Techno's POV:
It was late, too late. But I'd left my homework until the last minute and then Tommy wanted me to read with him and I got all caught up in it and now I was doing homework at 1:19 am. If Mum or Dad realised I was still awake, I'd be caught up in a lecture about appropriate sleeping hours and asking for help when I need it. If I'm honest, maybe I could do with that lecture. Maybe I could do with just being hugged and told that we're going to work it out. Maybe I just needed to finish this paragraph.
Curse me choosing so many essay writing subjects. I mean, when my brain cooperates, essays are done in like 10 minutes, boom finished it. When my brain gives up on me, I'm done for. I scrambled a last few paragraphs together, put it in my school bag and slumped into bed.
I dreamed I was a youtuber, which is probably stupid but I think it's cool. I mean, imagine filming yourself playing a stupid videogame is your job! I've been thinking about jobs recently though. There was this poster I saw at school; the group I used to do my karate classes with are looking for people to help with the younger kid sessions. They provide the required training and it's in my school's hall, 5 until 7. I've tried getting a job before and it really didn't go well, so maybe this was a better way of doing it. An environment that I was familiar with, working with people who saw me at my lowest and did their best to encourage and support me. They might be a bit shocked to see me so much taller, and so grown up in some ways but something like this could be good for me.
We were too busy this evening to talk about it. Mumbo was doing all the music lessons and Mum and Dad were rushing around trying to get stuff done. Tommy was high on the slush puppie James had got him at the trampoline park and it made for an interesting evening when he finally crashed. Dad spent like 2 hours going through Tubbo's dyslexia diagnosis with him and working out all the stuff out. And Wilbur kept wanting to tell me about all the funny stuff that had happened during lunch, when he had the school production cast pizza party.
I had my driving lesson, and when I finished, I returned home to pure chaos. Wilbur and Tubbo have been crashing about the house doing stuff I can't even work out, and then Mum was trying to vacuum up some crackers that had gotten everywhere. In the end, I curled up in my armchair in the corner of the room, and listened to some music. Mum asked if I was okay, but she left me alone as soon as I said I was tired. I preferred it like that, had she kept pushing, I likely would have just got angry. I hate that about myself.
When I finally welcomed sleep, I found it left again just as quickly and my alarm was blaring. Groaning, I lay in bed, hoping the world might swallow me whole. I put a song on I'd found on some youtube playlist and decided that if I escaped into it, I might not even be aware of the fact I was putting on my tie or brushing my teeth. And maybe, if I was very lucky, my teachers would have something 'fun' for today's lesson and I get away with saying I was too overwhelmed and could just sit at the back and read. It worked; mostly because I was overwhelmed by it all and couldn't do much else even if I wanted to, and also because it was either I sat at the back of the classroom and read, or I sat in the SEN department and read. The teachers tended to want me in their classes where they could keep an eye on me.
Nearly tripping down the stairs, as I messed about with my tie, trying to get it to sit right, I walked into the kitchen and got myself some breakfast. Dad was doing toast this morning and I didn't think I could stomach it. I grabbed one of my breakfast bars and sat down next to Tommy, headphones still blaring. He smiled at me, tapping my shoulder a few times. Turning to look at him, I realised he was still waiting for me to take my headphones off. I decided to find a way round it: because if I took the headphones off I thought I might cry and there wasn't any time to do that this morning.
I waved at him. He waved back. He then gave me a thumbs up. I gently returned it and went back to my breakfast bar. I had barely chewed once before I was being tapped on the shoulder again. I turned to look at him sharply, I just wasn't in the right head space for this. It was only when I saw him flinch and blink rapidly, that I broke down into tears.
My head in my hands, I could hear Dad's muffled voice asking me what was going on. "WHY DON'T YOU ASK TOMMY!" I half-shouted, tears streaming from my face and dropping onto the counter. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I didn't know why there was always something wrong with me!
"Te?" His voice broke through it all. His little hand resting on my arm. His messy blond hair just poking through what I could see.
"Tech, mate why don't we take 5 minutes outside." Dad's voice was muffled.
"Bounce?" Tommy's was clear.
