Arthur jumped and nearly screamed at the sudden intrusion of an unknown person. He peered to his right and found a teenage boy hawking at him. The boy had sandy blonde hair with a cowlick proudly standing up, and blue eyes that Arthur would grant had a tint of curiosity in them. The boy wore a varsity football jacket over a simple grey shirt, also adorning simple jeans and worn running shoes. That varsity jacket caused a few waves of paranoia to wash over Arthur—memories of his old school's rugby team in England resurfacing—but the Brit knew the other would only walked away when an answer was present.
"Y-yes. Everything is dandy."
"Yeah, no. That doesn't sound convincing."
Arthur's eyes widened a bit at that response. "Well, everything is fine. If you can't accept my answer then you can just leave!"
It was the boy's turn to be a little in shock, but that look melted away before Arthur could fully process it. "Listen, I know you're nervous because you're new."
"Hold on." Arthur interrupted. "How do you know I'm new here?"
"Last week an office aide said some guy from England was transferring here. I actually didn't know until you started talkin'. Your accent is kinda obvious. And when I say kinda I mean really obvious."
"Why didn't you say 'really obvious' to begin with?"
"Y'know I don't have very quick thinking, okay!"
As much as the Brit wanted to jab back at him, what the boy said about an office aide releasing his presence concerned him. Now that meant that everyone would be in the lookout for him. Perhaps he should call Allistor and-
"Name's Jones. Alfred F. Jones." The boy said, a beaming smile conquering his face.
"My name's Arthur Kirkland... pleasure to make your acquaintance." The Brit replied in a tone that was barely above a whisper.
At that point, the Brit was hoping this Alfred books would abandon the conversation and leave him to wallow in his misery. Except this boy was like a leach, and was adamant on annoying Arthur until the latter ripped his hair out.
"Gimme your schedule, I can guide you around the school."
The one thing that Arthur gained from this conversation was that Alfred wasn't offering his guidance. Meaning that Arthur was trapped with Alfred's company.
With a deep sigh, Arthur slipped his schedule out from his trouser pockets and handed it to Alfred. The American quickly scanned it before saying. "We got fifth and seventh hour together. But I can still show you around and everything."
Arthur simply shrug his shoulders in response and snatched his schedule back. And without another word, they were off.
Navigating though the student body seemed to naturally come to Alfred, as it seemed the crowd split when he came through. Some people congratulated him on becoming captain of the football team, others even stopping to high-five him for being promoted to team captain. However, Arthur wasn't having as much of a success navigating as Alfred. People bumped into him, or cut in front of him, or peered at him as he walked by. Arthur just wanted to become invisible and hide in the library. But, he would have to settle for just staring at his own feet for now.
However, Arthur bumped into Alfred as the latter stopped in front of a classroom on the first floor. "Here ya' are! Advance English with Mr. Reid." Alfred presented, turning around to face his companion. "No need to worry over this class though. The teacher is nice from what I've heard... but English is had. And that's ADVANCE English so I dunno how hard it's gonna be."
Arthur glanced at the propped open door and noticed no students were inside. "Thank you for getting me here."
"Yeah no sweat. When class is over I'll come by and pick you up for your next class, 'Kay?"
"Okay."
"Well, see ya' later!"
Alfred spun on his heels and hastily made his way up the stairs, Arthur watching him go until he was out of sight. Arthur's paranoia must have been acting up, since he felt someone's eyes burning into his skull. But, before he could glance around to see if another student actually was, he charged into the classroom before anyone else could bump into him.
"Good morning, welcome to English!" A masculine voice rang out, one that reminded Arthur of Allistor.
Arthur glanced around for the owner of that voice, and found a man with untamable red hair standing at the back of the room.
"You're the first one here and you're new! My other students need to take notes."
Arthur couldn't help but have a small smile creep onto his face. "Thanks..."
"My class roster doesn't have you listed yet, but my boss told me that I'd be getting a new student. He didn't tell me your name however."
"It's Arthur Kirkland, sir."
Mr. Reid's eyes widened at the reveal of his new student's name. He cleared his throat and looked away from Arthur.
Noticing this, Arthur quickly stammered out, "O-oh, is something the matter, sir?"
Mr. Reid quickly looked back at Arthur. "Nothing's wrong. Your last name just reminds me of someone I used to know before moving here."
Before Arthur could question who it was, another student walked in and took a spot in the front row, nursing a cup of coffee. Mr. Reid said, "The only row that doesn't have anyone sitting there is the back row." As he walked to his wooden desk at the front of the room.
Silently appreciating the top, Arthur hurried along to a spot in the middle of the back row and claimed a seat before any of the other students came in. Afterwards, Arthur retrieved a notebook and a black ink pen before watching a handful of students walk in. He noted three girls walking in along with a boy, however that group was too busy chatting away to take note of Arthur's appearance.
