Floating Face Down (boyxboy)

Chapter Twenty Seven

[A/N]   Sorry for the delay everyone !  I wanted to reply when I knew I could say I had updated so I also refrained from looking at messages or anything.

I have lots of updates to post today so I'll take a nap and continue when I'm done.

This is a double chapter update! It took until Friday to write so technically it should be 3 chapters but to be honest that really feels like too many chapters to post all in one go...

Chapter 29 is a long one though ! So hopefully that should make up for it....

Another argument broke out during break in the lunch hall where people were settling down to chat and eat either snacks they had brought or the school sold. Even before it began it was clear just from the way they walked together that there was a kind of unresolved tension crackling between the group.

It had started just as I was queuing up to pay for the first thing I'd grabbed out of the shelf, a box of chopped baby carrots and a bit of hummus, when the spat suddenly resulted in a skidding chair and a loud yell and I turned just in time to watch Adam shove Pierson, having apparently been shoved himself.

"You wanna joke about it bitch?!" Pierson snapped at him. "Go sit somewhere fucking else you fucking cunt." He shoved him back, harder.

"Pierson!" Snapped Patrick.

"Come on man he wouldn't do that! Wait for us to check out the user's IP address man..." Tariq shoved him gently away from Adam.

"When will you calm down? No one wants your fat cow of a girlfriend!" Adam hissed back at him.

There was a rustle of interest now, a couple 'ooh's' from the students sitting at a distance, the rustle of activity as the attention turned on them properly now. A boring school day had started with a gloomy set of clouds hanging around outside like security guards and for most of us the our prospects for anything thrilling happening had been noticeably low.

The rowdy group of boys that nearly always stuck close together was fracturing before them, and whether or not they knew who the lads were, a drama like that was much better savoured in in person than on television.

The supervising teacher was probably the only one who was stubbornly facing the lunch lady for a chat, unwilling to turn around and look at what the commotion was unless she absolutely needed to.

It wasn't like they never argued with each other, and occasionally shoving and shouting did ensue, but to my endless disappointment in the past this never failed to resolve itself in some way.

When a teacher did interfere to 'save' one member of the group they were publicly shot down by all of them and ultimately ended up looking a bit foolish.

I picked up my carrots and moved slowly in search of a seat. 

It was a habit to search for an empty table. 

After the rumours that started in my second year in the school and other more public incidents it was clear that being near me meant possibly standing in a corner of the public social perspective that they didn't want to be in. I could see the slightly uncomfortable looks on their faces when I sat near them, occasionally shuffling further away from me, or sometimes even getting up and pretending they meant to leave.

Pierson breathed heavily, staring Adam down as he got closer to him despite Tariq shoving his arm between them. A gentle shove could have pushed the two of them into a kiss with how close they got, nose to nose.