Chapter Text
The tilted clock mounted on the wall ticked agonisingly slowly. Despite only watching the hands move for the past half-hour it felt much longer than that to Henry. He looked down at his math book, a double page spread of circle theorems' rules but with poorly drawn circles, diagrams, horrible spacing and hand writing. It was scruffy and clearly uncared for but it reflected perfectly his thoughts on the stupid teaching. His teacher, Mrs Whittle-Baker, was nattering on about revising and the importance of studying for their GCSE mocks over the half-term break that was coming up soon. He didn't care for it, he knew he wouldn't revise properly even if he tried. He'd just ask for Brian's revision notes and read them before the exams… If he remembered to.
"You have homework due for tomorrow, I still expect every single one of you to submit proof that you did not cheat by writing notes..."
Henry inwardly groaned, he'd still cheat but it would just take him longer now. Finally, they were allowed to pack up and leave. He stuffed his pencil case into his bag, swung it onto his back and dropped his book onto William's behind him so he wouldn't have to put it away himself. William tried to protest but one look and the weepy teen backed down, just like last time and the time before that. He smirked as he watched William walk to the back of the room. The bell rang and the teacher let them go for lunch.
Henry walked the wrong way down the stairs to get into the canteen quicker. He pushed in front of some mouthy year-eight girls that were wearing way too much make-up that made them look orange with massive drags of black around their eyes. He grabbed a soggy sandwich and a dry cake, paid and made his way to the table everyone knew was his and his friends. Well, everyone but this random year seven. He sat down and kicked her calf from under the table. She burst in tears, got up and ran off with her bag but left an uneaten waffle. Hmm, maybe that was too mean. Who was he to turn down free food?
"Henry!"
He turned as he heard his boyfriend call his name and felt a smile creep its way up his lips. He waved Ralph down and they started watching the newest season of Gross Class Zero on Ralph's phone because his parents had taken his again. It was confiscated because he didn't finish his dinner and had scrapped the rest onto his brother's, Peter's, plate and even though the little snot would've happily eaten the healthy beetroot, he still snitched on Henry and got him in trouble. Soon the rest of their friends showed up: Al showed up first, being as punctual as ever, with a football under his arm; Burt showed up next with a tray of slop passed of as food and sat quietly; Graham showed up next with a tray as well with food piled high and when he sat down he got a lunch box out of his bag that was also stuffed with snacks; and finally, Brian showed up with a heavy bag that was obvious filled with books and school work, he vomited words of excuses to his lateness before he even sat down.
Henry would never admit it but he loved these kids, they were like a family to him and all their quirks and oddities made them all the more loveable. He rolled his eyes and told Brian to sit. It wasn't much later that Brian perked up again.
“Hey guys, did you hear about what's happening during half term?"
"If you mean the extra tutoring classes and catch-up courses then don't bother, Brian." Ralph retorted.
"No I mean the 'study group' that Gurinder is holding at her house."
"Why would we want to study with her?" Al asked sweetly, a tad oblivious.
"Al, Brian doesn't actually mean 'study group,’ it's code for a party." Henry chimed in, catching on to the monotone kids messaging much quicker than his friends.
"Yes, that is what I meant. There's supposed to be alcohol too." Brian whispered, hiding his excitement but also being cautious.
"Well are - we gonna go?" Graham spoke with a mouth full of food, he almost choked and Al patted his back helpfully.
""Well duh." Henry rolled his eyes, "When is it?"
"It's two days after your birthday. It starts at 8 PM."
"I forgot about that - I'll probably sneak out 'cause there's no way my parents would allow me to go that late and Peter will probably get me in trouble before then anyways."
"My mum would probably let me go." Ralph had set up a paper wasp and elastic band and was aiming it at a group of year-10 nerds.
"I'm not sure if my dad would let me stay for long but I'll probably be allowed to go. What about you, Burt?" Al smiled kindly at the boy next to him, trying to include him into the conversation.
"I dunno. Maybe?" Burt had never been one for talking but had been getting more comfortable with speaking since their Primary School days. They’d been working on non-verbal communication for him with sign language but Henry was struggling beyond basic signs.
Henry had finished his sandwich and sponge cake and he was now onto the waffle. Ralph and Graham had already finished their food. Burt had almost finished and Al had taken some snacks from Graham. Brian had barely touched his food, Henry kept an eye on this. He noticed Ralph had put his phone away and was fully engaging in conversation now.
"What are we doing after school? We goin’ to the music rooms or going to Lidl to muck about?"
"Music room, we have the school auditions on the 24th so we need to practise."
"I have football training after school but I'm only playing until three-fourty five so I could be there after, until half-four."
"I dunno, I might come..."
"Just come if you can, we really need to work on our original song and the instrumental of the cover songs."
"Got it!" Brian replied, a bit too loudly. He had finally eaten a bit but a book had migrated from his bag which he was now reading.
The conversation died down soon after and Henry had rested his head on Ralph's shoulder. He hadn't slept well last night, his parents had been shouting at him all evening. He had to do his chores once they finished and do homework on top of that so he slept very late. Ralph put an arm ‘round his back and held him close. They weren't out to many yet but the few they were hadn't judged them. Except Margaret, Henry's nosy neighbour, who found out accidentally and used it to blackmail them often. She was a snot-brained, spoiled, toxic bitch. She wasn't homophobic but she knew that they didn't want to be outed and used that against them. She would find anything to control people against any morals. Henry needed dirt on her and soon.
