Darn, why does time always seem to move more slowly when one’s doing something boring? Five minutes, two minutes now; perhaps Seb really should be concentrating on what the teacher was saying, but slacking always came so much more naturally to him. There wasn’t much more space on his desk to draw on anymore. At least he wasn’t the only one; he could plainly see most of the other students staring at the blank wall behind the teacher, or whispering quietly amongst themselves. He managed to focus on the rhythmic tick of the clock, slowly and unconsciously driving the pattern into his brain.
Finally the wonderful moment came, signalled by a loud ringing: Seb and the rest of the school were free for the whole weekend. He headed off for the common room for the usual routine of getting his books that he’d need for the weekend, and to meet up with everyone else. He had a huge amount of homework to be done: a psychology essay, maths questions, some experiment planning and various work from the past few weeks or so. Everyone in the boarding house was always complaining about homework they were set, even Alissa did occasionally. Seb himself never protested- although perhaps that was due to the fact that he rarely did any of it on time.
When it came to exams, it was just as his mother had always told him. “Well Seb, it’s a good job you have a good memory, isn’t it?” she had said, as she smiled sadly at the very incomplete pile of revision.
Thinking of her brought with it a small pang of homesickness in Seb, which he always felt from time to time. They would welcome him back, wouldn’t they? It had been a mutual decision for him to leave as soon as he turned sixteen, what with his two brothers needing more attention than he did. Both his parents worked- and worked hard too, but their jobs had brought little to the household of five. Seb didn’t phone as much as he should do, but it was nice to hear Ryan and Christian grow up and still happy to tell their absent big brother about all the insignificant details of the day, occasionally getting his in return. His parents sounded a little remorseful that the rich grandmother had decided to leave money for Seb’s education rather than buying them a bigger house, but nothing could be done about it, and they didn’t blame him. At least living at the boarding house now brought him again a room that someone tidied, and meals that were edible. That reminded him; it was his turn to cook tonight.
“I’m looking forward to your meal tonight! What’re you going to cook?” Ash, early as ever, had managed to creep up behind him. The flowery scent had given him away though, and warned the victim of what was coming- albeit less fluorescent in his school uniform.
“Uh, I don’t know yet…” Seb mumbled, hoping that Ash happened to like baked beans and toast.
“So, are you coming to the game tonight?”
“Well, I was actually going to go to the pub with the-“
“You’re not thinking of missing this game, are you?” A threatening voice spoke behind him. There was a firm grasp on Seb’s shoulder, and the boy knew that once she had caught him, there was no escape. He would be going to the rounders game after all.
“What’re you doing carrying that around with you?! You look like you’re gonna murder somebody!” Seb choked after noticing what his friend was carrying around with her.
“Well, you know, that might happen if you don’t come to the game.” Erica smiled a psychotic grin, making Ash giggle slightly. The rounders bat was nonchalantly resting on her shoulder, the other hand placed on her hip now that Seb had turned around to face her. “Aren’t you going to come and watch me beat Adriel?”
“But you’re in the same team, aren’t you?” Seb laughed, trying to avert his eyes now that he noticed that Erica was frowning slightly. The school really should swap the boring woollen jumper for this nice, small polo shirt.
“Yeah, well,” she waved her free hand in the air, “it’s his fault anyway.”
Seb decided not to ask for an explanation; it was just easier to go along with what Erica said, especially when it came to Adriel.
* * * * *
“Yay! You did come after all!” Shina grabbed Seb’s arm excitedly and dragged him towards a row of chairs. “I got Tori and Freya to save the seats for us!”
Freya and Tori? The two girls probably couldn’t be much more different. They hardly spent any time together, especially considering that the former was two years older, although few would have guessed from their appearance. The pair was seated in the direction of Shina’s outstretched finger, shooing away any potential chair-stealers. The neat, rather plain-looking Freya achieved this with apologies and desperate looking hand movements, and tomboyish Tori with just a simple glare through her short and messy hair. Poor Freya looked relieved to see her friend now behind her, while the other picked at her stubbed nails, uninterested. Shina skipped happily over to the chair next to Freya, and Ash moved in next to the stony-faced Tori, Seb on his other side.
“Weren’t you going out with your friends?” Freya mouthed behind Tori’s back. Although it took a few times for Seb to understand her, he eventually pointed down to Erica on the floor below them. Freya nodded and smiled, before turning back around to talk to Shina. Seb just had time to wave at the redheaded girl before the whistle blew, and it was time to start.
“Look, there’s Adriel!” Some girls twittered behind Seb just seconds later.
