"However, considering your age. I'll try to help you out a little." I backtrack.

"I don't need your help!"

"You little..." I take a deep breath. "Trust me, you'll curse yourself later if you turn my help down."

Lucy doesn't say anything anymore.

"Now, Obryn! It's your turn. Didn't think you'd be sitting there quietly when I saw you walking through the door. And I don't think it's because you're really focusing on the other stories. You look like your mind was elsewhere. Care to indulge us?"

Mr. Barrett and Lucy both turn in their seats to have a better look at Obryn but the teenager only sweeps his gaze over the three of us and drinks his tea.

"Lost your tongue, boy?"

"I'm not a-" Obryn starts to protest but thinks better of it and stops.

"Well, even an eight-year old is better at words than you. So, I guess you're indeed a boy."

I smirk as I see his hurt pride glinting in his eyes.

"Honestly, I don't even know why I'm here. I've been a good, if not great, person my entire life."

The room suddenly fills with the sound of me dragging my stool over so that I am sitting directly in front of Obryn. I put my elbows on the table and interlock the fingers on both my palms together before resting my chin on them. "Oh, really?"

Obryn's eyes shift as they try to find somewhere to latch on. Somewhere that isn't my eyes. I scoff. "You know the type of customers I dislike the most are those who think that they're above everything else. Tell you what, boy, I'll let you in on a secret. If you're indeed above everything else, you won't be here sitting in front of me."

I lean back and cross my arms. "I believe you harmed one of your classmates, didn't you?"

Obryn started to refute but I cut him off before he has the chance. "Before you say that the others did it too, just know that their time will come. But this time, it's not about them. It's about you. Are you going to tell the story yourself or  do I need to keep prompting you like you're a half-wit?"

"I'm not  a half-wit!" Ah, to be young and so easily riled up.

"Then, speak."

Conflict colors Obryn's eyes as he struggles to find the right word to start his story. "Ever since I entered school, I was the target of bullying. My father was Serbian, my mother was Middle-Eastern. But as you can see, I look more Middle-Eastern than Serbian. We migrated into a country where people who looked different were scrutinized. I still remember coming back home to a driveway full of rotten eggs and scattered eggshells."

"I didn't have any friends. That is until last year. And it was all because there was a new student who transferred to our school. A student who looks like me. A fresh target." Obryn smiles coldly at the memory.