angel | dealor

one

The walk to school was hell, especially on the cold days. My school 'uniform' hardly kept me warm, and my house was about a twenty minute walk away from the school. Technically, I no longer had a uniform, rather just a dress code to adhere to - business wear. Being part of the lower sixth meant the school wanted us to feel as if we had some sort of independence, even though what we wore was still closely policed. At least, that was the case for me - the teachers were constantly remarking on my 'awful' attire. My tie was usually in my pocket by the time the form period had ended and the top few buttons of my shirt undone, if I'd even bothered to put a tie on that morning. I tended not to, it just felt like I was being choked. It's a bit messed up, really. Not forcing us to wear a uniform to give us 'independence' but getting upset if we aren't wearing a blazer and tie seemed a little contradictory - is there even any point in wearing your own clothes if they're just non-specific versions of the uniform?

After what felt like an eternity, I arrived at school and found my way to the lower sixth common room. Unlike the main school we didn't have to suffer through an actual form time, meaning we could come in later if we didn't have lessons in the morning. It gave me some leeway if I'd had a lie in, but I liked to come in early anyway to have a chance to complain to my friends before school started and get reminded of any homework I'd not done. This particular day I had woken up a little late and spent slightly longer getting ready, so I'd not arrived until partway through the period which meant I would be the last of my friends to arrive.

I found my two friends sitting at our table in the corner, Brian sat with a book open on the desk and Freddie looking bored across from him. He instantly perked up when he saw me coming and flashed me a grin.

"Thank God you're here, Rog. Brian's ignoring me," He said, patting the seat beside him for me to sit. I dumped my bag on the ground and did so, glancing at Brian who still hadn't looked up from his textbook.

"Good morning to you too, Bri," I said, gently kicking him beneath the table. It startled him, and he jumped back and flashed me a small smile before looking back down.

"Oh, um. Hey, Roger," He muttered, turning the page and focusing back on what he was reading. I turned to Freddie, raising my eyebrows in hopes for an explanation.

The older boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head before opening his mouth to speak. "He's got a physics test first period and he's convinced he's going to fail, even though he's literally top of the class. And it's just end of topic, so it's gonna be about six questions on the same thing," Freddie explained, looking over at Brian, who hadn't seemed to have noticed we were talking about him. At first I laughed, then I groaned with realisation.

"Fuck. We're in the same physics. Give me that, May. I need it more than you." I pulled the textbook from under his nose and started scanning the pages, groaning when all the words started to jumble into one.

I was fucked.

———

The test in physics wasn't that bad. I definitely could have done better if I spent more than ten minutes skimming a textbook before the lesson, but end of topic tests meant nothing anyway. Disappointing teachers on irrelevant mini-tests just meant less of a chance of disappointing them on actual exams, seeing as I was setting the bar pretty low.

After the lesson I headed just down the science corridor and hovered outside the biology lab, leaning my back against the wall beside the door. I was the first in my class to make it, as we'd been let out of physics slightly early due to the test only being forty minutes long. The only other person stood in the hall with me was a year eleven. Well, he was in uniform and looked quite old as school years go, so I just assumed he was in year eleven. He had short, dark hair cut tidily close to his head and his uniform was near impeccable. He gave off goody-two-shoes vibes by his looks alone, but him standing outside the class during lesson time made me rethink my initial assessment. The lower years didn't have free periods like we did, so he was definitely meant to be in a lesson. What could this kid have possibly done to get sent out of class? He looked like the type to apologise for accidentally stepping on a bug.

The kid must have noticed me staring, because he glanced up briefly and quickly moved his gaze back down, a bright red blush arising on his cheeks.

"Oh, John. There you are." A voice rung out down the hallway, following the sound of clacking heels against the concrete floor. Both of us looked over to see who it was, my Biology teacher. I could only assume that John was the kid stood near me. "I'm glad you found the classroom. Oh, and Roger's here already. Perfect." She grinned, looking up at me. What was going on?

John looked up at me and smiled slightly nervously, fiddling with his hands in front of his body. "Uhm, yeah.. Mrs Carter let me out of English early so I wouldn't get caught in the rush.." He murmured, his gaze dropping back to the floor as he spoke. His nervousness was a little cute.

"Roger, remember when I mentioned the tutoring?" I nodded along, knowing what she was talking about. Apparently universities liked it if you told them you volunteered. "Well, this is John. He's struggling a little with Biology, and I think you'd be the perfect help. If that's okay, of course." I kept nodding. Asking if it was okay was simply a courtesy, I knew I didn't have a choice in the matter by this point.

"Good. I'll give you two some time to get acquainted," The woman said, smiling at us both before opening the classroom door. "Don't worry John, he doesn't bite." She laughed at her own joke (she was the only one to) and headed into the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

"Hey. John, right?" I asked, following a moment of silence. I just got a short nod in reply. "These tutoring sessions are gonna be pretty crap if you don't talk to me," I laughed, stepping towards him. He slowly looked up to meet my eyes, still looking horrifically nervous. "You heard the lady. I don't bite."

He laughed shortly, kicking the ground with the toe of his shoe. "Sorry, I-Uh.." He smiled slightly, shrugging and looking back down. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the kid.

"What're you doing tonight?" I asked, starting to feel a little frustrated with how quiet he was.

"Um, nothing.. Just some homework, probably.."

"Not anymore. Meet me outside the lower sixth common room at the end of the day. Bring your voice."

a/n
hi! welcome to my new fic, a dealor secondary school au I guess. i just had a cute idea for but idk if it'll ever get anywhere. hopefully it does and hopefully someone likes it!
it's not 100% historically accurate (mainly on the gay front - let's pretend homosexuality was legalised earlier than it was so this makes sense) but I'm trying to get it as close as I can.
thank you for reading, enjoy!