BRUISED KNUCKLES (ch 1 pt 3)
Content warning: swearing, use of the word c*nt
It was difficult writing about how they met for the first time, they sat in the school toilet for the rest of the break and discovered they had a lot in common (I left that bit out). Spencer has never really had school friends so Emrys invited him over to say thank you to Elliot for talking to him. I did my best even if it feels a bit rushed.
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It was Friday and Spencer was elated, he had managed his first full week at school without getting into trouble and Emrys had promised to cook his favourite meal for him and his friends before their band practice.
Russell was sat next to him and was tucking into his lunch whilst Spencer scribbled in his notebook. They had grown closer over the course of the week as Russell let him ramble about music and talked about his own road trips and travel. He never made a big deal over Spencer’s seizures and only brought them up when they happened; usually it was one of the only things that people spoke about when they worked with the teenager, so this made a nice change.
A loud crash pulled Spencer out of his trance and he lifted his head up, looking over to where the noise came from. He got up out of his seat and saw that someone had been tripped over, spilling his food onto the floor, himself and a girl that was fixing her makeup. “Russ, I’m going to go and see if he’s okay,” he announced before he made his way over to the boy.
Spencer never really bothered himself with other students but this boy was stunning. He had blonde, almost white hair and cornflower blue eyes; he flapped his hands when he laughed which happened a lot less than Spencer wanted. They few classes and Spencer almost always saw him sketching in a sketchpad when he was alone.
Spencer knelt down beside the blonde boy who was biting his bottom lip in an attempt to stop himself from crying and held out a hand. “You okay, man?” he asked quietly, trying his best to ignore the shouting and snide comments from the students that stood around him. The other boy nodded a little and took a deep breath before taking Spencer’s hand, allowing himself to be pulled up.
“Elliot, what the fuck? You ruined my uniform!” a girl shouted, she was almost identical to Elliot, save for the inch thick make up that was caked to her face.
“I fell,” Elliot mumbled, glancing down at the floor at his lunch. “Bullshit, you did this because dad bought me a new phone, didn’t you?” Elliot shook his head and bit his lip again, twisting his hands together.
Elliot’s sister continued shouting insults at him until Spencer slammed his hand down on the table, making her jump. “Back the fuck off and calm the fuck down. He got tripped up. He didn’t do this on purpose, I saw everything, okay? Maybe you should be more concerned with the fact your own fucking brother fell onto the floor and dropped all his fucking food because of these twats,” Spencer shouted, gesturing towards the group of boys stood around them, sniggering.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Elliot’s sister screamed back at Spencer who had balled his hands up into his fists. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to some pikey scum who thinks he knows what he’s talking about. How the fuck did you manage to get into this school, anyway? Did your mum suck off the headmaster?”
Spencer was just about to lose it, his knuckles turning white, just itching to punch that girl in the face when Elliot grabbed his arm and tugged him away. “Everyone knows what you did before you came here; I think she just wants to make you angry so you get kicked out, she’s like that. Let’s go to the toilet so I can deal with this and you can calm down, okay?” Elliot smiled and led him through the crowd that had gathered.
“Of course these toffs know about the fight, I bet all their parents are judges and lawyers and shit,” Spencer hissed, pulling his arm out of Elliot’s and marching to the toilet.
“I’m Elliot, you’re in some of my classes but you’re always with that guy so I didn’t know if I could talk to you…” Elliot rambled as he dabbed tissue on his clothes, scrapping off as much of the food as he could.
“I’m mentally ill not a murderer,” Spencer laughed, “you’re always drawing or something anyway.”
“So do you! You’re always writing in that notebook-“ Elliot pointed at the notebook that Spencer had swiped up when they walked past his table- “well, when you’re not shouting at someone.”
“Oi, I’ve been good this week, thank you very much!” Spencer pouted.
The bathroom door opened and Russell poked his head around the corner, “Spence, your brother’s coming to pick you up in about twenty minutes.” Spencer groaned and slid down the wall next to the sinks. “I fucked up,” he whispered as he banged his head against the sinks to his side. “You aren’t in trouble, I explained everything,” Russell’s attempt at comforting was met with a louder groan and another head bang.
