun for Caden, and he felt blessed, but he was still intrigued by the silent kid beside him.

One day, Caden's curiosity peaked, and as the teacher ended her lesson and left the children in the classroom, Caden immediately got off his chair and approached the silent kid.

"Hi, my name is Caden." he said with a large smile on his face, trying to be as approachable as possible. "What's your name?"

The kid remained silent for a bit as he looked into Caden's eyes and said, "Josef."

Caden didn't really know what he would do after this, and he had no plan on what to do after he had gotten the boy's name, he wasn't even expecting him to answer, so he simply came up with a proposition.

"Want to have lunch together?"

Josef stood there silently and shook his head, silently turning down Caden's request.

Caden wasn't fazed by this at all, and he really wanted to know more about Josef because he was genuinely curious. Josef wasn't particularly eye-catching, nor was he good at academics or sports, but there was just something that was telling Caden's mind to befriend the kid.

As the weeks passed by, Caden was still trying to engage with Josef, he had repeatedly asked him if they could eat lunch together, but Josef rejected him with the usual shaking of his head each time, Caden even tried to group up with him for team projects because he thought that it would help him get closer to Josef, but the kid simply finished the tasks without saying much, leaving Caden with no new information gained about the kid, he had also tried asking the teachers about what Josef's interests were, but they themselves didn't have a clue as to what interests such a collected and quiet child. Even after the countless rejections and silent treatments, Caden didn't give up, and his curiosity kept him going. To Caden, it felt like he was being a bit too pushy and annoying to Josef as he was constantly asking him stuff while he sat there quietly. He knew this wasn't the best way for him to befriend the kid, but he couldn't think of anything else.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As another few weeks went by, nothing much changed, Caden was still trying to befriend Josef while he sat there in silence, not opening to speak a word, this became the usual for the two until one fateful afternoon. It was now time for lunch. Many of the kids were seated in groups while Josef sat alone, he was seated with other people, but since it was Josef, Caden knew that he didn't know the people next to him and they were only sitting there because there were no more empty tables, so he was practically alone. Caden was browsing the selection of delicious food at the counter when, as he glanced over to the lonely Josef, he saw his friends approach the silent kid.

"Hey, are you mute or something?" said the bald kid. "Why don't you open your mouth and talk?"

The tall kid sat next to Josef, placing his hands around his shoulders, and said, "Caden has been so nice for trying to talk to you, but you just kept silently ignoring our friend. If you keep this up, then you better be ready to talk with my fist."

The fat kid simply stood there, giggling away.

"What a weirdo." said the girl.

The kid sitting next to Josef knew that trouble was afoot, so he cautiously stood up and left the silent kid since he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. The bullies had also left him after a few more abusive comments. He was now, literally, alone this time.

Caden couldn't hear exactly what his friends were saying to Josef, and he paid no mind to it as he needed to quickly pick out his food for lunch, since the sandwiches were quickly running out.

As the sun sets and Caden walks home from school, he saw the same sight he saw at lunch, but in a different setting. He saw Josef sitting on a park bench while his friends were standing up and surrounding him.

"Speak up, you weirdo!" said the bald kid.

"Come on, I want to hear your voice!" said the tall kid.

"His voice is probably weird." exclaimed the girl, "and it probably smells bad."

The fat kid laughed.

"I'll give you until the count of ten, and if you don't talk, you better be ready to eat my fist!" said the tall kid. "Ten, nine, eight,..."

Josef sat there in silence.

"Five, four, three, two, ONE!" he let out a huge swing, and his fist quickly headed toward Josef's face. Josef didn't flinch, he didn't even blink. He looked as if he didn't care if the kid was about to punch him, but in the nick of time, Caden was able to block the kid's punch with his palm.

"What the fuck are you doing, Caden?"

"Don't you dare fucking hurt him, you bastards."

"I can't believe you would side with someone like him, you're out of the group, Caden."

"That's fine, now get the hell away from us."

"Oh yeah? Then what are you going to do about it? There are four of us while there are only two of you."

Caden grabbed a whistle from his pocket and placed it in between his lips, threatening to blow on it to alert the nearby people.

"You think I'm afraid of grownups? Eat this!" the tall kid yelled and successfully landed a punch on Caden's left cheek, he was pushed to the ground.

"You fuckers will regret that!" Caden quickly stood up and punched the tall kid, dead center of his face. The kid was thrown to the ground even harder than when he punched Caden. His nose started dripping with a bright red liquid, and as he placed his hands over it from the pain, he began to feel nervous when he saw the blood. The other kids saw this and immediately ran and left the tall kid as he sat on the dirt, bleeding from his nose.

"Now that you've learned your lesson," said Caden, "don't you ever go near us ever again, or else!."

The tall kid quickly got up, his shorts were covered in dirt. He quickly ran away from the two while his nose continued to drip blood all over the cold ground.

"Are you okay?" asked Caden. "I hope that those fuckers didn't do anything else to you."

Josef sat there quietly while staring at the ground.

"If they ever approach you again, just come to me, and I'll shove my fist in their faces."

Caden grabbed Josef's chin and raised it so they could make eye contact, "So don't be afraid to rely on others, ok?"

Caden let go of his face, He didn't think much of it, but he was surprised when Josef gave off a smile. It was faint, but he could still tell that he was smiling, this was the first time he saw him smile. Josef gave a slight nod.

"So... want to walk home together?" asked Caden.

"Sure."

Josef smiled more often, but only when Caden was around, for he finally found someone who he could trust, someone who he could call his friend. This was the beginning of their friendship.