Summer: Finally Here

Toes in the sand, hair blowing in the summer wind, hearing the sound of waves rushing up onto shore. The sweet smell of summer. No one telling me what to do, where to go, and what to wear. Freedom. Summer is a 3 month escape for me, a period of time for me to be who I really am. For me to wear what I want, to say what I want at any time in the day, and to be as loud as I possibly want to be. Now there is no one stopping me from hanging out with friends 24/7, or having sleepovers every night. I don't have to worry about waking up at six in the morning, or hearing that annoying buzzing alarm screaming in my ear to alert me that school is coming; again. I've had enough of that, and it's finally going to be over. For 3 months at least, and man, these are going to be some of the best 3 months of my life. Just a few more days, so summer, here I come.

A New Beginning

Chapter 1

Kevin slowly stepped off the bus and clutched his backpack to his chest. He lowered his head and stared at his black and yellow Nike shoes. He walked quickly to his house, two blocks away from the bus stop. He stopped in his tracks when he looked ahead and saw multiple fire trucks, police, and ambulance cars swarming his house. He ran the rest of the way home to see smoke flowing out of his windows and his mother, his only family member still alive, being dragged out by a bulky fire fighter. They laid her down on the side of the curb and covered her mouth and nose with an oxygen mask. Kevin raced over, his eyes filling up with tears, and was stopped mid way by a police man.

“That’s my mother!” Kevin screamed.

The police man then pulled Kevin aside while the alarms on all the emergency vehicles started to shut off.

“What happened?” Kevin asked, his voice shaking.

“Your mother accidentally bumped a candle off the table and it immediately burst the curtain into flames. She tried to get out, but before she reached the door, she had already inhaled too much smoke. Don’t worry, she’s still breathing and will be alright. She is just going to need some rest in a calmer environment,” the policeman assured.

Kevin hoped the policeman was right about his mother being okay. She was all that was left in their family, and he couldn’t afford to lose her too.

Chapter 2

It was exactly three years ago, late summer, when Kevin heard a choking noise coming from the room next door. His mother was away on a business trip in Italy, while Kevin was stuck in Omaha, Nebraska. He quickly shot up from his bed and raced to his parents’ bedroom. On the tall king sized bed laid Kevin’s dad, gasping for air. Kevin’s heart was pounding like thunder in his chest. He grabbed for the phone on the bed side table and dialed the three numbers he felt like he had dialed every day of his fourteen years.

The ambulance vehicles raced to his home and as Kevin stood in the doorway watching as the different people took his dad away on a stretcher, for the first time in his life, he sat and cried. A policeman about a foot taller walked over to him and told him to hop into the cop car to follow his dad. The whole way to the hospital, the policeman tried to converse with Kevin, but he just couldn’t seem to follow along. This is the time when Kevin really wished he was old enough to drive himself, so he could show any emotion he wanted to and didn’t have to pretend to be strong.

When he arrived at the hospital, he walked to the front service desk to a nice, fair looking lady.

“Hi, what room is Tom Bruwald in?” Kevin asked.

“He is currently in room 217, but he is getting transferred for surgery in a few moments,” replied the kind nurse.

“Surgery? When will I be able to visit him?” he asked while his heart dropped.
“He’ll be ready for visiting tomorrow. Open heart surgery takes a very long time. Why would like to see this man so bad?”

“He’s my dad…”

“Oh, I am very sorry young man. You can wait here until tomorrow if you would like. Would you like some water or coffee?”

“No thank you,” he responded as he sat down.

The next day, a doctor in a long white coat and round glasses approached Kevin.

“Are you Kevin Bruwald, Tom’s son?” he asked.

“Yes, yes I am.”

“I am incredibly sorry to inform you that your father did not make it through his open heart surgery. His heart stopped beating during the procedure. He had a heart attack, worse than we’ve seen. I have on record that he has had multiple seizures before, am I correct?”

Kevin’s jaw hung low as he nodded.

