The friendship begins.

 

                           Picture source: www.askmen.com/entertainment/galleries/about-a-boy-5.html

    After Will takes Marcus out with his mom, Marcus starts to drop by Will's flat more regularly. At first, this is something that annoys Will, but eventually he gets used to it because, actually, he does not have any other option due to the fact that he cannot stop it; Marcus will drop by anyway because he is persistent. Also, he does not want to get angry at Marcus. Indeed, this is something that I find very interesting: Will can easily say to Marcus that he doesn't want to see him in his flat, but he doesn't do it. I see that Will already likes Marcus and regards him as a friend (even though he does not say it explicitly). Marcus continues to visit him every day after school, and there is a point at which Will starts asking personal questions to the boy and he, as if Will were a long-time friend, answers honestly. Marcus openly talks about his problems at school and home with Will. He worries about Marcus, he now cares about him. What I mean is that Will has changed and now he is interested in helping the boy. Taking that into account, is this something that can happen in reality? Perhaps. Suppose you do not like a person, say, your neighbor, and then something bad happens to this neighbor (or to someone he cherishes). You start feeling sorry for him and feel morally obliged to help him because, after all, he is your neighbor and there must be a good relationship between neighbors. You might end up becoming friends, as a result. Having said this, the story is getting quite good and I want to know how this friendship turns out.

Caring about others.

 

Picture source: Do You Care About Others? (gotoquiz.com)

    We get to the part in which Will meets Marcus on a picnic trip. It is sort of weird they way meet, and at first they do not get along very well. Will thinks that Marcus is a strange and introvert kid while Marcus thinks that Will is an idiot. The story has a turning point when Marcus's mom Fiona attempts suicide, a fact that makes Marcus angry and sad at the same time, and Will changes a little bit because he finally shows emotions by feeling sorry for Marcus. A circumstance like that could change even the most cold-blooded person. Having said this, Will shows the first sign of change in his personality because he finally cares about someone: Marcus. He now feels an obligation to make him happy at least for one day, so that is why he decides to take him out to eat something. I believe Will is changing his character because of Marcus, and these changes will continue to happen. Now, this is something that can occur in society: a kid goes through an unfortunate event, and no matter how mean or insensitive you are, you tend to feel a connection and you want to help with something. In the case of Will, he decides to take Marcus out. That is remarkable of him, I would say, if we consider his background. Will and Marcus will continue to give us more interesting anecdotes along the chapters.

Children and single mothers.

 

Picture source: Dear Sympathetic Sue – Discussing schemas with parents! | Parenta.com

    I find Will's carelessness for children rather funny, but I also think that it is a bit exaggerated. When he is asked to be the godfather of one of his friend's son, he reacts in a way that shows some kind of a disgust. He thinks to himself that he would rather eat of the boy's diapers. I think he is so self-centered that he does not have time (nor interest) to care about others. Now, regarding his romantic relationships, he finds out, after going out with a girl named Angie and then breaking up again with her, that going out with single mothers is a great idea because they tend to be kind, and they would not pay attention to his countless defects, and besides, they would not be likely to get angry at him so easily. However, I particularly think that Will may have thought that single mothers were somewhat easy to manipulate. Therefore, he decides to invent a son of his own to pretend that he is a single father, and in order for this lie to be more believable, he joins a club for single parents. In this way, he is going to be more interesting for single mothers. He also plans to act nicely until he can chat up one of them and get what he really wants: an ephemeral relationship with a lot of fun to benefit from. I believe that Will is turning into a real stalker from this point. Nevertheless,  I am also sure that this situation will change along the chapters.