Life's Never Simple • SIDEMEN

XIX

Friday, 5th October

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"Harry!" A loud, unidentifiable voice drifts over the steady hum of chatter in the crowded corridor. The boy in question hears his name being called, and lifts his head, craning his neck to try and work out who shouted for him. His eyes scan over the sea of faces, attempting to recognise someone that it could have been.

He pauses briefly in the middle of the walkway, only to be roughly jostled forwards by the people behind him. Just as Harry is about to dismiss even hearing the voice in the first place, a hand lands on his shoulder, and a familiar person appears to his right.

Quickly, while still moving, Harry casts a glance to see exactly who has joined him. He's met with a dark haired, cinnamon skinned boy, who he instantly recognises as his best friend.

"Hey Vikk," the sandy haired boy grins, and Vikk removes his hand from his shoulder. He smiles back briefly at Harry, as they continue the slow walk down the packed corridor. Vikk has a bagged sandwich in his hand, which Harry presumes he just bought from the school's canteen.

"Sup," Vikk responds, while hastily hiding his food in his blazer pocket. The school has strict rules that no food purchased on site is to leave the canteen, but it also happens to be the only rule Vikk will ever break. "How come you're not outside yet?" He asks.

Harry sighs lightly. "My biology teacher kept me behind. She says that if I keep getting distracted in class, she's going to put me in intervention," he complains, and Vikk chuckles. He knows exactly what their teacher can be like.

In Harry's defence, he used to do quite well at the subject. But since the start of their GCSE year, the stress had got to him. He found that he couldn't focus, and his grades started to slip. He simply couldn't wrap his head around their new topics, which frustrated him. And his teacher.

"Maybe you should actually ask for help, instead of just not doing the stuff you don't understand," suggests Vikk, trying to be helpful.

"I'm not asking Miss, she already thinks that I'm stupid," Harry says stubbornly. The pair have made it to the door that leads to the yard, but Vikk stops to allow a group of year nine girls to come inside first. Harry groans inwardly at the other's display of 'gentlemanly' behaviour.

"Well, just ask someone else," Vikk says patiently. "I might be able to help you, or maybe Tobi could." They finally make it outside, into the cool October air. The weather hasn't been too harsh so far, but that's guaranteed to change soon. Harry shivers slightly, regretting leaving his coat at home.

"Anyway, speaking of Tobi, you haven't heard from him today, have you? He wasn't in form, and I didn't see him at break either," says Vikk, his brown eyes filling with concern for the older boy. Out of all of the group, Vikk is around Harry and Tobi the most, and always notices if either is missing.

"I haven't heard from him today," Harry says apologetically. "He wasn't in maths earlier though. Why don't you text him when we get to the spot?" Harry suggests, earning a disapproving look from the shorter boy. Though Vikk is quite comfortable to break some rules, the phone ban isn't one of them.

"I'm not getting my phone out," he says firmly.

"Come on man, live a little," jokes Harry, playfully nudging Vikk in the ribs. He glares back halfheartedly. "I'll drop him a text for you, don't worry," Harry adds kindly. He doesn't mind risking having his phone confiscated, if it means putting Vikk's mind at ease.

"Thanks Haz," says Vikk, sounding both grateful and relieved. The duo fall into a comfortable silence as they walk the rest of the way to their group's claimed spot. The Sidemen always occupy it at lunch, rarely bothered by anyone, and sometimes joined by a few of their other close friends. Their place is a quiet corner behind the main school building, with a couple of benches.

Simon and JJ had been the first to discover it, on the first day of year seven. The inseparable duo had been wandering around, trying to find an empty place to eat their lunch together, unbothered. And just as they were ready to give up, and just join the rest of the year sevens on the front yard, they found the spot. It was abandoned, but clearly used before. It was their safe haven.

A couple of days later, while Simon and JJ has been eating, Ethan, Josh and Tobi stumbled across them. The unlikely trio had met during the induction days, and stayed in touch with each other over the summer. After some quiet deliberation, Simon and JJ decided that they could share their spot with the other three.

About a week later, Tobi met Vikk. They had been placed next to each other in Geography, and quickly became good friends. Since both of them have quite quiet, but easy going natures, they got on like a house on fire. Only a little while after they met, Tobi get the okay to invite Vikk to hang out with the group.

And so, their five became six. The Sidemen, as they liked to call themselves. They were all perfectly happy, having been pulled up a couple of notches on the social ladder for hanging out with JJ. He was one of the most popular guys in the year, respected by the lads, fawned over by the girls. Even most of his teachers didn't mind his rowdy antics.

The last to officially join the group, was Harry. It was about halfway through the year when Ethan met the other boy in PE. They had been put together on a team, and Ethan found himself charmed by the boy's quick wit and crazy personality. The very same day, Ethan made the snap decision to ask Harry to hang out with the Sidemen at lunch.

His first mistake had been not consulting the other five before inviting Harry over. The group weren't just close friends, but a team, and they were all quite upset that Ethan has just brought Harry over without talking to them first. Sure, they had a couple of other people who hung out with them every so often, but a potential new member was a big step.

Simon was the most wary of Harry, meaning he and Ethan fought over the matter a lot. He was rude, and outright cold towards the pleasant Guernsey boy, and Harry, although unnerved by Simon's behaviour, just decided that being polite back was his best option.

Strangely enough, it worked. After a few months, the group warmed to Harry. Just before the summer holidays, the six had a vote, and all of them were in favour of Harry becoming an official member of the Sidemen. Harry was absolutely ecstatic about the decision, proud that all of his hard work paid off, and they all finally accepted him.

The next three years had been plain sailing. The seven were popular amount their peers, and well respected. Each has his own wide network of friends within the school, as well as the lucky few people who get to hang out with them on the odd occasion. Never bothered, the kings of their year group. And now that they've hit their final year, kings of the whole school. They wouldn't have it any other way.

The only thing that had happened since the start of year eleven, was a new kid joining. Normally, it wouldn't of affected them, but Harry got assigned to look after him, since they're in most of the same classes. Harry doesn't like the kid per say, but he doesn't hate him either. So in an effort to be polite, he invited the slightly strange foreign boy to hang out with the group.

It became a regular thing. None of the boys really minded having him around, he was funny, and had lots of interesting stories of his travels to tell. But he was only allowed to stay under the mutual agreement, that he would never become a Sideman. He had come along too late for that, he could never understand the deep bond that the seven shared, and he was respectful of their decision.

Life continues as normal.

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A.N: hello there! welcome to my book. this is just an introductory chapter, i'm in the process of writing the next chapter currently. i'm hoping to keep a schedule with updates on this book, so for now, look out for new chapters on tuesdays and saturdays. anyway, hope you enjoyed so far!

~Oscar