BBC Ghosts: Teatime Club

Ordeal

"I knew you were seeing Cassandra, I just knew it!"

"Oh shut up! What about you and Wayne, huh? When the cat's away the mice will play, right?"

"You can bloody talk!"

Julian shrugged off Pat's look of sympathy and rolled his eyes as his parents continued accusing one another of cheating.

Across the school, inside the history classroom, Cap was taughtly sitting on a plastic chair squeezed in-between his parents as they sat opposite the teacher's ancient desk. He zoned out while his teacher blared on and on about how interested Cap was in the World Wars and his excellent grades pertaining to those topics.

As much as Cap enjoyed the compliments, he was too busy staring at a poster pinned up on the display board which had been made by someone he wished would saving him from this boring lecture.

"Are you listening, Cap?"

Cap's cheeks flushed scarlet and his eyes drifted back to his father. "Uh, yes, sorry."

"That brings us neatly onto one problem I have found with your son." the teacher started. "Sometimes he can be easily distracted, which hinders his ability to work."

"I see..." his mother rubbed her chin.

Cap pulled at the collar of his shirt. He glanced out of the window to see Humphrey being pushed around by his parents as they headed towards the music room.

Humphrey couldn't help but roll his eyes as his parents lectured him about the 'desperate need to keep his grades up' and 'how he needed to study harder'. He was still reeling from the fact they'd asked Mrs Cooper to give him more homework!

The dark haired teenager led them down to the outside school music block, where the bright classroom lights illuminated the dark playground through its open door.

As he was pushed inside, he bumped into Mary, who was just leaving.

"Hi Humphrey." Mary squeaked.

"Mary." he nodded. "How are things going?" he whispered.

Mary shrugged, turning back to her mother who was just thanking the teacher. "Not bad. Are you okay?"

"Humphrey! Get a move on!"

Humphrey bit his tongue and quietly apologized to his friend for being so hasty. She smiled and walked past him, her mother following.

Once outside, Mary took in a deep breath of the tepid air. She shivered and looked over at her mother, who was glancing down at her timetable, deep in thought. As Mary waited for her mother to finish, she looked up to see a solemn figure sitting on the courtyard steps.

Deciding her mother would probably end up following her wherever she set off to anyway, Mary trundled over to the steps to see a trembling Kitty sitting on the wall. "Kitty?"

Kitty beamed on seeing her friend. "Hello Mary! How are things going?"

"Erm, fine, I guess..." she tilted her head, "What are you doing out here alone?"

"Oh, my parents are seeing all of my sister's teachers first. They told me to wait here."

Mary's brow furrowed, "They told you to wait... here?"

Kitty smiled, "So I wouldn't get in the way inside the school. It's rather busy so they told me to wait outside here, where nobody would be."

Mary turned to see her mother approaching, then turned back to her friend. She took Kitty's hand and gently helped her off the wall. "Come inside with me, out of the cold."

"Oh, okay! Are you sure it will be alright?" Kitty asked as Mary led her towards the school entrance doors.

Mary smiled. "Stick with me and you'll be fine."

The two girls giggled and waited for Mary's mother to catch up, then entered the school doors which led to another staircase. The loud sounds of shouting could be heard and the two girls cringed, discreetly walking underneath the stairs and back into the corridor.

The source of the shouting was located up the top of the stairs, where Pat was being violently reprimanded by his parents.

"And you just let them take the ball? What's wrong with you? Are you a man or a mouse?"

Pat stared into the floor.

"Apparently he's a mouse." his mother hissed, flicking her hair back. "I don't know why we bother, honestly! All that training your father put you through and you don't even have the balls to tackle your own classmates?"

Bullies. They were his BULLIES.

"We told you to put one hundred percent effort into your sports! You need to prove to everyone you're worthy of being a Butcher!"

"Besides that, it'll help you get the exercise you need. You're still too fat."

Pat hung his head even lower.

"Your coach was right. You do need extra training if you're going to become as elite as your father was."

"I don't want to." Pat suddenly forced out. He momentarily blanked out in shock. He looked up at his parents, fury now lacing their features. "W-What I mean to say is-"

A slap.

"Don't you EVER talk back to us." his father finished, quickly turning on his heel and storming downstairs to get away from his son. His mother followed him, leaving Pat completely alone.

Pat stared blankly into the wall, his defenses crumbling. He'd been so strong all evening, trying to keep his emotions in check, but now...

He couldn't do this anymore.

His hands shot to his eyes and he started bawling.