The following day when I went to the kitchen for breakfast, I sat at the table and fixed myself a bowl of death-by-sugar cereal. My mom was also at the table, focused on her phone, but when I walked in, she glared at me.

"Good morning," I said with a smile as if nothing was unusual.

My mom inspected my fresh black eye. "I don't even want to know," she muttered.

"Good news, I'm okay, at least." I shrugged.

"I don't even care anymore." My mom went back to staring at her phone.

My dad strolled into the kitchen and looked at me, then smiled. "I'd hate to see what the other guy looks like." He snickered.

“Don’t encourage him!” my mom snapped like a spring-loaded mousetrap.

I barely talked to my parents the rest of the Sunday, which was ideal for me. But I mostly moped around and examined my homework, trying to figure out the math equations I was assigned on Friday.

Homework over the weekend should be banned.

"This shit is stupid," I wrote for the first problem. I laughed and then erased the profanity and breathed a sigh.

I lost track of time and kept getting distracted by my phone. Music was blaring out of my headphones, which usually helped, but I couldn't focus on the math problems. I tried reading the chapters beforehand to figure out what I'd need to do, but nothing was sticking. It didn't make an ounce of sense.

It would be great if I had a brilliant friend, or maybe just a friend in general, I could hang out with that was my age or older.

In the afternoon, there was a knock at my door. I heard it as I was eating a sandwich for lunch. My parents were gone at the grocery store. I opened it up and saw Matthew, the kid in 7th grade who also lived in the trailer park.

"Hey, Rollie, what's–– whoa, what happened to your eye?" Matthew asked.

"I don't wanna get into it," I said. "What brings you here?"

"Uh, first of all, I wanna say amazing game last Friday. That was incredible when you stepped in. You were slinging the ball all over the field!"

"Thanks."

"Secondly, the fellas and I are going to the Meadows to play football. Would you be down to be all-time QB? Or are you too good for us now that you're the varsity quarterback?"

I grinned. "You're right. I am too good for you now, but seeing as I don't really have any friends, let's do it."

"Don't you consider me your friend?" Matt asked.

I thought about it for a moment. Our friendship was very thin. He was just a neighbor kid, and I don't think we'd ever do anything together if he wasn't my neighbor. He was only ever interested in playing football, but Matt frowned at me after my comment.

"Yes, we're friends. Let's go play some football." I got my bike out, and we rode together for two miles until we made it to Meadows Park, an open field a block away from the high school. Hardly anyone was around, but Matthew and all of his middle school friends were waiting, tossing the football back and forth.

They elected me as the all-time quarterback for both teams since we only had nine people. There were four kids on a team, and I was constantly passing to them.

A lot of the passes nailed the kids' hands, but they ended up dropping the ball most of the time.

"Geez, Rollie, can you dial down the speed just a little bit?" one of the kids, Jimmy, asked.

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"Come on, guys. This is practice for me too. If you can't handle these passes, you won't be able to when you get to 8th grade," I replied.

All of my throws were accurate, and all of them were catchable, but my teammates still had trouble with the velocity. One of them was smart enough to wear gloves, and he was my best receiver.

As we played, I spotted an open receiver running a slant route. It was this kid, Kevin, that I didn't really know. I threw a laser of a toss, and the ball spiraled and cruised through the air. I hit Kevin's gut in the end zone. He keeled over and yelped but caught the ball and never let go. Falling down into the end zone, my team cheered and jumped with glee. But Kevin was still on the ground.

"I don't know why we're all celebrating. Rollie practically destroyed Kevin. Dude, I told you to dial down the throws," Jimmy said.

Kevin raised his fist in the air and stood back up.

"You see? He's fine. Nothing to worry about," I said and snickered.

Kevin jumped in place, holding the football as high as he could, both arms in a V-shape. He sprinted around in circles and smiled like a fool. It was funny to watch since my varsity teammates never displayed the same excitement for a touchdown catch.