“Well this wasn’t an ordinary seizure. He had a rare condition with his heart that we have never seen before, and before anyone could help him, he had a terrible heart attack. We have contacted your mother and she’s on her flight back from Italy right away. Son, I am sorry you had to go through this at such a young age.”

Kevin stood up, took a deep breath, and walked out the revolving doors into the rainy, dreary afternoon. He walked to the median in the road, leaned against a large ash tree, and wept.

Later that night, Kevin and his mother leaned against his father’s old chair and cried together.No words were spoken, just words said in tears. Kevin’s mom’s tears flowed out fast and hard, and he knew what she was saying.

Chapter 3

Now being late summer and school arriving soon, the last thing he needed was to be homeless and have his mother in the hospital. Being 16, Kevin is ecstatic that he can drive himself to school because quite honestly, he hated taking the bus. You’d think he had some friends to drive him since he had a late birthday, but the truth is, Kevin doesn’t have any friends at all. He’s a lonely, shy boy who is completely anti-social. So he is thrilled to be able to drive himself to school in silence with no name calling or rude noises mocking him in the background. Kevin was a different kid. His mother still tells him the same thing every day. “Just because you’re different doesn’t make you worthless Kevin.” He usually tried to take this to heart, but he started not to believe his mother after a while.

Thinking of his mother, he decided to go visit her in the hospital. It’s been six days since the fire, and Kevin is currently staying with his aunt in the subdivision across the street from his. The small subdivision is filled with condos, duplexes, and apartment buildings. Kevin stepped out of the sliding door of his aunts duplex and smelled the fresh summer air. He is definitely not ready for school to come. He walked to his car on the side of the road and opened up his door. A whoosh of smelly air blew back at his face. He plugged his nose and searched around his car for where the odor is coming from. Some type of rotten food is probably the problem, but he kept looking. Sure enough, under the passenger’s seat was an old tub of chicken salad. It must have slid out of the grocery bag on the floor when he ran errands for his aunt. He quickly disposed of the rotten tub and jammed his keys in the ignition of his disgustingly old Chevy Vega. He slowly drove out of his neighborhood and on his way to the hospital, he decided to take a look at his house. There were multiple people there fixing up his living room and main entrance hallway where the fire had taken place. He got in front of his house and walked inside. Surprisingly enough, his house was coming together very nicely. They said they could move back inside within another week or so. After his short visit, he climbed back into his car and made his way to see his mom. Once he got to the hospital, he walked up to the front desk to the secretary.

“What room is Jenna Bruwald located in?” Kevin asked.

“Room 217,” answered the sweet lady.

Kevin gulped loudly in his throat and those three numbers were being tossed around inside his head like being hit with a baseball bad multiple times. That was the same room his father stayed in before he died. Kevin ran quickly down the hallway and up the stairs and reached his mother’s room. He knocked lightly and a weak voice called, “Come in.” Kevin walked in quietly to his mother sitting up in bed with a tray elevated in front of her. She was eating a banana and a strawberry yogurt. He sat on the end of her bed and smiled.

“How are you feeling Mom?” he asked.

“I’m feeling much better. My chest feels good as new!” his mom said seeming pretty perky.

“That’s good. Our house is almost good as new! They said we could move back in within about another week.”

“I’m glad. I can’t wait to get out of here. They said I could be released tomorrow!”

“That’s great Mom.”

“Sorry son, your mother needs to take some of her medicine right now. I’m going to have to ask you to leave for today,” said a kind nurse as she walked through the door.

“Alright, see you later Mom,” Kevin said as he wrapped his arms around her.

Once Kevin got back to his aunt’s apartment, he crawled into bed and slowly drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face knowing everything is going to be okay.
Chapter 4

It was August 31 and everything was back to normal. His mother was safe and healthy, him and his mom were both back in their clean house, and the smell of the rotten chicken salad in his car was finally gone. The only bad part of everything for Kevin right now was tomorrow is the first day back to school. Kevin’s goal for this year was to be more social and to get more involved in sports. He’s always be pretty good at basketball, but there wasn’t anybody in the world who knew that. Nobody knows Kevin. They all know him as the “loser” or the “awkward anti-social freak.” He was getting incredibly sick of these names being thrown out whenever he walked by, but he has gotten so used to it that it doesn’t really bother him anymore.

