Pray Before the Dawn

Chapter Eighteen

The Sun beckoned everyone out of hot, sticky classrooms. Will Champion and his friends were racing towards their bikes, shoving homework into the bags and throwing them onto the back of their bikes. Will had decided to tie his with a bit of rope, which he had stolen from his Dad's workbench in the garage.

Phil, of course, had a more proper way to make sure all his precious textbooks didn't cascade off his bike when he was cycling to Jonny's village. He shook his head, bemused at Will's little contraption. "That can't be safe" he guffawed, his head shook, bemused at the idea. Will was quite pleased with it. He snapped the rope back to make sure it was tight and swung his legs around the frame.

"Dunno, it does the job." Will made one last check with his eyes, second guessing his idea, until Guy, now impatiently flicking his bell, urged them to set off as soon as they could.

The park was, as usual, barren; bar a few nine-year old children screaming at the top of their lungs as they played football. "Jess!" A small one shouted, his hair bobbed up and down like a jellyfish as he raced through the field, "you've gotta pass it to me when I tell you too!"

The older children cycled through the game of football. A skinny path of matted grass guided them to their usual place, with the green transforming into a dusty dirt circle.

Guy was in the middle of snapping open a can of energy drink, it fizzed and exploded in his hand, as Will had got a pack of cards out of the front pocket of his bag.

"Guy for fuck sake" Will didn't want his new pack of cards to get covered in the gunk Guy had managed to drench his hand in.

"Sorry." The Scotsman mumbled, before licking his hand with delight, "look, I'll clean them for you."

Phil let out a sigh, and tugged Guy down to his bottom, before he could get a chance to chug his drink back.

The park was slowly expanding, with little children excitedly racing one another to the play equipment, and parents gossiping around them. It wasn't usually this busy. Phil looked out to see if Jonny was anywhere to be seen, but before he could say anything, Guy beat him to it.

"If he doesn't show up a second time, I swear to god I'm going to go apeshit. We've been friends for so long, then his Dad gets a new job and he thinks he can just go befriending any old idiot he meets. Doesn't he realise that once he's in the brotherhood, he's with us for life? It's a life bond, y'know, not like those stupid girlfriends-"

"Uh, Guy?"

"Y'know, the girls we all had in Primary-"

Will gave Guy a nudge on the shoulder, his head twitching towards the red-head now towering over him.

Jonny sat down.

"Hey," He gave them a pressed smile, hoping that they weren't too mad about yesterday, Will and Phil replied with a smile, a cheery "hello", but Guy wasn't going to have any of this politeness.

He was slapped the bottom of his tin onto the ground, dust parting way to accompany the cylinder which dug itself into the dirt.

Will shook his head. He knew exactly what he was planning.

"Right, we need to talk." Guy was forthright, combatant even, ready to put his friendship on the line for the common good. His face was straight, and he had to try to restrain the annoyance that had been bubbling inside him recently.

Jonny was suddenly startled. He moved back a bit, feeling a tension that he hadn't noticed before.

"Listen, Jonny, we love you. We were there for you when you had the chicken pox, we backed you when you stole £5 out of your brother's wallet for sweets, we helped when your ass was on fire after that spicy curry last autumn." Guy was direct, matter-of-fact, lacking his usual playfulness. Everyone stared at him, as he reeled off some embarrassing moments Jonny had suffered through, trying to guilt him into remembering his, as Guy would say, 'truest friends'.