Being a Barrow - A Sequel to Barrow's Boy

To the Saints, the Spoils

Ted,

     It's Valentine's Day again. I think you've reached the same point I have, so I won't try to hide my thoughts this year. Love is a hoax. And maybe it's my fault that this is where we're at, a Barrow curse or something. 
    I love you, kid. Stay safe. Try to enjoy your Valentine's. 

Dad.

    Theodore had forgotten about Thomas' annual Valentine's, but his father had not disappointed this year. The box of chocolates that came with it was certainly something that he could imagine Thomas grabbing, though the note was more open than he had expected. Either way, it was appreciated.

     Valentine's fell on a Saturday that year, something that was appreciated by all students who were in a relationship. To Theodore, Ashton, and Monty, however, it just meant that they got to sit around eating chocolate sent by their parents. They were meant to meet Dansworth and his girlfriend- God, that was still a shock- sometime that afternoon at a tearoom. It would be good to get away from campus. Get away from-

     "I think we're losing Barrow again." Teddy turned as Monty said his name, looking at his friend. Monty reached to the chocolate boxes between them, grabbing one for himself.

     "I wouldn't blame him if we were," Ashton replied. "You've been talking about Beowulf for nearly half an hour."

     "Don't judge me until you've read it," Monty countered, throwing a wrapper at Ashton. "There's a dragon. Anything that has a dragon in it is a good story."

     "That's debatable," Theodore replied, toying with a button on his vest. "Anyone can make up a story with a dragon."

     "And it'll be incredible because there's a dragon," Monty insisted. Ashton chuckled, writing something down in the margins of the book he was reading. It wasn't one for class, but the cover lacked a title for Teddy to decipher.

     "What do you even read anyway?" Monty asked. Theodore, noting that Ashton was still making his annotations, answered first.

     "All sorts of things, really," he said. "I'm not picky."

    "Canterbury Tales?"

    "Yeah, I've read that. Can't say it's my favourite-"

     "Is it anyone's?" Monty agreed with a laugh. Ashton looked up from his book, starting to speak as Monty checked his watch.

    "I'm actually more-"

    "Ah, we gotta move!" Monty exclaimed as he noted the time. "They'll think we've forgotten them if we don't hurry."

     They still beat Dansworth to the tearoom, and Monty claimed a section with a collection of sofas and chairs positioned to face each other.

    "Danny says that her brother and his friends are going to meet us here," he explained as Ashton and Teddy sat down. "Apparently, she has to share her time. Bollocks if you ask me."

    Monty was joking, that Teddy knew, but some odd feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach. There were waves coming over him today of emotions stemming from everything he'd already experienced that year. Some days, Theodore wondered if he shouldn't just walk right back to Bellevue and admit himself as a patient. Perhaps it was from his recent experiences with Ratcliffe, Silvae, whatever he should be called, but an ominous threat seemed to exist just out of Theodore's reach.

      "If we have to fit a bunch of us, maybe I should take a chair or something," Ashton said. He had sat down on the sofa next to Teddy and now wrapped his arms around himself. "I don't want to take up too much space."