Virgil, 2

It was a dark and stormy night. No, it wasn’t. It was fine and clear and moon-lit, but it should’ve been stormy. That would have fitted his mood better.

Bloody stupid Joel and his bloody stupid course. Six weeks! How was he going to survive 6 weeks without his Joel? He was not happy.

It was a very long night. Sleeping in the late afternoon will do that. He watched a boring movie, tried to read a boring book and ate far too much. He went to bed at 1am and was still awake at 3. It was all Joel’s fault!

He was even tempted to try Gran’s remedy for a sleepless night. There was plenty of beer in the fridge. A can or two would make him tired, wouldn’t it? Yeah, tired and stupid. He wasn’t going there and he was never going to sleep in the afternoon again.

He got to sleep eventually, as you do, but it wasn’t enough and he was still tired and grumpy when he dragged himself down the hill to school next day. Mac and Joyce were ahead of him but he couldn’t be bothered with them and their never-ending squabbles.

Who did they think they were fooling anyway? Everyone knew that they didn’t mean a word of it. He walked alone.

It didn’t help when he arrived at the school and the Chevy pulled up next to him. He scowled at the big grins directed at him. Bloody Gary was going to drive bloody Lachlan to school now was he? Dammit. It should be him and Joel in the Chevy, not those two grinning idiots.

They’d probably been shagging all night in Joel’s caravan too. Lucky Pricks! He didn’t see why Gary had to use the Chevy. He could get his own car, couldn’t he? He had pots of money, didn’t he?

He hurried into the school before Lachlan could catch him and tell him how happy he was. Misery loves company? Bollocks! He just wanted to be by himself.

When he escaped from the chaos of the locker-room and was heading to his first class of the day, he walked past Missy. She was sitting with a younger boy, growling quietly at him. She looked up and smiled at him and he gave her a scowl in return. It was nothing that she didn’t do to everybody everyday. What did she have to grin about anyway?

It was a long and stormy day. By the end of it he’d managed to alienate most of his friends and he walked home alone in his own cloud of misery.

He’d upset Lachlan most of all, he knew that and he didn’t care. To hell with him and his goofy grins. Lachlan had caught him before he left the school and asked if he wanted a ride home? Gary was coming to get him.

Virgil snapped in reply, “No I don’t want a fucking ride anywhere. You can get fat and lazy if you want, I’m not going there with you.”

“Whoah.” Lachlan backed-off. “Be by yourself then. It’s not our fault that Joel had to go and leave you. If you’re going to carry on like a princess, you can do it on your own.”

“Fuck off, McLaughlin!” Virgil walked away. Missy sat and watched.

He got home and there was nobody there. The lawns needed mowing already. Fuck ‘em. He couldn’t be bothered – let them grow. He turned the computer on to check his messages – there weren’t any.

Joel was too busy for him, was he? Fuck him too. How many people did he say were on this course with him? Virgil wondered whether he was sharing a room in that hostel? He bloody hoped not. Fuck ‘im anyway.

He turned the computer off, went to his room and flopped on the bed. He was so bloody tired! He relaxed for a minute or two, and then snapped out of it and dragged himself up off the bed.

He wasn’t going there or he’d have another sleepless night and a miserable day again. He changed his clothes and went out for a walk in the fresh air. He went down to the beach and spent an hour angrily throwing stones at the sea. That was, sort-of, satisfying.

When he got back home, Gran was busy making burgers. He told her that it’d be quicker, easier and cheaper to get take-aways, but he had a couple anyway. He was hungry.

“You’re in a delightful mood today, aren’t you? The tomatoes, lettuce, gherkins and onions are all from the garden. We have to use them up. Have you heard from Joel yet?”

“Joel who? No, I haven’t heard from him, he’s far too busy for me.”

“Give him a chance, Virgil. He’s only just got there and he’s there to work not play.”

“Let’s hope he remembers that.”

“He will. He’s a good boy, Joel, and he’s got his head on right. He’ll be back before you know it.”

“You think? One day so far and 41 more to go. Don’t tell me that it’s good for us, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Maybe you don’t, but it is. You need a hobby.”

“Yeah. Maybe I should take-up drinking? Works for some.”

“Don’t be a smart-alec, Virgil. Go and see your friends.”

“Friends? Fuck ‘em. They’re all too busy being happy.”

“And that’s bad? You just be miserable then.”

“Yeah, thanks Gran. I’ll do that.”

After eating, he checked the computer again. There were 2 messages. ‘Yes!’ However, the first one was just spam. The filters caught most of them but sometimes one slipped through. Bastards.

