Theo Raines has always known he was different from his brothers. And his father made sure to remind him of that.

Every. Single. Day.

"Why can't you be more like Mason?"

"Why don't you play a sport like Alex?"

"Reading is for sissies. Why don't you go out with your brothers?"

"Why aren't you more popular?"

It was times like this, Theo missed his mother deeply. She would've defended him, told his father and his brothers to back off, that he's his own man making his own mark in the world.

But she was gone, and ever since then, Theo was made the black sheep of the family. All because he preferred books over sports, took an interest in the civil rights movement, and did excellent in school, which was the only thing his dad couldn't complain about.

Theo woke up and got ready for school, slipping on his glasses and making his way to the bathroom to shower. Thirty minutes later and he was up and ready to go. But he realized that his brothers were both still dead asleep. His father had already gone to work, he smirked to himself as he walked out the door, making his way to school.

The bell rang just as he got there, signaling that school was already starting. He rushed into his first class, and sat down in the front, just beating the second bell that would've ratted him out and told the teacher that he was late. All the black and brown kids sat in the back while all the white kids, sat in the front. Despite all schools being racially desegregation on the outside, nothing could stop the racial divide on the inside.

Some teachers intentionally divide the students. And sometimes, like in gym class, it's the students themselves that separate from each other.

Theo walked out of the locker room, only to stop when he realized his brothers were standing right in front of them.

And they did not look happy.

"You're dead poindexter!" Mason exclaimed with Alex shoving him into a nearby locker.

"Why didn't you wake us up?!" Alex demanded to know.

"I️...I️'m sorry!" Theo tried to shake out of his brother's steel-like grip. "I️ was almost late too-"

"That's bullshit and you know it," Mason seethed. "You're always up early, you dweeb. You wanted us to be late," he accused.

Alex reeled his arm back and delivered a punch straight to his gut, making Theo double over in pain. They both then high fives each other and left him there to gather himself up.

Theo tried. He really did try to love and get along with his brothers, as his mother would've wanted them too. As he father wanted too. But those two made it impossible.

He didn't know when it was that they started to hate him. Maybe when the day he spoke up against his dad about black people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came up on the screen of their old tv, delivering yet another one of his inspiring and riveting speeches when his father started insulting him, his family and all black folks, calling them the n-word.

Or maybe it was even earlier than that, when their mom doted on him more then the other two cause he was the baby of the family.

Or maybe it was this morning when he let them sleep in. At this point, no one knows.

Theo picks himself up off the ground and hurries over to gym class. "Theodore, why are you late?" His gym teacher questions as he joins all the guys just in time for dodgeball.

"I️ had to use the bathroom, sir," he lied smoothly. His teacher accepted the excuse with a simple nod and proceeded with the class. He let out a sigh, relieved that he didn't have to suffer through anymore questions.

Until the balls started flying.

Theo left gym class, sore from all the dodging and bruised from all balls flying towards him at forty miles an hour. It was now lunch time, but he used this as an excuse to go to his favorite escape.

The library.

Most people would find it odd that a teenage boy would take such comfort in books.

Most teenage boys were after girls and cars and stealing their parents liquor.

But Theo preferred books. And he liked all kinds of books too. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. He wanted to know anything and everything.

Walking in, he made his way towards the very back corner of the fiction section as he does every other day and looks down to see a girl already sitting there, nose buried in her book. "Um, excuse me miss?" He said, making her look up. "But this is my reading area," he tells her. "I'm gonna have to ask you to move."

The girl simply cracks a smile and stifles a laugh as seeing they were still in a library. And the librarian would just love any reason to kick a black student out. "Come here silly," Katheryn stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close.

Kathryn Knight, the girl that had always loved him for who he was, lived just a few doors down the street. They've been best friends since they were 5 and her family treated him more like family than his own ever did.

Despite his skin tone, her parents, grandparents and older sister embraced him with open arms. He couldn't say the same for his family though.

His mother loved the little girl as if she were one of her own. But as soon as she died, his dad banned her from ever coming over again. Mason and Alex didn't usually pay attention to her anyways. Instead, making fun of their brother for having a girl as a friend.

But ever since Kathryn turned fifteen, she unluckily got caught in Mason and Alexis reign of terror. First, it started out really simple and juvenile, like calling her names and pulling on her hair. But lately, it's gotten worse. and nothing was worse than teenage boys with raging hormones and a God complex.

Theo knew she tried hard to stay out of their radar. But it was hard, being friends with him and trying to avoid them at the same time. But she refused to end her friendship over a couple of losers. He'd apologize for their behavior, but it was futile when they just kept messing with her, over and over again.

"What's new?" She asked him as he lowered himself down to the floor, sitting across from her. Theo lets out a deep sigh, shaking his head. Kathryn takes his hand into hers. A comforting gesture. "What did they do now?" She asked him.

"I️ let them oversleep on purpose," he reveals. "They came to school pissed and socked me right in the stomach," his other hand subconsciously rubs his stomach.

"Oh, Theo..." Kathryn frowned.

Theo shook his head, not wanting her pity. "I had it coming," he simply said.

Called him foolish, naive, maybe even a little bit stupid, but Theo still had held out hope that one day he and his brothers would get along again like they once did before. It's what his mother would've wanted.