Unconventional Chapter 1

Tommy…

Parker open my case stares in it. “Fag-gic the homoing.”

“Ha, ha funny give it back.”

“Why? It’s just a waste of time.”

“Because I paid my money for those and you mess them up I’ll tell mom and you’ll end up paying for it.”

He looked at the box and me and frowned then tossed them onto my bed just so I’d have to go and pick them up.

“God you’re such an asshole.”

“God you’re such a little freak, a creep.”

“Moron.”

“What’d you say to me?” He’s got his fist raised like he’s ready to nail me one.

“Yeah…Parker that’s your solution to everything huh.”

“Don’t be a smart ass wuss.”

“Y’know that’s why you still can’t get a date Parker, you’re a thug.”

“Yeah so…”

God yeah he thinks that’s a compliment. (Eye roll.)

“I should’ve said punk.”

“What’d you say!?”

He grabs me and hits me and I grab my can of Right-Guard and spritz him and he backs off cause I will mace him with it.

“Little fucker.”

“Dick. Why don’t you go fuck off and play Fast and Furious with all your other douchebag friends?”

He gives me the finger as he stomps off down the hall.

Mowing lawns, stacking wood, working in gardens, picking produce anything y’know. So Parker who’s my ass of a brother would definitely get nailed for wrecking my stuff. Dad would freak on him big time if he knew what some of my cards are worth. And any hobbies and stuff like trendy clothes you got a job and worked for.

I packed them back up and into my bags.

Parker has his car and he drives around with his friends trying to be all racer cool when really his ‘stang is a twelve year old piece of crap and any girl that’s not desperate doesn’t give him the time of day.

Yeah and when he’s not in the house his pants are half off his butt.

Fricking gross.

I’m so glad I’m getting out of here.

I get a Mountain Dew from the fridge and hold it to my beginning bruises as I sit behind my computer.

I get online and start looking at stuff for the Con.

I so can’t wait to get out of here.

It took a lot of convincing, a lot as in a huge amount of back breaking chores and butt kissing and stuff to get my parents to agree with it.

I was going to the United States, all the way down to San Antonio Texas.

For a kid from Truro Nova Scotia this was a huge trip.

Why was I going?

I’m a geek, a nerd and always have been ever since I plugged in a tape of the old Voltron with the lions my dad had taped off some old TV station when he was a kid when I was five… Good cartoons, sci-fi, comics I never looked back.

Out of me, not out of my head.

That was it, anime, science fiction and fantasy…I’m a big fantasy nut and my folks aren’t bugged by it since I’m reading.

Even gaming here isn’t the oooh scary thing here more like a nerd thing and stuff. It’s even worse with the girls.

Truro…is woefully short of geek girls or at least out of the closet geek girls. No not a gay thing just…here it’s uncool and Truro girls come in three flavors…desperate, leaving and white trash.

Okay there’s other but I’m not talking about that yet.

I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m kind of white trash. It’s a white trash town sort of. I live out by Brookdale so I’m not in town and it’s closer to being the outskirts of town kinda in the country kinda close to the reserve it’s rural.

Go into town and you sort of see the stuff I’m talking about. Kids with no jobs and no desire for them, skater kids that just basically own boards but honestly suck and give real skaters a bad name. Teen girls trying to be all milf and pushing a baby carriage and smoking and drinking coffee just hanging out and trying to be cool while living on welfare and the baby bonus plus any child support.

And the pajama bottoms in the daytime, out in public.

Then there’s the desperate…the girls and guys that aren’t the hang out white trash girls or they’re screwed up or something. You know, the ones that settle…for anything.

Then there’s the one’s leaving.

Like me sort of but these are the kids graduating or have plans after graduation that mean getting the hell out of Truro and not coming back.

But there’s a lot…most of all these girls that think spending the money on games and comics and cards and still loving video games and all that stuff is retarded and…most importantly. A waste of money.

You’d be amazed at the sheer amount of “Spend on me factor.”

That’s one of the reasons I can’t find a girlfriend here.

Then there’s this other thing…of why I can’t really get a girlfriend.

Another is there’s one hobby shop here and for me it’s needing a ride into the middle of town or almost an hours bike ride there and back. The Batter’s Box is okay really and it has gotten better but out of the sixty some multi generational loyalists here…there might be a dozen girls.

All of them are taken.

Sigh…

And I kind of wish that I could talk to some of them about…me.

What gets me is the “regular girls” look down on a “guy” like me for this and I don’t drink. (Yeah underaged but when’d that stop us.) I’m not a druggie or one of those guys that’s all about his car and clothes…and that’s another thing those guys spend all their cash on themselves even more than I do and they’re assholes.

What’s the attraction?

This…this is why I need to get out of here even if it’s for a week.

So why San Antonio?

Tomas.

See he’s hispanic and no he’s not a illegal but his family hires out doing farm harvesting and Nova Scotia especially around here is blueberry country so they come up here and stay with family here and work the summers making a good chunk of change with all the places they work at.

Berry raking pays according to how much you do, not hours and I’ll tell you these guys can work. My dad drives one of the trucks to pick up the flats of berries so I’m out in the fields too raking or working on the harvester.

Tomas and I met when his Aunt called his name and I thought she meant me and we became friends since then.

He’s not really into the con stuff but he likes video games and movies and I’m buying his pass in exchange for crashing with him. But I’m going to be staying down there the whole Summer and working down there for a change.

I so want to meet a girl there. I mean if I could and stuff. It’d be nice to meet one that wouldn’t look down on you and stuff.

Sigh…Dreams huh.

I get online looking at stuff for the con. Load some tunes and the hard tunes start coming and I let it get in my blood…Metal is kind of my thing it’s all angry stuff to a lot of people but there’s the thing. It so often comes from a place of anger and hurt and a lot of not fitting in.

There’s this loud mom holler down the hall. “Tommy Headphones!”

Sigh.

I get them out and put them on but it’s not the same.

But Lemmy and *Rock and Roll* is making it better already.

I sing along… “Well here, babe, look at you, and you with someone else…”
“Turned out like all the others, leave me by myself…”
“That's how it works I guess, and you like all the rest.’
“Guess I can handle it, if that's the way it is..!”

“'Cos I'm in love with rock 'n' roll, satisfies my soul!”
“If that's how it has to be, I won't get mad…”
“I got rock 'n' roll, to save me from the cold…”
“And if that's all there is, it ain't so bad.”

“Rock 'n' roll!”

(Air-guitar.)

I listen to that and I go onto some of my other tracks with stuff like *Blind* by Korn and *Walk* by Pantera and yes some Metallica even if they got trended stains on them they’re still okay. No Megadeath though…I don’t like Dave Mustardstain…arrogant asshole.

Then it gets into the tracks by Dragonforce who’s guitar will frankly always blow me away and that sort of is the gateway sounds into the great women fronted bands…Flyleaf, Epica, Nightwish, Halestorm… I love Lizzy Hale.

I kind of want to be…

We…well it’s e-mails and Skype and PMing people. There’s all kinds of cool girls at these things all the time and there’s all sorts of really cool stuff down there that never gets up here…but looking at stuff on Facebook and the geek girls and stuff.

It kind of drives home the lonely. Even with the crowd at the shop, I’m not there enough to make it really something social. I just want to be around people that get me.

But there’s parts no one will get.

But hey honestly just being with a lot of people like me would be really cool, more than cool.

I’m excited…I’ve got my bags packed and my con stuff too and tomorrow I’m off to Halifax airport and just maybe the best summer of my life.

Even if I can’t be…me.

I’ll get the hell out of here for awhile.

Hey…okay whoever this person is on the message board, they’re kind of funny…