“Kevin, I think it’s about time you get to bed. You have school tomorrow!” Kevin’s mom told him.

Kevin dragged himself up the spiraling staircase and into his bed. He didn’t even bother getting ready because he didn’t have the strength to walk all the way across the hall to the bathroom. So he crawled into bed, turned off his lamp, and slowly drifted off to sleep. The thoughts of getting beat up, losing his lunch money, or even getting thrown into a ditch filled his mind.


Chapter 5

“Kevin! It’s time for school, what are you doing up there?!”

Kevin heard his mother’s scream and jumped out of bed. He looked at the clock. It read 6:52. He was going to be late! His bus comes at 7:00! Kevin was about to hop into the shower and realized there’s no time for that. “Great,” he said to himself. “This is not a good way to start off my new beginning by not taking a shower.” He quickly threw on some of his nicest clothes, grabbed his backpack and keys, yelled goodbye to his mom, and raced out the door into his car. He slammed on the accelerator and off to school he went. When he arrived at school, he started looking for his assigned parking space. He found it, but it seems as though somebody had already parked in it. Next to the car stood Peter Docker, the biggest jock in school.

“ I think you accidentally parked in my spot,” Kevin yelled lightly to Peter.

“No, I don’t think it was an accident loser,” he called back.

Kevin gave up. He was no match for Peter. He drove away to the public parking lot, and ended up parking 4 blocks from school. He climbed out of his car and started his journey up the huge hill to the Kernie High School.

By the time he got to his locker, the five minute bell was just ringing. He had to find all his books, find where he goes first, and make it to class on time. You’d think being in this school for the third year he would be one of the many to be on time. He quickly grabbed out his schedule from his back pocket and read his first hour class. Spanish; his least favorite class and not to mention, the one with the meanest, harshest teacher. As he stepped into the doorway, the bell rang for class to start.

“Mr. Bruwald, what is your excuse for being late?!” yelled Mrs. Laine.

“I wasn’t late though. I stepped into the classroom right as the bell rang,” Kevin said quietly.

“You have to be in your seat when the bell rings. That’s one tardy to the start the year off for you!” Mrs. Laine screamed.

Kevin walked with his head down to the seat farthest in the back. Unfortunately, the closest he was going to get to the back was the front. That’s what he gets for being late.

After his Spanish lecture was all over, and he had gone to his next two classes, it was finally time for lunch. Everyone who had the same lunch as him gathered in the lunch room and stood in line for the lunch special. Meatballs and biscuits. Kevin had to pass that one up. He would rather not eat at all, so he decided to go sit down. As he walked by a bunch of tables, he felt multiple pairs of eyes staring him down, so he went and sat down at a table in the corner. It happened to be completely empty. As he sat there, he noticed someone walking up to the front of the lunchroom. He winced.

“Being the head captain for the basketball team, we are holding tryouts for the team this afternoon after school. It will be located in the main gym. We hope to see some new people trying out, but keep in mind, you only have a chance if you’re good,” Peter Docker said as he looked right at Kevin.

Kevin wanted to show everyone who he was, so he thought it would be an excellent idea to try out for this team. After lunch, he grabbed his cell phone and raced to the bathroom.

“Mom, I’m going to stay after school today,” Kevin told his mom.

“Why is that? Did you get a detention or something already?” she asked.

“No, I think I’m going to try out for the basketball team.”

“You’ve never showed any interest in basketball Kevin,” his mom laughed.

“Bye.”

Kevin quickly hung up the phone. Nobody would ever understand him; not even his mother.