He had almost drifted off to sleep when the harsh screeches of the bell rang through the hall. They got up and tidied their area of their rubbish, put the trays on the rack and started heading to their next lessons. He walked to English with Ralph and they passed by Peter who was in the lower years. He had his gang of goody-two-shoes still. He was heading out of the library with said gang, holding piles of printed papers and books for various teachers. Henry walked past, tempted to make Peter drop the books but with a teacher right behind them he decided otherwise.
The next few hours went by eventually and they met up in front of the music rooms. Henry walked into the music classroom and talked to the teacher. Ms Legato was one of the few teachers that liked Henry. She passed the keys to Henry for the music room with a smile.
"The recording room is open today if you want to use it."
"Thanks, Ms." Henry took the keys and grabbed a few music books for different grades of drum, guitar and piano before heading back out to unlock the corridor to the music rooms. He led Ralph, Burt and Brian into the music rooms and right at the end of the corridor he unlocked the recording room and headed in. Brian flicked the switch and the lights came on. They started setting up and Henry went into the side room and set all the amp nozzles and turned the recording software on so it was ready.
Henry sat down at the drum set, he set the dampener onto the snare drum and adjusted the toms positions and the hi-hat's tightness. He waited for everyone to finish setting up their instruments before they started running through a few songs in practice. Henry logged the changes in a notebook so they could keep Al up-to-date. He had realised recently just how much music meant to him and sharing his passion with his family made him stupidly happy. He put all his energy into the drum beat and by the time Al had come and caught up they were ready to record at least one song.
He watched Ralph during his guitar solo and added rim clicks to the beat and added extra emphasis when re-entering the chorus and he quietened down for the verse so Brian's piano playing could be heard. With Burt and Graham on bass and rhythm guitars, he made sure to lead them in the dynamics they needed to be so they could hear Al and at times Ralph and Brian singing. All in all, it went well and if Henry went a little hard on the riffs in the outro, no one complained about it.
They were in the recording booth listening to the playback of the recording and other than a tweak or so it sounded incredible. Henry struggled to keep himself from grinning stupidly. He saved the recording onto a USB stick and then they tidied up the room and headed out. Henry locked up after himself and handed in the keys and the USB stick. She listened to it and was pretty impressed with it. She pointed out the same tweaks Henry had noticed earlier like the dynamic changes in the chorus and the timing in between the intro and first verse and then handed the stick back to Henry.
They walked home together, joking and messing around but slowly, people dropped off. Brian and Graham got on the bus and Al had to split off to walk home early on and they passed Burt's house soon after that. That left just Henry and Ralph. They had their pinkies entwined as they walked slowly down the street in a comfortable silence. Ralph reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of smokes. He led Henry over to a nearby garden wall and started rolling a cigarette. He flicked the lighter a few times before it came to light, the flame flickering in the light breeze, and lit the end of the stick.
Ralph took a long and deep drag from the cigarette before offering it to Henry who gladly took it and inhaled. Ralph tidied up his stolen packet before he continued walking, them both sharing the blunt. The smoke they inhaled were like clouds ofheaven as they felt calmer and less stressed than they had all week.
"God, Ralph, I really needed this!" Ralph laughed at him, putting an arm around him.
"You looked like it, no offence." Henry huffed and punched Ralph's arm lightly. They walked around aimlessly for a while. The butt was snuffed out on a tree long ago but now they were nearing Ralph's house.
"What time is it?"
"Ten-to-seven, your Mum is going to be livid at you."
"I know! I was supposed to be home like two hours ago. Peter's probably eaten my dinner by now."
"You know your parents suck right?" Henry went silent, no longer in the easy mood the ciggs had put him in. He held Ralph a little tighter in response, however.
"Can we... not talk about this, right now?" Ralph sighed and squeezed Henry slightly. They stopped at Ralph's house and hugged tightly. Henry watched him walk down his path and go into his home before trudging home slowly and unconcernedly.
It was almost 7:40 when he got in, and it was only a few minutes after that when the yelling started. The usual shit his parents had spat for years. They had obviously smelt the smoke on him and that angered them greatly. Maybe he’d care if they were any other parents. Threats and punishments were screamed at him left and right. "Go to your room," and "You don't get dinner for doing this to us," were yelled ceremoniously. Henry sighed and his eyes wandered, as did his attention. Peter was smirking from where he was hiding behind the living room door. It angered Henry, unreasonably so. He pushed past the screams of his parents and trudged his way upstairs and headed to his room.
He slammed the door behind him, chucked his bag down and laid down on his bed. Automatically he looked for his hamster: Fang. Fang had died years prior but his cage still stood on his desk in remembrance. It upset him but the thought of moving or getting rid of it infuriated him more.
He buried his head into his pillow in frustration, the angry thoughts aiding him as he fell to sleep. He hadn't eaten and had left his binder on, he wasn't comfortable but he couldn't care less. The tick of his alarm clock soothed him into the night up until the next morning. Just a regular and normal day. Just a normal day... right?
*Knock. Knock... Knock.*