Status: Fresh out of the oven
One of the Boys
Chapter Eleven
The rest of the breakfast was spent chattering and comparing timetables. Of my five subjects I share just two with Eric; English Literature and French, none which I had today. I was pretty bummed to find that out because I just figured that in those classes at least I won't have to risk looking like an antisocial person, and could just stick to being with Eric. No effort required, he could keep the two of use entertained without a single input from me. Plus apparently his grandmother is French so he's quite good at it and in my head I thought straight away : Easy A!
As Eric and I were about to leave for my first lesson a large hand landed on my shoulders and swiveled me around. Jumping about a foot off the ground I turned to see my father with a large smile ordaining his face. My father wasn't a big man, but he was tall and his bone structure was massive. He's always told me that way to succeed as a deputy head of such a large boarding school was by getting the students to have 30% of respect for you and 70% fear. For the first time I truly believed it as he stared down at me and say with his mouth barely opened "A word. Lucas." The most unnerving thing was that he did it all while smiling with both sets of teeth on show. That only meant one thing.
"Sure thing," and after a moment of shifting my weight between my feet I added, "Sir."
I turned towards Eric who was doing everything to not make any eye contact with my father, preoccupying himself with something in his coat pocket. "I'll catch you later. You still owe me a Nutella sandwich."
Taking a small glance at my father who by then had turned away to adjust his tie in the reflection of a hallway trophy case, leaned in and whispered urgently. "What have you done?"
I opened my arms out and turned my palms upward, proving I had not clue.
"Let me tell you something. If you see him smiling like that, with his nose all squished up and his eyes that small, beg for forgiveness before you say anything. Or ask to talk to your lawyer's first. He knows everything and-"
"And I hear everything Mr. Hales," we both froze our bodies ridged, pivoting towards him once more. "I think you have a lesson to run of to Mr. Hales, do you not think it would be best if you went off now?" All with a smile.
"Yes. I'm on my way, see you at lunch Lucas," he sent me quick smile, so quick it didn't have time to full formed, and mouthed to me "you'll be fine" before dashing of down the corridor.
"Uhm... That boy never could whisper, but he is a magnificent student, so the teachers say."
I nodded blankly not quite sure where this discussion was heading.
"Where were you at dinner last night? Mum and I expected to see you there?"
"I didn't feel hungry, and still had tons of unpacking to do, I wanted to start off neat for the new school year."
"You are boy, Lucas, you don't need to be neat."
"What, aren't some boys neater than others?"
"Not as neat as you." and that was the end of that. I would need to be messier. "That's not the point anyway. I was worried when I saw who you were sharing a room with this year. Theodore and Marcus. Now Teddy is sweet as pixy, but Marcus is more trouble than his really worth. His family hardly donates enough money to make it worth keeping up with his antics. Did you know three teachers have claimed to have seen him take in stray beasts onto the grounds?" I nodded politely. My father has never been an animal person. "He hardly punctual or even here. It came to our attention last year that he had spent a whole week sleeping across the road at St. Beeds last year. It a Christian girls school for God's sake!" He took in a deep breath and looked at me as he slowly let it out.
"Sorry Lucas," he emphasized my name with a tilt of the head, "I do not make it a habit of talking of my students to others. Pardon my monstrous misbehavior. As your new Deputy Headmaster I would like to just want you to take particular care to stay out of trouble. And out of my office." He glanced over his shoulder making sure the hall was clear, and he leaned in as if to pat me on the shoulder and whispered. "Except Tuesday nights where you will meet Mrs. Johns and me in our living quarters for dinner;" he rushed before moving back to what he deemed was a suitable distance for headmaster and pupil, and turned on his heel. There seemed to be movement at the back of the hall that had caught his eye.
"Wait, What? Dad! No!"
"Shush!" he spun back round violently, his tie flying over his shoulder. "There is no D word allowed, and it's an a request from Mrs. Johns. Have a nice day, and Lucas I must say, suit looks fabulous on you. But raise you trousers please, you don't have to such a, a,-"
"Boy?" I challenged and he only laughed walking away cell phone already in hand.
I grumbled all the way to my first class, Maths. Most of the other students were already leaving the cafeteria heading for different regions of the campus. The school was quite large, and if not from my previous midnight haunts I would be utterly lost. I received a few stares as I meandered around the corridors and a few pointing fingers as well. My first guess was that they were not-so-subtly commenting on my new arrival, that moment in the hall with Teddy, or my size, but was wrong.
On choosing a sit by window, one of the few empty seats left (my first choice would have been the one by the teacher's desk where no one would have dared trying to befriend me and be heard, but they had filled up the fastest), I saw few boy's pause at the door's threshold and on seeing me a spark of recognition flashed through their eyes. Side stepping a few desks they walked to the tables closest to me and took their seat. After an awkward moment of them starting at me and me trying to focus on writing today's date, one of them spoke up.