I sniffed, took my younger brother's hand and accepted his request. I left my blazer on one of the garden chairs, let my socks get wet in the early morning dew. Taking my tie, and tying it round the head of my younger brother. He placed both hands on my cheeks and took in a deep breath. I choked through one of two more sobs before doing as he had asked.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Ready." I replied, matching his sign. Maybe Dad was busy calling school to tell them I wasn't going to be in. Maybe he was busy emailing the SEND department so I wouldn't miss out on my school work. Maybe he was trying to explain to Tubbo and Wilbur why they couldn't come out and join us. All I know is that the car left to take Wilbur to school and Tommy and I only went in when we both realised how hungry we were, by then it was 10 o'clock.
"We're leaving soon mate." Dad said nonchalently.
"What?" I mumbled.
"Got the meeting with school. Tommy, James and I are going to look around and try to sort some things out for September.
"Oh."
"Feeling any better?" I just shrugged. "Want a hug?" I welcomed it. "We'll get through it mate."
"I'm not so sure this time."
"Hey, if you're thinking like that-"
"I'm not. I promise. Just burnt out."
"Nearly the summer holidays mate, just a few more days. Why don't you just play minecraft with Tubbo or something?"
"I'm going to have a shower."
"Okay mate, well have a good day. Tommy and I will be back in a few hours."
"See you later, you little gremlin." I said, fighting tears again. Tommy looked at me sadly. "I'm just working through some things, that's all." He nodded. And got his iPad from the kitchen counter. He typed something out, deleted it all and stared at the screen for a few seconds. "You don't have to say anything, how about a hug?" He smiled and tucked himself into my side.
"Proud of you mate. Talk to Mum if you need someone." I nodded, wiped tears from my eyes and disappeared upstairs.
Relishing the warm water, and a bit of peace and quiet, I took a much longer shower when usual. When down, I curled up in bed with some more music and tried to sleep. My brain was jumping about the place and I didn't manage it. Mum only came in to ask what I wanted to eat and whether I wanted to play minecraft with Tubbo. Only when told we had the right kind of pot noodle in the cupboard and that my younger brother wouldn't mind if I paid no attention to him whilst we played, did I leave the comfort of my bedroom.
I curled in my armchair because it made me feel less vulnerable, safer. And once I had inhaled the pot noddle and half a can of fanta, I grasped my hands around the controller and began mining wood. Tubbo was half way through a mining trip so I went around murdering stuff and building the bare bones of a farm. Mum set some biscuits out on a small plate but neither of us touched them. She sat on the sofa next to Tubbo, scrolling through something on her phone and periodically looking up at the screen to provide questions on what we were doing. She knew all the answers already, a minecraft obsession I've not moved out of proves that point a billion times over.
After saving Tubbo from a zombie and then carrying on like nothing had happened (because in my brain nothing particularly interesting had happened), I logged out and set down the controller.
I slipped on some trainers from the cupboard in the hallway and went into the garden. My blazer and tie were still there but I'd get them at some point later on. Strolling down to the river, I dipped my fingers in. It was cold and numbed then almost uncomfortably. With my head rested on my kneecaps, I found myself zoning in and out, listening to a different song every time I came back to my senses. I realised someone was stood behind me and was surprised when out of the corner of my eye, I saw it was Tubbo.
"R-r-r-r-rubb-b-b-b-bish day?" He asked, leaning on his crutches and coming to stand next to, instead of behind, me. I just nodded in reply. "Me too." He mumbled. I nodded again. I closed my eyes and my music went quiet. I must have missed the replay button. The silence swelled and then I heard Julia's voice. It was trembling and an awful memory. I had experience it before, often in the moments of silence whilst my brain works out what thought to run off with next.
"Her f-f-f-f-face is st-st-st-str-strong to-to-to-today-day-day." I was confused and looked up at him with a questioning expression, or certainly the best one I could muster. "Julia's." He said, readjusting his grip on his crutches.
"Me too." I said, "I hear her, her voice down the call. Scared."
"In-in-in the sil-silence?"
"Yea, when everything pauses for that millisecond, it's like it's screaming at me. Wears you down and takes over sometimes." He just nodded, and it was then that I understood that Tubbo and I had a lot more in common than computers.
I went back up to my room and began catching up on the school work my teachers had sent me.
