Chapter Ten- From Bad to Worse.

Will rolled out of bed and down to the bathroom. Yawning as he brushed his teeth, he glanced at the clock on the wall, before swearing loudly and quickly pulling on his clothes and dashing out the door to school.

He skidded into the common room and crashed towards the seat next to Much just as the bell rang to signal registration. A ripple of laughter ran around the group as he accidentally sat on Much.

"Gerroff me Will."

"Wow, sorry dude." Will blushed and slid across into the seat next to him. "I slept through my alarm, and my uncle's confiscated my bike keys, then I missed the bus and had to run to get here anywhere near on time." he whispered, as Mr Broad bellowed out the days notices.

"Shit. Talk about bad luck." Much whispered back.

The bell rang and everyone was dismissed for their first class. Will, Robin, Djaq and Carter all had a free period, since their economics teacher was absent with the flu. They had been given an assignment to complete, though none of them had any intention of actually doing it, they headed to the library with the rest of their class.

They sat round the only free table, and took out their textbooks, to make it at least look like they were working, since the librarians were not the nicest of people. Carter leaned over the table and whispered something to Djaq, who smiled and nodded.

"So... uh it's my birthday next week, and I was... uh wondering if you guys wanted to head out into town, you know for drinks and stuff?"

"Sure, sounds fun." Robin grinned, just what the gang needed, a good night out.

"Will?" Djaq looked at him.

"I guess I could come along. If you want me there?" Carter nodded, he was feeling bad about the fact that Will was still scared of him.

"Great I'll e-mail everyone the details later."

Will lifted his head up and glanced around. "Shit." he muttered.

"What?" Robin followed his gaze but saw nothing.

"I need to find someone in my German class. I'm stuck on this fucking prepositions homework."

"Will, there's, like, three people in your German class, including you. How the fuck are you gunna track one of the other two down?" Carter laughed.

"It's ok, Cassidy's over there." Will pointed at a girl sat in the corner of the language section on her own. "I'll go ask her." he stood up and walked over, leaving his sheet behind.

Djaq picked it up and glanced over it, "hey Will, you forgot your..." Robin silenced her with a look, and took the sheet from her.

"Crafty, very crafty." he glanced over the worksheet, nodding every so often.

"What?" Carter muttered, lowering his voice as the librarian glared at them.

"He's finished the sheet. Perfectly by the look of things. He just wanted an excuse the get away from us, and go and talk to Cassidy Brooks."

"How come you know who she is, and yet we," Djaq waved her hand between herself and Carter, "are still oblivious? And since when did you speak German?"

"Since my dad was posted in Germany before he left the army. We lived there until I was 10 so I grew up speaking the language. And Cassidy Brooks is the best skateboarder in school, she came first at the Nationwide Schools Tournament last month and I know for a fact Will went to watch her compete, because it was just after he came back to school." Robin smirked, so Will had a little crush? How cute.

A soft laugh drifted across the silent library and everyone looked round. Cassidy was now leaning over Will's shoulder, pointing things out in her workbook, every now and again her other hand slipping over his shoulder.

"William Scarlet, Cassidy Brooks, if you can't be quiet I'll have to ask the pair of you to leave." the moody blonde librarian snapped, looking up from her desk.

They laughed again and returned their attention to the workbook in front of them. As the end of the lesson drew near, Will leaned in and whispered something to Cassidy, a huge smile spreading across her face. She nodded and whispered a reply. Robin, Djaq and Carter strained to hear what was being said, but the clanging of the bell drowned out the conversation. Will came back to the table and grabbed his things, stuffing them into his bag. Cassidy stood by the door, waiting for him.

"Sorry guys, gotta go." he smiled and dashed off.

"Wow, that was unexpected. Who would've thought it? Will and Cassidy?" Robin sat back in his seat and blinked a couple of times.

"At least he's happy. I haven't seen him smile like that for ages." Djaq grinned, Will was her best male friend in the group, Carter excluded of course, and it pained her to see him so miserable.

"You three, I won't tell you again, shut up or get out." the librarian shouted. They jumped and hastily turned back to their economics assignments.

