Caleb showed up at school one day when Jun Chou was eleven, and Jun remembers that no one seemed to know him. Even the teachers were at a bit of a loss as to what school he transferred from or when his birthday was. That only lasted a few days, but Jun still thinks about how weird it was that everyone, himself included, stopped thinking about it so fast.
Jun hadn’t had any friends at the time, since everyone knew how dangerous his powers were. He still has nightmares about when his powers emerged.
The bully stopped teasing Jun, staring at his face in confusion. And then there was a scream of pain as Jun’s anger burst out from him. An abstract feeling just like holding something so tightly that it breaks. And then the bully fell down, and Jun ran.
No one had bothered him after that. No one even dared to get near him. Jun didn’t blame them. He was officially a killer, even if he didn’t mean to. Even if, in the eyes of the law, his crime didn’t count the same way. It still haunted him, and it continues to do so.
But then Caleb happened. Caleb Warren, shorter than any of the other fifth graders, didn’t know the rumors. Or if he did, he clearly didn’t care. Or didn’t believe them, maybe. He started sitting with Jun at lunch. He would watch Jun’s face closely, as if studying the way his expressions looked. Jun tried to ignore him, and for several weeks he succeeded. But he found himself curious about this weirdo who spent lunchtime staring.
It was early May when Jun first spoke to him.
“What the heck is your problem?!” he’d demanded.
Caleb had shrugged. “You have a nice face. I wish my face was more like yours.”
Jun didn’t believe him. Caleb was so thoroughly normal looking, but stood out somehow. With his golden blond curls and his light blue eyes, Jun had trouble understanding why he would want to look different. Especially because Jun hated his own face. He didn’t like how some of his classmates still looked at him. He still remembered how many times he used to hear his classmates tell him to “go back to China.” He was born here, and neither of his parents were Chinese. Korea and Japan were totally different places, and it bothered him to hear his classmates lump all the areas together. Being white would have meant he’d never have to deal with that.
“Why do you sit alone?” Caleb had asked him, startling him from his thoughts.
“Do you not count?” Jun replied coldly.
“No.”
Jun had thought he imagined the sadness in the way Caleb had said that.
“I sit alone because I’m dangerous and everyone else knows it.”
Caleb tilted his head slightly, like a confused puppy.
“I assume you’ve heard about it,” Jun elaborated. “About how I killed someone last year.”
“I heard that. Did you really do it?”
Jun took a shaky breath, forcing down the memory of the bully’s scream. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” Caleb had said, so simply that Jun was speechless for a minute.
“Are you… not scared of me?”
“I dunno. If you wanted me dead, at least it’d be over with, right?”
Jun didn’t have an answer for that. It didn’t make sense. “What?”
“If you wanted me dead, you probably would have killed me already. So I’d already be dead. And since I’m not, you probably don’t want me dead.”
“It… it’s not about… It’s not like that. I… I didn’t mean to kill him. I was just mad at him, and scared, and I made him dead.”
“Oh.”
Surely now he won’t stick around.
“Are you gonna finish that?” Caleb asked, pointing to Jun’s sandwich.
Jun glared. “Yes.”
Jun didn’t know why Caleb kept sitting with him. He didn’t understand why someone like Caleb would try to be friends with him. It didn’t make sense. Most people avoid talking to murderers. From what Jun had seen, Caleb was friendly to everyone, but spent lunchtime with Jun everyday.
“Don’t you have other friends to sit with?” Jun asked one day.
“You’re the only person who makes any sense. You actually say what you feel.”
Jun didn’t know what to say to that, so he just munched on his chocolate chip cookie.
“Everyone else lies too much. Not that I’m one to talk.”
“Well, what are you lying about?”
“Everything, sort of. Nothing, I guess. I don’t know.”
“You’re weird,” Jun said with a small smile.
“What was your name again?” Caleb asked, changing the subject so suddenly that Jun didn’t even consider changing it back.
“You’ve sat with me every single day since January.”
“I never asked your name, and no one else says it much.”
“… Jun Chou.”
“June? Like the month?”
“I guess, but I don’t spell it like the month.”
“Okay. Junie it is.”
Jun snorted. “Why’d you gotta make it cutesy like that?”
“Cuz it fits you,” Caleb said, blushing a little.
Jun glared, his cheeks warm.
<Jun? Are you feeling alright?> Jun’s mother asked one afternoon. She wasn’t very fluent in English, so she and Jun usually spoke Korean to each other.
<How do I know if someone’s being nice to me for real?> Jun replied.
<It is not easy to tell,> his mother admitted. <Why do you ask? Have you met someone you want to trust?>
Jun nodded. <He was afraid when he saw me, and I don’t blame him for that. I don’t understand why he chose to be nice to me.>
<Some people are genuinely nice.>
<I want to trust him, but I’m afraid to.>
<That is alright. You don’t have to trust him right away. Get to know him and you will find out if he is worth the trust.>
Jun fidgeted with the corner of the tablecloth. <Okay. Thank you, mother.>
<I love you, Jun.>
<I love you too.>
Jun stopped trying to push Caleb away after that. On the last day of school, he told Caleb he should come over to his house sometime. Caleb’s eyes went wide and his face turned red.
“Don’t make it weird, Caleb!” Jun snapped, his face feeling a bit too warm as Caleb hugged him.