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The first day of term 4 rolled around quicker than Isaac expected. The holidays were spent at therapy, the hospital and his bed. He obviously didn’t feel like doing anything after the torment he’d suffered through. He’d visited the hospital after the police let him go and turns out, a “wax on, wax off” to the head causes a minor concussion.
His boyfriend’s injuries were worse though. Arik had fallen down onto the concrete of the carpark where Dr Longsdale had used the same karate technique to knock him out. He suffered head trauma from when he hit the ground. Isaac spent most of his time at the hospital sitting by Arik’s bed, hoping he’d get better.
And he did. Both of them had recovered over the school holidays and now it was time to face everyone at school again on the first day of Term 4.
Isaac walked to his first class, Humanities. He was worried about what people would say to him. Word spread quickly at Cleveland District State High School, even over holidays. He sat in his usual spot, chatting with his friends. They brought it up at first, asking if he was okay but quickly stopped when they saw he didn’t want to talk about it.
It was a different story with the annoying bitches in the same class.
These girls were in love with his friend, Alex, and would never leave him alone, also meaning the people around would have to endure them. Especially Harper, the girl who thought she was the main character but was really just a stuck up clone with ‘popular humour’. Her and her friends came over, obviously flirting and giggling obnoxiously with Alex. Harper laid her eyes on Isaac and it’s like her eyes lit up, finding another thing to annoy him with.
“Hey Isaac, what happened with you and Arik and Dr Longsdale?” She giggled that annoying giggle again, obviously knowing it was the last thing he wanted to hear.
“I don’t wanna talk about it”
“Aww come on Isaaaacccccuuuhhhh aren’t we like, besties?”
“I said no.”
Harper rolled her eyes dramatically before turning back and giggling with Alex. Isaac knew this wasn’t the last time someone would bother him about the whole situation.
Next came lunch. He met up with Arik and they gave each other a knowing look. He looked exhausted, already tired of people bugging him about what had happened. They hoped everyone would get over it soon.
In only a few days, people had gotten sick of bothering them and getting no answer, thank goodness. Now there was one thing on Isaac’s mind; awards night.
He knew it was coming up. He knew he had to get the best awards. He hoped he’d get top of subject for all subjects despite there being some competition with other smart kids in the grade, but there was one award he wanted most.
Top of grade: Japanese
He had to get it, it was his chance to get an award normal kid wouldn’t get, kids who didn’t care about languages…
And he needed to make his parents proud.
There was only one problem…
He tied with the same grade as two girls in his class; he wouldn’t be the only one winning the award.
This ruined his whole plan, his parents wouldn’t be proud of a tie, he had to win.
Arik knew how competitive his boyfriend was, so he promised to help him win this award.
Isaac had already done his Japanese class for the year, having it in the first semester. Doesn’t help at all for trying to win with favouritism so he had to choose the riskier route; cheating it.
His friends were pretty tech savvy and knew their way around, one kid in his grade even managed to change his attendance percentage in the system. Surely someone would help him…
By some miracle he managed to convince Aykus to hack the system. It took too much convincing, Isaac was sure he’d only agreed to get him to shut up.
Arik and Isaac sat in Isaac’s bedroom, cursor hovering over the files, forbidden from students. Both were nervous to even open it…
Until Arik just clicked it, ruining the suspense.
They were taken to the page, all grades showing. He scrolled through, finally finding his name. he read the grade. 99%. 59.5/60. His eyes flicked back up to the girls he’d tied with. 99%. He knew changing their grades was wrong. Actually, he knew changing anyone’s grade was wrong, but it was more wrong to change theirs than his own. He went back down and clicked his percentage and… hm? He clicked again... and again… Why couldn’t he- oh, he wasn’t and eligible editor allowed for this page. Great. Just great. How on earth was he even supposed to win this award if he couldn’t do anything. Arik who had already gotten bored noticed the silence and looked up.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, sensing Isaac’s disappointment.
“I can’t edit it. Only certain people can”
“Oh” Arik mutters, not really knowing what else to say. Let’s just say he’s not the best at comforting people. “Maybe it’s okay not to win on your own and just tie. I mean, you’re still getting the award-”
Arik was cut off by Isaac’s angry voice slicing through his words.
“Are you crazy? No, I have to win this, I have to!”
“Jeez sorry, it was just a suggestion.”
“… You said you’d help me with doing this right?...”
“Yeah?”
“…. What do you think about getting locked in another room?”
1:20pm, Wednesday November 12th, 1 week until awards night. Arik and Isaac had scoped out where to hide. However, that was a tricky thing to do. There were practically no hiding spaces in F7, or F block at all. Yet they’d still managed to figure it out. Mr Hanson, the Japanese teacher, often took these strange walks to H block between each class, giving Arik enough time to sneak in. Once he was in, he’d hide in the random white or blue cabinet in the front corner for the last period.
