Jaime's new friend!

So, Jaime had a friend. Well- he had multiple friends, but this one was special. He had met this boy at the park, Jaime saw him sitting alone on the swings and decided to go talk to him. Now there was something a bit extraordinary about this boy... He had snow white hair! At first Jaime couldn't believe it, but after talking with the boy, he had confirmed that his hair was naturally that pure white. When he learned that, he instantly thought of snow white, but then he remembered that snow white had black hair (not white). Anyways, he had a lot of fun with this friend. He tried asking him questions, like where he was from, what school he went to, where he lived, etc, but the boy wouldn't answer. At the end of the day, he asked the boy what his name was and he said that his name was Dia. He smiled, what a nice name. He met the boy many times after that and he really enjoyed hanging out with him. He was fun and nice and he was really interesting. He said so many funny things, I mean really random things, but funny. He decided to tell his parents about his new friend.

Or well, Jaime tried to tell his parents about Dia, but there was one problem. They thought that he was making Dia up.

His father raised his eyebrows, "uhh, aren't you too old to have imaginary friends, son?"

"Oh shush, Alberto!" His mother said. "I think that it's wonderful that you have a new friend, mijo." His mother patted him on the head.

Jaime's jaw hung open. "What? No, Dia's real I swear!" Jaime whined. His parents looked between each other. Jaime grunted, "I'll prove it to you!" He ran upstairs to his room. The next day, he went to the park he and Dia always met at. He looked at Dia, he was real, right? I mean there's always a possibility he wasn't. His parents always said that anything was possible. He stared blankly at Dia and Dia stared blankly back.

Jaime tilted his head, "Dia, you're real right?"

Dia put his finger on his chin, "Am I?" He looked to his right, staring at the blank space there. "Ok. Yeah I'm probably real." He gasped and pointed at Jaime, "are you real or are you just another 'it'?"

"Of course I'm real!" Jaime exclaimed. "Wait, another 'it'?" He mumbled, "what does that mean?"

Dia waved him off, "don't worry about it."

"Anyways Dia, I need you to come to my house because I need to show my parents that you're real."

"Ok."

On the walk to his house, Jaime was telling him about his parents and his baby sister. Suddenly, Dia seemed to get angry.

"F you!" He blurted out (but of course he used the full word). He had stopped walking and was staring off into blank space with a frown on his face. Jaime gasped. He had never heard someone say the f-word. Sure, he had heard dia use other cuss words (he did that a lot). Then, Dia turned to him, "oh sorry Jaime, I wasn't talking to you. I promise."

"Who were you talking to then." Jaime questioned. Again, Dia waved him off. Jaime huffed and decided to change the subject "Hey, why do you cuss so much anyway?"

"My mom."

"Why don't you tell your mom to stop cursing so much? It's obviously having a bad impression on you."

"I can't"

"Why not?" Jaime asked. His parents didn't like when people cussed and rarely did it themselves. At least, they didn't do it in front of Jaime.

"She's dead."

"Oh," Jaime's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry."

Dia laughed, "Don't be! Good riddance, I say!"

Jaime gasped, "how could you say that about your mother? Didn't you love her?"

"No, I hated her and she hated me. My life's better now that she's gone." Dia snarled and turned away from him.

"I'm sorry Dia. I didn't mean to upset you," Jaime put his hand on his back. Dia smiled at him and nodded his head. They kept walking. Jaime had never heard of someone's mother hating their child. He instantly felt bad for Dia. He also wondered about who Dia lived with. Jaime and Dia had to cross a road, so because it was the right thing to do, he locked hands with Dia. Dia didn't seem to mind, so they ended up holding hands until they got to his house. They went inside to greet Jaime's mother.

As soon as they got in the house, Jaime immediately started shouting about ' I told you so' and ' he is real!' Dia was a wee bit confused, but he went along with it. Soon his mother came out of the kitchen.

"Jaime! Was is all this shouting about? You'll wake your sister!" She scolded.

Jaime immediately showed Dia off with a flourish. " I told you he was real!" Dia waved at her.

She stared down at Dia for a minute. "Oh my," she finally said. "Hello there! Are you wearing a wig?" She walked closer to them both.

"Hmmm... No I don't think so." He said. She tilted her head, seemingly not believing him.

"It is his real hair! Look!" Jaime then proceeded to yank on Dia's hair. "See!"

"Owww," Dia yelped. "Mother fu-" but before he could finish what he was gonna say, Jaime quickly talked over him.

"So, now you see that he is completely real and so is his hair," Jaime exclaimed. Dia was rubbing his head, but he seemed fine overall.

