~ On the night that Jaden left his father's apartment, he'd wandered the streets for hours. Eventually he'd grown exhausted and wished that he'd brought the blanket from his bed with him. He decided that he couldn't spend the night on the street and so he made his way to the apartment where a friend lived. He had been happy to find the boy out on the front steps smoking a joint with his girlfriend. Jaden could recall that conversation word for word.
"Hey J-man, what's happenin'?"
"You got a place I can sleep tonight Dirk?"
"Your old man kick you out?"
"No, kicked myself out."
Dirk had been either generous enough or high enough to sneak Jaden past his own parents to be put up for the night in his bedroom. The next morning Jaden had left a note thanking the still sleeping Dirk, climbed out of the window, and made his way out of the West Hamilton territory and back up to Andrew's uncle's store. Andrew was already there, preparing to open it for business, and he let Jaden in the back door. Jaden remembered that conversation as well.
"Um, dude, you've got what appears to be dried blood on your shirt," Andrew had said in a completely calm manner, as if to maintain that he was sure Jaden had a good explanation.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach Jaden had realized that in the surrealism of the previous night he had not remembered to wash away the evidence of his father's last bout of irrational and misdirected rage. Jaden looked into Andrew's face and for the first time saw second thoughts lurking there. Doubt as to whether he had correctly offered Jaden the chance to leave West Hamilton for something better. Jaden saw the world begin to slip from his fingers, and decided that he had to try to salvage the only trust he'd been given.
He told Andrew the truth. He told him about his father, about taking his things and walking out the night before, about sleeping in a small spot he'd cleared of trash and dirty clothes on the floor of his drugged friend's room. Andrew had listened silently. After Jaden was done he'd spoken without hesitation.
"My uncle will be here soon. We can both take our lunch breaks early and go get you some new clothes. I'm not sure where, but we'll work out some place for you to sleep."
And that was all that was said on the matter. Jaden had not set foot on West Hamilton since. Had not spoken with his father since. He never once regretted either.
At the end of that summer Andrew had refused to consider the option of Jaden not finishing highschool, even at the expense of their training. Jaden threw himself into his education with a passion that he'd never considered necessary before. He voraciously read anything set in front of him, finally discovering in himself a thirst for knowledge that would have done him no good back on West Hamilton. It was only in the following spring that he finally met Takyle Carlyle.
She was confident and driven and intimidating. She looked him over and he felt doubt radiating from every surface of her body. She'd asked Andrew into the next room and Jaden could hear the tones of their heated discussion. Huh. Just like when his parents used to fight while he was lying in bed, pretending, wishing to sleep.
They came back out and Takyle did not look fully happy. Andrew gave Jaden a reassuring smile and a nod. He was on the team.
"At least for now," said Takyle's look.
They'd begun training together in earnest immediately and Andrew served as an all important buffer between Takyle's forcefulness, and Jaden's burgeoning autonomy. More than that though, to Jaden, Andrew was his link to a better place. Jaden knew only the rules of inner-city schools and street gangs. When it came to dealing with people, he looked constantly to Andrew for cues and hints on how to react, eventually learning to rely mostly on his own instincts.
Together they made an unlikely team. Andrew, the grandson of hardworking immigrants, Jaden, kinless spawn of the streets, and Takyle, upper-class and constrained by expectations of grandeur. Ultimately though, they had learned how to dovetail their strengths and grew together in the process.
Andrew seemed to take his unasked for position as role model with a good bit of humor. Nevertheless, he had always treated Jaden as nothing less than a friend, bestowing on him what were, to Jaden at least, surprising and unprecedented levels of trust and respect.
Over time Jaden even began to think sometimes that he might earn them. ~
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