I don't know

5

As Austin walked into the school building, he felt as though all eyes were on him.

'Oi James!' A Yr10 called out, but Austin ignored him and continued walking through the building, hoping to reach his mentor room. But he wasn't so lucky. A bunch of them had ambushed him and were standing in front of him, blocking his way.

'Where's Archie?' One of them asked, trying to look intimidating even though he really wasn't.

'He's not in today. Now, if you'd excuse me, I need to go to mentor.' Austin said as he pushed past them and up the math corridor. The rest of 8D were outside M3 waiting for someone to come and open the door.

'Austin!' His best friend Lucille called out as she left the gang of girls she was with and walked towards him, worried expression on her face.

'Hi, Luce.' Austin greeted as he stood awkwardly in front of her, hands in his pockets. He didn't want to seem rude, but he really didn't want to talk to her so she could pity him - she was the only one of his classmates who knew what happened. He took a step away from her and gave her a tight-lipped smile.

Lucille looked at him in confusion as she took a step back as well,' I'm so sorry for what happened.'

'It's not your fault.' He muttered, scratching the back of his head. He didn't want his best friend pitying him.

'I'll see you in English.' She said after a few moments of awkward silence and walked away from him. Austin just stood there, watching her go. He had known Lucille since they were children, but they hadn't talked since before the funeral.

'Austin, my guy!' Salim said to him as he walked over. 'Where have you been?'

'I was sick.' Austin replied, not wanting the whole year to find out his dad was dead. Salim was, in fact, the gossip of the school.

'Well, you missed Harry asking Emily out and getting rejected.' Salim said before Harry shot them a disgruntled look. As he kept talking to Salim, Austin didn't notice the pained expression on Lucille's face.

~~~
Archie woke up to an empty house. He checked the time on his watch and realised he had missed school. Well, good for him. He noticed a post it on the fridge, so being the practical person he was, he walked over and read it.

Gm Archie!
I've gone into work, and so has Anthony. Mum is out with some friends ( we thought it would be good for her). I'll be home by mid day, and lunch is in the fridge. Help yourself to food, watch tv or go join a cult and get a tattoo or whatever teenagers your age do. Cya!

Ally :D

P.S. Please don't join a cult or get a tattoo. Anthony and Lucia would have my head!

Archie grinned at the last sentence. She made a fair point. He grabbed the cereal box off of the shelf and poured them into the bowl. He didn't bother with milk, so he just took the bowl into the living room and turned the TV on.

After 30 minutes of scrolling through Netflix and not finding anything other than a bunch of romance and soap operas so he gave up a few just scrolled through his phone. There were 30 unread from 10F.

Now Archie was worried as that group chat was dead and no one other than 2 girls would chat on it. As he scrolled through them, he realised that his best friend - Finley - had cheated on his girlfriend with her best friend. And that the Physics teacher got a new haircut. Damn.

Archie quickly dialled Finley's number and called him. Sure, it was a school day and and you shouldn't have your phone in school, and the teachers would confiscate it if they saw you using it, but Finley was fine. He bunked half of his lessons anyway.

'Finley! Where are you?'

'Mars.'

'Seriously?' Archie asked, trying to keep his frustration in.

'Nah, I'm in school. Where are you, though, Archie?'

'My brother's house.'

'The one whose job is basically going to free football and cricket matches?'

'Yeah. The very one.' Archie replied, sighing internally.

He didn't hate Anthony, nor did he have anything against him. Archie was only bothered by the fact that Anthony didn't even grieve his own dad and was always just bustling about. Like when your dad dies, aren't you meant to be at least a bit upset? But no, Anthony showed no signs of grief and just kept prepping everything for the big day.

'Cool man. Why ya there, tho?'

'My dad died.' Archie said without missing a beat.

'Oh. Sorry, didn't know.'

'You're fine.'

'Crap. I need to go. Mr. Houston's coming. Bye.'

Archie didn't even have the chance to say goodbye as Finley had disconnected the call way before.

Just like how he didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his father.

~~~

'ANTHONY JAMES!' Shaine cried as she slammed a file down in front of Anthony, snapping him back in reality.

He blinked his eyes a few times and looked up at Shaine, 'What?'

'Get back to earth!' She said ,she gave him a pointed look and turned back to everyone else. 'Gerrard, you're going down to a League 1 match- Reading FC vs. Portsmouth United at John Madjeski stadium.'

Gerrard looked as if he was about to protest but instead grumbled. 'No one watches League 1.'

Shaine rolled her eyes and turned to Anthony, 'Last but not least, Nila, you're writing an article on how asthma affects athletes.

Anthony looked up at Shaine in confusion; she hadn't assigned him anything.

'Eveyone out! Anthony, stay behind.'

Everyone filed out as Anthony stayed behind, focusing very intently on his shoes. Shaine had been the editor for the sports column since before Anthony joined as an intern. Nonetheless, she was known for her passive-aggressive relationship with her journalists.

'Why are you here?' She questioned, looking very intimidating that Anthony gulped at the sight of her.

'Umm... I ran out of work leaves.' Anthony said, wincing at Shaine's intense glare. You couldn't blame him. Shaine was one terrifying woman.

'Anthony Joseph James, if you don't get out of this office in the next 10 minutes, I will personally kick you out. Your dad just died, and here you are writing articles about grown people kicking footballs around.'

Anthony couldn't help but smile at her gratefully. 'So I can go home for the day?'

'I don't want to see you here for the next week. Now git.' Shaine responded, pointing to outside the board room.

Anthony grinned before leaving with all of his stuff. Ally was at work, the triplets at daycare, Archie was probably asleep, Lucia had decided to meet up with a few friends, and Austin was at school.

He had the day to himself.