Phil's POV:
We'd just finished our tour of the school and were now sat in one of the smaller side rooms in the SEN department to escape to torment of break time. Wilbur made a quick appearance but claimed he 'had things to do', aka sandwiches to eat and friends to mess around with.
James was looking around the room and noticed a stack of tables in the corner. "End of term deep clean?" I suggested, gesturing to the oddly placed tables. Mr Manifold appeared out of nowhere, with the SENCO that was leaving and both of them sat down opposite us.
"Hey, nice to meet you all again a bit more formally."
"Nice to see you again Mr Watson. Nice to meet you Mr Marriott, Tommy."
"Oh please just call me James."
"Right, well today I was hoping we could finalise some stuff for Tommy's support in September?"
"Sounds good," I said politely, bringing out my notebook filled with talking points and questions. "Where shall we start?" I joked.
"How about uniform? Can we make any accommodations for Tommy?"
"Yes, he won't wear ties, the knitted jumpers or blazers, we tried with some of Wilbur's old stuff on last night didn't we mate?" Tommy nodded, fiddling with his iPad case.
"Okay, but he'll wear a plain white shirt?" I nodded. "I reckon that's a reasonable adjustment."
"We've got some students here who wear different types of jumpers, in nicer fabrics and then we just get the parents to use the iron-on embroidered school logos?"
"Oh, I hadn't thought about that," I replied. "What do you think Tommy?" He nodded. "So we'll go out and choose some jumpers you like the feel of and then turn them into school jumpers?" He nodded again.
"Well then, I think we can tick that off. Did you say you'd brought Tommy's diagnosis papers with you?"
"Yes, I got his social worker to send them to me. They are severely out of date though. His next one is on Thursday, so I will email the report as soon as I've got it, then we can file the ILP and EHCP?"
"Yep, sounds good."
"Whilst that's all going through, we'll pay for James to attend school with Tommy every day, and then once of the funding comes through, that would pay for James during school hour's."
"Yep, we've explained to the headteacher that this is an exceptional case and requires a different level of care."
"Thank you, I really believe Tommy's going to enjoy school if things can just stay on track for long enough."
"Well from how much Wilbur and Techno talk about you and Tubbo, we are going to be super lucky to have all 4 of you here next year." Tommy smiled at Jack.
"Next thing I had on my list was sets and lessons. We've noticed recently that Tommy's reading age is a lot higher than we thought?"
"We had him in bottom sets didn't we?" The SENCO said.
"Yea, and I'm beginning to think that's going to be too low of a level for him?"
"Don't we do baseline tests with all the year 7's in science, maths and English?" Jack asked.
"Yes we do, but we always talk to SEN parents about what set might work best for their child. Not every kid performs at their full potential in exams, and sometimes even if a kid is highly intelligent, top sets aren't the right environment for them." The SENCO stated; it was a real shame she was leaving, after all she did really know her stuff. Still, I'm sure Mr Manifold will do a good job.
"Tommy's never done like a written test before, so he may be alright with them." I felt Tommy tap me on the arm. "What's up?"
He pressed the play button on his iPad, which I hadn't realised he'd been typing on. "Please stop talking about like I'm not here."
"Sorry mate, you're right."
"Well then I think that's a good place to start as any." Jack said, "Tommy, here is the list of different lessons Year 7's do, is there anything on there you really like, or anything you really don't like?" Tommy studied the list and then began typing.
"While he's doing that, let me get you a few copies of a school map. We are Did you want our 'school welcome pack'?"
"We're alright thanks, I think Techno and Wilbur might have enough information to give him already."
"I like music. And reading and running."
"So music, English and PE." Tommy half nodded.
"You just like learning things don't you Tommy." He nodded in reply to James.
"Well, then sounds like you'll love school."
"Yea." I sat in shock, looking at my youngest son.
"Did you just say yea?"
"Yea." He said again, rocking in his seat.
"He said it yesterday," James began, "I didn't realise it was new!"
"You are amazing Tommy," I said, smothering him in a hug.
"Yea." He said again, giggling to no end.
"So you looking forward to coming here in September?" Jack asked.
"Yea." Tommy said, flapping his hands. And that was that.
A/n Hello! Hope you're having a great day! Thanks for being here.