Status: active

Loverboy

Chapter eight

“Underdog, just look at the mess you made. It’s such a shame, a shame, we had to find out this way. Revenge loves company, three makes it a crowd. So wash your mouth, sit this one out.” my voice closed out the song. I was Skyping with the lads on a Saturday evening and we were trying to get the vocals and instrumental down for one of our songs. “How was that? It’s a lot better than from last week if you ask me.”

“It definitely is. However the microphone quality is making it sound a little bit edgy. During winter break, it’ll sound better because your vocals will actually be with us. All in all, I think it’s come out quite lovely.” Max said. He always was the person you could go to if you needed help to improve a song. “Practice same time next week?”

“Yeah, bye, guys.” I said and waved my hand at them. They all said goodbye too before I exited Skype and slouched back down in my chair. Having to practice songs through video chat is the most annoying thing ever. I hardly get time for feedback because school is in the way and my microphone is a little bit damaged so my vocals are not the best. There would be days where I just wouldn’t leave my dorm room because I was so homesick and I just wanted to pack my bags and go back to London. That would make me selfish because that meant leaving Oli all alone at this boarding school and I’m not that kind of person to do that. What am I saying, I literally abandoned my childhood friends to come to this city and not even my mum lives here so go figure.

I flopped down on my bed, I was exhausted from rehearsing the same song for over than an hour and I just wanted to sleep. Exams were next week and I should be studying instead of lounging around in my room. The door opened moments later and Oli stepped through slowly. I lifted my head and gave him a friendly smile but it quickly disappeared when I saw a cut right above his eyebrow. Taking his hand, I led him to the bathroom and quickly grabbed a towel and ran it under the faucet. “Who did this to you?” I asked, worried. The cut wasn’t big but it was big enough to be seen from across an average sized classroom. He didn’t give me an answer, he just stood still as I cleaned the cut. “Oli?”

“It’s nothing.” he coldly responded. At least I got him to say something..

“Bullshit, Oliver! You don’t just leave the room for a few hours and come back with a cut and say ‘It’s nothing.’. Just tell me what happened and I can clear things up.” After he told me his life story, I’m more worried about Oli’s safety and it would kill me on the inside if I found out he was beaten up again.

“Do you happen to know three kids named Matty, Kellin, and Jesse?” he asked.

“What?” I questioned, setting down the towel. A sigh came from Oli’s mouth as he went back to the room and pulled out a yearbook from his nightstand.

“There.” he said and showed me three students. “That’s Matty, that’s Kellin, and that’s Jesse. They’ve been my bullies for the past three years I’ve been at this school. Remember when it was raining and I was gone? Yea, they beat me up and today they gave me the cut above my eyebrow. Thankfully it was only two this time so I was able to get away easily.”

Great. Just fucking great. First Oliver’s father, now three kids at this school beat him up. “Where do you think they are right now?”

“No, Josh. I know what you’re thinking and that’s not the answer. I don’t want any violence to help solve the problem. This is between me and them, alright?”

“But-”

“Josh.” I accept defeat. It was rude of me to get into his business but in my defense, he vented out his life to me at 2 am a few weeks ago. “Don’t worry, the year is halfway over and then I get to move out of my house and go off to a music college. Trust me, I can pull through. Now, it’s a Saturday evening and we’re here in our dorm room. Where would you like to go?”

This was honestly one of the first times Oli and I finally did something together outside of school. “We can walk around downtown for a little bit.” I suggested.

“That would be lovely.”

--

It was a peaceful walk around the city. There was no need to worry about any school troubles nor the peers. This moment was for us and only us. Oli even brought me down to the field and showed me where Tom and him used to play when they were younger. "We built this small fort when I was nine and he was almost seven. Our parents had the day off from work and they decided to take us down to the park for a family day out or whatever you want to call it. Both of us had finished eating our lunch so Tommy and I went down near the pond when he noticed the shrubbery seemed odd. 'Oli, come over 'ere and look at this!' he shouted to me. I was busy looking at the fish but eventually made my way to where he was. 'What is it' I asked the second I got there. Tommy pointed to the small fort with blankets and writing scribbled all over it. The fort definitely hadn't been used for a long time since leaves were all over it and the blankets were awfully dirty. After we finished cleaning out the fort, it kind of became our secret place to play at. Every time one of our parents took us down, we'd head straight to the fort and stay there until it was time for us to go. Our parents didn't worry about us running off so that wasn't much of a problem. We stopped going to the fort when Tom was ten and I was twelve. It's been about six years since the last time we played here and I miss those days."

