The Seven Deadly Simpson Brothers [PUBLISHED]

10

"You never said you were sorry," Walter growled at the boy who'd spilt his lunch over him.

"Come with me. All of you," the headmaster said in a tight voice whilst a couple of the other teachers went to the aid of the injured boy with first aid bags.

I watched Walter, Eli and the other rugby players follow the headmaster out of the canteen and I released my clenched fists. My heart as hammering and I drew air in through my nose deeply. I didn't like violence at all. Hayley took hold of my shaking hand and squeezed it.

"Sorry I made you see that," she said. "I didn't think it would progress so much."

"Neither did I," I replied.

But I shouldn't have been surprised.

***

"Class," my Textiles teacher addressed us. "Now I'm sure you're all aware of the dog show coming up. We need as many hands as we can get."

Of course, we were aware. The school was calling volunteers to help prepare for an upcoming dog show we were hosting in order to raise money for the charities we were supporting over the course of the academic year.

"For the duration of today's class, I've arranged for you to go and help with the decorations," she said. "It shouldn't take longer than the usual double period and then you can get back to business next lesson."

There were a few sighs but I didn't really mind. Making decorations was as creative as what we'd be doing normally. It was probably less work too, to be honest.

Hayley smiled at me, "Let's go down to the art department."

"You'd think our lessons would be held in the art department, wouldn't you?" I murmured as we made our way. "Textiles is still art, in a way."

"Yeah," Hayley agreed, flicking her shiny dark hair over her shoulder. "Making clothes is way cooler than painting nāked men anyway."

I half-smiled, "Yeah."

We later arrived in the fairly large art department which was two floors and plenty of space. Other students were already there, most of them art students, but a few who seemed very out of place. I recognised a couple of bruised rugby players from the fight at lunchtime. They moodily cut out coloured sheets to make bunting out of.

"Detention," Hayley said before I could ask. "It must be part of the punishment."

"If that's the case," I said, looking around. "Then Walter must be here too."

"And Eli," Hayley added.

We spotted the brothers soon enough, standing to the side and refusing to participate. They each had a couple more cuts and both looked more alike when they were angry and standing stiffly with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Shall we go talk to them, or no?" Hayley asked hesitantly.

"I don't even know," I said nervously, thinking back to earlier today. I wasn't really expecting to see them still here, I'd thought they'd get suspended.

Walter made the decision for us when he caught our eye from across the room. He didn't smile as he started to approach us, and Eli eventually followed. I inched into Hayley and she tried to do the same to me. It wasn't long until we were face to face with the dark haired Simpson.

"You guys actually volunteered to do this shit?" Walter asked as he loomed over us.

I let out a tiny sigh of relief, he wasn't as angry as I thought.