"¡Hola, señora Reyes!" Dia greeted. "I'm happy to finally meet you! Jaime has mentioned that you think that I'm imaginary which I can see why. I'm quite that extraordinary specimen, but I don't think Jaime is creative enough to think me up." Jaime interjected with 'hey' but Dia ignored him.

His mother laughed, "it's nice to meet you too, young man," Dia seemed to get distracted by something, but quickly snapped out of it.

"Me and Jaime being friends is actually quite surprising to me, seeing as we're polar opposites!" He put his hand on his chin curiously, "Jaime is a very nice and well adjusted boy and I'm not!" He said happily. The room went silent. Jaime and his mother just stared at him in shock. Dia didn't seem to be fazed by this, still swinging about happily. "Oh yeah, I just wanted to say you have a very nice home, señora Reyes! I like your decorations!" He pointed at the wall where a few family photos were hanging up, "I also like the pictures!"

Jaime's mother seemed to be a bit taken aback, but she thanked him anyway. "Say, your parents don't mind you being here, mijo?" Once Dia shook his head, she continued on. "Oh, now that I met you, you should invite them over for dinner!" Even though Jaime was still reeling from the fact that they both completely glossed over what Dia said earlier, he perked up at the thought of meeting Dia's parents. He never talked about them so he was wondering what they were like. He thought back, didn't Dia say his mom died though? So was it just his dad?

Dia noticeably grimaced at the suggestion. He shook his head, "no thanks."

Both Jaime and his mother were surprised by Dia's answer, but Jaime was the one to ask why. Instead of answering, Dia made a break for the kitchen. His mother looked down at Jaime and the only thing Jaime could do was shrug. They both went into the kitchen to see what he was doing. As they went into the kitchen, they saw Dia attempting to open the backdoor. He was too short to reach the second lock on the door.

"Dia what are you doing?" Jaime decided to break the silence.

Dia turned around to look at the both of them. "Uh, it's time for me to leave." He looked down at his wrist, "Yeah. It's time."

"You're not wearing a watch."

"Damn, you're right." Dia looked back down at his wrist.

After hearing his mother's shocked gasp, Jaime immediately walked over to Dia. Grabbing him, he pulled him back into the living room. In an attempt to change the subject of Dia's foul language, he started to try to convince Dia to stay a little longer. "You should stay for dinner, my mamá is an amazing cook." Obviously, his attempt hadn't worked, he could tell by the way his mother had her arms crossed, but she seemed to let it go.

Jaime could tell that the thought of food made Dia happy. He excitedly nodded. "Ok Jaime, thanks for inviting me to dinner." He smiled sheepishly.

"Are you sure that's ok with your parents, cariño?" Jaime's mother questioned.

"Yeah, they don't care." Dia smiled up at her. His mother looked worried, but nodded anyway.

Jaime grabbed onto Dia's hand, "come on! I'll show you my room!" He ran up the stairs while Dia followed excitedly.

A good hour or two later, Jaime's dad came home. Jaime and Dia were still upstairs, so Mrs. Reyes made sure to inform him about the guest. Around 5, his mother called everyone down for dinner. Everyone sat down at the table as Jaime's father was bringing down Jaime's sister, Milagro.

As soon as Jaime's father sat down at the table, he leaned over to Mrs. Reyes and whispered something in her ear. Dia didn't hear what he said, but Jaime definitely did because he immediately said, "it's not a wig!" and tried to grab onto Dia's hair again, but he leaned away from his grab.

His mother laughed, "It's not a wig, I already saw." His father nodded, but still continued to stare at the stranger in his home. Dia felt a bit self- conscious because not only was Jaime's father staring at him, so was little baby Milagro. Dia was used to babies, so he stared back at the baby.

"Eat your food Dia," Jaime interjected. "Stop having a staring contest with my sister."

"Aw, you're just mad that I'm winning." He pouted, but started to eat his food anyway.

Mr. Reyes coughed, "so, uh, Jaime, how did you meet this boy?"

Jaime didn't look up from his food, "se llama Dia," he said quickly. "We met at the park."

"I... see," Mr. Reyes turned to the other boy. "so, uh, what school do you go to?" It was obvious that he didn't know what to say to Dia.

Jaime felt nervous, all the times he had tried to ask Dia that question, he had never answered. Dia stared at Mr. Reyes and then to Jaime and then back to Mr. Ryes. "...I go to an all boys school." He seemed hesitant when he said it.

Jaime was shocked, he never thought he would answer! But, he's glad that he did. After his father nodded, the table went back to silence. Jaime and Dia finished their food at the same time. So after they were both excused from the table, they went back up to Jaime's room.

