Pat had his head buried in a book. It was lunchtime and he was sitting alone on a table in the far corner of the canteen away from everyone else. He'd actually managed to get a bit of free time to himself due to a certain group of students being stuck in detention all lunch which meant he was actually able to do what he wanted, so he decided to catch up on his reading.
He was so absorbed in his book that he didn't hear a certain heavy-footed classmate approaching.
"This seat taken?" came a gruff voice. Pat was pulled out of his stupor to see Robin standing next to him.
"Oh, hello Robin! No, it's not." he slid his bookmark inside his most treasured possession and closed it.
"Good." the scruffy teen lowered himself onto the seat with a plod. "How are you today?"
"M-Me? Oh, I'm fine. How are you?"
"Okay." Robin replied, his tone a little sad. Pat caught onto this and leaned in closer.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he practically whispered. Robin was so easy to read.
Robin held his hands together and fidgeted on the seat, something obviously on his mind. He folded his arms to steady himself and turned his head away from Pat. "Maybe."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Pat offered, taking a sip from his juice carton.
"Do you know anything about... girls?"
Pat almost spat out his juice. He hadn't expected Robin to come out with anything like that.
"Um, well, not really. Why?"
"It's just that... I have this friend who likes this girl, right? But my friend doesn't know how to tell her he likes her because he likes her a lot but doesn't know why - maybe because her hair smells like strawberries or something but like my friend is worried what to do next. And stuff."
"Oh! Well... this isn't really my forte, Robin. Perhaps you should ask Thomas." Pat bit his tongue, feeling a little bad about not being able to help him. He really couldn't though. Nobody had ever fancied him because he was too short, fat and ugly for anyone to even consider him as a crush. He was hopeless.
"Ask Thomas what?" came a snooty voice from behind them.
"Oh, hi Thomas!" Pat greeted warmly. "Robin was just asking me about-"
"Forget it!" Robin rose to his feet. "Thomas isn't good with romance."
Thomas let out a sharp gasp, "I'll have you know I'm excellent in matters of the heart!"
Robin just shrugged him off with a laugh, dismissing himself from their table. Thomas angrily stared him down as he sauntered away. Pat cleared his throat and hopefully patted the seat next to him. After a brief moment of consideration, Thomas sat down. He let out a mournful sigh and slowly turned to the shorter teen.
"How are you today, Patrick?"
"M-Me? Oh, I'm just fine thank you, Thomas. Are you?"
"No, not really." he sighed again, "Mrs Cooper hasn't spoken to me for a WHOLE day! I miss her..."
"Right..." Pat didn't know what to say to that. Instead he changed the subject. "Erm, so, are you ready for our English club later on? I know you like English!"
"Love it, actually." Thomas corrected, "So I'm sure to blow everyone away with my work."
"Y-You might be able to help them too!" Pat suggested. He was met with a look of distain from the lankier teenager.
"Isn't that your job?" Thomas droned accusingly.
Pat just shrugged his shoulders, "Every little helps?"
"Pah. I shan't waste my time on those cretins." he sneered. "I'd rather sit and work on my poetry."
"But we're doing poetry!"
"And I'm doing MY poetry."
Pat sighed. And he thought JULIAN was difficult to deal with. "Whatever you say, Thomas."
"Good. I'll see you later then." Thomas swiftly made his leave.
"Bye..."
Thomas strutted away, leaving Pat alone once more.
~~~~~
Later that day, Pat was walking to his next lesson when Mrs Cooper popped her head out of her classroom, stopping him in the corridor. "Hi Pat!"
"Good afternoon Mrs Cooper." he replied, "Can I help you with something?"
"I was just wondering how everything was going with the club. You haven't had any more problems since, have you?" she asked, leaning against her door.
"N-No, not since." he bowed his head a little.
"So I take it you've all been getting along well?"
"To an extent." Pat smiled. It would be a while longer until they bonded as friends, if ever.
"Good. As I recall it's your English day today. I suggest you go over some of the poetry concepts we've been studying in class. Thomas is quite the wordsmith and may be able to help you help the others."
Pat pulled at his shirt collar. "Y-Yes, that's a good idea."
"I'm glad you agree!" she chortled, "I'll see you next lesson Pat. Have a good day!"
