Chapter Text
Despite the chilly January weather, the group of rugby lads and associated friends had convened at the usual picnic table in front of the school. They'd claimed it at the beginning of the school year as their territory and weren't about to give up prime real estate just because of the weather. Nick and Imogen sat on top of the table and chatted, while Harry talked to Kieran. Otis, Christian and Sai stood, looking at the letters they had all received.
"So what new form is everybody in?" asked Christian.
"I've got Hamlet with Nick," said Sai. "But Mr. Lange is a stickler for seating charts, so I'm sure I'll be stuck across the room at a table with someone awful."
"Macbeth for me," said Christian.
"Me too, but I'm calling it the Scottish Form. It's a theater thing, where saying the name of that play is considered bad luck," said Otis. Christian and Sai laughed. Two school plays and Otis was a serious actor, apparently.
"Ugh, I'm in Othello," chimed in Kieran. "It's like, the least famous one!"
Sai raised an eyebrow. "Is that how we're judging Shakespeare plays now?"
"I mean, I haven't read it," shrugged Kieran.
Nick stood up. "Well, I'm heading to my room now before I get lost and forget to go to the right place."
The rest of the group followed suit. As much as Harry was the loudest and tried to control things, the lads were more likely to do something if Nick did as well. Somehow, though, Nick had never noticed this dynamic. Sai trailed in his wake as Nick made his way to B25. Mr. Lange sat him in one corner, and as expected, Sai was across the room with a quiet boy named James and two of the guys from the football team who could apparently only talk about "that ludicrous display last night".
He looked over at Nick to see if he had an equally terrible seating situation. But instead, Nick was smiling at his new seat partner even though they didn't seem to be talking. The other seats seemed to be occupied by mysteriously absent students. When the bell rang, Sai waited by the door for Nick to walk to math together.
"Who'd you wind up next to?" asked Sai.
"Charlie Spring?" said Nick. "He seems nice, but really quiet."
"I'm jealous. James seems fine, but the other two are total knobs." Otis and Christian joined them in the hall.
"How's your form?" asked Nick.
"Mr. Farrouk is terrifying," said Christian.
"Form is basically silent because no one wants him to yell at them. Though he let us pick our own seats," said Otis.
"Could be worse," said Christian. "We could be stuck sharing a table with Harry again."
Otis shuddered. "I'll take the awkward silence, thanks. I know he's not a total idiot, I've seen his essays, but the shit that comes out of his mouth sometimes is just moronic. Or racist. Or classist."
Nick shrugged awkwardly as they sat down in the next classroom. "Would standing up to him even do anything?"
"It's hard to say," said Sai. "I don't know that anyone's really tried."
Nick's knee bounced nervously and he tapped his pen.
"Oi, don't tap that bomb next to me," said Christian. "Last time you got ink on me, mum made me pay for a new shirt out of my own pocket."
"Sorry," said Nick, stilling his hand. "Just nervous about the new term, I guess."
Otis laughed. "What do you have to be nervous about, Rugby King?"
"Maths?" asked Nick.
"Fair point," said Otis. "I can't wait to never take another math class again."
"Don't you want to be an engineer?" asked Christian.
"Maybe I need to reconsider. Finance?" said Otis.
"Still a lot of maths, sorry," said Sai.
"Well, Literature is worse than Maths. Ugh. Remind me again why we have to decide what to do with our entire lives when we're teenagers again?" complained Otis.
"Well, at least they didn't make us commit when we were 9 and everybody wanted to be astronaut ninja doctors," said Sai.
Nick and Christian laughed. "Or dogs," said Nick. "Before we got Nellie, I just really wanted a dog so badly I'd pretend to be one." Christian reached over and ruffled his head.
"Never change, Nelson."
Lunch was the usual routine of hastily eaten food and a game of catch on the pitch. It was mostly jovial, a way to blow off steam, until Harry inevitably took something too seriously or said something idiotic. Apparently, today, he was going to run his mouth off.