Kevin stopped, widened his eyes, and pointed at the ground with his other hand. "Squirrel!"

If Kevin didn't point at the tiny critter, I wouldn't have noticed, but he took off running towards the squirrel.

"What's he doing freaking out that squirrel?" I asked Jimmy.

"Oh, he's done this before when we played baseball over the summer. He thinks it's hilarious if he can hit a squirrel with a ball."

"Well, that's not really funny." I furrowed my brow. "Hey, Kevin!" I shouted.

"One second! Just one second!" Kevin kept chasing the squirrel and cocked his arm back, and launched the football at the squirrel in the open field.

I couldn't tell if he hit the squirrel or missed, but my blood had reached a boiling point either way. Sprinting up to Kevin, he froze, spun around, and saw me coming after him.

"What did I do?" He yelled, looking at me innocently.

I gripped him by his shirt, and his feet dangled above the air. I was a solid foot taller than him. All the other kids behind me yelled my name, but I tuned it all out.

"You know who likes hurting animals? Psychopaths. Are you a psychopath?" I asked.

"Uh, uh, uh, no. I'm ju-just messing around! I have a-a dog at home."

A kid like him didn't deserve to have a dog, I thought. I was raging with jealousy. Memories of my parents telling me we couldn't get a dog flashed through my mind. I had tunnel vision and couldn't focus on anything except Kevin's frightened face. I kept hearing my name called out, and all the other neighborhood kids ran up to us and circled around.

"Beat him up, Rollie!" one of the kids yelled.

"Guys!" Kevin screeched. "What the heck! You're gonna get me killed!"

"Rollie put him down. If you punch him once, you'll probably have to pay for all his dental bills," Jimmy said.

I glared at Kevin as he squirmed and fixed his attention on the ground.

"Apologize. Say you're sorry to the squirrel," I muttered.

The kids in the circle snickered.

"It's not a joke," I reminded everyone. I kept my focus on Kevin. "Say you're sorry."

"Okay, man, I'm sorry! Can you put me down now?"

I tightened my grip on his shirt. "Promise you'll never harm another animal ever again."

"I don't harm animals, dude! I just toss a ball at them on occasion! It's not like I'm going hunting in the woods and killing them or anything like that!"

I clenched my jaw and flared my nostrils. I saw fire out of the corner of my eye.

And smoke.

"What's happening!" a kid yelled.

"Fire!" another kid screamed.

"Rollie's hand is on fire!"

I froze up and dropped Kevin instantly. He fell to the ground and bolted away, screaming, "This dude just tried to light me on fire! He's a pyromaniac!"

I tucked my hand underneath my arm and pulled it back out. The flame had disappeared.

"Hey, guys, I'm really sorry about what––" I looked around.

All the kids had already run to their bikes and rode off.

My heart felt heavy. My body wanted to cry, but I felt so low I couldn't muster any tears. The squirrel that Kevin took aim at stood a few feet away from me, wagging its bushy tail. It was a cute squirrel with big eyes. It seemed untouched by Kevin's wrath.

I smiled at the squirrel. "Sorry about all that. I wish I had some bread crumbs or something to give you."

The squirrel just wagged its tail.

I walked back towards my stuff on the ground. I checked my phone and saw a missed call from my mom and a bunch of text messages from her.

"Rollie, where are you?"

"Dammit."

"RESPOND!"

"Hellllloooooooo don't you care that your mother is trying to get a hold of you?"

"Did you at least finish your homework?"

"CALL ME BACK ASAP!!!"

"Whatever. I said I don't even care anymore earlier, and I meant it. I don't CARE."

I gulped.

I got on my bike and went back home. I called my mom back.

"Hey, sorry, Matthew asked me to play football with his friends, so that's where I've been. I should have texted you," I said.

"Have you finished your homework yet?"

"I was almost finished when Matthew knocked on the door, so yeah, basically," I lied. But technically, I was finished working on it because I wasn't going to complete the rest of the problems since I didn't understand the material. So in a way, I was telling the truth.