Elliot sat down next to the other and pulled his knees up to his chest, “I’m sorry she said those things to you, Izzy likes to be the centre of attention. She’s always been like this, even when we were little! She tells our parents that I purposefully do things out of jealousy or whatever.”
Spencer frowned and glanced over at his newfound friend, “Why are you apologising for her? I don’t give a shit about what she thinks about me,” his phone went off and he turned to Elliot, “my brother’s here but if you take my number you can always chill at the café if she gets annoying.”
Elliot beamed at Spencer and the both exchanged numbers before Elliot excused himself and disappeared to his next class.
“Russ, he’s fucking adorable,” Spencer exclaimed as he stood up from the bathroom floor and brushed himself off. Russell chuckled and nodded in agreement, holding the door open and following Spencer out. “Yeah, from what I hear his family aren’t great but incredibly rich. They’re all like his sister… horrible family.”
“You allowed to be telling me this stuff? How do you even know anyway? You’ve been here for like a week!”
Russell tapped his nose and grinned, “They talk a lot in the staff rooms after school.” Spencer chuckled slightly and shook his head, “brilliant.”
After translating the brief conversation between Russell and his brother, Spencer took one of Emrys’ straights from the packet of Marlboro’s he knew his brother hid in the glove box and lit it. He spent the entire car journey staring out of the window, not wanting to see the disappointed look on Emrys’ face.
“Fucks sake,” Spencer hissed when he noticed Lucan serving people in the café. He picked up his bag from the car and rushed inside, dodging Lucan’s attempt at grabbing his arm to stop him going up the stairs.
I can cover the lunch shift, babe. You go and speak to him, he looks more upset than angry, Lucan signed when Emrys entered the shop after his brother. Emrys sighed and scanned the room, it was busy but he knew that Lucan would be able to hold it down until he returned.
Spencer was sat on the kitchen counter, taking a swig of whiskey from the bottle and was busy typing away on his phone. “What the fuck, Em?” he shouted as his brother swiped the bottle from his hands.
I get you’re angry but it’s only just turned one, don’t drink in the day. Emrys placed the bottle on the side and waved towards the sofa in the living room, let’s talk about what happened at school, okay? Spencer nodded, flung himself onto the sofa and frowned as he continued scrolling through his phone, refusing to look at Emrys.
Emrys clapped abruptly to get Spencer’s attention, I don’t care about it. It sounded like the girl had it coming and you were only helping someone, it’s not your fault she was a grade A bitch, Zaz. You’ve had an awesome week and I couldn’t be prouder of you so don’t beat yourself up about it.
Spencer shrugged, I just feel like I let you down, Em. I just felt bad for Elliot… He stopped signing and buried his head in his hands; Emrys wrapped his arm around his back and pulled him into a hug.
Elliot? Emrys tapped his little brother’s shoulder, an actual school friend?
I guess? He’s in some of my classes and I think he’s being bullied by his sister and the rest of the stuck up posh twats. I gave him my number because it sounds like he has a shitty family. Spencer shifted and nuzzled into his brother’s shoulder, can we still have Mexican tonight?
His brother nodded before pushing Spencer off him, yeah, yeah. Its band practise isn’t it? You had a good week so I think you deserve Mexican and a few drinks. Why don’t you invite your friend over?
I doubt he’ll want to… Spencer let his hands fall to his lap as he contemplated calling Elliot, he sighed and got off the sofa, okay, I’ll ring him but you have to go downstairs and help Lucan hold down the fort.
Emrys nodded and left the flat as Spencer quickly read through his contacts, pausing when he reached Elliot’s number. He took a deep breath before ringing it, slightly taken back with how fast the other picked up.
“Hello?”
“Yo, it’s Spence… from the bathroom-“ Spencer mentally kicked himself for being so nervous, “my brother invited you over for dinner because of what happened but it’s cool if you don’t want to come or whatever.”
He relaxed a little when he heard Elliot laugh on the other end, “that sounds amazing! Where do you live? My dad can drop me off”
Oh! Awesome! Just search for Brewed Awakening in the middle of town, that’s the café.”
Spencer could not help but to grin when the two said their goodbyes and hung up. It had been an incredibly eventful day but this would make his day a lot better.
