Z 2134

now that his entire family was gone, he felt truly alone for the first time in his life. And he wished that he’d been wired differently so he had an easier time making friends.
    He thought of his father and how easy it always seemed for him to speak to strangers, even when he didn’t want to.
    Adam watched the screen as it shifted to show a girl with long black hair climbing out onto the wide branch of a tree, then lying flat against the bark as a couple of zombies passed below.
    I hope they see her.
    Come on, stupid zombies, look up.
    Immediately, Adam felt horrible.
    While others openly rooted on the zombies against players they didn’t like, or hadn’t bet on, Adam had never wished for a player to die. But every player who died who wasn’t his sister put Ana a bit closer to City 7.
    He wondered what the odds were that Ana could actually make it to City 7. He smiled a bit as he imagined both his sister and father living in City 7, free and happy. But then when he imagined that scenario, and him still being stuck in City 6, his smile faltered.
    If Ana somehow wins, maybe I should get myself arrested. Maybe all three of us could live in City 7, all happily ever after.
    He watched as his new friends laughed with the girls. He thought about his father again. It was three years ago when Adam first realized just how different he was from other kids. He suspected that his parents had always known. It would explain the frequent whispers when people thought he wasn’t paying attention. But he’d never really thought much about it until three years ago, when kids started picking on him more harshly. They called him names like freak, Quarter Boy, and stupid.
    It was three years ago when he nearly broke down in tears and asked his father why it was so hard for him to make friends.
    “Wanna know the secret?” his dad had asked.
    Adam nodded.
    “Double I and F,” he smiled. “Remember that and you’ll always be fine.”
    “What does that mean?” Adam said.
    His father smiled. “It means be interesting, interested, friendly and funny. That’s the formula for making friends. It’s never been more complicated than that.”
    Still trying not to cry, Adam said, “How can I be interesting if I’m actually boring?”
    Adam’s dad shook his head. “No one’s boring unless they think they are. So maybe it’s time you stopped sentencing yourself to the lie.” His father smiled then winked, like he always did when trying to cheer up his son. “Being interesting doesn’t mean making stuff up to make people like you. It means framing who you are in a riveting light. You know all those books you love to read?”
    Adam nodded.
    “Well, those books should give you an endless list of things to talk about. People love stories, Adam, and they always will. Keep reading and you’ll never run out. Beyond the stories,” his father put his arm around Adam’s shoulder, “lies the other side of interesting, and that’s being interested. As much as people love stories, every beating heart wants another ear to listen to theirs. Treasure their words like they were your own and respond to what they’re truly trying to say, and not just that surface layer. Any time you’re talking about things that are interesting to someone else, you’re instantly more interesting to them.”
    “What about friendly and funny?”
    His dad laughed. “You’re already friendly,” he punched Adam lightly on the shoulder. “Problem is, you’re too shy. There’s nothing wrong with that, really, but it does make it harder in the making-friends department. If you don’t have the courage to say hi first, that’s fine, you might grow out of that. Even if you don’t, you can always smile with your eyes. But no matter what, you have to genuinely enjoy meeting new people, or they’ll see through your smile.”
    Before Adam could push the next protest from his mouth, his dad said, “Being funny doesn’t mean being a comedian, it means being able to recognize life’s regular humor. And if you don’t think something’s funny, at least try to see why someone would. The more you see humor in your world, the easier it is to draw it into conversation.” He tightened his embrace. “Truth is, Son, making friends is about being yourself more than anything else.”
    After a few months in Chimney Rock, Adam finally listened to his father’s words and was shocked when he found that his father was right. For the first time ever, Adam had friends.