Dirdum Heights •TomTord•

•1•

Tom sighed and rested his chin on his palm, his tired eyes blinked slowly as he stared at the board, notes on chemical bonds were projected onto the whiteboard, the teachers messy handwriting decorated the notes, giving the students pointers when they applied the work. He couldn't stand this teacher, she always took things too seriously.

The ambient light glowed on everyone's features as they all sat bored out of their minds, a few napped at their desks, planning to copy notes off their partners later, while others watched the minutes tick away as they waited for the class to end. Tom stared blankly at his phone, his thumb tapping lightly against the cracked screen as he played a game.

"And then they bond forming sodium chloride, more commonly known as table salt." The teacher droned before clicking to the next slide just in time for the bell to ring, the students collectively pack their things before exiting the chemistry classroom. Tom slipped out of the door before he could be stopped by any of his classmates, since waiting for them to leave the room was like waiting for paint to dry, and Tom had to be in his next class before the bell rang, otherwise he would be tardy and if he was tardy again this week he was going to get a detention.

It was only Tuesday and already Tom was begging for the weekend.

He shoved past a few kids on his way to the English class, he met up with Edd and Matt to talk about hanging out after school, Tom declined of course, he had to stay after that day. He says a quick goodbye, promising to see them at lunch before he continued onto the class. He steps through the door to see the usual teacher wasn't present, instead a rather tall, slim looking man stood behind the desk, his tweed blazer was stained with coffee and his thin hands shook  lightly as he reached for the attendance slip.

A soft, heavily accented voice asks for his name and Tom replies, the man marking a check beside his name. "Thank you, take a paper and a textbook off the back table." The teacher says and watches as the tall teenager weaved past the tables to grab a paper. He looks down at the worksheet, it was a photocopy, straight from the textbook, he could just google the answers, today's class will be easy.

He sits in the back like always and slides off his jacket, the school was warmer inside than it was outside and he couldn't stand it, he tied the sleeves around his waist and pulled a pen from his bag, tapping it against the table as he sat silently and waited for the rest of the class to enter. Scratching at one of his many earrings he pulls out his phone to start finding the answers. The other students file in, instantly getting louder as they realize they had a substitute. Tom didn't mind his class on normal days, the students usually kept to themselves, the teacher was actually pretty great too. It was just on days like this that he couldn't stand.

A group of three walks into the class and joins Tom around the back. The tallest one wore a green flannel, he had a resting bitch face, and a terrible excuse for a mustache. Beside him sat another guy in a orchid coloured turtleneck, his hair was styled up, an unnatural shade of blonde shining with grease. The final one, the shortest, sat in the empty seat beside Tom, he was a small beady eyed fellow, resembling a student in their ninth year. He wore a windbreaker a colour similar to the jacket Tom had tied around his waist. The blonde continued his conversation, talking about something nasty he encountered on his way to the corner store by his house.

"I swear, it was disgusting. You would have puked if you saw it."

"Really?" The shortest one asks earning a nod in reply.

"Yeah right, I bet I've seen nastier." The one in green says before he's shushed by the teacher. He sent the man a glare and continued boasting about what he may have seen. The senior groans and plugs earbuds into his phone, quickly putting them in and playing something to drown out the group as he kept working.

He sang along under his breath before singing his name at the top of the paper, he takes his earbuds out to look up and ask the teacher what he would do when he was done but he made a face, seeing he wasn't there.

"Finished?" A voice asks from behind him, the boy jumps and turns to see the long haired man with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, yeah." He says and holds it out to him. The man takes it and walks it toward the desk, setting it atop a pile of previously finished works. Tom stayed in his seat, a sigh left his  lips as he played on his phone again. Quickly distracting himself before he was given more work.

"H-hey, uhm... how'd you get done so fast?" The meek one asked, his small eyes darted away from Toms blank gaze, quickly focusing themselves on the unfinished paper in front of him. The boy raises an eyebrow and glanced at the paper, they instantly spot his name, Jon, written neatly on the line. "Quizlet." He answers simply and leans back, the boy, Jon, nods and leans over. "Eduardo, can I borrow your phone?" He whispered earning a glare from his friend.

"Why? Where's yours?"

"My mum took it."

"No." He answered simply before continuing his work, he obviously wasn't using it and the boy really needed it. "Then can you a-"

"I said no."

A small defeated cry left his lips before he slumped in his seat and began his work again. Tom looked down at his phone, he still had the answers open. He glanced at the time seeing they had fifteen minutes left and the kid wasn't even halfway finished with his work.

"Hey Jon." He says and watches as he looks up with a fearful expression. "Use this." He finished and passed the phone to him, sliding it across the table and resting his chin against his hand. "Really?" Jon asks and looks down at the phone questioningly.

"Yeah."