Picture of Stanley:
Chapter Five
October 2003
The pain had begun to subside somewhat by the time Jay's uncle Stanley had turned up. I didn't believe that he took that long for him to arrive. For someone who only lived around the corner, they sure took their time. Jay said it was because he was at work but why would he ring him if he was at work?
It didn't quite add up but to be honest I couldn't care less, this man was the reason why my grandma won't find out about this fight so I am grateful for the guy already.
"He is here!" Jay announced as he bounced from the peach blinds he had his head stuck through, to the door.
"Your Uncle Stanley?" Mr Branston asked unconvinced and Jay nodded his head. I was kind of relieved that he had finally showed up as Mr Branston's eyes would just find their way to the black telephone on his desk a few times like he was contemplating ringing my grandmother anyway.
"Is it your dad's brother?" I queried. I had heard him talk about him a few times but not too much, which was odd considering his sudden ecstatic mood at the thought of him coming. I mean, if he really liked him then how come he did not mention him more?
"No, he is my mum's older brother." He replied, his eyes not even moving from the door.
What else was weird was the fact that Jay and Mr Branston were probably close to coming to blows only about half an hour ago as Jay got put in detention for the next week and now they were being the most civil to each other than I had ever seen.
Mr Branston stood by the window and copied Jay's action of pulling back the blinds to look outside. "Wow. What a nice car." He commented, his eyes still looking outside.
"What?" I would have got up but even though the pain had started to go, my stomach still felt like a five hundred pound weight had been dropped on it from a considerable height.
He turned to face Jay, ignoring my question. "Jay, what does your Uncle do for a living?" So, not only does he ignore me but he is also nosey, for a teacher those weren't the best traits to have... I mean, asking what his Uncle did for a living, really.
"Erm.." I faced Jay who stood on the spot looking uncomfortable. "Erm.."
I frowned as I watched him. His brown eyes were faced downwards and he was shuffling around on the spot like he did when he was being told off. I know it was nosey but if that was the problem, Jay would have just told him to bugger off wouldn't he? I mean, he just told us that he was coming straight from work so he obviously knew...
A knock interrupted the awkward little moment and the bitch of a secretary popped her head through the door. "Sir, Jay's Uncle is in reception."
"Yes thank you, just send him through please." I always found it funny when teachers interacted in front of students, they were always so formal when in reality, I bet they were all sleeping with each other. Even the ones who you know are married refer to each other as 'Miss' and 'Sir'.
You could hear his Uncle Stanley's voice outside of the room; it was a loud, booming sound that commanded attention. It was full of laughter but very deep.
When he entered the room, he ducked his head at the secretary and thanked her, she just gave him a beaming smile in return and left but you could see why she smiled so wide at him, to her, he would have been handsome. He had to bend his knees to enter through the door he was that tall. He was wearing an expensive looking suit and his arms were bulging underneath them. Who was this guy?
I gave Jay a pointed look and he just smirked at me. If this was my Uncle, with the expensive looking suits and car I would never shut up about him, so why was Jay so secretive about him? He made Cameron look like the nerds he was that cool.
"I'm Jay's Uncle Stanley, are you the head teacher here?"
They shook hands, "Yes, just call me Tom, Tom Branston." He introduced himself and I couldn't stop the smirk from lighting up my face, I knew his first name. It only occurred to me now that I never knew it beforehand. After this, it was just going to be more ammunition to use against him. I mean, sure he was nice to me this afternoon but in general he never was.
"I'm here to pick up my nephew and his friend," he turned to face me. "You look like you just got punched by Mike Tyson." I laughed but it hurt my stomach so it ended up looking like a wince.
"He was tag teamed by some older boys," Jay chimed in. "They held him while the other punched him."
"Well that will not do, I'll patch you up at my house. Are you the one who lives with his grandma and granddad?" I nodded my head, too speechless to speak. It was like I was meeting David Beckham I was that awe struck. "Right well I will get you to them, can you walk?"