"So is it true?"
It was obvious he was speaking to me, he's large thick rimmed glasses were right in my face and he was leaning in so close I could almost make out the different speck of colours in his eyes.
"That what?"
"That you and Marcus Young slept together last night and he made you scream like a girl." He said all that without a single blink.
I on the other hand stood up almost knocking my table over and exclaimed "Excuse me?" as it tittered slightly, before my fist landed on it. "What kind of deranged messed up thought is that?"
"Well is it true or not, because everyone is talking about it:" I felt my cheek become flushed as my throat locked and my stomach took a ten floor drop: I guess everything about that sentence was true, in a sense, but in an other it so...not.
"It's true isn't it? I can see it in your face,"
"You are wrong, I don't even know Marcus,"
"That's never stopped anyone before."
"Damn straight," the holler came from the other end of the classroom. Enlarging my focus, I could see a dozen eyes staring at me. Grand. Where was the teacher so he could tell us to shut up and open our textbooks?
"Now listen here, Me and Marcus aren't gay lovers, but if you would like, I'll kindly let you have my bed for a night and you can satisfy those overwhelming fantasies you harbor for him. But for one night only, Teddy's got him fully booked already. "
"I got not feeling for Marcus either, it's you I heard-"
"Oh really, than what is that wet stain then down your thigh and groin?"
"What? I see no-" and as quick as that I emptied out my cup of iced water I had taken with me from breakfast and proceeded to slowly spill it down his lap.
"What the fuck man?" The class had all followed the stream of water spill down out of the cup, and the whole room vibrated with an explosion of laughs. Almost instantly we saw it harden from the ice cold water and quite satisfied with myself I answered "Oh no. You hard on for Marcus is back. Better go and fix it quick, you know what happens if you don't" I hinted at answer I didn't know, it was something my friends always said to each other as inside joke, but that I had no clue the actual answer of.
Flabbergasted and in slight pain from the cold, he couldn't manage to say anything. And slowly after a slight consideration of what I had just done, I apologized.
"Look I'm sorry, but you see, small guys like me always have tempers that out match our size. My father calls me a chihuahua. It's a size complex, don't hold it against me?"
"I do actually."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised."
"I think he's hilarious, Teddy was right this dude means business 24/7, do you think we could get him transferred to our dorm house?" one of his two friends asked.
"Larry, he just spilled ice cold water down my crotch, I don't feel like being buddy buddy with him right now."
"But he is funny," was the argument. I rolled my eyes and sat back down in my seat. Where was that teacher?
"Here I am everyone, sorry for the hold up," a stout elderly man came in through the door and started writing on the board. "I was having a private talk with Mr. Larkson," the class looked towards the door and saw a boy moving away down the hallway, apperently Mr. Larkson. It was the boy from the car park. I was glad he wasn't there to witness me making a spectacle of myself. Once was enough.
"But, Sir you aren't our math teacher." a guy from the back clued me in. Apparently this wasn't the Mr. Max that was written on my timetable. "You're the football coach."
"Yes I am aware of that Charles, but I am here to tell you that Mr. Max cannot be here today, as you can see- if you ever bothered to read- I have written this on the board for you and all the other classes that come in. We haven't had time to find a substitute. You can leave the class now. I just did a favour to Mrs. Jest by delivering the message.
Mr I've-got-an-ice-cold-crotch laughed, forgetting his earlier embarrassment and said, "Did you get her to divorce that messed up husband of hers yet coach?"
"Jacob, those aren't matters to speak of in school, my personal affairs are no concern of yours. What's that? Did you wet yourself again Jacob? I though you had gotten that sorted out? I told you no more of that nonsense.You aren't thirteen anymore!"
"I did sort it out coach, Four years ago!" he squabbled and grumbled, throwing in a murderous stare in my direction.
I threw him a weak apologetic smile, gathered my backpack and ran out of the room. I could hear the laughs all the way down the hall. Rounding a few corners and going up some sets of stairs I search for hiding place. Mortified about what I had just done I slipped into an empty darkened classroom, trying to get myself together. I quietly leaned against the wall catching my breath.
The room was for storage apparently, there were stacks of tables and chairs everywhere, and the blinds appeared to be broken shut. There was a lingering smell of cigarette smoke. Across the room in the shadow of a stack of chairs about twenty high I spotted a boy, siting on the edge of a table, palms faced down on the table behind his hips, back arched, arms taunt, and head thrown back, and I imagined I could see his veins pulsing rapidly below his olive skinn that was ashed by the dusty room. A burned out cigarette hung from his mouth.