Jaime peered nervously at Dia. "Did you have a good time?" Dia nodded. " Would you want... Come over again another time?" Dia nodded again. Jaime couldn't help the big smile on his face. "Hey... Maybe I could go over to your house sometime?"

Dia immediately shook his head, "that ain't happening."

Jaime laughed, "understood."

At the end of the day, it was time for Dia to go home. "Ok Mijo, I'll drive you home now."

Dia rejected her offer, "it's ok, I'll walk."

Jaime's eyes widened. "Walk?!" He said, "it's 8pm."

"So?"

"So?!" Mrs. Reyes said this time. "No way you're walking."

"I live close," Dia voiced. Jaime knew that he was lying though, it was pretty obvious.

His mother raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?" Dia nodded hesitantly. "I'm still gonna drive you."

"yeah, but I don't want you to." Dia scoffed. It looked like he was getting angry, so that worried Jaime a bit. He gently rubbed his back to try to calm him down. Dia's face softened. He relaxed and leaned into his touch.

"It's ok Dia, I'll go with you if it makes you feel better." Jaime comforted.

"... I guess..." Dia stared down at the floor. Jaime smiled and continued to comfort him. They all go outside and into the car.

"Ok cariño, ¿Dónde vives?"

"I'll guide you." He scratched behind his ear. After a particularly long drive, they finally arrived at his house.

"I thought you said you lived close," Jaime's mother turned around to look at them.

Dia scoffed, "I obviously lied."

"Don't be rude to my mom," Jaime complained.

"Sorry," he turned around in his seat. "Let's get out of the car now." He opened the door.

"Wow Dia your house is nice!" Jaime exclaimed. Dia looked flustered, he quickly started to walk up the driveway. Once they got to the door, Jaime asked, "can we go in?"

Before Dia could answer, the door swung open, revealing a very blonde woman. "Dia! I was wondering if you were going to come back!" She gushed. "You missed a very fun family outing!" This woman had the most high pitched, sing-songy voice Jaime had ever heard. Funnily enough, Dia was also looking at the woman with the most disgusted look he had ever seen. "Oh, he sweetie don't look at me like that!" She went to touch Dia, but he quickly ducked away and ran behind Jaime. She frowned, but continued to talk. "Oh my do you have a new friend?" She stuck out her hand towards Jaime's mom, "hiii, I'm Dia's mom! Nice to meet you!" Jaime heard Dia mutter, 'no you're not' behind him. The lady rolled her eyes, "Dia's FOSTER mom, happy?"

Jaime could tell that his mother was hesitant to take her hand, but she did it anyway. "Hello... Nice to meet you." It was obvious that Dia wasn't happy about the exchange.

"Ohh, come in, come in!" The lady borderline screeched. She leaned towards Jaime, "hello young man! What's your name?"

Jaime couldn't help but lean away. "Jaime."

He felt Dia get closer to him, "don't talk to her, she'll steal your soul," he whispered in Jaime's ear. Jaime shuddered and scooted away from the woman.

The woman didn't seem to hear Dia as she continued walking in the house. "Oh, meet my other sons!" She walked towards 3 other boys. Dia stopped dead in his tracks, stopping Jaime too. He looked back at Dia with a concerned face. He was going to ask if he was ok, but the woman started talking again. "This is my oldest!" She pointed at a lanky tall boy with blonde hair (they all had blonde hair), "this is my second youngest and this is my youngest!" They all stared at the other two boys and all three of them stared back. Jaime couldn't figure out why, but the oldest was staring at him and Dia with disgust. The lady quickly changed the subject. "Ohh-" Jaime noted that she said 'oh' a lot- " I'm soooo glad that Dia has a friend now! He doesn't have any at school and that's always made me sad!" She cooed. Jaime could feel Dia fluster behind him.

The oldest quickly piped up, "probably because he's a fa-"

Dia quickly stepped from behind him, "shut up!"

"You shut up!" He retorted.

The woman glossed over the both of them and continued talking about everything under the sun. Her husband, more about her family, she never shut up. Eventually, Jaime's mother saw her chance to leave and quickly said so.

"Oh my! Ok then," the woman said, "but, you'll definitely have to come over again!" Mrs. Reyes nodded, but it was easy to tell she was uncomfortable. As they walked towards the door, Jaime got this weird feeling. He didn't want to leave Dia, but he knew he had to.

Jaime made sure to give him an extra tight hug. When Jaime and his mother got in the car, he asked if Dia could come over for a sleepover soon. He was incredibly happy when she said yes. He smiled to himself, excited to be able to have his friend over soon.