Chapter 6

After school, Kevin ran to the gym locker room and quickly changed. By the time he got out of the room, the tryout had already started. He entered the drill they were doing, and didn’t make it obvious that he had come in late. Piles of jocks tossed basketballs at him as though he wouldn’t be able to pass it back, but easily enough, Kevin passed them all back without a problem. He turned around to see the eyes of the coach staring at him. He turned is head back around and followed the person in front of him and accomplished the next drill. Surprisingly enough, every single drill that was played, Kevin did perfect on. All the other guys on the team would even stop and admire his skills in amazement. It was finally the end of practice and the coach said he would announce the new players for this year over the announcements tomorrow.

Kevin headed home and once he stepped inside, he ran straight for the kitchen. That’s where his mom always spent her time because she loves to experiment with food. She went to college at a culinary school to master in cooking to become a well known chef. Those dreams of hers did come true, but then she quit her job four years later. She thought it would be a better idea to focus on the life of her family, so she found a job closer to home that still paid well, and ended up being a fitness director at Bally Fitness Center. When Kevin spotted his mom where he expected, he ran up to her with a huge smile spread across his face.

“Mom, guess what?” Kevin said.

“What dear?

“I did amazing at basketball tryouts today! The new team members are being announced tomorrow, and I think I have a high chance of hearing my name,” he said proudly.

“You? Good at basketball?” Kevin’s mom laughed.

Kevin stood up in anger.

“You’ve never seen me play basketball, and nobody knows that basketball is my passion! Everybody at school thinks of me as the smart guy, or some loser, including you! I’m sick of it!”

He turned and ran up the stairs, but halfway up, turned around again.

“THE ONLY PERSON THAT KNEW ABOUT MY PASSION WAS DAD, SO THAT’S WHY YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND!”

Kevin went straight to his bedroom and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep through the whole night so the morning would come quicker. All he wanted right now was to hear the results, and to see his dad.


Chapter 7

Faster than ever, Kevin hopped out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and actually tried to look decent. He grabbed some breakfast and out the door he went. He drove fast to school and when he arrived at his parking spot, he was surprised to see it was empty and left there for him to park in. Peter was nowhere in sight. This was a good start off to what could be a good day. When he got into school, he grabbed his books and basically ran to first hour. He watched the clock tick by as he awaited the time when he would hear the loudspeaker crackle. Sure enough, when the clock stroke 7:30, he heard a deep voice enter the speaker. Principal Shields did his daily announcements and paused at the end.

“Now for the new basketball team for the 2009/2010 school year.”

It felt like years until all of a sudden, he was shocked to hear something familiar.

“Peter Docker, James Yole, Kevin Bruwald…”

The whole class turned and stared at Kevin. Inside of his head, fireworks went off with excitement. Finally, it was his time to shine. His time to prove to people that he’s more than what he appears to be on the outside. After the first hour bell rang, along with the second and fourth, he made his way to lunch and couldn’t wait to see what people said to him. Kevin’s heart dropped when lunch was almost over and there wasn’t one person who stepped in front of him to congratulate him. As he was about to walk out of the noisy lunchroom, he was stopped.

“Congratulations on making the team man. I can’t wait to be on a team with you,” said James Yole.

“Oh thanks man,” Kevin said, trying to act tough.

Kevin and James walked to their next class together, basketball being their only discussion topic. Kevin was so excited. His day was going great. He made it to school on time, made the basketball team, and made a new friend. What more could he ask for?

Chapter 8

Kevin thought about calling his mom to tell her the good news, and possibly let her know about the first after school practice, but he decided she was the last person he wanted to talk to. As the last bell of the day rang, he raced to the locker room, changed into some new gym clothes, and headed outside for an outdoor practice. The whole team was already huddled up in their own posse and made it pretty obvious that Kevin wasn’t included. He knew that this was going to be a rough beginning, but he would make it through the year. Just as he was thinking this, James walked over and what a relief that was.

“Hey, don’t feel left out or anything. It’s your first practice and you just have to start fresh with them. Make a new first impression,” James said reassuringly.