"Thank you miss, you too." he continued on his way, feeling more awkward about the situation. Thomas had already said no but that was before Mrs Cooper had asked him about it. Did he dare ask Thomas again?
Pat went to lesson and about twenty minutes in he needed the toilet, so was briefly excused by his teacher. As he entered the stairwell, he heard a small echo of a sigh. He stepped down the stairs and peered under the staircase to find Thomas laying down on the large radiator, hands on his chest as he stared above him.
"Thomas?"
"Oh go away." Thomas snorted.
Feeling a little insulted, Pat turned away but Thomas called him back.
"No, wait. I'm sorry. Please don't go." he whispered desperately.
Pat joined him under the staircase. "Are you okay?"
"No Patrick, I'm not okay." he sighed, turning away from his peer.
"Do... you want to talk about it?"
"I'm lonely." Thomas admitted immediately, staring at the wall. "Nobody likes me."
"I like you!" Pat gave him a supportive smile.
"But nobody likes you either! That's no good to me!" Thomas snapped, leaving Pat feeling hurt.
It took Pat a few minutes to recover from his barbed comment, "...you just have to try and make the best of a situation, I suppose." Pat's glassy eyes met the floor. "It's difficult but you have to learn how to tolerate yourself..."
"How?"
"Become your own best friend. That way you'll never be lonely."
"How can I do that if nobody likes me?"
"Well, I like you." Pat intoned, "And yes, maybe that's not good enough in your eyes because I'm not posh, or talented or cool or anything, but I still care about you, whether you like it or not."
"You... care about me?" Thomas turned to him with widening eyes.
"I care about all my clubbies." Pat said proudly, adjusting his glasses, "I want to see you all do well. I want to help you all improve your grades and I want YOU to finally start believing in yourself!"
"Patrick..."
"You don't need anyone's validation, Thomas. You're better off without them." Pat smiled, feeling better now that he was cheering someone up. "Besides, I think you're brilliant." he bounced up and down on his tiptoes. "And I'm your mentor so I know what I'm talking about."
Thomas stared at Pat, a sense of guilt emanating from his chest. The shorter boy was being really nice to him despite Thomas' earlier rudeness. Nobody had ever advised Thomas like that before so for once he was actually at a loss for words. It was rare that anybody ever spoke to him of their own free will in general. People seemed to avoid Thomas completely, yet Pat, a complete stranger he vaguely knew from another class in his year group, remained steadfast in his attempts to brighten his spirits.
"Do you really think so?" Thomas asked, needing confirmation. "Brilliant?"
Pat nodded, "Of course! I know everyone teases you about your poetry but I actually like it. It's very vivid. I don't know much about poetry but I definitely think it should be vivid." he admitted, feathering his glasses. "Now I think you stop moping about and get back to class before Mrs Beaker finds out you're skipping it."
Thomas slid off the radiator, now in a better mood. "Like you're doing?" he replied with a touch of mirth.
Pat shook his head and held the door open for him as they walked into the corridor, "Nah, I'm on a toilet break. The people you run into, eh? Wasn't intending on giving a pep talk to a poet." he chuckled.
"Well I'm very glad you did." Thomas admitted quietly, stopping by his classroom door.
This made Pat smile brighter. "I'll see you later, Thomas."
"Goodbye, Patrick."
The two went their separate ways.
~~~~~
"I thought this was science club?" Kitty asked, looking around for confirmation.
"No, Kitty, we already told you it was English. Even the timetable says so!"
"What timetable?" she asked, flicking through her school planner, "I don't have a timetable. I just have a list of subjects with little numbers next to them."
"Kitty, that IS the timetable."
"Oh, really? I thought it was the classroom list."
Fanny groaned loudly as the pair sat in the history class waiting for the rest of their after-school classmates to show up. The pair had bumped into each other in the corridor as the end of school bell had chimed and Kitty had practically clung to Fanny all the way to class.
Fanny tapped her pen on the blank page of her book impatiently. She'd hoped class would have started by now so they could get an early leave. Like Humphrey's parents, hers also felt insulted that she was attending after school sessions because they knew she was intelligent and thought those classes were beneath her. If only they knew...
"Oh come on. Where are they?" she muttered.
The door soon opened and in walked Cap, Mary and Robin.
