III.

My backpack slumped onto the floor next to my bed as I jumped onto the pillows laid across it. The rest of third grade flew by as I spent my days trying to avoid everyone’s gaze and keep out of the way. The days were getting warmer so my hoodie became more of a pain to put on every morning, but I did it regardless. I laid my head back on one of the pillows as I thought about what my plans could be for summer vacation. I really hope I don’t get fostered again anytime soon.

My roommates all came stumbling in, laughing as Eldryr hit Markus, a half-orc, in the face with his backpack. Markus was rather tall and had an intensely muscular build, especially for a third-becoming-fourth-grader. Oftentimes, I tried my best to stay out of his way out of an innate fear, as I was rather small in comparison, but he always seemed to be helping others reach things or carry heavy items. The trio usually walked home together so it was no surprise they’d arrive back to our room at the same time. Eldryr then tossed his backpack onto his bed and turned to me, smiling and face red from all the laughing.

“Hey, Zach!” he waved and came over to my bed. I looked at him confusedly, it was odd that he would immediately turn to me, let alone approach me. He continued, “So… Since today was the last day of school, Don, Markus, and I were gonna hang out tonight after dinner. And we wanted-”. He got cut off by Don, the halfling in the trio, who suddenly jumped on my bed and slam-dunked a pillow on Eldryr’s head. He fell over onto the floor, laughing as Don took a seat next to me. Don was incredibly short, even compared to me, but he made up for that in his confidence and nimbleness. I sat up and gave the three of them questioning looks. Of course, the trio always rough-housed, but they usually left me out of it.

“Listen, Zachary, we have this awesome plan, right?” Don turned to me excitedly and used his hands for emphasis on all his words, “Well… We need a fourth person to help us carry some of the stuff.” I raised my eyebrow in confusion and he pointed at two large duffle bags in the corner. “Markus thought he could carry a full bag by himself” Don looked sharply at Markus, who chuckled and shrugged, “well, it turns out he can’t. So we wanted to bring you along on our awesome adventure!” My eyes widened at “adventure” and my mind wandered to some comic books I read about adored adventurers and superheroes.

“What adventure exactly?” I asked, rather quiet, rubbing my left hand that had just recently got the cast taken off of it from my table injury, thinking about having to carry a large bag with it. Markus bounced over and sat down next to Eldryr, who was still dramatically laying on the floor after being hit by the pillow.

“You know that bakery downtown?” Markus asked, with a slight lisp from his orc tusks that were growing in. I nodded, “We wanted to go get a bunch of sweets and pastries and bring them back here for everyone to enjoy!” he said rather proudly. I cocked my head to the side.

“You guys are going to buy that many sweets?”

“Oh gods no! We heard that they have a bunch of pastries that get put in storage overnight, so we were going to go take them and share them with everyone.” Eldryr explained, sitting up to look at me and brushing his blonde hair back out of his face. I thought for a second. I didn’t really take the trio to be ones for mischief like sneaking out and breaking into a bakery in the middle of the night, but they seemed like they knew what they were talking about. Plus, when I left my last foster home, the owner of that bakery refused to give me anything over the four days I was on the streets, not even burnt bread.

“So, whadda say?” Don nudged me, his green eyes bright. I glanced at each of them and shrugged.

“Why not?”

The three erupted with cheers and high-fives. Markus grabbed my shoulders and picked me up off the bed to swing me under his arm, messing up my black hair. Startled, I pushed away from him and ended up falling to the floor with a hard thunk. I rubbed my head a little and embarrassedly tried to shake off the fall, looking back up at Eldryr, who had his hand out. He gave me a rather charming smile and I hesitantly took his hand, averting my eyes from his blue ones as he pulled me up. I stumbled a bit before catching my balance and giving Eldryr a half smile while letting go of his hand. An odd feeling of acceptance rushed through me as he nudged me with his shoulder.

We discussed some of the details. The three of them piled on my bed, the four of us sitting in a circle where Don showed me a crumpled piece of paper with some basic drawings and the closing time of the store. There was a knock on the door and Don quickly grabbed the paper to shove it back in his pocket. The door squeaked open and Bailey came in, looking surprised to see everyone gathered into my corner of the room on my bed.

