A Life For Nicholas (The Nicholas Chronicles #1) by Matt Zachary
Everyone was given time in class to write their poems. “Remember class,” Mr. Ford warned, “if you don’t finish these today, take them home and have them ready for tomorrow.”
Unlike some of the kids in Nicholas’ class who were joking around and trying to write funny poems, he took the assignment seriously. By the end of class, he re-read what he had written and decided that although it was short, it was complete.
Brother o’ mine
You’ll always be with me
In the way you taught me to throw
And fought my many wars
Brother o’ mine
Oh, how I miss thee
But I cling to your jersey
Behind closed doors
That night, Mr. O’ Malley wasn’t home by dinnertime which brought some relief to Nicholas. “I bought you an alarm clock,” Mrs. O’ Malley announced as they ate some sort of casserole. “That way, you can wake yourself up in the morning. You’re a young man now, you know.” If anyone else had said the same thing to Nicholas, he probably would’ve felt like they were talking down to him…somehow insinuating that he were immature or forcing others to do what he could do himself. Mrs. O’ Malley didn’t seem to have a mean or spiteful bone in her body, though. Her tone was one of encouragement.
“Thank you,” Nicholas replied. He knew Mrs. O’ Malley felt a little uncomfortable around him, mainly because he was so quiet. They were still strangers, and he told himself that he would try harder to open up with her.
With the alarm clock set on his night stand, Nicholas quietly walked over to the bedroom door and locked it before climbing into bed. He knew Mr. O’ Malley would be extremely angry to find the door unlocked, but he reasoned that if Mr. O’ Malley was trying to come into his room in the middle of the night, he was already likely intending to take out his anger on him.
He did sleep more peacefully knowing that he had a locked door between him and Mr. O’ Malley.
Chapter 8
Nicholas slept through the night without interruption. He made sure to set his alarm for fifteen minutes before Mrs. O’ Malley had been waking him up so that he could unlock the bedroom door before anyone had discovered it was locked.
He was in for a surprise at school, though. Just before lunch, Mr. Ford announced that it was time to turn in their writing assignments. “Now, who would like to come up first and read theirs?” he asked, shocking the entire class.
Nicholas’ face showed the panic he was feeling. It was bad enough that he was the new kid. He didn’t need to stand out by having to read such a personal poem.
“Okay, if there are no volunteers, I’ll choose for you,” Mr. Ford told the class. Luckily for Nicholas, he wasn’t chosen until most of the class had already read their poems.
A few of the kids in his class did write poems that were just as personal as his, but most of them were girls. Even they were teased by the rest of the class.
Nicholas shook as he stood and headed to the front of the class. His palms were sweaty as he felt thirty sets of eyes aimed directly at him. He swallowed hard, trying to remove the lump that had formed in his throat.
He wanted to chicken out and run for the bathroom, but that would get him teased more than if he actually read his poem, so he bit the bullet and just read it as fast as he could without looking up even once.
“Thank you, Nicholas,” Mr. Ford said as he excused Nicholas back to his desk.
A few of the boys around him whispered and stared as he took his seat, but his poem was quickly forgotten by them once the next person got to the front of the class.
“Pssst,” Nicholas heard twice behind him before turning around. It was a girl sitting two desks back and one row to his left. “Here,” she said as she handed him a note.
Nicholas held the paper until the bell rang before reading it. It read: I LIKED YOUR POEM. DO YOU WANT TO SIT TOGETHER AT LUNCH? -TIFFANY
The previous day, Nicholas sat all alone at lunch and figured that eating lunch with Tiffany had to be better, so he walked to her lunch table after grabbing a tray. A small part of him wondered if it were a prank just to make fun of him. “Hi,” he announced shyly.
“Sit down,” Tiffany told him as her two friends snickered. “This is Becky and Mary-Anne,” Tiffany told Nicholas.
There were a couple of boys at the table, too, who introduced themselves as well.
“Nice to meet you guys,” Nicholas said quietly.
