Charles and Richard Chapter 4

R: I’m not too fond of butter cookies, though.

When they finished their walk and went back, the parents would greet them, and whether they liked it or not, Charles and Richard would sit across from each other and do their school homework until dinner was ready. Charles’s parents were very pleased with that scene. Richard and Cherry also liked the evening hours. The only one who was perpetually disgruntled and sulky at home was Charles, but honestly, it couldn’t really be called a serious problem.

Even so, understanding each other was not easy for the two of them. It was because two boys with such distinctly different dispositions had started off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. Richard still did not really know who Charles was. Charles did not open his heart to Richard. They stood within the fence of the same family, but their gazes toward each other were always at cross-purposes. When the two finally ended up attending the same school, that truth became even more pronounced.

∞ ∞ ∞

The Richard Charles met at school was quite different from the Richard he had seen all along. It reminded him of the very first day they met.

At home, Richard was a fool who got dog hair all over his body, ran around the garden, and sometimes stepped in dog poop, and he was easygoing with both Charles’s parents and Charles himself. But at school, he was unrecognizably different. His blond hair was neatly combed back without a single strand out of place, like a prim young master, and his sapphire blue eyes, which were always round and curved from grinning ear to ear, were oddly stiff and fixated on the space between the other person’s eyebrows rather than their eyes. At home, he would lie against Cherry’s back, chewing on something indistinguishable from dog jerky or human jerky, but at school, his posture was so immaculate that not a single wrinkle appeared on his uniform even when he sat down or stood up.

His smiling face or his hungry face was exactly the same as what Charles saw at home, but still, there was something unfamiliar about him. Charles suddenly thought he didn’t know how to treat Richard. And Richard was thinking the same thing.

Richard, too, was seeing Charles at school for the first time. Charles was, in a word, an oddball. He kept his mouth firmly shut, made eye contact with no one, naturally conversed with no one, and moved and walked without a sound. It was exactly the same as the usual Charles. It was exactly the same attitude he always had toward Richard at home. Blunt, cold, spiteful, and cynical. Richard was surprised by that deeply familiar demeanor.

In his heart, Richard had thought that Charles only treated him that way. The person Charles treated carelessly, the person he was actually most comfortable with because he could treat him carelessly, that was himself, and Richard had thought he was someone special to Charles. But that was not the case. All of a sudden, Richard couldn’t get a handle on how he should look at Charles.

Puberty was just beginning.

∞ ∞ ∞

Because of the awkwardness, the two deliberately avoided each other during the first week of school. But there was no need to do so for long. They quickly realized that their schedules were different and there was no reason for them to run into each other. Their routes to and from school were different as well, and as Richard adjusted his after-school schedule with his new school life starting, he couldn’t even go to Charles’s house during the first week.

Richard was still doing ballet. He had quit fencing but increased his tennis time and started learning golf. He did horseback riding only on weekends. Most of his remaining time was spent on language studies. Charles had no changes. Except that his dismissal time had changed and he had to make all new friends.

When the weekend came, Charles took calls one after another from his three sisters, who were curious about his first week of the semester.

1. Christine

Christine: So, how is it? The girls changed completely once you hit 9th grade, right? Got a girlfriend? Have you kissed?

C: Far from a girlfriend, I don’t even have a regular friend.

Christine: Oh. That’ll change quickly if you just walk around smiling a little.

C: I tried in my own way, but it’s not working.

Christine: You can’t change overnight, Charlie. You have to make an effort every day. How was it with Richie?

C: I don’t know.

1. Emma

Emma: How was school? There’s nothing special about private school, right?

C: You wear a uniform, there’s a school library and a museum, the tennis court is huge, and there’s no graffiti in the bathrooms.

Emma: Damn. I should have gone to that school.

C: Don’t cuss.

Emma: How is that cussing? So, how does it feel going to the same school as Richie?

C: I don’t know.

1. Emily

Emily: Charlie, is Mom there? Put her on. She didn’t send my green sweater again.

C: Mom’s not here.

Emily: Dammit. Tell her to call me for sure when she gets home. You need to dress properly too. You’re not a snot-nosed kid anymore.

C: We wear uniforms, you know. Don’t you have a uniform too?

Emily: I’m talking about after school. When you hang out with Richie. Did you two do anything fun your first week?

C: I don’t know!

The one whose feelings were hurt first was Richard. On his way home, while getting into the sedan following the bodyguard who had come to pick him up, Richard suddenly spotted Charles crossing the school grounds. He was about to shout out to Charles but stopped short. An unfamiliar face had sidled up next to Charles. That unfamiliar (infuriating) guy suddenly poked Charles in the side with his elbow and then naturally fell into step with him. Charles looked at that guy, showing Richard nothing but the back of his head the whole time. Richard, feeling spiteful, shouted with all his might.

R: CHAR!!! LES!!!!!!

Charles couldn’t possibly have not heard such a loud shout that it made the school grounds ring. Even so, Richard hoped Charles wouldn’t turn around. Normally, whether Richard called him from behind or not, Charles would pretend not to hear and just go on his way. But this time, Charles glanced back. His face as he turned was slightly flushed. He had undoubtedly been chatting about something fun with that guy Richard didn’t know.

Charles looked at Richard for just a brief moment and then continued on his way. Rather, Charles’s “friend” was the one who stared at Richard as if he were strange. Richard was mortified. He wasn’t upset or sad. He was angry. He got into the car and slammed the door shut. To make matters worse, that day he had no sports schedule and only French lessons until evening. Richard ground his teeth, practiced his French, and when evening came, he went to Charles’s house.

Charles was not home. Richard was shocked.

Mother: Charlie said he’s eating dinner at a friend’s house today.

Father: Did he? He said he was having a hard time adjusting, but he made a friend quickly. That’s a relief.

Cherry: Woof! Woof!

R: ….

That was an extraordinary measure Charles had come up with on his own after the phone calls with his sisters. Thanks to Richard, who had appeared out of nowhere one day, Charles, who already had a timid personality, had grown even more guarded. It’s true that he had difficulties making new friends afterwards. But it wasn’t as if Richard was his only friend. It was just that Richard was always at home, and as things happened, he ended up spending a lot of time with Richard, but Richard was not his best friend. However, the fact that his sisters had come to that misunderstanding was partly Charles’s own fault.

Charles decided that he could no longer stay isolated from the other students just because he was shy and unfamiliar. If he made many friends other than Richard and hung out with them, his family’s attention would gradually drift away from Richard, too. At least it wouldn’t stay fixed on Richard alone. For that reason, Charles plucked up his courage and tried to act a bit more sociable. The results were good. Fourteen-year-old boys who live without much thought quickly became friends without much thought.