4 Wanting to Disappear
“Morning, Dennis, or should I say Denise!” said John, laughing cruelly.
“I told you not to mention it,” said Dad sternly, as he coated his white toast with an inch thick layer of butter. When Mum was around she’d have made him have margarine.
And brown bread.
Dennis slumped down at the kitchen table in silence, not even looking at his brother. He poured himself some Rice Krispies.
“Seen any nice dresses recently?” taunted John. He laughed again.
“I told you to leave it alone!” said Dad, even louder than before.
“Magazines like that are for girls! And woofters!”
“SHUT UP!” said Dad.
Dennis suddenly didn’t feel hungry any more, and picked up his bag and walked out of the door. He slammed it behind him. He could still hear Dad, saying, “What did I say, John? It’s over, OK? It’s in the bin.”
Dennis walked unwillingly to school. He didn’t want to be at home or at school. He was afraid his brother would tell somebody and he’d be laughed at. He just wanted to disappear. When he was much younger he used to believe that if he closed his eyes, no one else could see him.
Right now he wished it was true.
The first lesson of the day was history. Dennis liked history–they were studying the Tudor dynasty, and he loved looking at the pictures of the kings and queens in all their finery. Especially Elizabeth I, who really knew how to “power dress,” an expression he had read in Vogue next to a shoot of a model in a beautifully cut business suit. But Dennis always found chemistry–the next lesson–mind-numbingly boring. He spent most of the lesson staring at the periodic table, trying to fathom what it was.
When break-time came, Dennis played football as usual in the playground with his friends. He was having fun until he saw John with a group of his mates, the bad boys with short hair who the careers’ advisors would probably advise to become nightclub bouncers or criminals. They ambled through the middle of the makeshift pitch.
Dennis held his breath.
John nodded at his brother, but said nothing.
Dennis let out a sigh of relief.
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