Introduction

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Turning his alarm off Matthew kicked his covers off and sat up, taking his phone from the charger. He looked through his notifications before getting out of bed and making his way to the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, he chose his clothes for the day and made his way downstairs. He put two slices of white bread in the toaster, moving to the fridge to grab some butter. He saw the note his mum had left for him

                                   Hi honey,

            Your dad and I had to leave for work early, there was an accident on the highway and we didn't want to be late. Your dad left around £10 in the tin for lunch, take whatever is in there. I'll be back around 6.
Love you

He spread the butter on his toast and grabbed his bag, he was running late so he thought he should eat breakfast on the way. The tin was on the table in the living room which held all of the change his parents had, it paid for lunch and milk which was useful. Opening the tin, Matthew saw two £20 notes along with eleven pounds in change, his mum said to take whatever was inside but he didn't want to risk being screamed at when he got back home later so he left £10 and left the house.

Swearing under his breath at the cold as he shut his door, Matthew walked the short distance to his friend Charlie's house so they could walk to school together.

"Matt! It is too cold for you to be late!" Charlie shouted from outside his house, leaning against the wall.

"And I'm too cold for you to pretend to give a shit." Matthew retaliated mock glaring as he finally reached Charlie. "Besides we have Maths period 1, I think  Mrs Garcia would prefer for us to be late, she doesn't exactly love us."

Charlie let out a loud laugh "I don't think she likes anyone, never mind loves."

"MRS Garcia. She loves someone enough that they married her."

"More like she scared someone enough to marry her."

They continued joking about their maths teacher as they made their way to school. They made it just in time for the second bell, quickly making it to maths.


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When lunch finally came round, Matthew waited outside his locker for his friends. It was normally him, Charlie, Sebastian, Alex, Brooklyn and Evelyn.

A force collided with his back as he waited as Brooklyn was suddenly hanging off his neck.

"Impromptu piggyback?" She laughed tightening her grip around his neck, he adjusted his grip on her legs "Maybe ask that before you broke my back?" She pouted and put her face a bit closer to his own before asking "Are you calling me fat?"

"Careful Matt, it's a trap." Spoke Sebastian as he approached them smirking at Brooklyn over Matthew's shoulder.

He couldn't see her face but Matthew knew Brooklyn was glaring at Seb "It's not a trap, most men know to answer no, don't they Sebastian?" She spoke emphasising Sebastian's name

" It was a joke Brooklyn, you're not fat," Sebastian replied as the rest of their friends joined them. They walked into the hallway which led to the canteen and Brooklyn finally slid off Matthews back.

Next to the door, there was a stool which wasn't normally there, according to Alex some students were raising money for charity.

"No-one will buy any of that." Evelyn commented "They're too expensive."
"You understand what secondhand means right?" Sebastian spoke making the  group laugh
"Hilarious Seb. I meant they're selling secondhand textbooks that are around £20each. It's stupid."

Matthew looked over at the stool to see that Evelyn was right, only one or two people were standing by it. He saw they were selling History books on the Cold War which he needed for his exams, his parents couldn't afford it so he usually just searched for it online or borrowed Charlies. He walked up to it and saw that two textbooks and a were selling for £40. Assuming that's why his parents left him the extra money, his mum had probably received an email about the cheaper textbooks, he paid the £40 and rejoined his friends as they moved into the hall next to the canteen where they could sit down.

The rest of the day was no more interesting as it normally was. He had Politics after lunch which they compared US politics to UK politics. After that, he had to finish his essay for History in the library which became a lot easier due to his new textbooks. Charlie was finished with extra Biology around the same time Matthew was finishing off his homework.

" I don't get why you chose two essay subjects." Charlie complained sitting next to Matthew at the computer "You have to spend so long on homework, it's way too much effort." Matthew threw a sideways glance at his friend slightly smiling at how bored Charlie looked already.

"Give me 5 minutes then we can leave. Besides, you chose maths and two sciences. No one likes science. I'd rather write an essay then answer any question on physics."

"To be fair, so would I."

Around 5 minutes later Matthew saved his work and sent it to his teacher. Turning to Charlie, he smiled "I'm done, come on, we can finally go home."

It only took them 15 minutes to get to Charlie's house and took Matthew a further 5 minutes to get home. When he opened the door his dad looked up from in front of the TV "You forgot the money I left you." He called out to Matthew briefly glancing back at the television "What did you have for lunch?" He asked confusing his son 

"Dad there was £40 in the tin I  thought you and mum left me the money for the second-hand textbooks the school were selling today,"  Matthew spoke placing his bag and coat on the hooks next to the door. "They're the history ones we couldn't get before." His dad looked blankly at him for a moment before turning his back to the TV, losing interest in their conversation.

"Your mum probably left it for you.  You know how the school is always emailing her about that stuff. Use the money left in the tin to pay for tomorrows lunch yeah?" He questioned rhetorically as Matthew nodded and moved to his bedroom.  He sat on his bed and turned on his TV scrolling through the channels until his phone next to him buzzed.

Did the money in the tin come in handy? The message read, it was from a blocked number. Matthew looked at the text again and assumed his phone had glitched and the message was from his mum, he replied quickly saying that it did and thanks for leaving the money for him.

You're welcome, baby. If you need any more money don't hesitate to ask xx

Matthew glanced at the message but didn't bother to reply, there was nothing to say. He finally settled on a channel to watch and continued to watch the same channel for the next two hours. Halfway through the last episode, he heard his phone go off but decided to answer it later. As the episode ended Matthew blindly grabbed his phone and his body froze as he read what the new message said, he realized now that this blocked number wasn't his mother

You shouldn't reply to blocked numbers you know?

Matthew's grip on his phone loosened but he rapidly typed a response

Who is this? The moments that passed whilst he waited for a response seemed like years as he sat crossed legged on his bed. He stared unblinkingly at the screen of his phone until a new message appeared.

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