The Wolf of The Woods

Chapter Four: Stand up and fight

The next few weeks went pretty terribly for Dan. The amount of revision that not only Mrs Lewis, but all the other teachers were making them do was quite ridiculous.

Phil Lester was settling in pretty well. Although Dan had not yet spoken to him. He seemed to have joined the group that most of the school knew as 'the populars' which mainly consisted of Dan's regular bullies and a couple of girls who tended not to even notice his existence, so naturally he had stayed well clear.

He was still intrigued though, by this Phil character with his mesmerizing eyes. He had seemed so nice that time they'd met downtown and he seemed different to the others he surrounded himself with.

Still unable to take his mind off Phil, he had completely forgotten that he was in a lesson. History to be precise and he hadn't done any more work than he had talking to Phil.

'Mr Howell' said a sneering voice belonging to Mr Matthews, the rather tired looking history teacher 'You are supposed to be working'

'I... sorry sir'
'How much have you done anyway?' Mr Matthews came strolling over to Dan's desk and Dan looked into his weary eyes for a second. He had always thought that Mr Matthews looked older than any of the time periods they had ever learned about in history but he kept that thought to himself.

He looked guiltily from his teacher to his empty page of work.
'Detention' Mr Matthews said, shortly, Dan was sincerely hoping that he didn't say anything else.

'Your exams are tomorrow Mr Howell! How do you expect to pass if you don't even do any work?'
'I um...'
'Don't answer me. We'll finish this conversation later, 4Oclock in my room and don't be late!'
Dan sighed inwardly.

He had very much hoped that the day would get better from that point on. That however, was the complete opposite of what happened.

He had been set a ton of homework from various teachers, He'd tripped and fallen down the stairs in front of Phil and his detention with Mathews had been horrible. He'd had to write lines for half an hour and then explain we he thought it was acceptable to 'doze off' in class.

Furthermore, Seamus and his gang had been calling him homophobic names again and threatening to stick his head down a toilet throughout most of the day. Dan had to be very careful. He hadn't come out to anyone yet and wasn't planning to for a while, especially around them.

Although, Being gay wasn't the biggest thing Dan was hiding and he was used to this usual torment from them. What really hurt him was when Phil was with them outside the classroom after his detention.

Had they really waited 40 minutes after school just to torment him? No, they couldn't have done.
'Hey, brat I'm gonna get you tomorrow! Jack and Harvey are gonna help me aren't you guys?'

Two huge expressionless and extremely dumb looking boys grunted behind Seamus.

'Oh and Phil here too, he's part of our gang now, says he's met you before. I'm sure he'll come along too' Seamus smirked, stood next to an extremely uncomfortable looking Phil.

'We'll teach you to be a fucking fag!' One of the huge boys seemingly roared at Dan. Dan didn't know what to say, he wanted to look at Phil but thought better of it.

What was Phil even doing with them anyway, was he like them too? Did Phil think he was gay as well? Was it that obvious?!

His mind was racing so fast it was like a drum rapidly pounding in his head. He couldn't cope anymore, so he ran for it.

He wouldn't stop running till he reached his home. He darted down the deserted corridors, ignoring the jeering remarks the three boys were making behind him and sprinted as fast as he could to the forest.

He didn't stop when he reached it either, he continued to run. Slightly unsure of what he was running from. Branches were cutting into him.

When he finally reached his treehouse, he collapsed beneath it with exhaustion.

Panting heavily, he breathed a long sigh of dread and relief. Why of all days to beat him up did it have to be tomorrow?

He no longer cared about his exams now. He had much more to worry about than answering questions on a stupid piece of paper. He stayed sat there for a long while, his thoughts contaminating him.

Soon darkness filled the forest and the moon was staring to come out. It glistened and gleamed in its almost full state. Shining so brightly it was almost as if it was taunting Dan, reminding him that tomorrow was the day.

-

Dan awoke the next day with twinge of a pain in his neck. Stupidly, he had fallen asleep in the tree roots beneath his treehouse that night. He looked up and he could tell by the height of the sun in the sky that he was already running late.

'Fuck' he said, unsure of how loudly in his dazed state. He really felt absolutely no motivation to get up and go to school.

-

Around four hours later he was sat, once again, in a dark dingy classroom. The walls and interior looked arguably just a depressed as the students.

Dan had already sat through three of his exams and was thoroughly wishing he'd just stayed at home in his rather uncomfortable position below the treehouse.

Sitting a few rows behind him was Seamus. Dan hadn't dared to look back at him and was trying extremely hard to focus on his maths exam, when something hit him hard on the head. It was a scrunched up ball of paper. Dan wearily and unwillingly unwrapped it to reveal a note in Seamus's handwriting.

'U'd better watch out if you no wats good for you'
(Seamus had never been one for good spelling)
Dan gulped, he thoroughly hoped that last lesson's exam would go as slow as possible.

Wasn't time supposed to fly when you were having fun, not when you were sat in the back of an English classroom writing nonsense? Dan thought to himself as he stared at the clock. As it was, time seemed to be moving excruciatingly fast. And the more Dan stared at the clock, the more time seemed to mock him.

Eventually the final bell went and the class was dismissed.

Dan practically threw his paper onto the teacher's desk and tried to make a break for it. He was stopped though, only after managing a few short steps through the doorway. He saw Jack, Seamus and Harvey towering over him. All three were intimidatingly taller than him and despite not having much in the brain department they definitely made up for it in brawn.

'See Lester decided not to show up' growled Harvey 'Guess he wasn't as tough as we thought'
Jack and Seamus smirked and Dan's heart skipped a beat at both their expressions and the mention of Phil.
'Come on, let's drag him to the bathrooms, no one will see us in there'

Dan could hardly argue, he was already being held in a tight grip by Jack and Harvey either side of him. When they reached the bathroom the two boys simply dumped him on the ground.

'Got anything to say for yourself then?' Seamus bent down and whispered into Dan's ear.

Dan shoved his huge head out the way and tried to get up, no sooner then was a harsh punch thrown at his face and his head was smacking into the floor tiles.

Blood came gushing out of his nose and he bit his lip in an attempt to hold back a cry of pain.
'Want to try me again Howell?' Seamus taunted as he seized him by the collar. Dan let a tiny whimper of fear escape him.

'Why don't you try me instead?'
A voice called from the doorway. A tall dark haired boy strode into the room with a look of pure anger on his face. Suddenly all four boys looked up in confusion and gasped.

It was Phil.