This was a problem.
Pat stared at his ugly reflection in the mirror. A dark circle marred his right cheek. The bruise was sore and swollen and worst of all, obvious.
"Great." Pat muttered to himself, standing on his tiptoes to get a closer look in the mirror. He didn't really want everyone to know about his little injury because it was embarrassing, if anything, as it brought attention to himself. It was a symbol of his weakness. It would raise too many questions.
If he could just make it through the day with his head down then nobody would notice it.
The short teenager pushed the toilet door open and walked into the corridor. It was dead at this time in the morning as it was at least an hour before school even started, so he had a lot of time to kill. He sighed and made his way to his tutor room, hoping it was open. He walked another three laps around the school. As he was walking through the humanities passageway for a third time, he heard a strange noise that he couldn't place. He stopped and looked around, finding the hallways empty. He listened intently and came to recognize the sound.
It was... crying.
Now concerned, Pat followed the source of the noise and ended up down a smaller corridor leading to a rogue English classroom. On reaching the classroom, he peered through the door window.
Inside was Mary.
She was slumped over one of the tables with her head buried in her arms, crying her eyes out. Pat's first instinct was to see how she was but he didn't want to scare her. He gently tapped on the door but she didn't move.
"Mary?" he spoke softly.
Her crying seemed to cease for a moment and she lifted her head. Her eyes were puffy and red as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve. Pat entered the room and cautiously approached her.
"Oh darling, are you okay?"
His kind expression set off a fresh wave of tears and she threw her hands up to her face, cupping her eyes as she wept. She shook her head. Pat knelt beside her and handed her a tissue from the desk behind him. She nodded gratefully and dabbed her eyes, scrunching up the tissue to then blow her nose. Pat waited patiently until she was ready to talk.
"S-Sorry about this." she stuttered, "My emotions just boiled over and I-I couldn't control them."
"Everyone needs a little cry now and again. There's no shame in that, Mary." he replied kindly.
Mary gave him a small smile. "T-Thanks Pat."
"Do you feel better now?"
"A little bit, yes." she sniffed. "It's just that... my parents are splitting up. They're going through the processes of a divorce and it didn't really hit me until I saw them talking it through with their legal people. It's real. So real. My family is breaking apart and I can't do anything to stop it." she started sobbing again.
Pat gently patted her back as she let out her tears, not knowing what else to say. He was terrible at social cues, especially when dealing with people in a heightened emotional state. He'd never been tasked with comforting anybody like this before. He hadn't needed to. "I-I'm sure everything will turn out okay, Mary. You'll learn to adjust to the changes. It may be extremely difficult at times, but that's okay. You're allowed to be upset over this. Have you told your parents how you feel?"
She wiped her eyes and shook her head, "I don't want to get involved. It'll make things difficult for them."
"But it's hurting you! Your feelings matter, Mary! They are valid! You are valid! I really think you should tell them, honestly. It might make you feel better."
Mary blew her nose again, "D-Do you really think so?"
Pat shook his head, "I know so, Mary. They need to know how you're feeling. It may not change anything but it'll help them understand what their divorce is doing to you."
Mary absorbed his words and wiped her eyes. She stood up and Pat followed her movement, wincing a little as his legs had gone dead from his awkward pose. Mary looked on her classmate fondly and pulled him into a hug. Pat flinched a little, not expecting the contact, and patted her back.
Mary pulled away. "Thank you, Patrick. Would you... mind not telling the others about this?"
Pat straightened his glasses, "I won't tell a soul."
"Thank you." she recomposed herself. After a few moments she noticed that Pat was carrying an injury on his face. "How did you get that?"
"Get what? Oh! This? Oh, er, I kind of fell into a door, believe it or not. I'm really clumsy." he gave it a little rub, causing the pain to flare up.
"You should put some ointment on that." she commented.
"I don't have any."
"I think Kitty has some. You should ask her to borrow."
"Oh, well... maybe."
Mary tucked her chair back under the table and left the room, Pat following alongside. A few more people had turned up at school now so the corridors were a little busier. Mary and Pat walked together for a little while until Mary decided to go to her tutor room.
"I'll see you later then, Pat. Thanks for everything." she smiled.
"Oh, no worries! It's what I'm here for. See you later!" he said cheerily, waving her off.
He was about to carry on walking to class when he was abruptly accosted by Robin. The other boy had seemingly phased out of nowhere and started prodding his chest.
"Why were you talking to Mary?" he asked with a frown.
Pat could practically see the envy sizzling off of him. "She just needed someone to talk to for a moment. Nobody else was here, so..."
"Oh. That's okay then." he ceased his prodding and folded his arms. "She okay now?"
Pat made an executive decision. "Yes, but, um, Robin? I think she could do with cheering up today."
"How do I do that?"
"Oh, um, I'm not sure. Maybe just... spend some time with her. Make her laugh. Give her a gift... or something?"
Robin nodded, "I will keep that in mind."
"Good! Well, I best get going to class, so-"
"How did you get that bruise?" Robin asked, pointing at said injury.
"I tripped into a door."