XxXxX

Will rolled over as his laptop pinged, glancing at the screen he saw it was Carter's e-mail, and decided to read it later. A few seconds after, the laptop pinged again, this time it was an IM from Robin.

HoodedAvenger:- So what's up wiv u and Cassidy then?

OverTheMoon:- nothing...yet.

HoodedAvenger:- oooooooooooooooh. So there mite be summat 2 look 4ward 2 den?

OverTheMoon:- there mite b. she's coming out next week 4 Carter's bday wit me. As my date.

HoodedAvenger:- get u Scarlet. Didn't no u liked her tho.

OverTheMoon:- never found the need 2 bring it up.

HoodedAvenger:- u deserve it m8. G2g c u 2moz.

OverTheMoon:- yeah c ya 2moz.

Will smiled to himself. Finally something good was happening to him. Suddenly the bedroom door flew open and Brett stormed in. Will could smell the drink on him the second the door opened, and knew he was in for it.

"Hi Brett, everything ok?" he tried to sound as calm as possible, but inside he was panicking.

"No. And it's your fucking fault." Brett raised his fist and swung down, knocking Will off his bed. "You didn't do the washing and I had no clean clothes to wear to work." he lashed out again, this time catching Will in the small of the back as he pulled himself to his feet.

"So...sorry Brett." Will stammered, looking up at his uncle. He hated it when Brett drunk, he was always even more violent than normal. Will felt his uncle grab him by the shoulders and drag him from the room. His eyes widened with fear when he realised that his uncle's friends were in the sitting room.

Suddenly his face made contact with the solid wood of the dining table and Will felt his legs being tied to the table legs. He thrashed around trying to break free, terrified of what was going to happen to him. A hand on the back of his neck forced him back towards to table and he braced himself for the worst as his hand were tied to the other set of table legs.

Brett ripped his nephews shirt off and stared at the boy's back, perfect. He slowly removed his belt and placed a few test hits on the table top, either side of Will's head, laughing as the boy flinched at the sound. Brett was ready, this kid was going to get what was coming to him. He raised the belt above his head and then swung it downwards rapidly, enjoying the cracking sound it made as it made solid contact with Will's back.

The boy arched in pain and cried out, only to have a rough gag forced into his mouth. Brett's friends stood around laughing, enjoying the show. The belt was brought down again, and Will yelled, his screams muffled by the gag. After on hour, Brett gave up and his cronies unties Will. They dragged him back to his room and tossed him on the bed, locking the door behind them as they left.

Will lay on his stomach, feeling the blood on his back begin to dry. He winced in pain as he reached for his laptop, he had to get out of here, fast.

XxXxX

Across town Robin's laptop beeped. He leaned over Marian and read the e-mail.

"Shit." he jumped up and grabbed his phone. "Mum? I need your help."

Marian read the message and clicked print. She collected the sheet of paper and handed it to Robin's mother as she entered the room. They waited as she read the note.

"Right, with me, now." she ran downstairs, dialling for the police as she went. They piled into the car and sped off towards Brett's flat.

XxXxX

Will sobbed as his uncle was locked in handcuffs and lead from the flat. A wave of relief had washed over him when the police had broken down his bedroom door and seen the state of him. Robin's mother had assured him time and again that he could go and live with them, for as long as he wanted.

He didn't want any of this, he had just wanted to tell Robin the truth for once, but now he had no one. No mum, no dad, no uncle. It was all his own fault though, he had pushed them all away.

Robin climbed into the back of the ambulance with him and looked at his scared friend.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I felt stupid. Letting my uncle beat the shit out of me every day. I mean at least at school you guys are there to stop Gisborne doing anything to bad, but it happened so often that I thought I deserved it, like Luke said. I deserve everything I get because of mum and dad. It's all my own faut." Will stared ahead blankly.

"It's not your fault Will. None of it."

"You don't know anything about me Robin, not really. You don't know me at all. I deserve all of this, trust me."

Yay Will is saved. But I promise you there is a lot more Will angst to come.

R&R please.

Much Love

SxBx

PS 27 reviews is your target before I post the next chapter.