The way that Merlin walked to school was the longest route he had figured out he could take; he took this route because a) he liked the walk b) he liked the route and c) it meant there was little time hanging around school waiting for it to start. He liked the walk because when he was walking he was alone with his thoughts, and it gave him time to plan out how he would hope to spend the day i.e chilling with Gwen and avoiding bullies.
He liked the route because it took him through a forest-not the kind where you're wondering aimlessly through thick trees trying to avoid getting wacked in the face by branches, no, the kind where there's a worn down path surrounded by nature; one were the trees were not so thick that you couldn't walk through them but not so thin so you could see all the roads and modern buildings. He thought of it as his wood, he'd never seen anyone else there and it was peaceful, serene. The woods also contain a river which along the bank had beautiful flowers which on the way home he would often pick for his mother; sometimes if he set off earlier than usual he would stop by the river on one of the rocks and watch the water flow, if any animals were nearby he would talk to them and often they appeared to stop and listen.
This time Merlin did not stop. He was far too absorbed in his own thoughts and simply let his feet carry him along the familiar path. He was thinking about where he could hide that day, he knew the boys would be especially cruel to him today- they would want to show the new people that he was scum and that Gwen was invisible. The library was always a good place to hide because of all the shelves but this also made it a bad place since the other boys could duck behind shelves to hide from him and teachers 'right not the library today' he thought 'Mr Wilson did say he could use some assistance… plus maybe having a teacher around may get the bullies to leave me alone today.'
*Mr Wilson (full name Gaius Wilson) was a chemistry teacher. Merlin's mum, Hunith, had gone to school with Gaius so he was a close family friend, it made calling him Mr Wilson seem very odd to Merlin since he always called him Gaius but he always wanted an extra pair of hands to collect and tidy away equipment for experiments and that's what merlin was good at, helping out. His mum always said if he'd been born in the medieval period he'd have made an excellent manservant, Merlin disagreed he was good at helping out but his long, gangly limbs made him incredibly clumsy.
As he walked through the school gates he noticed something was wrong, well maybe not wrong but something had definitely happened. He knew this because no one had come up to him to ridicule or humiliate him nor had he heard any snide remarks about his scruffy outfit and his lack of money. Merlin did a quick scan of the courtyard outside Camelot high and he noticed that there were teachers everywhere. He actually stopped for a second, since the sight of one teacher before school was very rare, but he quickly recovered and hurried towards the doors of the castle like school. As he was walking he looked around again and that's when he saw all the murderous looks being sent his way, even the kids who didn't bully him specifically like Morgause and Sophia were glaring at him but no one made a move towards him, not even Cenred his most regular and cruellest bully.
As soon as he was safe inside (or at least as safe as you can be from bullies) Merlin leaned against the wall and sighed. He wasn't sure if he liked this or not; on the one hand no one had bullied him but the looks he'd been given made him certain he was in for a world of pain later. He sighed again, hung his head and pushed off the wall and started heading down the corridor.
He carried on walking to the end of the corridor his footsteps echoing along the hall before he quickly climbed the stairs, shoved open the double doors and went into his form room-opposite the staircase. His form tutor, **Miss Pardus, was sat at her desk marking biology papers her dark naturally wavy hair hung loose over her shoulders and she was wearing a dark maroon and red dress. When she looked up and saw Merlin stood there she smiled; Merlin was a brilliant pupil, not just because he was a genius (which he was) but because he had a good work ethic, was always offering to help out all the teachers even if they did not teach him and he was not an arrogant pupil.
"Why are all those teachers outside?" Merlin blurted out "miss" he added at the end so as not to seem impolite.
"Well Merlin you know the two students who are arriving at this school today?" it was a rhetorical question but Merlin nodded his head anyway "Those to students are the headmasters children he decided that he was not satisfied with the schools they were going to, but because of this the teachers have been strictly instructed to keep the kids under control. Mr Pendragon is not often here in the morning but this morning he shall be and he wants this school to make a good impression on his children so the other teachers are keeping the students in check." She told him
"Thank you miss my curiosity has been quenched." he replied a big grin lighting up his face. With that he then turned and left the classroom the smile disappearing almost immediately as a realisation dawned upon him. there was no way these new pupils would even consider being friends with him he was a scholarship student in a school filled with people with rich parents as was Gwen, he was also a genius making him the smartest in year 11 and having already completed the majority of his G.C.S.E's had moved onto doing some A-level classes as well which was why he was more of a target than Gwen. He was a nerd, a geek, a drip, a goody-two-shoes (well that's what he was called). The bullying didn't affect him as much as it used to but it still hurt. He just dreaded the day when people found out he was gay, if he thought his life was bad at the moment he knew it would get so much worse if he came out…
*Mr Wilson is obviously based on Gaius. Wilson is the last name of the actor who plays him so, yeah, just thought I'd tell you that in case you were confused :D
**Miss Pardus is based on Freya. Pardus is latin for panther and I thought that would be a fitting last name for her since she turned into a panther…
I hope you enjoyed that thank you to all the people who reviewed chapter 1 :D so here's a shout out to my 4 reviewers- Jessymessy101; TracesOfTrueLove; xelloss100; Uncreativenamethinker. You guys really made my day/night :D
*hugs* and awesomeness stuff to you lovely people reading this I LOVE YOU!
less-than-3 lou lou xx
p.s If anyone is interested in being my beta for this then let me know :)
