Monday 13th May
The final bell of the day rang. It was 3:00PM.
Alex and Fraser sat in the library, as was routine for them. Fraser had originally stayed after school to revise however when Alex started tagging along it soon became a hangout place for them to generally fuck around.
Fraser aimlessly drew blue boxes on the desktop of one of the library computers, only half-listening to Alex's rambles.
'And this guy just completely stopping in the hallway. Like dead still. Who does that? In a busy hallway?'
Alex's rant was interrupted by the library door swinging open, both boys quickly snapped their heads round to look at the unexpected visitor. A tall man stood in the doorway, his face adorned with a dark beard.
'Uh. Study club?' He asked, looking at the pair. They exchanged a quick glance between one and other.
'Oh, yeah. Books are over there' Fraser pointed to a pile of revision books that sat in a pile on top of a table. The man nodded at them and made his way over.
'I didn't think anyone would come.' Alex spoke lowly, not wanting to distract the man studying a couple tables away from them.
'He must've seen stock image man and couldn't resist.' Fraser joked, Alex laughed a little too loud at the silly comment causing the bearded man to glance up at them. He shot them a warm smile before returning to looking at his notes.
'Ow, fuck!'
All three of them looked up at where the yelp had came from, finding themselves staring back at the library door as two new strangers appeared. One held his head, presumably from hitting it against the door whilst the other held his stomach in fits of laughter.
'It's not even that funny, you mong.' The shorter one stated, shaking his head at his friend even though he wore a goofy grin himself.
'Not even been here five minutes and you're necking it on with a door, bloody hell.' His friend teased, before looking around the room, glancing at the three men that were already settled.
'Oi, this is where the study club is, yeah?' He called out to the three, seemingly unaware of his volume.
'Yeah, mate. Books are over there.' Fraser answered, nodding over to where the tall man had sat.
'Ah, cheers.' The pair of strangers made their way over to the table, picking up a couple of books at random before settling at a table next to the man studying.
'Fucking hell, library club's popular.' Alex commented in a whisper, looking around at the newcomers. The two new boys were bickering and giggling at each other as the dark-haired man staring intently at revision books, Alex continued his rant about people in hallways and Fraser returned to aimlessly clicking around.
The atmosphere was different to when it was just Alex and Fraser, it seemed more comfortable. The eerie silence that lingered behind Alex's constant chatter was no longer there, as the sound of pages turning, pencils gliding across paper, and people talking filled the air.
Alex had got out his notebook, he wasn't actually writing important notes or revising. Just doodling as he often did. He flinched and accidentally shot a sharp line across the pages as a familiar voice bellowed from across the library.
'Joshua. You remember our meeting on Friday, young man.' The devil herself, commonly going by her alias of 'Ms Torin' clacked across the wooden library floor in her heels.
Next to her a boy with blond curly hair shuffled along, mumbling words too quiet to be heard. He held his head down with a bitter look on his face.
'Alex, Fraser! This is Josh, he'll be joining you for study club.' She exclaimed across the room.
'If he leaves before five then do let me know. Right, Josh, sit down over there and get on with it.' She pointed over to the table the bearded man was sat at.
Josh reluctantly sat down and stared blankly at the desk as she left the library. The formerly-comfy atmosphere had decayed into an awkward one. The bickering died down and pages being turned were the only escape from the empty silence that thinned the air around them.
Fraser shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Alex's chatter had muted itself into occasional mumbles. Josh glanced around the room, aware that his presence had stirred the room into stillness.
He swallowed, looking up to the man he sat next to,
'Were you forced to come 'ere, too?' Josh asked, a desperate attempt to fill the suffocating silence.
'Nah, needed revision books.' The man explained, nodding towards the pile that sat in the middle of their table.
'Can't you buy 'em?'
'Yeah, but they're like £6 each.'
'Fuckin' hell, bit scammy.' The blonde laid back into his chair and ran his hands through his hair, feeling more relaxed in the casual conversation.
'Innit just.'
'What's your name, by the way?'
'James.' He shot Josh a quick glance accompanied by a polite smile before returning his eyes to his notebook.
'J names are the true alphas.' Joshy joked.
'Damn right.' James let a slight grin spread across his face from the silly comment.
A paper clip whizzed across Alex's cheek, causing him to jolt up from his notebook and stare towards the direction it came from.
'Shit, sorry mate.' The taller man of the bickering pair said, throwing another paper clip at his shorter friend.
'Fuck off Will!' His friend hissed with no real conviction behind the words. He threw small scrunched pieces of paper at his friend, snickering whenever they hit him.
Alex decided upon getting his revenge on the wicked paperclip-wielding man that had almost struck him, throwing the paper clip back at Will and cackling when it hit him right in the centre of his forehead.
He looked over at Alex 'Oi don't you start!' he hollered at the boy, leaning over to pick the paper clip back up. His friend took this as an opportunity to sling a pen at him.
'I'm bein' attacked from all sides here!' He stuck his hands up pretending to surrender before yelling over to the curly-haired boy sat at James' table.
'Can you throw that pen at George for me?' He asked, miming to the boy who stood across from him.
Josh complied, chucking the pen towards the small man, who managed to move out of the way just in time.
'Lucky bastard.' The blonde laughed, standing up from his seat to join the conflict.
It was George and Alex versus Will and Josh, all the boys grabbing at whatever stationary was closest to them and lobbing it at one and other. Pencils hitting desks and melodramatic yelps from whenever someone was struck sounded out between the ongoing laughter that filled the room.
James and Fraser sat spectating the ongoing fight, humoured by the aim that all of the participants seemed to lack. They locked eyes, Fraser mouthed 'sorry' to the man who'd been studying, offering him a sympathetic smile.
James grinned and pointed to a ruler that laid in front of Fraser. The boy with glasses picked it up and nodded towards James before throwing it to him, who began aiming towards the oblivious crowd of men playfully chucking paperclips and pencils between each other.
Slap.
'Coh, fuckin' hell!' Will cried out, holding his arm where the ruler had hit.
A chorus of cackles surrounded the poor boy, James having to sit down from laughing so hard. A beginner's mistake.
Will threw the ruler straight at James, it hit him in the dead centre of his chest. The tall man theatrically threw his hand to his chest and slumped back in his chair.
'You win this time, mate.' He called over to the perpetrator, who was doubled over in laughter at this point.
Maybe this study club won't be so bad.