Dear Brother

8. Meeting

Iyden tried to keep his head up as he walked into English on monday, feeling his bag hit the back of his legs painfully, but he didn't mind.

He sat down, and took a deep breath. Mr Errers was at the front of the class, leaning on the desk casually. He smiled as the bell rang, and called his class to sit down.

"Good morning everybody!"

"'Morning Mister Errers."

"Now class," Errers said: Iyden noticed he had a small stain on the pocket of his blazer. "I need to have your creative writing that I set you for homework."

Papers rustled as they emerged from bags, and then the usual sounds of 'I havent done it' or 'Ive forgotten it'...Iyden dug around in his leather satchel for the crisp white piece of lined paper that he'd kept in his folder so I hadnt got damaged. He unfolded the edges, re-read it quickly, and held it out as Mr Errers walked around and collected them.

The class went slowly: they had to list adjectives, different words for 'said' and many more things that Iyden found so easy, he thought he'd die of boredom.

"Go get a dictionary, Charlotte, if you can't find anything..." Errers said, his voice floating around Iyden's head slowly. He could feel himself slipping away into daydreams, deliberate and warm... "Wakey wakey, Iyden."

Iyden jumped, a sharp intake of breath stretching his lungs. Pain, he thought.

"S-sorry, sir."

"Don't do it again: have you done the work? I need your creative writing."

Iyden looked up through his hair at the English teacher, his eyes catching the stain...coffee, Iyden wondered...it was pale brown...

"Y-yes, sir, I have." Iyden said, showing Errers the work. Errers smiled widely, a kind expression that made Iyden relax a little. He could trust this teacher, maybe English wouldnt be too bad...

Errers eyes scanned the paper, taking in the charactered handwriting, and he felt his muscles push into a smile. He clapped his hands together.

"Well done, Iyden!" he chuckled. "You seem to be the only one who's finished to a decent standard. Well, I can give you a merit sticker for that."

Iyden kept silent, unsure of what a merit sticker was.

Errers frowned slightly as he got out the stickers from his pocket and showed them to the boy. He looked blank- completely blank.

"I mean, you can have a sticker for doing the work well." he clarified, wanting Iyden to know he'd done well. He had a small feeling that was boiling away in his stomach that Iyden wasnt told that often. "Which one do you want?" and he placed the stickers on Iyden's desk.

Iyden's eyes widened slightly and he looked at the stickers- a small blue one caught his eye, and he pointed to it.

"C-can I take it?"

"Of course."

Iyden unpeeled the sticker, and stuck it onto the page which he had written on, and he felt his mouth flick into a smile. An unsure one, but a smile all the same.

Errers chuckled and gave Iyden thumbs up.

"Good guy." he said awkardly, and wandered away to supervise some other students.

**

"Hey, good guy!"

Clatteres bounced off the hall, thumps of shoes on the plastic floors, shadows looming from class rooms, din of chatter and books snapping, calls and cries of people, so many people-

"Hey! Freak!"

Iyden's stomach rolled over uncomfortably, and he turned slightly to catch the eyes of the shouters- were they refering to him? He opened his locker slowly and carefully, opening it just so that the hinge was parallel (Just how he liked it), and looked inside it, getting out the right books. The boys were looking at him, nasty grins plastered on their faces.

"Hey, c'mere."

"Um, I'm okay, thanks." Iyden replied, and shut his locker door. He wrapped his arms around his Physics book, took a deep breath, and walked away from them.

"Oi, I said c'mere!" shouted the voice, louder this time, and Iyden heard footsteps. He glanced awkwardly behind him- a tall boy with brown hair was following him, with his muscly friend flanking behind.

Iyden felt his heart rate increase and he walked a little quicker. The footsteps behind him became more hurried, and suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his side.

His body was pulled round, and he was then facing the two boys. One had a grip on his shirt, and the other was smiling deviously.

"Pay attention to me, freak." the muscly one breathed, pulling Iyden a little closer roughly, and then swung him round so he hit the wall, his back pressed up against it.

Pins from the noticeboard were digging into his skin.

"Now, listen. If you keeping being as freaky as you are-"

"And don't deny that you're freaky." said the other one..the tall one. "We know you are."

"-then I shall have to teach you a lesson. We don't have freaks in our class. Get it?"

Iyden nodded, feeling blood rush over his face- great, he was blushing.

 "I understand." he almost whispered, feeling light headed and sick now. The bully still had a grip on his shirt- the contact made him feel sick. He tried to pull away, but the wall came colliding with his body. With a sharp intake of breath, pain spread like fire over his nose.

That was a punch. Iyden thought sourly. Pain.

The boy released him, and  gave him the middle finger casually, looking down his nose. The muscly one was at least five foot seven, Iyden reckoned, much taller than Iyden himself. The tall one probably was over six foot...Iyden gulped, and watched as the bullies walked away.

**

"Hecks! You're late!"

Iyden walked into music ten minutes late- he'd been in the bathrooms, trying to stop his nose from bleeing. Blood, crimson, had splattered onto his white shirt, and had stained his jumper too.

"I-I'm sorry, s-sir." Iyden said, cursing his stutter.

"Nosebleed?"

"Y-yes, sir." Iyden said, his stomach flipping at the lie. He glanced around the room- he couldnt see a seat on it's own.

"Go sit next to Killingham, Hecks." the teacher pointed towards the back of the class, and Iyden followed his finger, coming to the very back desk, where a tall boy with light brown, curly hair sat, loun gin.

"H-hi." Iyden whispered as he sat down: he'd shocked himself with his words. Had he just been sociable? "I-I'm I-I-Iyden..."

"I'm Dale." the boy said, and smiled. "New kid, right?"

"Yes, I am." Iyden replied, getting out his Anthology book and a pencil. 

"Like it here?" Dale asked.

"It's okay so far."

"Sound doubtful." Dale said with a small, cocky smile, and Iyden gulped a little.

"Well, I'm not." Iyden huffed simply.

Dale laughed, a pleasant, light sound, and was promptly told off by the teacher. Class had begun.

A drip of blood splattered onto his book, and Iyden sighed.