“Hey kiddos, nice of you to include Zachary in something!” I rolled my eyes and sunk back, pulling my hoodie strings so that it would tighten around my head, covering my horns.

“We always hang with little Zach Attack!” Markus said brightly, putting his arm around me and pulling my hoodie down off my head to mess up my hair again. I pushed him away almost instantly, rather hard this time, and pulled my hoodie back up over my horns. My face scrunched up as I felt an angry heat rise in my chest from his choice of nickname and at the fact that they’ve never hung out with me before. Don shot a look over at Markus.

“Hey! What’s wrong with being little?” He stood up on the bed as he spoke, “You have something to say to the halfling in the room?” Clearly joking around, he dived for Markus and they rolled off my bed, leaving Eldryr to fall off the other side of the bed from his spontaneous laughing. I sat there for a moment in shock, feeling the anger fade away before covering my mouth and laughing into my hand, falling back into one of my pillows.

“Well, it seems like you’re all having fun!” Bailey smiled warmly at us, “I was just wondering if you wanted anything special tonight for dinner, since you’re all going to be fourth graders!” Don shot up, clearly excited about the chance to have something other than basic sandwiches or soup, and ran over to her, being closely followed by Markus and Eldryr, who all spoke over each other, still laughing, saying different food items they wanted. Bailey chuckled and wrote down their words in a small notebook she had pulled out of her pocket. I had calmed down from laughing and sat down on the side of the bed, swinging my legs.

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“And what about you?” Bailey had hushed the trio and approached my bed, ready to write down my request. I played with my hands and looked down at them.

“Uh… A fresh baked loaf of bread?” She gave me a puzzled look. My face started to warm up and I fidgeted with the sleeves on my hoodie. She doesn’t realize how condescending she is sometimes. Don and Markus burst out laughing while Eldryr let out a small chuckle and jumped back on the bed next to me.

“We have bread everyday, silly!” he smiled at me. Embarrassment was shown on my face as I felt heat return to it and I tried to look away in an attempt to hide my face.

“I just like bread.” I mumbled and crossed my arms.

“Well, bread it is then.” Bailey gave me a joyful look before putting her notebook away and leaving us to our own means. I shook my head and scooted away from Eldryr, upset that they clearly thought my food of choice was childish. Eldryr nudged me again with his shoulder before turning towards me and leaning in close to my face. I flinched slightly, remembering Fenren’s intimidation tactic before hitting or pushing me around.

“Hey.” Eldryr spoke softly, his elvish accent sending me a bit of relief, “We can sneak you some bread at the bakery.” I felt a warmth rush through my face as I nodded, still embarrassed.

The four of us made our way down to the dining room after we heard the chime of the dinner bell. A couple other kids made glances our way, notably looking at me as the three of them sort of crowded around me. I’m sure it was new to the other kids to see the trio hanging out with someone new, let alone it being me. I gave a slight smile to Eldryr as he cracked some sort of joke and lightly punched me in the arm, trying to ignore the other kids’ gazes.

As we entered the dining room, a powerful mix of aromas filled my nose. There wasn’t a lot of food, but there was a large variety of things that people presumably asked for- bags of chips, certain candies, fast foods, pizza, etc.. I guess that kids all have similar tastes.

The three boys ran to the table, finding whichever food had their name associated with it, pushing each other over to try and arrive there first. I straggled behind, not wanting to be involved in their roughhousing as I picked up the warm loaf of bread with a piece of paper that had “Zachary” written on it. I felt my eyes wander over to some of the other labeled papers.

Shalia Farlee

Buzmed Orchorn

Eldryr Taura

The names floated around in my head as I remembered my teacher taking attendance this morning for the last day of class. Everyone seemed to have two or more names associated with them. Yet, mine was just “Zachary”. When the orphanage found me, I had a note with my name on it, nothing more. It was clear my biological parents hated me so much that they never wanted me to have the ability to track them down with a last name. They left me to be on my own so that’s what I plan to do. I don’t need any pretend parents to act like I’m their son. I can take care of myself.

