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‘It sounds like he would have been a really good friend for you.’ Sofia smiled at Austin from behind her bundle of papers. ‘You mentioned that he was different from everyone else. Could you explain that in more detail?’
‘Everybody else that I met that was around my age only wanted two things. Money and fame.’ Austin took in a deep breath. ‘They would always try to take pictures with me so they could post them all over the internet claiming that I was their best friend. Every single person did that, even some adults. The bodyguard my mother hired did nothing. For him it was just fans wanting a photo. For me it was much worse than that. After a while I tried to stop talking to people so they would leave me alone. I know myself that I came across as cold but I couldn’t care less.’
‘I think I remember that. The headlines and the photos.’ Sofia nodded thoughtfully. ‘I remember one where you were shoving a boy away. He fell to the ground.’
‘I didn’t mean to hurt him. He was just… too much. He wouldn’t leave me alone. He was following me around everywhere I went that day. I was 11 at the time and he was definitely much older than me. Can you imagine what that was like for a child? Someone following them around and harassing them and their own bodyguards doing nothing about it. Doing nothing to protect me. I was terrified all the time and no one was stopping it. I had to defend myself!’
‘Was this the kind of thing that happened often when you were young?’
‘All the time. Pretty much whenever I went outside. My mother would make it much worse. She would introduce me to people all the time that she wanted me to be friends with or at least pretend to be for the media. People she thought were worthy of spending time with. I think that was another thing that drew me to Charlie. He wasn’t someone that my mother tried to force on me.’
‘Was that the only thing that made him different? Because your mother hadn’t introduced the two of you?’ Austin quickly shook his head. ‘It was because he didn’t like you for your fame. How did you know that for sure?’
‘Because he would have much rather had it that I wasn’t famous. That I was just a normal kid like him. Like I said, he was terrified to talk to anyone. There was one time I found him hiding in a cupboard so he wouldn’t have to talk to my mother. Saying that, the minute I found out my mother was in the next room I hid alongside him. Something I think anyone would do when it came to my mother.’
‘How was it when you two were out in public? Or did you go out anywhere together?’ Sofia questioned.
‘It wouldn’t look good for me to be seen with our gardener’s son. Or at least that’s what my mother thought.’ Austin let out a deep sigh. ‘But I didn’t mind that too much. I mean I would have loved to spend more time with him doing things outside of the house but I knew what fame could do to someone’s life. I didn’t want that for Charlie.’ Austin sat silently for a moment. ‘If he had been seen with me he would never have been left alone. He was already having a horrible time at school; he didn’t need me making things worse for him.’
‘I’m assuming by horrible time you mean bullying.’ Austin nodded in agreement. ‘That can instantly make you feel negatively towards anything, can’t it? I personally feel that more needs to be done to support victims of bullying. It can only lead to mental health issues when you get older, don’t you agree?’
‘Definitely. Because what they were doing to Charlie wasn’t just simple name calling. It was… cruel and demeaning.’ Austin clenched his fists tight, his knuckles as white as snow. ‘You know, I’ve had to stop him from dying his hair before because he didn’t think he could deal with being called clown and carrot top for much longer. I eventually talked him out of it and started calling him Red. It might seem to you a little counterproductive but I wanted him to have a nice nickname to associate with his hair colour. An affectionate one.’
‘Was that all you did to comfort Charlie?’
‘That’s all I could do. The one thing I really wanted to do was march down to that school and punch every single person that said even the slightest mean thing to Charlie. For obvious reasons I couldn’t do that. Probably could have hired someone to do it for me.’
‘But then you would be breaking the law.’ Sofia pointed out.
‘To stop that cruelty, I would have gladly done it. And afterwards I would have turned myself into the police with a smile on my face knowing Charlie’s life would be a little bit better.’ Austin crossed his arms and leaned back in the hard plastic chair, a scowl on his face. ‘Is any of this relevant? Do you really need to know about the bullying Charlie experienced in school?’
‘I am wanting to find out more about yours and Charlie’s relationship.’ Sofia admitted. ‘By doing so, I am discovering more about you. That is the point of this talk after all. We can always stop if you want to. I made that perfectly clear at the beginning.;
‘No.’ Austin snapped. ‘I’d like to get this interview finished sometime before Christmas. If you need to me talk about these things then I will. Just so long as what I say about Charlie’s personal life doesn’t leave this room.’ Austin instantly realised his mistake. ‘Well, you know what I mean.’
‘I do. I really don’t mean to be intrusive but this is all helping me understand you better.’ Sofia dropped her papers on the floor with a loud thump. ‘We’re just having a casual conversation now. Just me and you. No formalities. Ignore everything else. Could you continue with what you were saying about Charlie? How you were helping him with his bullying problem?’
‘That’s the thing. I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t let it be known that he knew me personally. And as much as I debated doing it, I couldn’t tell his dad. It would have meant betraying his trust. I didn’t want to lose that. Whatever we confided in each other, we knew it would never go any further. We could talk about anything because we would never judge. Charlie told me all the shit going on in his life and I told him about all the shit going on in mine.’ Sofia took a sharp intake of breath. ‘I’m guessing you didn’t like the swearing.’
‘I would appreciate it if you could avoid it.’ Sofia smiled sweetly at him.
‘Sometimes you’ll find that there are no better words to describe something.’ Austin smiled back at her. ‘Especially when it comes to my mother. And the paparazzi. God!’ He let out a groan. ‘There are plenty of words that work so well when describing them.’
‘As long as they’re somewhat polite, you can say them.’
‘Oh well, they’re not polite. I’ll just… come up with new ones.’
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