His face was tight and his eyes closed, and someone, I couldn't even tell whether it was male or female, was hidden by another pile of chairs and was moving back and forth between his legs. And that's when I realized that the heavy panting, I've been hearing as I had neared the room didn't come form me and my run down the hallway, but Leo, who with a larger groan and a great body convulsion that made the kneeling person fall backwards out of sight, opened his eyes and found my horrified ones.
As Eric and I were about to leave for my first lesson a large hand landed on my shoulders and swiveled me around. Jumping about a foot off the ground I turned to see my father with a large smile ordaining his face. My father wasn't a big man, but he was tall and his bone structure was massive. He's always told me that way to succeed as a deputy head of such a large boarding school was by getting the students to have 30% of respect for you and 70% fear. For the first time I truly believed it as he stared down at me and say with his mouth barely opened "A word. Lucas." The most unnerving thing was that he did it all while smiling with both sets of teeth on show. That only meant one thing.
"Sure thing," and after a moment of shifting my weight between my feet I added, "Sir."
I turned towards Eric who was doing everything to not make any eye contact with my father, preoccupying himself with something in his coat pocket. "I'll catch you later. You still owe me a Nutella sandwich."
Taking a small glance at my father who by then had turned away to adjust his tie in the reflection of a hallway trophy case, leaned in and whispered urgently. "What have you done?"
I opened my arms out and turned my palms upward, proving I had not clue.
"Let me tell you something. If you see him smiling like that, with his nose all squished up and his eyes that small, beg for forgiveness before you say anything. Or ask to talk to your lawyer's first. He knows everything and-"
"And I hear everything Mr. Hales," we both froze our bodies ridged, pivoting towards him once more. "I think you have a lesson to run of to Mr. Hales, do you not think it would be best if you went off now?" All with a smile.
"Yes. I'm on my way, see you at lunch Lucas," he sent me quick smile, so quick it didn't have time to full formed, and mouthed to me "you'll be fine" before dashing of down the corridor.
"Uhm... That boy never could whisper, but he is a magnificent student, so the teachers say."
I nodded blankly not quite sure where this discussion was heading.
"Where were you at dinner last night? Mum and I expected to see you there?"
"I didn't feel hungry, and still had tons of unpacking to do, I wanted to start off neat for the new school year."
"You are boy, Lucas, you don't need to be neat."
"What, aren't some boys neater than others?"
"Not as neat as you." and that was the end of that. I would need to be messier. "That's not the point anyway. I was worried when I saw who you were sharing a room with this year. Theodore and Marcus. Now Teddy is sweet as pixy, but Marcus is more trouble than his really worth. His family hardly donates enough money to make it worth keeping up with his antics. Did you know three teachers have claimed to have seen him take in stray beasts onto the grounds?" I nodded politely. My father has never been an animal person. "He hardly punctual or even here. It came to our attention last year that he had spent a whole week sleeping across the road at St. Beeds last year. It a Christian girls school for God's sake!" He took in a deep breath and looked at me as he slowly let it out.
"Sorry Lucas," he emphasized my name with a tilt of the head, "I do not make it a habit of talking of my students to others. Pardon my monstrous misbehavior. As your new Deputy Headmaster I would like to just want you to take particular care to stay out of trouble. And out of my office." He glanced over his shoulder making sure the hall was clear, and he leaned in as if to pat me on the shoulder and whispered. "Except Tuesday nights where you will meet Mrs. Johns and me in our living quarters for dinner;" he rushed before moving back to what he deemed was a suitable distance for headmaster and pupil, and turned on his heel. There seemed to be movement at the back of the hall that had caught his eye.
"Wait, What? Dad! No!"
"Shush!" he spun back round violently, his tie flying over his shoulder. "There is no D word allowed, and it's an a request from Mrs. Johns. Have a nice day, and Lucas I must say, suit looks fabulous on you. But raise you trousers please, you don't have to such a, a,-"
"Boy?" I challenged and he only laughed walking away cell phone already in hand.
I grumbled all the way to my first class, Maths. Most of the other students were already leaving the cafeteria heading for different regions of the campus. The school was quite large, and if not from my previous midnight haunts I would be utterly lost. I received a few stares as I meandered around the corridors and a few pointing fingers as well. My first guess was that they were not-so-subtly commenting on my new arrival, that moment in the hall with Teddy, or my size, but was wrong.
On choosing a sit by window, one of the few empty seats left (my first choice would have been the one by the teacher's desk where no one would have dared trying to befriend me and be heard, but they had filled up the fastest), I saw few boy's pause at the door's threshold and on seeing me a spark of recognition flashed through their eyes. Side stepping a few desks they walked to the tables closest to me and took their seat. After an awkward moment of them starting at me and me trying to focus on writing today's date, one of them spoke up.
"So is it true?"
It was obvious he was speaking to me, he's large thick rimmed glasses were right in my face and he was leaning in so close I could almost make out the different speck of colours in his eyes.
