Summertime Haze
Part 1.4 - Reardon
Ellen’s words stuck with Henry for the coming week, because he knew, deep down, that they were true. Nobody wanted to hire a high school dropout.
It struck even harder when the design company that had so suddenly hired him called. The person on the other end of the line apologized profusely, saying that as much as they’d appreciated his work, they’d looked into his background and there were much more qualified applicants looking for a job now. The company laid him off, giving him only a month of a reduced salary to find a new job.
Lost, he went to his school website, and went to the counselors tab. He pulled Ellen’s number from the website, and shakily punched it into his phone. The line barely rang until she picked up.
“Henry?” she asked.
“H-How’d you know… it was me?” Henry stammered.
“I like to save everyones information from school in my work phone just so when I do get a call, I’m ready to help that particular student. Anyway, Henry, I think I can guess why you’re calling…”
“Guess, then.”
“You want those finals, don’t you?”
Henry nodded, then remembering he was on the phone, stuttered out a quick “yes.”
“Don’t even stress about it,” Ellen sighed. “I’m just going to put in straight 80s for you, you’ll pass your senior year.”
Henry paused. That was definitely illegal. “…why are you doing this?”
“We spent a lot of time together Henry, you’re one of my favorite students and I don’t want to see you fail,” Ellen said simply.
“But, Ellen, this is illegal. You can’t be doing this!”
“Who’s going to turn me in, Henry? You? If I don’t do this for you, you’ll be deadbeat before you’ve even had the chance to try and make it.”
Henry’s mind ran wild as he tried to think of something, anything, that would dissuade Ellen from doing something that could potentially ruin her life and career. He barely knew the woman, and here she was, sticking her neck out to make sure he wasn’t a failure. It was odd, that was for sure, but he just had to attribute it to Ellen feeling sorry for his situation.
“I’ll take your silence as my answer,” Ellen laughed. “I’ll put in those scores, and you’ll be good to go! Talk to you later, Henry.”
Ellen hung up, and Henry sat there, shocked. Ellen had just… this was insane. Maybe running from Tiki and Jaxon and all of his problems hadn’t ruined him as he’d started to fear.
Henry barely had a chance to relax before his phone rang again. This time, it was Bennett. Henry sighed, but picked it up anyway. He really regretted submitting his number to the neighborhood registry.
“Hey man!” Bennett exclaimed.
“What is it?” Henry sighed. “If you’re going to start insulting my house and life again, just get it over with quick, okay?”
“You see, Henry… That’s exactly the reason I’m calling! I just feel like we got off on a really bad foot, and my whole family would love to meet you! Why don’t you come on over, around… now?”
“Seriously Bennett?”
“Ah, come on, Henry! I just want to apologize for our first meeting in person, so don’t keep me waiting!”
Bennett hung up. Henry rolled his eyes, but in the spirit of trying to be a good neighbor, he put on some shoes and walked out his front door. Bennett’s house… it was definitely a sight for sore eyes. The architecture of the place wasn’t particularly pleasing, and Henry doubted the interior would be much of an improvement. The whole place looked like it’d started as a simple room, then was gradually added onto until the house transformed into some agglomeration that acted as a blight for the whole neighborhood.
Henry knocked on the front door, and Bennett threw it open. “Henry, my man!”
Bennett slung his arm over Henry’s shoulder, and led him over to the bench just outside the front door. Henry gave him a confused look, but sat down anyway.
“Before we go in, I just wanna talk,” Bennett explained.
“Okay, first up, what’s the deal with that dumb gate?” Henry said, pointing towards a gate that blocked off entry into the house.
“I, uh, I guess I deserve that criticism after our first meeting, don’t I?” Bennett laughed nervously. “Well, long story short, both of my parents are retired cops, and they’re both hella paranoid about people breaking in. So, hence the gate. But we all know that’s not why we’re here.”
Henry gave Bennett a meaningful look.
“I know that I can come off as a bit abrasive and man, I’m sorry. I’m not sure what was going on with me that first day, bit I was even ruder than usual. I… I just feel like we could be friends, you know Henry? This whole neighborhood is full of the elderly, my sister’s unapproachable, and I just feel like we could both use someone to talk to.”
Henry nodded slowly.
“To a fresh start?” Bennett asked, holding out a hand.
“Okay,” Henry said, a smile slowly crossing his face as he took Bennett’s hand.
“Now let’s go meet the family!” Bennett exclaimed as he dropped Henry’s hand and rushed into the house.
Henry followed him inside. Bennett led him through an oddly placed kitchen into the back of the house, where two people sat watching tv.
“Mom, dad, this is Henry,” Bennett said. The two stood, and turned off the tv.
“It’s good to meet you, Henry,” the woman said, shaking his hand firmly. “I’m Alina.”
“And I’m Layne!” the man exclaimed, jumping up in the air. It was clear where Bennett got his personality from.
“If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to stop by and talk to us,” Alina smiled. “It’s hard trying to be an adult for the first time.”
“Let me let you in on a little secret,” Layne said mischievously. “As long as your living across the street from the Layne Reardon, criminals aren’t going to try and rob ya. Let me tell you, back in my heyday, I was feared by felons far and wide! And luckily for you and me, I still have the reputation. You bought the right place!”
Henry was honestly taken aback. He hadn’t expected this warm reception in the slightest! He’d expected Bennett’s parents to be weird or stuck up or just flat out rude. Sure, Alina definitely seemed a little… cold, but Layne was, you know, cool. The opposite. And the two seemed to balance each other out. This day just kept getting better and better.
“I’d better introduce him to you know who,” Bennett said, with a meaningful side eye to his parents.
“Ah, yes. Better introduce him to the missus,” Layne nodded.
Henry gave an awkward wave goodbye to Alina and Layne, and followed Bennett through some beads into a short hallway.
“She can be a little… intense,” Bennett warned.
Before Henry even had a chance to think about what that meant, Bennett was knocking on one of the doors. “Regan?” he called out. “The new neighbor is here…”
The aforementioned Regan groaned loudly. “Come in…”
Bennett flung open the door and the two walked in and found Regan, sitting on her bed, arms crossed. “So you’re Henry, huh?”
“Yeah,” Henry stammered.
“Hm. I can see what Bennett meant. You really do seem like a pussy.”
“I didn’t say anything like that!” Bennett said loudly.
“I just got the impression,” Regan sighed. “Listen, I’m not sure what my bro saw in you, maybe it’s because he’s sooo old with so much experience, but I’m just not impressed.”
“Regan…” Bennett sighed. “We talked with mom and dad about this before I called Henry… you need to stop with your dumb punk act and grow up a little. You’re literally going through a ‘it’s not a phase, mom’ phase right now, and it’s making you look real stupid!”
“Get out. Of my. Room!” Regan bellowed.
Henry wasted no time evacuating the area, and Bennett, after some brief hesitation, quickly followed.
“I’m sorry,” Bennett apologized. “My little sister is way too much of a handful, man…”
Henry left the Reardon household feeling better about his neighbors, but Regan was definitely a sore spot in that family. But, at the end of the day, what it came down to was that Henry had finally made a new friend.