Evergreen

Chapter 37

You are smarter than you think, stronger than you seem and braver than you believe - A. A. Milne

*

The sun shone radiantly through a gap in the blue curtains and the alarm was blaring, yet Everett Earnshaw did not stir. Mum came into his room, took one look at her sleeping son and whipped off his duvet cover.

"Mum!" groaned Everett. He sleepily groped at the duvet cover to no avail, for Mum was holding it back from him.

"Rise and shine! It's your first day at sixth form."

Being used to weeks upon weeks of getting up at 11 am (or later), it was a shock to the system to be woken up at half 7. Resigning himself to his fate, he descended the stairs for breakfast... to be greeted by the welcome smell of potato waffles and eggs. Of course, he'd almost forgotten: Dad made him a cooked breakfast on the first day of the academic year.

"Morning, Ev!"

"Is breakfast ready yet?" asked Everett, and Dad laughed.

"Nearly, it'll be done in a mini mo."

Meanwhile, Everett seated himself at the breakfast table and lay his head gently on his placemat. It was far too early in the morning to function like a normal human being. The blackbirds in the garden, however, seemed to be exercising their vocal cords just fine.

The family ate their breakfast together; the fluffiness of potato combined with its crispy skin made it one of Everett's all-time favourite foods. Similarly, the fried eggs had a soft savoury taste that made it a family favourite.

"That breakfast was eggsellent," said Dad, and Everett grinned.

"It was, but I'm still eggshausted."

"You can do this. You always eggceed my eggspectations," said Mum while Everett and Dad started to laugh. Their humour was daft, but maybe that was what made it all the funnier.

"You're eggsaggerating."

"No, I'm not. You managed to get great grades in your eggsams. You've been a good friend to all of your friends, and you are kind to everyone. You're awesome."

Everett smiled and said thank you before getting ready for sixth form. Words had a way of impacting him more than gifts and physical things, and this impact could be positive or negative. Most of the time, it was the negative words that stuck with him most, and they sometimes made him believe he was a horrible human being, not kind enough, not smart enough. But kind words like these acted like an antidote to poison, so he kept her words close to his heart.

He put on his new smart blue shirt and black trousers, combed back his long hair and left the house to walk to Ferndale Sixth Form. It was in the same place as Ferndale High School with the same classrooms, just that there would be more privileges (like leaving the premises whenever) and a dedicated sixth form block. It felt weird to not be in uniform, like he was pretending to be a sixth former, and it was nice to not have to wear a boring white shirt.

As he walked through the gates, his heart started to beat a little faster. Sure, he was looking forward to sixth form (a fresh start and all that jazz), but of course there was still so much he had to learn, so much work that lay ahead of him that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do. And then there was his favourite idiot Freddy, who, although studying completely different subjects to Everett, might find a way to make his life hell regardless...

"Everett? Over here, mate." Wow, he hadn't seen his friends from a grand distance of five metres. Maybe he needed glasses like Marty. He walked over to them and clocked what they were wearing. Marty was sporting a green polo shirt with a smart-looking pair of chinos (which would no doubt turn into contraband jeans over the course of the year); Jade had a white smart shirt and black trousers; Hassan had a red polo shirt and navy trousers.

"Hi. How are you?" Ev said, expecting the usual answers. You know, the chorus of mumbled 'fines' and 'okays'. So it caught him off guard when Jade said something a little different.

"To be honest, I'm a bit nervous. I mean, I know the teachers like me and all, but it's going to be harder work and I don't know if I'm ready for it."

"You were born ready! Your grades are always amazing, you have nothing to worry about."

"Did you know that smart people think they're less smart than they actually are because they are highly mindful of what they need to improve on?" said Hassan.

"There you go," said Jade, smiling smugly at being called smart by her best friend. "And how are you, Ev?"

Everett hesitated. He normally hid any not-fine feelings from his friends because he didn't want to weigh them down with his trivial troubles, but Jade's response made him think twice about his habitual approach. Why not share? He had nothing to lose.

"I'm excited. It's a new year and I'm only doing the subjects I actually like, and I'm also a little nervous – okay, really nervous – because Freddy exists, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for A-levels either. And I don't know how I'll do Maths without Marty."

"Yeah, how will you live without playing noughts and crosses in Maths?" said Marty teasingly.

Everett shrugged his shoulders with a growing smile. "Beats me."

"We've got your back, Everett," said Hassan, slapping him on the back. Now beaming, Everett returned the slap, and all hell broke loose. The friends slapped each other all the way to their first assembly, laughing and not caring what anyone else thought. Everett was having so much fun that he didn't even notice Freddy walk past him.

When they sat down together in the sixth form common room, they exchanged stories of their summers with each other. Marty had been to Italy and Germany; Jade had spent some time with her family in the Philippines; Hassan had enjoyed a quiet summer reading books and visiting various British beaches. Everett told his friends about his improved guitar skills and the day trips he'd been on with his family as they listened with rapt attention, occasionally interjecting to share something else about their holidays (or a sarcastic comment in the case of Jade). They were in their own brilliant bubble.

Of course, Everett knew that this bubble wouldn't last. They'd soon run out of tales to tell (unless their name was Marty); they'd have moments of monotony and times of student stress. They'd bicker over stupid things and say things they'd regret. But they would stick together in thick and thin. They knew that Everett had anxiety, that he could have a terrible temper at times, that he messed up quite a lot, yet they loved him. Similarly, his friends had their fair share of flaws, yet he loved them.

"Can I have your attention, please?" said Mr Porter, the head of Ferndale Sixth Form, as he attempted to silence a room containing a hundred 16-year-olds. Talk about mission impossible.

Sixth form was a brand-new start, and Everett couldn't wait to write the first page.