5 “Nate”

- Gray

I remember the first day of kindergarten when I had to go by the name "Nate". It felt weird to be called by something you weren't. All through out elementary school, my parents made me swear to never tell anyone who I really was. I listened, being the naive kid who believed everything adults said.

I hadn't told anyone that my name was Gray and I didn't plan on telling anyone either.

"It's for your own protection Gray." father always said.

Since then, I was only called "Gray" at home. If I had a friend over, all the evidence of a person named "Gray" was put away inside a box in a locked closet at the back of my room. Did I mind? A little.

...

Melanie followed me to my room upstairs. I could tell she was a little shocked since the very beginning when she walked in the house. I didn't blame her.

Melanie sat down on my bed with her backpack, looking around the room. I glanced at the blue closet making sure it was locked.

"Okay, so about the project, if you have some poster board and markers I think we can start on it." she said looking at me.

"Okay, I'll go ask the maids to bring me some."

...

After a few hours, the sky had turned dark with a few crickets chirping in the lake outside. There were pieces of paper and markers scattered around the messy floors.

I looked at the clock. "6:30." I read out loud.

"Already?! Well, it's a good thing we finished half of it." Melanie sighed as she reached for her phone. "I'll text my brother to pick me up at 7."

"Are you sure? I can just drop you off." I replied as I began to pick up the markers and papers.

"No, no. It's okay, besides, my brother has to pick something up on the way here."

Melanie put her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and knelt down to help clean the place.

"What do you want to do in the last 25 minutes?" I asked her slipping the last marker back into its box.

"I don't know." she picked up the stack of unused papers and stood up. "Where should I put this?" she asked.

"Uh, just put it somewhere over there." I pointed to the back of my room. "I'm going to get something from the living room. I'll be right back."

She nodded as I left the room and quickly went down the stairs. I wanted to get my laptop so I could ask her a couple of questions I had about an essay I had to write. I figured that she could help me with my almost failing grade in English.

Smiling like an idiot I ran up the stairs as I heard a loud noise coming from my room. I opened the door to see Melanie on the ground holding her elbow.