Level Two. You, Me and Him.

Level Two. You, Me and Him.

By Michelle Lloyd.

R V, New One and Little Herbert were firm in their friendship.  They were quite knowledgeable on each other’s likes and dislikes.  It was good to be in a trio and not ever did each of them feel at odds or left out in the crowd.

New One, Little Herbert and R V, they were not all the same.  It was interesting to know how Little Herbert would push away peas or how R V loved them.  The differences they had soon became firm foundations upon which they all grew in understanding about each other.

There was not anything that any of them could do that would surprise the other and that was what they truly thought.

At school New One had noticed that there had been a bit of a split in their class.  Why, was this?  It was thanks to a bit of a lead that had developed in popularity for one of their classmates.  He had moved to their school from another and came with him was a reputation.  Smart and sociable, it has been reputed that he had won in several literature competitions.  Everybody liked him and wanted to be his friend.  This was why many of the class had formed a bit of a circle around him and quite quickly those who he liked best became joined into his inner group.  It was all fairly acceptable to New One, Little Herbert and R V.  None of them had much to say about it, but that was not until one of them started to behave oddly.

New One and R V had been seeing less and less of Little Herbert of late.  It had been harder and harder to get to speak to him outside of school because he always seemed to say he was busy and in school, well that was even more difficult, because that was when he would keep himself buried inside his books.

Avoidance.  That was what New One’s mum and dad called it, when he asked them about it.  They advised that he should find out why Little Herbert was avoiding them and if they could do anything to fix their friendship.

New One had not thought of their friendship as having been in trouble before but when he did give it a ponder, it provoked a lot of worry.  What did it mean for them if they lost Little Herbert from their group of three?

Straight away they got to work and R V and New One tackled their friend about recent concerns.  Far from listening to them, Little Herbert rushed off as soon as he could, having told them that he needed to get to the library before the end of lunch.

It was getting both friends down and whenever they saw Little Herbert in class, he did not seem happy about the situation either.  The only clue to what was going on that New One and R V had was that every time Little Herbert’s eyes would meet with that of a new pupil in their class, he would look away and become very uncomfortable in stance indeed.

It took a while to get Little Herbert on his own to talk to, because each time they would think they had managed it, off he would say he needed to go to do this or that… This time New One ensured that his friend stayed in front of them by telling him that they had been asked to talk to him.  Who had asked them to do that?  The inquisitive trait of their friend well known had given them an advantage.

New One and R V finally got to talk with their friend and ask him what was keeping him away from them.  The answer was not what either of them had expected it to be and far from what they could have ever thought.

The newer member of their class had paid a little visit to the toy shop that belonged to Little Herbert’s dad and it was there that he had made a bit of a mistake, or so he had believed.  Little Herbert had wanted to help out his dad by showing the classmates he knew around and giving them a bit of a guided tour.  He was proud of his dad’s shop and he wanted to show it off, so he laughed at the jokes that were made and talked with them even when they made comments that he did not agree with at all.

Ever since Little Herbert had felt disloyal about having laughed at what had been said by them.  It had meant that his shame quietly distanced him from those who loved him most.  Not agreeing with the newer classmate had meant that he had isolated himself from them too and that all equated to a very lonely, Little Herbert.

New One could not believe how wrong his judgement could have been about the whole situation.  Firmly, he was told by both of his friends that he should have told them about the incident straight away.  About the comment that had been made, New One felt that he had the answer and that the three of them could help to rectify the issue.

Lana, the lovely and much loved dog was at the end of the school day, brought to the gates by New One’s mum and it was there that a certain new member of the class stopped laughing and instead looked on.  New One, R V and Little Herbert all fussed her and she returned the favour with lots of laughter and licks of contentment.  Instead of making fun of her again, the adversary of the lovable dog, found himself wondering over because actually his lack of ever owning a pet had been the reason for his comment.  New One allowed the encounter to be as good as he knew it could be and far from having a bad view of Lana, their new-found friend, fell in love with her.