I clambered to my feet, using the chair to pull myself up but I felt like I had to prove myself to him so I stood with my back straight and began to walk slowly to the door. It hurt so badly but I was not going to let him know that. I was not going to get embarrassed again and I felt this need in me that said I had to prove myself even more to this guy.
I did not know what would have happened if I was not tag teamed, I would have liked to have thought that I would've kicked his ass. I was literally throwing punch after punch at him and nobody was going to stop me – or it felt like it at first.
It did give me some confidence but then I can't help but think that I should have thrown them off, if I tried harder I could have done, or at least given it a good try but it was like I just gave up when I was dragged backwards.
Stanley watched me walk, "I will take that as a yes then." He smirked. "Okay, thank you for looking after the boys, I will take it from here."
Mr Branston said goodbye but I was already out of the room by that point. There was nobody else in the reception so I carefully opened the heavy, glass doors and hurried to the wall outside while I waited for them to come so I could sit down for a few minutes.
I searched the car park but Stanley's car stood out like a model stood between some old grannies. It was a dark blue, Subaru, four doors and blacked out windows. I had seen it advertised on television, they had only been out a few months but they were expensive. It just looked ace; everything about it just shouted out that his Uncle Stanley had money – and lots of it.
It was a proper man's car. There was probably no other car that would be suited to Stanley more than this one. I mean, the new BMW would look good but not as much as the Subaru; this car was just a monster. I couldn't wait until I heard the rev of the engine!
"You ready then?" Jay chirped as he joined me outside, not long followed by his Uncle.
"Sure."
"I thought you had disappeared on us then. Anyway, let's get you boys round to mine so we can clean you up. I have a good recipe that gets blood out."
The car ride to his house was better than I ever could have dreamed. I could not wait until I told Luke where I had been, he would be so mad! He will be begging Jay to invite his Uncle to school again.
The car was the best thing I had ever experienced, the seats were comfy and the sound speakers inside were so loud I could barely hear myself think. The only thing that ruined the journey as AC/DC blasted out was Stanley himself.
He just hit a nerve with me, I don't know what he did but it put me on the edge of my seat. Everything he said was like it had a double meaning and it made me feel queasy. I couldn't trust this man, I knew I couldn't I just did not know why.
Image-wise his Uncle looked like the best guy ever but when you spoke to him, he sounded dangerous, almost. I needed to ask Jay where he worked because it was making me really uncomfortable and Jay did not look like he was ready to answer the question back in Branston's office but I wasn't dumb enough to know that something was off.
When we parked outside of his house, I grew even more suspicious of him. He did live near school, but he lived at the top of the estate that hardly anyone went up – and there was a reason. There was a road that had nothing but grass on either side and when we finally reached the end, his house was just sitting behind a hill, covering it from the road. There was nothing else around at all.
His house was nothing too big, but it was twice the size of my grandmother's. He had a Porsche sat in the drive outside the front and two men waiting outside of his front door.
The three of us got out of the car however I stayed by the car, not wanting to go to near the suspicious looking men. One of them was about five years older than me and the other was of a similar age as Stanley. The younger one glared at me, his eyes keeping me at the car like a lion eyeing an antelope. I felt so exposed.
I guess it didn't help with all the blood covering my clothes, I bet they thought I was a right mess.
"Lads, these are my friends Rhys Brown and Phil Hartley. Phil, Rhys, these are my nephew Jay, who you have met and his friend Jamie, who I need to get cleaned up." He introduced.
Rhys would not let his eyes off me as I followed Stanley's instruction and followed him inside of the house. I did not like him at all.
"Stan, can I have a word after you have dealt with the kids?" Phil asked. I frowned, I was not a kid! I felt insulted at that and so did Jay if his annoyed look was anything to go by.
Stanley walked inside with Phil following him into his living room. I hovered around the entrance to try and listen in. I was grateful it was so dark so they could not see me. It was the day time but his house was pitch black almost, there was hardly any natural or artificial light in the place. The only source was the light that managed to pass through the dark curtains.
"Stanley, what should we do with Victor?" Phil muttered.
Jay was watching me but I think even he was curious as to what they were speaking about.