"Good afternoon." greeted Cap, making his way over to an empty table.
"You're late!" Fanny snapped, "Where's Patrick? He's normally the first one here!"
"I don't know!" Robin huffed. "Don't shout at us."
"Did you see him in the school?" Kitty asked. Mary shook her head.
"No, but we saw Thomas being laughed at by Paul and his friends."
"Oh."
"What's new?" Robin laughed.
The door flew open and Thomas fell into the classroom, having just been kicked in by Julian.
"I told you to get out of the way!" Julian huffed, following him in. Humphrey followed behind, rolling his eyes.
Thomas stood up and pointed at Julian. "I demand revenge!"
"Shut up, Thomas."
The door suddenly banged open, a dishevelled Pat hurrying in.
"S-Sorry I'm late!" he apologised, shoving his books into his bag and throwing it onto the desk chair. "I had a... thing." He swiftly brushed himself down and straightened his glasses, feeling himself going red under their watchful eyes. "Um, so, poetry! Yes! Um..." he glanced at Thomas, hoping the other boy would help him out.
Thomas glared at him. Then huffed and slowly emerged from his seat, plodding to the front of the class. He turned to them with an elegant spin. "Patrick asked me to help present the lesson today because we're doing poetry and he knows how good I am at it."
"Boo!" called Julian, earning a warning glare from Pat.
"So instead of calling me names YOU WILL RESPECT ME! At least only for now. Understand?" Thomas demanded.
The class begrudgingly nodded. Even Julian.
Thomas bowed his head in appreciation. "So! Today, Patrick and I are going to teach you the fundamentals of poetry. But mainly me as he clearly doesn't know what he's doing." he glared at Pat, who had started writing what he deemed poetry was on the board.
A little later into the session, the clubbies were all getting on with the work Pat had set them. Thomas was trying to help Julian but the two ended up having an argument about cheese. Pat just ignored them and wandered about the classroom. The others seemed to be getting on fine.
"Are you all alright?"
"Fine thanks mate." Humphrey replied.
"Yes, all good here." Robin said as the girls nodded.
Pat nodded back and moseyed over to Cap, who hadn't responded. "Are you okay, Cap?"
Cap seemed to be in a trance. Pat gently poked him, causing the rigid boy to jump which in turn made Pat jump.
"I'm sorry, were you talking to me? I was miles away." Cap straightened up.
"S-So I see! You all good?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"And the work?"
"Yes, it's easy enough. Thomas explained it quite well. Surprisingly."
"I heard that!"
Cap gave a wry smile. Pat offered him a thumbs up.
"Oi! Arbuckle! Will you get over here and tell old Byron-pants that the best type of cheese is Stilton!"
"It is not! It's Wensleydale! What kind of cretin puts Stilton first?"
"What kind of loser eats cranberries in cheese?"
"Are you two STILL arguing about this?" Pat moved over to them.
"He started it!" Thomas accused.
"No, Mr Fancypants here started it!"
"Guys, please! You're setting a bad example to the rest of the clubbies!" he gave a little sigh, "You don't have to argue over opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own and there's no right or wrong answer to them. Okay?"
"Julian shouldn't have such crappy opinions then."
Julian pushed himself away from his desk and stood up defensively. "What did you say?"
"Guys! Stop it!" Pat pleaded, holding his arms out. "Thomas, I think your work here is done so please go back to your table. Julian, please sit down and get on with your work. We don't need any more violence!"
Thomas tutted and obeyed Pat. Julian did the same, slouching back down into his seat.
Pat let out a big sigh. The sound of applause broke through his train of thought and he was surprised to see the rest of the class bar Cap and Fanny clapping his efforts.
"Good job Pat!" whistled Humphrey.
"You actually took charge and everything!" Kitty grinned.
Pat shuffled shyly, "O-Oh! Well, it was nothing, really."
"Finally decided to grow a backbone?" Fanny mumbled to Cap, who chuckled at the remark.
"You did good to shut them up." Mary smirked, "Especially Julian."
"I can hear you, you know!" came Julian's whine. "Anyway, what's wrong with me? THOMAS is the problem."
"What's right with him?" Robin muttered dryly, causing the rest of the class to laugh.
Julian just rolled his eyes and buried his head in his work.