"Okay." Robin replied with a hint of suspicion. "See you later." he swiftly went charging off down the corridor with his arms stretched out.
"Erm, okay. Goodbye Robin..."
~~~~~
The morning passed slowly as ever. The lessons continued to drag until lunchtime, when Pat was finally freed from the monotony.
As he made his way into the school canteen, Pat spotted the solitary Cap sitting at one of the tables. He smiled and headed on over to him, hoping the other boy would accept his company.
"M-May I sit here please?" he asked hopefully.
"Providing you no longer stutter, yes." came Cap's dismissive reply, not even looking up at him.
"I-I don't stutter!" Pat stuttered, covering his mouth self-consciously. He lowered himself down on a seat and pulled out his lunch box. Pat ate his lunch quietly beside the taller boy. After finishing he put his lunch box away and looked over at his companion, who hadn't said a word.
"Um, so, how are you doing, mate?" he tried.
"Fine." came Cap's blunt reply.
"Oh! Okay..." Pat had expected a little more than just that to go by. "How has your day been?"
"Adequate."
"Well, okay then."
Cap tensed up beside him.
"So... what have you been up to?"
"What's with all of these questions?" Cap snapped, startling Pat.
"I-I just wanted to see-"
"You're just being nosy, that's all."
"I'm not!" Pat replied with wide eyes, "I'm just trying to be-"
"I don't care!" Cap scowled. "I have enough on my plate already. I don't want to have to be dealing with you, too."
Pat's mouth dropped open, hurt radiating from his chest. Why did nobody ever want to deal with him?
"You need to man up, Patrick." Cap's eyes idly bounced over to some popular boys in their year. "When that happens people will actually start treating you with respect."
Pat was lost for words. He glanced down into his lap as his confidence dissipated. He was used to being told to man up at home. He hadn't expected to hear it here, too. It made him feel even more worthless to hear it coming from a classmate.
"Are you okay?" Pat cut through his barbs, trying to redirect the focus back onto the taller boy.
"Stop asking me that."
"I don't mean to pry, but you're clearly not!"
"You don't know anything about me! Stop pretending you know me and leave me alone!"
"...I'm just trying-"
"Well don't. I don't want your sympathy and I don't want to be friends with you. Leave me alone."
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Go away, Pat."
Pat rose to his feet and swiftly trundled away from the table. Cap watched after his classmate and sighed, his frown melting away.
This was for the best.
~~~~~
"Where is he?" Fanny groaned, "He's late again!"
"I'll be complaining to Mrs Cooper about this." Julian nodded his head. "I can't ABIDE lateness."
"But you're always late to lesson." Humphrey rolled his eyes.
"Well that's different." Julian snorted.
"Has anyone seen him today?
"I saw him this morning." Mary replied. "But not since then."
"Anyone else?"
"I saw him at lunchtime." Cap admitted, deciding not to elaborate further.
"If he doesn't turn up can we go home?"
"We should stay, really. I don't want to get into trouble again."
Their conversation was interrupted when the door unceremoniously burst open, a panicked Pat spilling through.
"S-Sorry I'm late!" he panted. "M-Mrs Cooper wanted to see me about something."
"Well it's about time." muttered Julian.
"No harm done."
"Oh Patrick! What happened to your face?" Kitty gasped, noticing his injury.
Pat pretended he hadn't heard her. He quickly dumped his bag in his chair and stood in front of the class. "Sorry! Um, what were we doing again? Oh, yes, chemistry, wasn't it?"
"Chemistry..." Robin repeated slowly, eyes glancing over to Mary.
"I can't STAND chemistry." Thomas drawled.
Pat retrieved a folder from his backpack and pulled out some worksheets. The others caught wind of this and groaned loudly.
"Worksheets?"
"I thought we weren't doing worksheets any more!" Julian groaned. "Make your mind up!"
"I-I'm really sorry, I didn't have much time to prepare for this session. If you'd rather not do this then I can think of something else." Pat hugged the stack of sheets close to his chest.
"Worksheets are fine with me." Humphrey broke the tension, giving Pat a supportive smile. The others soon followed suit, and Pat passed them the worksheets to complete. Once everyone had finally gotten settled, Pat took a seat at the front of the class. He idly rubbed his aching arm and watched them. Robin and Mary were quietly talking to one another. Her smile indicated she was feeling much better now, so at least that was something.
Pat warily glanced over at Cap, who was doing his best to push off Julian's attempts of copying his work. A sense of guilt emanated from Pat's chest when thinking of their earlier encounter and a new feeling bubbled up inside him.
It was fear.
"Pat? Mind helping me with something?" came Kitty's sweet voice. Pulling himself out of his reverie, Pat went to assist her.
"Yes Kitty?"
"Would you mind explaining to me how the bonding works?" she asked.
Pat was slightly taken aback by her phrasing, "Bonding?"
"Yes! Fanny says that the ball things are called Adams and they push together and crack. Is that how they make the baby?"
"Adam? Do you mean atom?"
"I don't know. I've never met him."
Pat couldn't help but facepalm.