It was just some poxy outfit trying to sell him Viagra and Cialis shit. Like, why were they even trying? No teenager needs that crap. That stuff was for old guys who couldn’t get it up and shouldn’t be trying anyway. (‘Ewww!’)

He was tempted to reply and tell them to fuck off, but that’d be dumb. He’d only be talking to a ‘bot’ and then they’d know they had a live addy and he’d get heaps more spam. He deleted it and moved on to the next one.

The second message was from a couple of these new cousins that he had over in Westpoint, two girl cousins. They were coming over for a weekend and were looking forward to meeting him.

Could he recommend somewhere cheap that they could stay? Also, did he have an address for their other cousins, Colin and Jacob? No, he didn’t. He didn’t have a bloody clue.

How did they get his address anyway? Oh well, he’d reply to them tomorrow, if he could be bothered. If they were lucky, he might even get an address for them. He could ask the guys tomorrow, maybe. He could ring the Craypot and get it right now, but wouldn’t. He wasn’t running an answer service for these strangers.

He shut the computer down, but, before it closed saw that another message had come through. Dammit. Now he had to go through all the rigmarole of restarting it. This had better be worth it.

Yes, it was worth it – it was a message from Joel, at last! He opened and scanned it and smiled for the first time in his day.

It was a long and chatty letter, telling him all about his trip, the arrival in Wellington, the crummy hostel he had to stay in and the geek he had to share a room with. Best of all, he was, he said, missing Virgil more than he was missing him.

Poor Joel must have it bad then. Damm, he loved that boy. He replied immediately and told him so.

He struggled to keep his eyes open until 8 o’clock, and then crawled into bed and had a much better night’s sleep. He went to school next day in a, slightly, better mood.

He made peace with Lachlan, kind of. He told him that he was sorry for snapping at him, but Lachlan was still pissing him off, a bit. He was envious of him. Lachlan was riding in Joel’s car, sleeping in Joel’s caravan and screwing Joel’s cousin.

It should be him, not Lachlan. Not the cousin, he was welcome to Gary, but the rest of it was supposed to be Virgil’s life not his.

Also, he didn’t know where this happy laughing boy had come from. Lachlan was not at all like the sad kid he was asked to befriend..

Speaking of which, there was another bridge he had to mend. He sought Missy out and greeted her with a smile.

“Hey, Missy. How’re you on this sunny day?”

She scowled, as only Missy could. “Stop grinning at me. Fool!” She stalked away from him.

Whoah. He’d have to try harder. When he could be bothered. The maori kids might all treat Missy like she was a queen or something, but he wasn’t one of them.

He shouldn’t have fallen out with her though, because, like sharks to the slaughter, the Griffins moved in on him. Jerks. There was no sign of his mum anywhere either. (Probably in the staff-room making goo-goo eyes at Mr. Arram). So he was all on his own.

He didn’t need any stroppy women to protect him anyway. He wasn’t scared of this pair and was just in the mood to hit somebody. He’d probably lose, but they’d know that they’d been in a fight. He wasn’t going down easily.

Once again, it didn’t happen. They were squaring-off, like fighting roosters puffing up, when Riley Sullivan and Jacob Richardson lined-up beside him. The Griffins backed-off and left.

“Thanks, Guys,” Virgil shrugged. “I was looking forward to hitting them though.”

“Aren’t we all?” Riley replied. “Trouble is, they’d hit you back.”

Jacob said, “Yeah, and you’d get dirt on your hands. Anyway, they’re not hitting our cousin.”

“Cousins, yeah. We are definitely related then?”

“We are. According to Dianne, our great grandfather was also your great, great grandfather and we’re like 4th cousins, or something.”

“Something like that. Sounds good to me. I’ve never had much family, it’s good to have some rellies.”

“Yeah, it’s good.” Colin arrived. “Dianne’s sending us to Westpoint, to meet the Carvers. You should come with us.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool. When are you going? I’ll clear it with Mum and let you know.”

“We’re going Friday lunchtime. Dianne’s going to take us to Waipara to get the bus from there, and returning Sunday.”

“On the bus? To hell with that! That’s take all day. I’ll ask Gary, he might take us.”

“Gary Stafford? He’s not another cousin, is he?”

“No, nothing like that. Gary’s just Joel’s cousin and he’s got the Chevy while Joel’s away. I’ll ask him if he wants a weekend in Westpoint.”

“Yeah, do that. That’d be better than busing.”

“It surely would. I got a note from a couple of Carver girl-cousins, last night. They want to write to you two too. What’s your addy?”

They exchanged addresses, and then had to hurry off to class. Virgil was smiling widely now. It might be a good weekend and it was good to have some cousins. Good guys too. They’d be friends.