“You don’t have to be so shy,” Tiffany laughed. “I really liked your poem. I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Nicholas was surprised she knew anything about him at all. He had only been there a few days. He had been to schools in the past, though, where everything about him was public knowledge even before he set foot on school property. “I don’t. He wasn’t my brother,” Nicholas began before correcting himself. “We were foster brothers,” he explained.
Tiffany acted as though she didn’t know Nicholas was a foster kid without parents. He wasn’t sure if she were just trying to be polite or not, but she had kindness in her eyes. Normally, when people found out he was a foster child, they would shy away from him as though he had a terrible disease. That wasn’t the case with Tiffany.
It turned out that she lived a block away from the O’ Malley’s and Nicholas not only spent every lunchtime with her and her friends but also spent most evenings after school at her house.
Nicholas always made sure to go home first, and help Mrs. O’ Malley around the house before heading over to Tiffany’s. He felt sorry for her being stuck at home all the time and wanted to make sure to spend some time with her. Mr. O’ Malley was never home at that time, so he and Mrs. O’ Malley were able to talk freely. He liked to think his conversations with her helped brighten her otherwise dreary life…and maybe made up a little bit for the time she was forced to spend with her husband.
“You’re seeing a lot of this girl,” she asked one afternoon as Nicholas helped her clean the windows. “Do you like her?”
Nicholas blushed. He really didn’t know what he felt about Tiffany. He knew he liked her, and she had quickly become his best friend. Still, he hadn’t really thought about her romantically yet. “We’re just friends,” he assured Mrs. O’ Malley.
“Okay, well, if you ever need advice about girls, I’m here,” she said with a wink. The more time he spent with her, the more she seemed to come out of her shell. He still wondered how she could love a man as mean as Mr. O’ Malley. Perhaps he had judged Mr. O’ Malley too harshly. What he did wasn’t right, but it could’ve been a very isolated incident. Since then, there hadn’t been another. Of course he rarely ever saw or spoke to Mr. O’ Malley. Thinking cautiously, he wanted to keep it that way…just in case.
Chapter 9
“I really like spending time with you,” Tiffany told Nicholas one day after school as they sat in the swing on her porch.
“I do too,” Nicholas replied. He wished that he could spend all of his time away from school at her house. Her mom was always so friendly, and her dad was nothing like Mr. O’ Malley. He even got along well with her younger brother, Andy. They were the kind of family he saw on TV shows or commercials but never thought really existed, especially for him.
“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Tiffany said, timidly. Nicholas watched as she fidgeted with her fingers. After a long silence, Tiffany finally seemed to grab a hold of the words she wanted to say. “I thought maybe you’d like to be boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Nicholas had no idea Tiffany liked him that way, though he shouldn’t have been surprised. Everyone at school and even Mrs. O’ Malley already thought they were dating. “I don’t know what it means to have a girlfriend,” he eventually answered. His mind flashed to Johnny and how he was dating Amanda and seemed so happy. Having a girlfriend would make him feel a little more normal. Most of the time, he felt like a complet
“It means we’d agree not to date anyone else, and we’d hold hands and stuff,” Tiffany answered. She still avoided making eye contact.
“I guess that would be alright,” Nicholas agreed as he took Tiffany’s hand in his own. Both of their hands were sweaty, and Nicholas thought it felt awkward, but told himself that was just because it was a new feelings.
When he got home for dinner that night, it was just him, Chelsea and Mrs. O’ Malley again for dinner. He started to wonder if Mr. O’ Malley had another family on the side because he was hardly ever home. It was likely, though, that he just spent all of his time off work at the bar.
“So how was Tiffany’s?” Mrs. O’ Malley asked. She asked the same thing every day.
“I think we’re boyfriend and girlfriend,” Nicholas confessed, knowing that Mrs. O’ Malley would appreciate him telling her.