“He’s fielding this time, isn’t he? Didn’t he bowl last game?”
“But he’s so good at everything. I mean- he can do it all so well, can’t he? No wonder they replaced that girl with him for captain.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But shouldn’t they have the best person bowling? This is a pretty good team.”
“Maybe he’ll bowl next time. Oh- did you see that? He almost caught them out! What’s she laughing at him for? Like she did anything to help.”
“She’s just jealous, I bet. I honestly don’t know what he sees in her; probably just ‘cause she’s got the biggest…” giggling interrupted the babbling for a moment.
“He’s not that that shallow, is he?!” The other girl picked up the conversation, “he’s so kind. Did you see how he went out and bought his sister- Freya, is that it- a new lunch when she dropped it today? I wish he could do that for me!”
“Do you think maybe if I dropped my lunch…”
Seb decided to focus on the rounders game instead of the new version of a conversation he’d heard hundreds of times before, on a subject that he was frankly sick of. So far it looked like the poor visiting team were no match for his school, they had only scored a handful of points with a few people left batting. Just the same as most sports games that were held here at the school, he thought, keeping an eye mostly on what Erica and Adriel were up to. It was no wonder the entrance exams were so tough and the fees so high. The rest of the school and education were, just like the sports department, extremely highly thought of. There were even students from other parts of the world coming here, Seb thought as he casually glanced at Shina. He really should be extremely grateful to be where he was.
The game passed quickly enough, the winners blatantly obvious from the start. Ash’s commentary was the only thing keeping Seb awake, even if it was only remarking on how exciting the game was, or what an interesting hairstyle somebody-or-other had.
The teams soon switched so that Adriel and Erica were batting- in fact by the looks of it now, it was only them and one other girl left, circling the posts again and again much to the distress of the visiting school.
“Tired yet, Adriel?” Seb could just hear Erica shout over the resounding noise of the bat hitting the pitiable ball back over to the far end of the hall. She somehow only made it to the first mark, screeching to a halt on the shiny floor and grabbing the wooden post to steady herself. The bowler smirked, before turning back to face Adriel.
The hit was neat; the ball rolled almost gently to the second post while Adriel jogged to the first. An unpleasant silence came over Seb’s side of the hall; cheers erupted from the visiting team and their supporters. The fielder at second post only had to snatch the ball rolling to her feet, and gently tap it onto the post behind her before Erica even had a chance of reaching her and safety.
“Out!” Was the immediate cry. Erica gave a disgusted look at Adriel, who tried to look away and become absorbed with something interesting on the brick wall. Failing to gain his attention, the girl instead stalked off to the side, throwing her bat into the box with the others. The clunk was still audible through the mixed cheers and complaints.
“I bet he did it on purpose,” Seb heard Tori murmur through Ash’s various cries of misery.
“He did not! Adriel wouldn’t do that!” Freya turned around suddenly, her usually passive features twisted into a scowl.
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be sure. He’s not all that great,” was the reply, causing some angry responses from the girls behind Seb.
The game had already finished by the time Ash and Seb ha shooed the infuriated Adriel fans away, who looked like they would have they ripped Tori’s limbs off given the chance. There were lots of rushed congratulations and last minute notices going on at the hall floor below them, but before long Adriel and Erica were with them, the latter still a little flushed, but ready to go home.
It was the usual walking pattern. Erica and Adriel were leading; it was remarkable how much time those two seemed to spend together despite all their arguments, petty or otherwise. Next came Freya and Shina, chatting cheerfully as they always did, or stopping briefly to point out something at the side of the dusty path. Tori was after them, absorbed in her music and not much else. Seb and Ash brought up the rear, looking like some kind of strange couple.
Ash was unusually quiet- although that was probably because he was busy texting on his brightly accessorised mobile phone, his thumb moving ridiculously fast. Instead Seb gazed around at the scenery, not that there was much to interest him. A dirt path, some trees, various bushes, and weeds. It would continue exactly like this for approximately another ten minutes; why did they have to live so far away from the town? It was stupid that the school boarding house was so far away from the school, although technically it wasn’t a boarding house just for pupils- it just happened to be full of school kids right now. They really should hire a proper cook, or a cleaner. It would save the painful business of the chore rotation list- Seb’s own name the most frequently appearing, seeing as he was the oldest. The first few weeks had been easy; they had let him off because he was new. This was no longer the case- last Sunday he’d suddenly been hit with a mass of chores that he wouldn’t even have bothered with at home. The boy sighed and looked up to the clear sky, stretching his arms behind his head; at least life was never dull here.
