Travis was just leaving for school when he spotted Artemis weaving a path along the fence that separated the block of flats from the neighbor's house. She paused and stretched her neck out to sniff the air as she peered around the carefully manicured garden that surrounded the house on the other side of the fence.

"Art," Travis called. "Get down. You'll get sprayed with the hose again if you go over there."

Artemis mewed and looked from Travis to the neighbor's house, unconvinced by Travis' argument.

"Artemis," Travis said, his voice taking on an edge of warning as he stomped over to her. He picked her up and placed her on the ground. "The neighbours hate you and they'll shout at me if they find you in their yard again."

Artemis gave him another quiet mew, squished her tail, and strutted off. Travis glanced at his watch. He was going to be late for school.

♪

The next day, after Charlie confirmed once more that he was happy with the choice of school, his grandma took him in to take placement exams for his classes. How he did on each exam would determine which grade he was placed in for each of his classes. For some of them Charlie felt like he hardly knew anything and that he couldn't even reach eighth grade standards, but he was relieved to find he wasn’t terrible at everything.

Shortly after the bell rang signaling lunch for the students, when Charlie was about halfway through his exam sheets, the sound of an acoustic guitar drifted through the classroom window. Charlie didn't even notice he'd stopped working to listen until the teacher supervising him got up and shut the window, blocking out the music. Charlie lowered his head and got back to work.

♪

That evening Charlie forced himself to spend time with his grandparents. He even let his grandpa teach him checkers, though he would have rather spent some time alone. When it passed seven and he asked his grandma for batteries for his walkman, though, she told him they didn’t have any without even looking. Did she know they were out, or did she just not care? Charlie told her he was going to bed and retreated to his room.

Charlie didn't spend long laying around on his own before the sounds of the neighbour’s music tempted him again. He knew if he kept this up he'd probably get caught, but he couldn't resist its lure. The cat met him on the path this time and walked with him to its owners flat. Charlie settled in next to the door and the cat curled up on his lap, purring loudly.

Charlie left earlier that night, as soon as he noticed himself starting to doze. The last thing he needed was to be caught taking a nap on a stranger's porch. He knew the affinity he felt for the stranger through their shared enjoyment of the music was an illusion that would be shattered horribly if he ever actually met whoever lived there.

The next day Charlie went back into the school with his grandma and a teacher sat with them and went over Charlie's results for the placement exams.

Charlie's scores had been mixed. In English he hadn't remembered the names for things like parts of sentences and he had only the vaguest idea of how to write an essay, but one of his favourite hobbies was reading so his grammar, spelling, and vocabulary were quite good.

His geography and history knowledge were not, and he was patchy when it came to the sciences, knowledgeable in some areas and far behind his peers in others, depending on what he'd happened to have read about.

Unsurprisingly, maths was his strongest subject. He'd received nearly perfect marks. This he owed to a huge maths textbook he'd convinced his dad to buy him from the second hand shop when he was fourteen. It had been designed to cover all areas of high school maths in preparation for college.

It had only cost five dollars, but it hadn't been easy to convince his dad to buy it for him. He'd said it was too hard, that Charlie would soon lose interest in it. For once since he'd learnt it was safer not to argue, Charlie had persisted.

Eventually they'd come to an agreement. An odd one, considering all the things Charlie had tried offering in exchange. He would have to eat one meal his father made in its entirety without complaint.

It was true that Charlie was a fussy eater, and that many times that had led to frustration between him and his dad, but a single meal seemed like such a small thing when most of the time his dad forgot to make meals or didn't care whether Charlie partook in them or ate dry cereal instead. In retrospect, Charlie should have been suspicious.

As the teacher tried to convince Charlie’s grandma that Charlie might benefit from some special classes, Charlie zoned out as he remembered what had happened the night after he’d bought the textbook.

Charlie's dad grinned at him when he set the salad, piled elegantly on their nicest plate, in front of Charlie at their small kitchen table that night. Charlie looked from the salad and then back to his dad, spotting the edge of malice that confirmed his dad hadn't forgotten about his carrot allergy.

This was a dare, a challenge. What would his dad do if he refused to eat it? Destroy the book? Hold this over Charlie forever as a sign he couldn't be trusted to keep his promises? And if he did eat it, what would happen to him then? He was a careful enough eater that he'd avoided setting off his carrot allergy since before his mum had died. He remembered his mouth itching and swelling a little bit. His mum had been very worried and that had worried Charlie, but it had gone away eventually and Charlie had been fine.

Charlie took a steadying breath, stabbed his fork in the salad, and took a bite. At first, nothing happened. He was onto his third cautious mouthful before he noticed anything off.

It started as a tingling in his mouth, and then when he swallowed his throat felt tight. He could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest as he dropped his fork and looked up to meet his dad's eyes. His dad was no longer grinning, his expression turned to something blank and unreadable. It was becoming difficult to breath. Charlie clutched at his chest. It hurt. Had this been his dad's plan? What was going to happen to him?

As Charlie sagged against the table he heard his dad swear and then arms were around him, lifting him up from where he sat at the table. His every breath came out as a wheeze as his dad carried him to his bedroom and lay him on his bed.

The next thing Charlie noticed, through the panic and feeling of suffocation, was his dad on the phone, but he couldn't even begin to process what his dad was saying. Was he going to die? Was that what his dad had wanted? Charlie patted a hand against his face. It felt swollen and hot.

Charlie must have passed out after that, because when he next became aware there was a strange man kneeling next to the bed. He had Charlie's arm in his hand and was feeling for his pulse.

"I'm not dead," Charlie wheezed out. He wasn't sure why he felt it was so important to tell the man that.

"You're very lucky you're not," the man said. "What you were experiencing was anaphylaxis brought on by an allergic reaction. You're lucky your dad got me over here as quickly as he did, though I still think an ambulance would have been a better choice."

"Oh," Charlie said.

"He was really worried about you," the man said. "He cares about you a lot."

Charlie saw movement and looked up to see his dad standing in the doorway, watching them with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes," Charlie said as he watched his dad. "I know."

“Charlie,” a voice said, followed by a light swat to Charlie’s shoulder, and Charlie looked up to see his grandma frowning down at him. “Time to leave.”

Charlie nodded. Charlie stood. Somewhere, across the school grounds, he could hear the sound of an acoustic guitar. Everything felt too raw, but at the same time not quite real. He followed his grandma silently, keeping his head low.

♪

Charlie went back to the neighbour's house again that night. Somehow the constant music and the quiet sounds of whoever lived there moving around were better company than his grandparents could provide. Someone was there, existing, enjoying the same experience Charlie was. Whoever they were, they felt like the closest ally Charlie had just then.

He stayed until the music was turned off before giving his new cat friend a kiss on the head goodbye and sneaking away before its owner opened the door to let it in for the night.