“Zachary!” Eldryr had grabbed my shoulders and shook me around. Surprised, I dropped the paper with my name written on it that had caused so many thoughts to arise. I took a step back, out of his grasp and shaking my head. “We’re sitting over there, come sit with us” he gave me a smile, taking a chip out of the bag and biting down on it while motioning me to follow. I felt the same awkward glances from earlier as I sat down with the trio, trying to block them out as I sat down in between Eldryr and Don. Markus sat across from the three of us, stuffing his face with a burger while the two next to me ate their choice of chips. I looked down at my bread, embarrassed by my choice, but mouth watering from just touching the warm loaf to break it into smaller bits.

As I put the first piece into my mouth, I was startled by hands slamming down on the table, causing it to shake. Fenren had approached the four of us, leaning over the side of the table to glare at me.

“Did Bailey finally bribe these twerps to be your friend?” He asked with a smirk as he stood up and confidently walked around to stand behind me. Before I could respond, Eldryr bounced up, spinning around to face him and getting in between Fenren and I.

“Can you not be an asshole for just one day?” He asked, leaning into his face, putting emphasis on the curse word. Don and I practically gasped in unison as Eldryr cursed. Fenren looked shocked, no one had ever really talked back to him before, but he quickly brushed off the surprised look on his face and replaced it with a smirk.

“She must have paid them a lot, Zach,” he looked past Eldryr, his eyes staring into mine as if trying to intimidate me like some sort of animal, “this ones getting all feisty.” He changed his gaze to Eldryr, who was still leaning into him, shoving his face closer to his. They made intense eye contact for a moment before Fenren slammed his fist into Eldryr’s stomach. He fell backwards to the floor, clutching his stomach. I must’ve looked astonished. I’ve seen Fenren talk down to others before, but I’ve never seen him get physical with anyone other than me. I felt shame and fear run through me, worried that I’ve dragged these three into my problems with Fenren. He turned to me, leaving Eldryr on the floor, grabbing the hood of my hoodie, and yanking me down off my chair backwards, so I’d fall upside down at his feet, my head hitting the floor forcefully. I felt a headache rush through my brain as I winced in pain.

“Not so tough now are you-” Fenren spoke loudly but was cut off by a yelp. I opened my eyes, seeing Markus holding Fenren by his shirt off the ground. Fenren was flailing around, trying to get out of his grasp, but was unsuccessful due to Markus’ innate strength and height.

“Do not touch my friend.” He said calmly yet fiercely, making the words even more terrifying. It was clear he was talking about Eldryr and not me when threatening this, causing that feeling of separation to return to me. Markus dropped him, Fenren falling down to his knees before scrambling to his feet and running out of the dining hall, clearly scared. I took a quick glance around the dining hall from where I was upside down, the other kids were staring in shock at Markus.

Eldryr had gotten back up rather easily, shaking off the blow and thanking Markus with a secret handshake. Don had hopped up on top of the table and excitedly dive bombed into Markus like he did earlier, Markus stumbling backwards and laughing as he caught him, Eldryr bursting into laughter. The kids who had their interest piqued before now shrugged it off, seeing the trio go back to roughhousing with each other once again. The three of them worked so well together, it was no wonder why Fenren was suspicious on why they were suddenly sitting with me.

Eldryr turned back to me, laughing as he realized I hadn’t moved from falling backwards from the chair, my legs still resting on it and my head on the floor. He grabbed the chair and pushed it aside, the rest of my body falling to the floor as well, before he offered his hand to pull me up again.

“Need a little help there?” He asked with a laugh as I grabbed his hand and he yanked me to my feet. He put his arm around my shoulders and let his gaze rest on Markus and Don, who continued fake fighting on the floor, “you alright?” he asked me, still smiling at his two friends. I nodded, my head still hurting from the fall.

This feels weird, being protected by some boys I’ve known for years. With Eldryr’s arm around me, my head feels better, but these types of interactions are going to take some getting used to. Maybe agreeing to this bakery plan is a better plan than I initially thought.