* * * * *
After what actually seemed like a short while after they had left school, Seb was busy attempting to cook supper. Or at least he was standing by the frying pan, while Erica was cutting up some meat for him. The kitchen was already full of good smells, and the atmosphere was warm all around the large room.
“You really are useless, you know?” The girl laughed suddenly, her back to him as she focused on cutting the chicken into edible-sized pieces, meat knife slicing carefully and making a repetitive clunk.
“Well, I didn’t ask for help,” Seb smiled as he open a can of the inevitable baked beans, “you just came and pushed it on me.”
“Eh, well. I way prefer helping than actually doing it, y’know?” Erica replied as she pushed the meat into the frying pan. “Then I don’t feel like it’s my fault if it all goes wrong,” she laughed.
“Nice to know you have such kind intentions,” Seb rolled his eyes.
“Haha, sorry dear,” the girl replied, patting him on the head as she walked past to set the timer.
In twenty-five minutes, all the boarders were seated at the table and ready to eat, with the exception of Ava, who presumably was at another party, and Adriel, who was always late to supper. Seb gave Alissa her meal first, getting a beaming smile from the adorable ten year old. Unfortunately it was always age order, meaning Seb tended to get fed last, but hopefully Adriel wouldn’t mind being given a little less. Well, that was really his own problem for being so late.
“Hey, book down.” Erica waved her hand in the direction of Alissa’s brother Leslie, who sighed and tucked the physics hardback away under the table with his glasses. “What are you doing reading things like that anyway? That’s, like, Seb’s year stuff.”
“It’s so hard! I don’t get it at all!” Ash waved his fork in the air, narrowly avoiding Seb’s face. “And he reads it at lunch and in between lessons!”
“And he has tonnes in his room! They’re everywhere!” Alissa added loudly with her mouth full of beans. Leslie rolled his eyes, mopping up the tomato sauce that had just fallen from his sister’s knife.
“But Leslie is going to grow up and be very clever!” Shina grinned, clutching her hands together.
“If he can read that, then he’s got to be,” Seb groaned. He couldn’t understand the book at all, and he was the one meant to be studying it.
“No, you’re just really stupid,” Erica laughed and whacked his back with considerable force. Seb had to try his hardest not to cough up the food he’s just swallowed.
Adriel interrupted the friendly chatter. The boy slouched into the room, grabbed a plate and sat down without a word, ignoring glares from Erica.
“Adriel, there was a phone call for you,” Ash smiled across the table cheerfully, “somebody called… Lily, I think?”
Freya turned noticeably redder, and she bit the inside of her cheek, face down at the plate.
“Something wrong, Freya?” Erica nudged the girl’s shoulder behind Adriel’s back, “is it the food?”
“I’m not surprised,” Adriel turned around, “I mean, baked beans, God, what the-“ he stopped mid sentence, by the looks of it Erica had just elbowed him in the side and was looking pointedly at the completely oblivious Alissa.
Seb coughed. “Erica helped me to cook.”
“God; what are you, you’re just going to grow up and be his little housewife,” Adriel rolled his eyes at Erica, “you just do whatever he tells you to.”
“She offered to help!” Seb frowned, although he had a feeling that he was just making it worse.
“You can just shut your mouth,” Adriel stabbed at the meat on his plate, and that was the end of the conversation.
Really, Seb just could not see what girls saw in Adriel. Why they all flocked to be his girlfriend, as if they were so deluded to think that he would not dump them by the time the next week had started. Fine, he had plenty of good looks; he was extremely clever and amazing at sports. But his personality? All those people would have to be really absorbed in Adriel’s appearance not to notice how rude and grouchy he was. Right now Seb couldn’t even bring himself to look at the younger teen, everything he did was annoying. The way he seemed completely oblivious to Erica’s miserable expression. The way he flicked his perfectly straightened and styled dark hair out of his eyes. The way he even picked up his fork.
Seb was almost glad when everyone had finished eating, although it had tasted a lot better than he expected. He tried not to smile so obviously as he noticed that it was Adriel’s turn to wash up the dishes.
“I don’t know how you can stand him,” Seb whispered to Erica as they were leaving the room, and well out of Adriel’s earshot.
“He’s not that bad really,” was the reply, “that’s just the way he is, huh?”
“I’m sure that he’s a kind person underneath,” Ash added, jumping into the conversation. “He’s nice to Freya, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and he can be fun to be around,” Erica nodded. “Sometimes.”
“Hmm, whatever,” Seb smiled and rolled his eyes, and he headed into the living room to watch some well deserved television.