“That’s wonderful!” Mrs. O’ Malley put down the food she was feeing Chelsea and moved towards Nicholas where she kissed the top of his head. “Congratulations!”
“Mrs. O’ Malley?” Nicholas asked, again sounding shy and unsure. “What does a boyfriend do?”
Mrs. O’ Malley was unsure of how to answer such a question. While Nicholas was practically a young man, it was still her responsibility to treat him as a child. She tried to remember when she were in the eighth grade and what the relationships she had were like. “Well,” she began to answer, “I suppose you should spend time with Tiffany…but you already do that.” She searched for her next words, being careful with what she said. “You should bring her flowers for any special days like birthdays, or Valentine’s Day.”
“And we should hold hands?” Nicholas asked to confirm what Tiffany had told him. He nervously shuffled around the peas on his plate as he waited for an answer.
“Yes,” she laughed. “I suppose at times you will hold hands and eventually even kiss…but you shouldn’t do more than kiss.”
Nicholas wrinkled his nose at the thought of kissing a girl. That was something he would avoid doing as long as he could. He wished he had Johnny to talk to. After clearing the table and helping Mrs. O’ Malley with the dishes, he retired to his room where he closed his eyes and imagined Johnny was there with him, giving him advice.
Over the weekend, he spent most of his time as usual at Tiffany’s house, where they practiced holding hands more. Other than that, their relationship wasn’t any different.
“What’s it like for you at home?” Tiffany asked as they walked in the park around the corner from her house.
“What do you mean?” Nicholas asked. He never really liked talking about what his home life was like in the foster homes.
“Well, we never go over to your house,” Tiffany explained. “Why not?”
“I just don’t want to get in Mrs. O’ Malley’s way,” Nicholas lied. “She has to take care of Chelsea and needs her rest when she’s not doing that or cleaning.” The truth was that Nicholas was afraid of Mr. O’ Malley being home. They seemed to have had an unspoken agreement where they stayed out of each other’s way and he didn’t want to mess with that. Besides, spending time at Tiffany’s made him feel more like a normal boy, with a normal family.
Tiffany let the subject drop. She could see the sadness in Nicholas’ face and wanted to help make him happier but didn’t know how other than to just laugh and play with him.
By the time Monday rolled around, they had grown comfortable hand holding and were the talk of their class.
“Nick’s got a girlfriend!” some of the boys in his class teased, but Nicholas no longer saw that as an insult so it didn’t bother him like it once would have.
Chapter 10
Over the following few months, Nicholas had a few more run-ins with Mr. O’ Malley that always ended up in him getting hit or slapped. Most of the time, the confrontations didn’t leave any marks. On the few occasions where he did get bruised, it was always in areas he could hide under his shirts. Each time, Mr. O’ Malley was stinking drunk and each time was when Mrs. O’ Malley was out of the house running errands.
Even with the occasional abuse, Nicholas had grown to like his new life. He still missed Johnny, but was finally able to go several days without thinking about him. For the first time in his life, he had a loving mother-figure in his life, a girlfriend, and a teacher he liked. And, most of the time he never even had to see Mr. O’ Malley.
That changed, though as the school year ended. With the summer vacation, Nicholas was forced to spend more time at home. Because of that, he also had more run-ins with Mr. O’ Malley.
The most recent occurred when Mr. O’ Malley discovered Nicholas had been locking his bedroom door. Nicholas woke up to the sound of his door being kicked in. Nicholas had forgotten to set his alarm and had accidentally slept in.
“Who do you think you are, you little bastard?!” Mr. O’ Malley yelled as he drug Nicholas out of bed.
Nicholas knew better than to answer. In the past, that had only made Mr. O’ Malley angrier. Instead, he just tried to twist his body so that only his backside would get hit.
Mr. O’ Malley yelled as he began beating on Nicholas. After the tenth hit, Nicholas lost count. He wasn’t sure when Mr. O’ Malley stopped because he passed out, but found himself curled up in a ball on the floor when Mrs. O’ Malley came home.