The chatter in the classroom melted away once the bell rung and Mr. Reid clapped his hands together.
"Alright, quiet down everyone." He began. "Today we have a new student in our class."
Immediately, all eyes were pointed in him and all he could muster was a small wave.
"His name is Arthur and he'll be joining us for the rest of the semester. Hopefully the whole year!"
Before any questions could be ask about where he came from, a boy that looked surprisingly similar to Alfred ran through the propped open door. The only differences that Arthur noted were violet eyes instead of blue, paler hair than Alfred's, and a body type that was not as muscular.
"I'm so sorry! My brother forgot to wake me up, and so had an incident with the coffee filters-"
"No worries, Matthew! You're lucky you came in before I took roll. But, you should invest in an alarm clock, I've had Alfred in my regular English course and he seems like the... forgetful type."
So they are brothers!
Matthew took a seat in the spot in fronting Arthur, in the middle row, next to a student with near white hair and piercing red eyes.
Mr. Reid continued on with the class, going on about contemporary artist being the Shakespeare of the modern era, how awful writing practices contribute to awful papers, and ended with the class checking out textbooks. The bell rang and all the students ran out of the class, though Arthur lingered around the door for Alfred to arrive. Luckily, he didn't have to wait for very long as Alfred showed up a minute after the bell rang.
"You ready to go?" Alfred asked, his voice wavering and his eyes avoiding meeting Arthur's.
However, Arthur's gaze landed on a fresh red spot on Alfred's skin. The edges were peaking out of Alfred's shirt—being rested on Alfred's collarbone. "Only if you tell me what happened to you right there." Arthur replied, pointing a skin finger at the spit were the skin discoloration was located.
Alfred's eyes widened behind his glasses. He adjusted his jacket to hide the spot before saying, "It's nothin'! Just fell down the stairs today that's all. Anyway! Let's get a move on!" He laughed nervously. "I remember seeing your next class is pre-calculus, so come on!"
Alfred's bizarre behavior only grew increasingly worse as the day went on. His speech became more and more erratic. He seemed to jump and flinch whenever someone addressed him. And his eyes always darted around, as if he was keeping an put out for something. The most odd thing about him that Arthur noted was that Alfred never addressed what was tormenting him. Whenever someone brought up his odd behavior, he brushed it off and brought out his obnoxiously optimistic persona.
During their fifth period together, Alfred's phone vibrated on the table before lighting the screen up with a notification. Alfred grabbed his phone and hid it under the desk before the teacher could see it— whilst also putting it in a place where Arthur couldn't take a peek out of the corner of his eye—and scanned over the text. Arthur noticed that Alfred was shivering as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
Arthur furrowed his overly bushy eyebrows as he thought, 'Whenever I acted that way either was when Allistor caught me doing something bad or when I knew I was in for a beating with my schoolmates... what the bloody hell is wrong with him?'
The bell rang and their class was dismissed. However, when Alfred and Arthur rose from their seats Alfred said, "You go to lunch without me... I-I'll be a little late."
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Where are you going though? I don't want to sit by myself."
"I'm just visiting a teacher. D-don't worry I'll be back in a jiff!"
"If you are going to be away from lunch for just a moment, why don't I come with you?"
"It's gonna be really boring!" Alfred's eyes glanced at the clock. "Well, I'm going to be late! See ya soon!"
Before Arthur could retort, Alfred sped out of the room, forgetting his chemistry textbook in the process. Arthur claimed it before speeding out the door in pursuit of Alfred. Despite the gnawing fear of his schoolmates, Arthur was determined to overcome his fear to uncover what was ailing Alfred.
Besides, Alfred was the first non-family member to talk to him voluntarily.
After exiting the classroom, Arthur glanced to his left and his right before spotting Alfred to the left—almost to the stairs leading to the first floor. Arthur was short enough to blend in with the crowd. Being five foot eight, almost five nine but give it one more year, among kids that were six feet seemed like a blessing at the moment. Arthur would hide behind someone every time Alfred turned around to see if the Brit was actually following him.
'You seem like a stalker, why are you doing this? If he finds out then you will have blown your shot at getting your first friend... besides Mum that is... But! If he is actually going to go see a teacher, perhaps it is his chemistry one and he will be thankful that I brought it to him! That gives me an excuse to see what is bothering him!' Arthur thought to himself, keeping up his strategy, appearing odd to his classmates for hiding behind particularly tall people.
Where Alfred was heading, however, students were not going to.
Alfred avoided the cafeteria all together and headed straight to the gymnasium. As the student body grew thinner and thinner, Arthur resorted to trailing further behind—since Alfred stopped glaring behind him after reaching the bottom of the stairs. By the time Alfred brushed passed the double doors of the gymnasium, both he and Arthur were the only students in that corner of the school. Since the doors were propped open, Arthur peeked his head in and observed as Alfred went to the back of the gym and entered he boy's locker room. Swiftly, Arthur sprinted across the gym—his backpack creating a plethora of sounds—before he reached the door.
