first entry

It is year 2006, the people of Smyrna in South Carolina are going on in their day like a normal day, if you'll closely observe the neighborhood, you'll notice cars that are just passing by, some old men grilling at their front yard, kids playing tag, while the ladies are unlikely to be outside because they're usually inside their home doing some household chores, except for the Villin's; they live in a decent house inside this neighborhood, Ms. Jannie - she's a single mom living with her only child, James - holding his rubik's cube while staring at an endless void heard his mom called from downstairs for dinner, he looked at the cube on his hands for the last time before putting it on his unmade bed. As he neared to the kitchen, the aroma of their casserole dinner aroused his nostrils, he entered the kitchen and saw his mom taking off her apron, "dinner's ready, come take a seat, honey," his mom invited while patting an empty seat, as soon as he seated, his mom continued talking, "How's your study, James? Have you finished your homework? It's okay if you haven't finished it yet, just continue it after dinner, okay?", "No, I haven't done any schoolwork yet. I haven't touched any." he replied shortly, the smile on his mother's face slowly faded, but it eventually came back once again and said "oh honey, are you having a hard time doing your schoolworks? Do you want mommy to help you? Don't worry, after dinner you go in your room then wait for me while I'm washing dishes." James just stared at his mother, she looked confused then offered James another scoop of their dinner thinking he might want some more, he shook his head in response and said, "I don't like school. The other kids, they suck.", Ms. Jannie looked sad rather disappointed because she already new from the first place that James would react like this towards school, "James, honey, let's talk about it later, okay? Let's eat dinner first. This casserole I made today was special, guess what day is it," she said with yet another big smile on her face, James didn't replied at all but just kept on eating his food, "well, it's mommy's birthday! Aren't you going to greet mommy? How about a hug? A gift, do you have a gift for me, honey? Come on, show it already, you know I hate surprises." she said with excitement and enthusiasm with her voice, James are the remaining food on his fork then stood up, he walked to his mom and gave her a hug "happy birthday, mom." he said and proceeded to walk upstairs, "James, you haven't finished your food yet!" she called out, "I'm full" he said before entering his room and shut the door close. His mother's face's unpaintable, she has this growing anxiety about her son showing subtle signs of anti social behavior. After doing the dishes, she brought a plate of cookies and a glass of milk with her before knocking at his son's door, James opened the door and his mom immediately noticed the rubik's cube he's holding "here, I have some snacks for you since you haven't finished your dinner" she said then placed the plate on the top of his cupboard before seating at his seat beside his study table just across James' bed, "Let me see your homework," then grabbed his backpack under the table, pulled out few books then started turning pages, "here, honey, it says here you have to encircle the correct answers, come on you can do it", she looked away from the book and saw her son sitting on his bed back against the wall while fidgeting with his cube, Jannie giving up on the sights said after sighing, "Okay James, please put your toy down first. I have to talk to you, it's about school, your-" James looked at his mother's direction with the same emotionless eyes interrupting his mom saying "I told you, I don't like school.", "I understand, but honey, you can't be homeschooled for the rest of your childhood or teenage years, you have to build your social life, honey. You can't grow old and live a hermit kind of life and expect everything to go easy, 'coz it's not." she said with a tearful eye, "You should explore the world, there are much more interesting things out there than that toy of yours and-" "but this is not just a toy, this is the only thing that is keeping me sane" he exclaimed cutting his mom's words, she sighed and continued saying "and your teacher phoned me earlier, she said you just kept isolating yourself and sometimes making your classmates cry that have no other intentions but just to play with you. I'm afraid it'll come to the point that she'll need to have you kicked out of the class sooner or later." a tear finally streamed down from her left eye. And that's exactly what he did, he kept on isolating and getting himself in trouble which eventually resulted in him being kicked out not just in class but in the whole school; which unfortunately gave him a bad record and reputation that made it hard for him to get in other school. He spent his remaining year for primary and middle school being homeschooled. The first day of his high school came, his mother once again hoped that maybe after 6 years his son will be matured enough to handle social situations. The first weeks went surprisingly smooth, there are no complaints from his teacher nor from school, which gave Jannie a sense of comfort and assurance, but that's what she thought untill she found out what her son was really doing at school.