Well that story definitely impacted me majorly. At least I'm able to learn more about his brother as days go on. The stories he's told me are always happy ones yet he shows no emotions when telling them. Ever since the venting a while back, he's been talking about his baby brother more and more lately. What's worse is that they see each other when Oli comes home each break but they never talk to each other. I hope to god they work everything out when it's winter break or else I'm forcing him to take me to his house and Tom and I are going to have a little chat together. But why exactly did his brother stop talking to him? It's somewhat understanding because he's always away at the boarding school but that doesn't make sense for Tom to stop socializing with him so abruptly. "Can you tell me exactly why you two drifted apart? Was it because you came to the boarding school and the two of you stopped seeing each other?"

"As much as I'd love to have the actual answer, I don't know. That's what I've been thinking, though. The stupid boarding school got in the way of our connection, Tom started taking photography classes which had him away for a while, and then I became more and more introverted to everything. All of the school breaks I've had were just me sitting alone up in my room for the entire day doing nothing productive whatsoever while Tom would go out and see his friends or something. Because of my fucking antisocial problems, we're complete opposites now. I won't be surprised if people didn't know we are brothers." Oli said. My heart sunk after he finished his speech. I want to help him but I've not the slightest idea what his brother looks like nor where he lives. The thought of not being able to help Oli with this situation makes me feel awful about myself. "There's no way in hell Tom's going to want to talk to me over winter break. Believe me, I've tried but ended up crying just at the thought that he might tell me to back off or something.

"You just need to gain some confidence, Oliver. If you're able to start a small conversation with your brother, you guys will be close again in no time." I said as I placed my hands on his shoulders. "Remember what happened between my sister and I? We were able to solve our problem easily just because I sent her a text saying I hoped that she was having fun on her tour. Trust me, it gets better if you put work into it."

"But what if he gives me the silent treatment if I try to talk to him?" he asked.

"No, that's not going to happen. I know you can do it, we both do. One of us just isn't believing in themselves. Come one, let's head back to our dorm and rest for the night. All this talking about winter break is getting you worked up and I don't want that to happen." I explained and took a hold of his hand. A faint blush appeared on Oli's face which made me giggle a little bit. He's absolutely adorable and he doesn't deserve all of this pain at home.

--

We eventually made it to our dorm room just before 21:00, the curfew for students who go out of campus. I was sitting on my bed, cramming for my French 3 exam. Mr. Aiden makes our tests long as hell and he stops the test ten minutes prior to the bell ringing so that made everything worse. My other classes didn't worry me as much since most of them were projects I had to present in front of the class for an exam grade. Although there was a written exam in Biology class so I should also be studying for that. "How in bloody hell do you study for these French exams? At my old school you could write the answers on your arm and my teacher wouldn't even notice." I shouted to Oli as I slammed the book shut. Studying was not my style and I for sure didn't know how to do it properly without cheating.

"For French 3? Oh, I don't study for my exams. The only thing I do is read over the notes quickly one time and that's all. Not once have I failed his French exams and that's what I've been doing ever since I came to this school."

Are you.

Are you serious.

"You're telling me that you don't even study for exams and you still end up passing them?" I asked. Oli nodded his head for my answer. Great, I am officially screwed for this exam. Might as well just drop out of school six months prior to graduation and live on the streets. Yup. Sounds like a plan. "Have you ever studied at all?"

"Eh." he said. Thank you so much for the accurate answer. Wow, it helped me so much!

"What do you mean 'eh?'" I questioned.

"Let's just say that the last time I actually studied was when I was 16 years old. After that, I bullshitted every subject and managed to pass all of them." OH NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF.

"Exams can go fuck themselves for all I care." I said, throwing the French book down on the floor.
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no one hates this chapter more than I do (◕‿◕✿)

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