Kevin nodded and the coach walked in. He gave everybody a long talk and welcomed the new players to the team. The coach seemed to be proud of his decision, because he hasn’t gave Kevin any harsh looks or tough stares. Practice started and just as he expected, Peter took up all the attention. When going through layup drills, and passing drills, and even shooting drills, it’s as though nobody existed besides Peter. Kevin knew he was known to act like that, but he didn’t think it was that bad. Peter was definitely one to compete with, especially knowing he is extremely self-centered.

Practice was finally over, and Kevin thought he did pretty good for a beginner. He hadn’t gotten in Peter’s way, and seemed to get a lot of tips of advice from James. When he got home, once again, he made his way to the kitchen and weirdly enough, didn’t find his mother there. He sprinted up to his room and jumped back a few steps when he was startled to see his mother sitting on his bed with tears running down her cheeks.

“Your coach called me and told me the good news. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Your father was a huge basketball fan, and let me say, he was fantastic at it as well. I on the other hand, was just a nerdy chef. I didn’t want to tell myself that you were going to be just like your dad. I wanted a son who would take after me, but I realized, it’s not about me, it’s about you and your dreams,” his mother wept.

“Just because I take after dad, doesn’t mean there won’t be other things I take after you in. I’m only sixteen, I still have a lot of time to find other interests after high school. Oh, and practice went great Mom,” Kevin smiled.

Days went by and Kevin was improving more and more each practice. It was a Thursday and he was heading out for another long practice. He told himself that this practice was going to be different. He was going to show everybody what he can do. Throughout the whole practice he shot three pointers and free throws and watched as they all swooshed in. Every skill there was, he showed off, and he was proud of it.

The next day, he walked in the front doors of the school and when he turned into his hallway, everyone immediately stared. He slowed down his pace and walked to his locker, getting purposely bumped by a larger guy on his way. Kevin spotted James and ran up to him.

“Dude, why is everyone staring at me?” Kevin asked.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe because they know about you and what you did at practice yesterday,” James answered with a smirk.

“What are you talking about? All I did was come to practice and do what I was supposed to do, which was play ball.”

“Was it just ‘playing ball’ or did include a little bit of showing off as well?”

“I wasn’t showing off. I’m not that kind of person.”

“Tell it to the school,” James said as he walked away.

Kevin was frightened now, especially for practice this afternoon.


Chapter 9

When it was finally time for practice, for the first time this season, Kevin was not excited. As he was walking out the doors, he was stopped by the whole team, including James.

“Look you guys, I wasn’t trying to show off, I just wanted to pl…,” but Kevin was cut off.

Peter pulled Kevin by his sweatshirt and pushed him the ground. Kevin had a wave of fear run through his body.

“Should I fight them back and stick up for myself, or should I just forget about it and let the pulp get squeezed out of me,” Kevin thought to himself.

Bravely enough, he decided to stand up and brush it off.

“You guys have no right to lay a hand on me. I didn’t do anything but play the sport. I shot some baskets, made some layups, had a few good passes, but that’s how you play the game, isn’t it?” Kevin shouted.

The whole team looked around confused and wondering if those words just came out of the used-to-be loser’s mouth. They did, and they have to accept the fact that Kevin used to be different, but he wasn’t worthless and he still isn’t. Just because he wasn’t on the basketball team before, they thought of him as stupid, but now that he’s on the team and it shouldn’t be any different. Kevin was frustrated and finally the team just walked away. He could tell they were embarrassed to be proved wrong and now the only thing on his mind was what the next day of school was going to be like.

Chapter 10

Kevin was more than scared to walk through the front doors of the school again, but he had to. He had to stand up and face everybody, no matter what they would say about him. As he made his way to his locker, he saw the same guy that purposely bumped into him before, walk by him again. Kevin saw him put his hand up and he winced. Then he felt a weird pat on the back and it was him. Everyone was coming up to him and giving him high fives and pats on the back, and never knew how great it felt to accomplish something. He finally learned how to stand up for himself and not let other people push him around. After school, he was welcomed to practice and for the rest of the year, Kevin was a new person. He was not known as the shy awkward guy anymore. Now he was known as Kevin Bruwald.