The Brit did not even have to open the door to hear the yelling from within. It was muffled, but there was definitely yelling—like there was an argument occurring.
Arthur was perfectly content with standing by the door, eavesdropping yet not being able to decipher what was being said. He was perfectly content.
Until he heard someone being slammed into the lockers.
Arthur nearly jumped in shock. He bit down in his lip as he slowly cracked open the door, so as to not create abundant noise. The first thing he was greeted with was someone saying, "Don't try to defend that little prick... you were flirting with him weren't you? Is that why you were guiding him around? Even after my warning?"
"I-I wasn't flirting with him!" Arthur could hear the fear in Alfred's voice. "I was just trying to be nice!" Alfred whimpered.
The sound of a punch connecting to someone resonated through the locker room right as Arthur slipped past the doors and snuck in. The sound was followed by someone hitting the floor and crying out in pain.
"Don't you dare lie to me you little slut!" The unknown man shouted. "I'm the reason why you are on the football team and that you're team captain. You're acting so ungrateful right now!"
Alfred did not respond.
Arthur squeezed the chemistry textbook in his grasp. As he searched for a place to hide. The locker room held four rows of lockers. Arthur assumed that Alfred and the unknown man were hiding out in the last row, since it was in the back and Arthur could not see them. He tiptoed to the second row and continued to listen in.
"Don't talk to that boy again. If you do, I will make sure both you and him will-"
"Woah-woah-woah!" Alfred interrupted, his voice weak. "Don't bring him into this, I was the one to talk to him. He had nothing to do-"
Alfred was cut off by a sudden kick to his gut. Arthur heard the door smack against Alfred's stomach and grimaced. Alfred gasped for air and grunted in pain.
"Don't fucking interrupt me!"
"I-I'm sorry..."
"About?"
"Disrespecting you."
No other words were said. Arthur quickly hid as he heard footsteps echoing, only emerging after he heard the door open and close.
Arthur quickly went to the last row and discovered Alfred lying on the floor, blood flowing down his nose and oozing from his mouth.
"Alfred... oh my god..." Arthur let out, exasperated.
Alfred's gaze landed on Arthur. He attempted at sitting up, but only moaned out in pain as he clutched at his side.
"Y-you need to go to the n-nurse."
"Why are you here?"
Alfred's question left Arthur puzzled. The event he just witnessed was enough to make him forget the original reason as to why he was there. "That doesn't matter right now! We need to get you help. You need to tell someone."
"N-no! I don't need help... I don't need to tell anyone."
"Then price to me that you are okay."
A faint "Fine" was let out by Alfred. Alfred placed his palms on the filthy floor before trying to lift himself up. Although he was shaking, Alfred managed to get himself on his hands and knees. He grunted in pain as he placed a foot on the ground. He placed a hand on the locker for assistance, as he went from kneeling position to standing position. He was gritting his teeth and he kept his hand on the locker so he wouldn't fall over.
"See, I'm perfectly fine!"
"Then how about you walk me to lunch?"
Alfred shot a glare Arthur's way before he sighed in defeat, "You win."
Arthur's eyes widened at Alfred's sudden surrender. "Then I'll go get the nurse-"
"No... please no nurse..." Alfred interrupted. "If he finds out that I went to the nurse then I'll end up like this again... please..."
Arthur furrowed his eyebrows as he replayed Alfred's words in his head. He glanced around the room before his eyes landed on a first-aide kit behind Alfred on the wall. "Then let me patch you up."
A confused look appeared in Alfred's face as Arthur walked past him. He didn't even have to look over his shoulder to realize Arthur was collecting the kit of the wall. Arthur stood in front of Alfred and set the chemistry textbook and the kit on the floor before shrugging off his backpack.
"Here, let me help you sit down." Arthur offered. He grabbed a hold of Alfred's arm that wasn't leaning onto the locker. He helped Alfred lower himself into a sitting position before he himself sat down.
The Brit rummaged through the kit and uncovered three cotton balls, a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, and numerous lengths of bandages.
"Why are you helping me?" Alfred questioned as Arthur was rummaging through the kit.
"I can't exactly just leave you after what I saw."
"Y'know, I might be an idiot. But I'm not that BIG of an idiot."
Arthur unscrewed the lid of the rubbing alcohol. He refused to return Alfred's gaze as he said, "my mum and my brother were both abused by someone in their past. I... know the physical and emotional pain they went through. Nothing ever happened to me but I can't turn a blind eye anymore."
"Oh... I hope they get help."
"And I hope you do too."