And that’s (somehow) what happened. The final class was let out of the room and Mr Hanson wheeled his bike out behind them. Isaac nonchalantly made his way over after school, checking no teachers were around. When the coast was clear, he banged on the door, hoping to get Arik’s attention.
Before long, Arik had unlocked the door from inside. The two of them quickly ran over and squished up under Mr Hansons desk where the most coverage from outside windows were. They didn’t even realise how awkward the position would have to be under the desk until they were there. Though they were boyfriends, they’d never actually been squished up this close. They sat in silence for about 15 minutes of the hour they planned to stay, too scared that if they said anything, someone would hear and come bust them.
Then the whispering started.
The slowly talked out their plan, making sure they both knew what to do.
“I’m going to look for the files, and you’ll stay on guard” Isaac reminded Arik, to which he responded with a firm nod.
“Sucks we have to change physical files. This could’ve been over with ages ago if only we could’ve changed them digitally.”
“Yeah, but we’re here now… just wait half an hour more, I can still hear doors upstairs”
And they did.
They went back to awkward silence, not knowing what to talk about other than the plan, which they’d already gone over 5 times. The proximity was slowly becoming more and more unbearable, Isaac was getting restless. Being this close to his boyfriend and not doing anything? Maybe he could just…. I mean, they’d kissed before, why would it be any different now.
He could sense how awkward Arik was feeling, the other boy not even meeting his gaze while Isaac’s eyes stayed locked onto his face. Without even thinking, he started leaning closer.. and .. closer.. His hand reached out to brush against Arik’s jawline and bring his face closer. When their lips finally touched again, he felt the same sparks fly as the very first kiss. The way their mouths moved together was perfect, like they were custom fit just for each other. Before long, they’d both deepened the kiss, Arik’s confidence shining through when suddenly- BANG! They heard the door handle to F7 jiggle so loudly and aggressively it sounded like it nearly snapped right off. It scared the shit out of both boys and they immediately fell silent. They heard footsteps fade away before the same harsh jiggle was done of the next classroom over. Both boys sighed in relief, just routine checks that doors are locked. They waited another 15 minutes before finally deciding the coast was clear. Arik snuck up to the door, peeking out to make sure no one was around while Isaac made quick work of rummaging through Mr Hanson’s desk, searching for the files.
He flipped through everything, starting to worry they weren’t even in here anymore – what if they’d already been moved to the staff room, or worse, the office?
Isaac finally reached the last file in all the draws, flipping it open and- there they were. Year 8 Japanese student’s grades. He internally celebrated, looking down to his name.
He grabbed an eraser, because for some reason Mr Hanson had written in pencil, and changed his grade. 100%. He sighed looking down but he didn’t get to feel that satisfaction for long as Arik came rushing over and shoved Isaac under the desk with him. Isaac was stunned with shock as Arik slapped his hand over Isaac’s mouth, staying dead silent. Isaac’s heart was pounding with anticipation, not knowing what Arik had seen to make him react that way.
Then, the door opened. It opened, it actually opened.
Isaac swore he nearly dropped dead right there, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as if that would get him out of there. When he peeked open again, there was a pair of feet at his head.
Unmistakable; Mr Hanson.
He held his breath, both boys did, ready to get caught.
But then the door open and slammed shut again.
He was gone, he had left.
They waited another whole 10 minutes of dead silence, desperately hoping no one would come back.
And no one did.
When Isaac finally gained the courage to slide out from under the desk, he looked down, about to put the files back where he found them only to see them gone. The grades were nowhere to be found.
Then it hit him – Mr Hanson had just taken them to the office. They’d only just made it.
Relief washed over Isaac; He’d done it, he’d successfully changed his own grade without getting caught.
Lost in his own satisfactory, he didn’t notice Arik get up from the floor, and pounce towards him.
Isaac fell backwards, his back hitting the window behind him before he finally realised Arik’s lips were pushed up against his own and working fast, not wasting another minute.
“And now, top of grade students. These students have performed amazingly well and better than every other student in the grade...” The teacher yapped on about how amazing everyone was blah blah blah. They got through each subject, finally making it to Japanese. Isaac watched, waiting and waiting for his name to be called-
“Top of Japanese year 8, Isaac Gibson”
The cheers from his friends in the crowd were loud and supportive, Caelen being the loudest. Isaac accepted his award with a proud smile – not proud of his hard work in Japanese, but proud of the heist he performed to get this award.
Awards night arrived quicker than Isaac expected but before he knew it, there he was on stage collecting is award.
Unfortunately, Arik wasn’t able to make it. He felt horrible for not going to support his boyfriend, but after some reassurance from Isaac, he felt at ease.
One of the girls who he’d changed his grade to beat was, however, not very happy for Isaac since she knew she had the exact same grade, and he knew the other girl who wasn’t there would feel the same way. Isaac didn’t care though, he forgot they even existed in that moment where he stood on stage, bright lights capturing everything, even the slight blush as he remembered back to what exactly happened in that Japanese classroom.
He wouldn’t be able to see that room the same again; especially without blushing.