“Oh my god! What happened?” she yelled. Nicholas was scared and didn’t know what to say. The doorframe was shattered and his face was covered in dried tears.
“Oww!” he yelled as she tried to hug him. He didn’t know it yet, but he had bruises covering his back.
Mrs. O’ Malley started sobbing as she lifted his shirt and saw the black and purple marks that were painted across Nicholas’ backside.
After calming down, Nicholas tried to come up with an explanation as to what could’ve happened without implicating Mr. O’ Malley, but none of them were very believable.
“You can tell me the truth,” Mrs. O’ Malley told him. “Did Mr. O’ Malley do this to you?”
Nicholas nodded as he kept one eye out the window and on the driveway to make sure Mr. O’ Malley didn‘t come back.
“And has this happened before?” she asked, trying to control her sobbing and stay calm.
Nicholas finally broke down and told her that it started right after he moved in, on his birthday. “But, it’s fine. I can handle it,” he assured her which only made her sobbing worse.
As hard as it must have been for her, Mrs. O’ Malley stood up and picked up the phone, first calling for the police and then the social worker.
The next few hours, the house was surrounded by flashing lights, police officers and social workers…all asking Nicholas and Mrs. O’ Malley to give statements as to what had happened.
Nicholas was told that he would have to go to a new foster home, but was given a chance to say goodbye to Mrs. O’ Malley. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked her.
Half laughing and half crying because of how Nicholas was more concerned with her than himself, Mrs. O’ Malley hugged him tightly and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You just take care of yourself, okay? Promise me.”
“I promise,” Nicholas replied. Tears fell from his eyes. He was going to miss her. She had truly become like a mom to him. “Can I say goodbye to Tiffany as well?” he turned and asked the social workers.
“We’ll drive you over on the way out,” they promised.
Tiffany’s parents were surprised to see a government sedan pull up…especially one where Nicholas got out and was escorted to the door by two social workers. After explaining everything to them, Nicholas was allowed a few minutes alone with Tiffany.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that,” Tiffany said, though she had no idea what it must’ve been like for him.
“It’s okay,” he said as if it were no bid deal. “I’ve been through wor
After saying their goodbyes, Tiffany hugged Nicholas and finished with a closed mouth kiss on the lips. It was Nicholas’ first kiss, but he had so many emotions swirling around in his head that he wasn’t able to figure out what he felt about it.
“I’ll miss you,” he told her before giving her one last hug. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” Tiffany promised.
“Tell Mr. Ford that I really liked being in his class, when school starts in the fall.” In spite of the bad memories, Nicholas had a lot of good ones and a lot of people he would miss. He thought about them all as sat in the backseat of the black sedan on the way to his new home.
Chapter 11
The next foster home was similar to all of the others. They only took Nicholas in for the check. As he was shown his room, Nicholas counted that four other kids were at the dinner table. Most of them appeared to be very young. Nicholas didn’t really notice anyone his own age.
He did have to share a room with the oldest boy of the house who was seven. He didn’t really mind, though. He wondered if the foster parents were expecting more kids because the room he was assigned had two sets of bunk beds in it, just like the room he shared with Johnny at the Williams’ house.
As he unpacked, he could hear one of the social workers whispering with the foster parents in the hall. “He’s a good kid, we just had to get him out of that environment.” She went on to convey the details of Mr. O’ Malley’s behavior to the foster parents. Nicholas really didn’t like being talked about behind his back or having such private details of his life discussed as though he were just facts on paper and not a real boy. He did note that the foster parents’ responses seemed genuine and heartfelt. That could all have been an act, though.
“Nicholas?” one of the social workers called before they headed out. They made the introductions to Mr. and Mrs. Brewer who asked Nicholas to call them Sandra and Hank.
“Nice to meet you,” Nicholas parroted back. It was the first time he entered a home where he was asked to call the parents by their first names. As he studied Sandra and Hank as they sat on the couch, they did seem to be a nice couple.