"Has he paid?" Stanley replied. There was no response. "Break his legs, do it swiftly and make sure he is away from anyone else. Try and do it at home but make sure the kid is out."
My eyes widened as I found Jay. Did he just say what I think he said? Who was this man? I pulled Jay away from the doorway and into the kitchen. Pushing him into the corner, I found a new strength. "You tell me what your Uncle does now Jay or I swear to God." I threatened. He was not some normal Uncle!
"Nothing, he is okay."
"Did you hear what he just said?" I hissed. "He just ordered someone to break someone else's legs!"
Jay pulled me closer to him and whispered, "The guy owes my Uncle money, and he doesn't like that. I don't know what he does but it's a family business. He has loads of money from his job, even my mum gets a cut of the profits so he must be good at it."
Was I hearing what I thought I was hearing? He cannot be serious! "Jay, he doesn't own a shop selling fags, this is real. We shouldn't be here. I'll ring my grandma, she will pick us up."
A hand suddenly clasped down on my shoulder – hard. I forced myself to look up at the culprit. "Jamie my lad, don't worry. You will be safe here." Stanley smiled, showing all of his whitened teeth. "And I want to speak to you about something, but please take your clothes off. Jay has some upstairs, I will take you now."
I gave Jay a warning look. He was going to shoot me upstairs for listening in to his conversation wasn't he? Oh God, I'm going to die.
"Can Jay not show me?" I questioned.
"It will only take two seconds." He replied and I sighed. I was not going to show him I was scared, I had to act confident otherwise he would sense my fear and feed off of it. This guy was like Al Capone!
I made it upstairs in one piece, I mean, my ribs still hurt a little but the forced smile was worth the weight in tears I was going to cry later.
"I admire you Jamie," He kept emphasising on my name in his confident voice. The man oozed charisma. He had been listening in on my conversation with Jay, I was sure of it but he did not show on his face any inclination that he had.
I was curious though. "Why?"
"Jay tells me a lot about you and the both of you seem to be good friends." I nodded my head.
"We are, I have known him since I was young."
"That is right, I knew your parents." I stalled. I felt my blood go cold at the mention of them. How on Earth did he know them?
"How?" My voice came out a little shakier. I could not remember much about them, only that they died in a car accident on the way to see my grandfather who was in hospital for a minor operation. My father's parents lived down south so we went to see them a lot over the summer but we live with my maternal grandparents.
I remember the raspberry smell my mother's hair used to have all the time and I recall the way my father yelled at the TV every time Manchester United scored but the memories I have of them are few and far between. I usually enjoy hearing about what other people thought of my parents but I was not sure I wanted to hear what this man had to say.
"I went to school with your dad, good friends we were. It was a shame what happened to them both. I miss them terribly." So do I, I thought but I did not say anything else on the subject.
"So what was the fight about? You look pretty beaten."
"I want to go out with a girl named Megan and Cameron was the jealous ex-boyfriend," I admitted.
"You shouldn't go into a fight like that."
I frowned, "How do you mean?"
"You should never fight with your emotions, it clouds your judgement. A fight should always be about winning, there is no other way."
"Well if I have no reason to fight, what is the point?"
"There is always a reason, my lad." He replied. "You just have to shove the reason aside when you're fighting. Everything should be about precision, dodging that right hook that comes at you, being able to hit your opponent in the one weakness he has. Finding that weakness. When you do that, you will win a lot more fights."
"That was my first fight. Besides, I don't believe that. If you keep the reason there in your mind, it spurs you on."
"Not when the reason you're fighting is not always a moral one." He deadpanned. "I know you heard what I was speaking to Phil and Rhys about."
Shit. "I did not mean to listen in."
"Honestly Jamie," there he was with my name again. "If I did not want you to listen in, I would have shut the door. Like I said, Jay tells me a lot about you and you sound like you have potential."
"Potential for what?"
"Well, dry blood is a lot harder to get out of clothing than wet and that on your shirt is starting to, so let's hurry up, eh?" He changed the subject straight away and I stalled. Why did he want me? What could I possibly have that he wants? This man has everything!