"That what?"
"That you and Marcus Young slept together last night and he made you scream like a girl." He said all that without a single blink.
I on the other hand stood up almost knocking my table over and exclaimed "Excuse me?" as it tittered slightly, before my fist landed on it. "What kind of deranged messed up thought is that?"
"Well is it true or not, because everyone is talking about it:" I felt my cheek become flushed as my throat locked and my stomach took a ten floor drop: I guess everything about that sentence was true, in a sense, but in an other it so...not.
"It's true isn't it? I can see it in your face,"
"You are wrong, I don't even know Marcus,"
"That's never stopped anyone before."
"Damn straight," the holler came from the other end of the classroom. Enlarging my focus, I could see a dozen eyes staring at me. Grand. Where was the teacher so he could tell us to shut up and open our textbooks?
"Now listen here, Me and Marcus aren't gay lovers, but if you would like, I'll kindly let you have my bed for a night and you can satisfy those overwhelming fantasies you harbor for him. But for one night only, Teddy's got him fully booked already. "
"I got not feeling for Marcus either, it's you I heard-"
"Oh really, than what is that wet stain then down your thigh and groin?"
"What? I see no-" and as quick as that I emptied out my cup of iced water I had taken with me from breakfast and proceeded to slowly spill it down his lap.
"What the fuck man?" The class had all followed the stream of water spill down out of the cup, and the whole room vibrated with an explosion of laughs. Almost instantly we saw it harden from the ice cold water and quite satisfied with myself I answered "Oh no. You hard on for Marcus is back. Better go and fix it quick, you know what happens if you don't" I hinted at answer I didn't know, it was something my friends always said to each other as inside joke, but that I had no clue the actual answer of.
Flabbergasted and in slight pain from the cold, he couldn't manage to say anything. And slowly after a slight consideration of what I had just done, I apologized.
"Look I'm sorry, but you see, small guys like me always have tempers that out match our size. My father calls me a chihuahua. It's a size complex, don't hold it against me?"
"I do actually."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised."
"I think he's hilarious, Teddy was right this dude means business 24/7, do you think we could get him transferred to our dorm house?" one of his two friends asked.
"Larry, he just spilled ice cold water down my crotch, I don't feel like being buddy buddy with him right now."
"But he is funny," was the argument. I rolled my eyes and sat back down in my seat. Where was that teacher?
"Here I am everyone, sorry for the hold up," a stout elderly man came in through the door and started writing on the board. "I was having a private talk with Mr. Larkson," the class looked towards the door and saw a boy moving away down the hallway, apperently Mr. Larkson. It was the boy from the car park. I was glad he wasn't there to witness me making a spectacle of myself. Once was enough.
"But, Sir you aren't our math teacher." a guy from the back clued me in. Apparently this wasn't the Mr. Max that was written on my timetable. "You're the football coach."
"Yes I am aware of that Charles, but I am here to tell you that Mr. Max cannot be here today, as you can see- if you ever bothered to read- I have written this on the board for you and all the other classes that come in. We haven't had time to find a substitute. You can leave the class now. I just did a favour to Mrs. Jest by delivering the message.
Mr I've-got-an-ice-cold-crotch laughed, forgetting his earlier embarrassment and said, "Did you get her to divorce that messed up husband of hers yet coach?"
"Jacob, those aren't matters to speak of in school, my personal affairs are no concern of yours. What's that? Did you wet yourself again Jacob? I though you had gotten that sorted out? I told you no more of that nonsense.You aren't thirteen anymore!"
"I did sort it out coach, Four years ago!" he squabbled and grumbled, throwing in a murderous stare in my direction.
I threw him a weak apologetic smile, gathered my backpack and ran out of the room. I could hear the laughs all the way down the hall. Rounding a few corners and going up some sets of stairs I search for hiding place. Mortified about what I had just done I slipped into an empty darkened classroom, trying to get myself together. I quietly leaned against the wall catching my breath.
The room was for storage apparently, there were stacks of tables and chairs everywhere, and the blinds appeared to be broken shut. There was a lingering smell of cigarette smoke. Across the room in the shadow of a stack of chairs about twenty high I spotted a boy, siting on the edge of a table, palms faced down on the table behind his hips, back arched, arms taunt, and head thrown back, and I imagined I could see his veins pulsing rapidly below his olive skinn that was ashed by the dusty room. A burned out cigarette hung from his mouth.
His face was tight and his eyes closed, and someone, I couldn't even tell whether it was male or female, was hidden by another pile of chairs and was moving back and forth between his legs. And that's when I realized that the heavy panting, I've been hearing as I had neared the room didn't come form me and my run down the hallway, but Leo, who with a larger groan and a great body convulsion that made the kneeling person fall backwards out of sight, opened his eyes and found my horrified ones.