It was 2007, a group of few boys all from some sort of dysfunctional families, they were naughty, they stood out from the rest of the Waterloo Road kids, not much of a brain but they knew how how to not get caught, well one boy didn't, he was a skinny lad, dark eye bags and several bruises along his fragile frame from multiple different people all age and sizes.
He was punched in the stomach by a taller lad, Bolton Smilie and ended up getting found by Eddie lawson who knew exactly what had happened.
Eddie had lined up all the boys, Bolton, a boy who had longed for a father figure was in the middle of the 5 boys, bruised knuckles and a big ego. Beside him was Paxton, a boy a year younger than Bolton, he had a bruised eye and a shaggy brown haircut, he had tired eyes and a humourus personality, he was laughing with another boy, Nick the oldest lad of them all, braided hair, he was probably the most happiest and funniest out of them all, only there to channel his own anger and hurt others.
On the other side was a small year 8 boy, a buzzcut and blonde hair, another boy that had a bruised eye from Bolton, his name was Mitchell and he was brought up in a house full of addiction, despite it all he seemed like he'd break the cycle but when he joined the fight club everything changed. The other boy a more reserved one named Barker he had a bruised chin and was in the same year as Paxton.
In 2011, Paul barely being an adult had held his own ex girlfriend hostage with a knife out of pure anger, with a turn of events it was revealed that he'd tried to overdose on some pills, his suicide attempt affected his whole friend group, they had finally felt how Paul did when his mother had passed when Paul was just 8 years old.
2 years later, Bolton had joined the army and he came back to his old school but it had moved to Scotland, unfortuanely he had developed PTSD from seeing all of the deaths on the battle field and during his visit he held a whole class hostage and ended up getting arrested.
In 2014, Paxton only 21 years of age, was all in the papers, a heroin overdose had happened in his manchester home. He was a famous muscian beforehand, the fame obviously got to his head and he needed an escape.
Mitchell ended up not breaking the cycle, he fell into the drug addiction and became a junkie, abusive and aggressive to all the people around him because he wasn't all there in the head.
Parker and Nick became shop workers in several different chains, they were the boys who broke the cycle and were protected by the systems that had failed all the other boys.
The other boys were failed over and over again, as they grew up they were chucked into the deep end of life, in the end, its clear to see the boys weren't naughty kids, they were misunderstood who needed love and support which they never received.
