Wayward Boys (BoyxBoy)

IV.

Callahan stood outside administration, waiting boredly for his roommate to escape. Never in his six years at St Helena's had he witnessed a family try and remove their child from the school's care. For the most part the families of the young delinquents at the school were glad to be rid of them, or there were no family around to be glad at all, like Ellis'.

His new roommate had piqued his interest almost immediately. Nolan was scrawny but broad shouldered, with a mop of messy, ash-brown curls and an unusual pair of pale green eyes. Although, that wasn't the reason Nolan intrigued him; instead it was the large, gnarly scar that trailed down the left side of his neck that made Ellis feel a wave of brotherly protectiveness for the boy.

He'd only known Nolan for just under twelve hours, but the younger boy came across as reserved and innocent - a rare combination of traits at St Helena's - but there was something about the awful scar he tried to hide that left Callahan needing to know more. Not to mention the sleep talking he had witnessed the night before - if you could even call it that.

As the pair had sat at breakfast, Ellis found himself calculating how to ask Nolan who Daniel was, or contemplating if he should even ask it at all. No, he shouldn't, he'd decided eventually. But that didn't stop him from trying to psychoanalyse his roommate. 

The longer he spent with Pritchard, the more he noticed his skittish movements; the precise, observant way he seemed to look at people; and the way he seemed to hide away from the gaze of others - hunching his shoulders to conceal the scar down the left side of his neck. That scar had something to do with his roommate's quiet cautiousness, of that Ellis was sure.

It was walking down the dusty, stone-floored halls of the St Helena's school building later in the morning, that Ellis was trying to get a better look at the scar. As he walked Nolan through the ground floor, talking about this and that, he inconspicuously observed the raised, inflamed skin. It was a bizarre mix of sinewy, raised flesh and angry red markings that trailed from behind his ear, down his neck and under his collar. Callahan had secretly regretted not taking a better peek at it whilst they had been changing into their uniforms that morning, just to see how much of his body it covered.

Another question begging to be asked: where did he get the scar?

Ellis had been about to tactfully ask Nolan against his better judgement, when Miss Featherly appeared in front of them, her plump figure clad in a plum dress and matching coat.

"Mr Pritchard! Thank god I ran into you, you need to follow me." She puffed, her voice high and panicked. Ellis looked from her pink face to Nolan's. His pale green eyes were wide and filled with anxiety.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his brow furrowing.

"Nothing dear, it's just - well, your sister is here and asking for you. We put her and your lawyer in a spare classroom next to the office." Featherly's head bobbed manically as she spoke. Ellis watched his roommate's eyes shoot even wider as he swallowed hard. Something was going on with him, Callahan concluded. The kids in this place didn't just have family pop in and cause a scene. And a lawyer?

"I, uh, okay I'm coming." Nolan was nodding his head nervously now, and then he was hurriedly following Miss Featherly as she waddled towards Hathaway's office, looking once over his shoulder to mouth an apology to Ellis.

If it had been anyone else, Callahan would've just let him go and forgotten about the whole thing. But Nolan Pritchard was his roommate, and so now, about an hour since Nolan had been whisked away by Miss Featherly, Ellis found himself wandering down the halls of St Helena's. He deliberately passed Principal Hathaway's office as leisurely as he could, just to poke his nose in his roommates' business and check if all was well. He even took the time to wink at Miss Fastherly, who had resumed her position typing away at the ancient computer on her desk.