"The new forms are rubbish, lads. I'm sat with this total weirdo who just reads all the time."
"That doesn't sound so bad," said Sai.
"Mate! Today he was reading this weird old book with a bunch of wizards on the cover. It's just so gay!" said Harry.
"Reading?" asked Otis, confused.
"For fun, I mean. Who does that?"
"Plenty of people," said Christian. "My mum is in a book club."
"Yeah, but that's a mum thing. Lads our age are supposed to be out doing manly stuff, like sports and getting with girls."
Sai rolled his eyes. Nick seemed to be ignoring Harry's entire diatribe, looking at the picnic table where his new seat partner was next to a boy reading a book, who must be the one Harry was ranting about. For all that he was part of the group, sometimes it felt like Nick didn't really engage a lot of the time, just floating along the current in Harry's wake.
Over the next few days, Sai kept noticing moments between Charlie and Nick. Greeting each other in the corridors, the little wave Nick gave Charlie that was totally different than the way he greeted anyone else. It was… sweet? When Nick's pen exploded, Mr. Lange sent Charlie along to open doors, both boys giggling.
Otis, Sai and Christian sat next to each other in the locker room as they changed for practice.
"Do you think we'll actually get to play properly this season?" asked Christian.
"Coach Singh said we needed another player, but apparently everyone is going out for football instead," said Otis. "Something about getting the attention of the Higgs girls or something."
"I understand the rule - we do need a reserve in case someone gets hurt." chimed in Sai.
Nick walked in, dropping his bag on the bench. "Anyone found a reserve for us yet?"
The trio shook their heads. "I got stuck with a couple football lads and a year nine, so no one at my form table," said Sai.
"Shame," said Nick. "I think we could actually be pretty good this year. I mean, not beat St. John's good, but enough to win a few games."
"We'll all just have to keep an eye out for someone," said Christian. "Maybe think outside the box a bit."
"We could asked Ben?" suggested Otis.
Christian snorted. "Like he'd risk that pretty face of his in a game as rough as rubgy. Have you watched him do his hair in the mirror?"
After practice, Christian's mum picked them up. "How was practice, boys?"
There was a muttered chorus of reluctant teen affirmatives.
"Still have to find another player," volunteered Otis.
"Oh, that's a shame. I'm sure you boys will find someone, though. Do you have much homework already?"
"We've got a few pages for Maths and I've got Chemistry," said Sai.
"I have to work on lines for my audition," said Otis.
"Maths and some geography," said Christian.
"Well they certainly keep you boys busy, don't they?"
"Yes, mum," said Christian, rolling his eyes.
The trio sat at the table, working in relative silence. They spent a lot of time at each other's houses, with Sai and Otis's mum's both working at the hospital. "Did you guys make any New Year's resolutions?" asked Christian.
"Yeah, I guess," said Sai. "Like, some of the normal ones, like running more regularly and actually making my bed. But I also really want to just try to be a better person, you know?"
Otis nodded. "Yeah. Being around my cousins for the holiday was actually kind of nice. Like, they're legitimately nice people. But it was so different from hanging out with most of our mates."
"What, no one chucking things at people's heads?" asked Christian.
"For a start. Like, Nick's different, but face it, a lot of the guys are kind of knobs."
"Maybe that's why none of the girls except Immy hang around. They're sick of Harry," suggested Sai.
"We gotta strike out on our own more this year. Like the Three Musketeers," said Christian.
"The what?" asked Otis.
"The book! I read it over break. It's actually pretty fun."
"Well, don't let Harry catch you reading for fun," said Sai. "Don't you know that means you're gay?" He snorted derisively. "It's weird how obsessed Harry is with seeming gay."
"Oh, his parents are proper homophobes. Definitely Tories. Wouldn't be surprised if his dad ran for MP one of these years. But I can always pretend I'm talking about the movie," said Christian. "Do you want to watch it this weekend? It's got sword fighting and shit."
"Sounds good," said Otis. "I need a break from Marvel. The timelines are doing my head in."
"I'm in," said Sai.