BBC Ghosts: Teatime Club

Cheese

Pat had his head buried in a book. It was lunchtime and he was sitting alone on a table in the far corner of the canteen away from everyone else. He'd actually managed to get a bit of free time to himself due to a certain group of students being stuck in detention all lunch which meant he was actually able to do what he wanted, so he decided to catch up on his reading.

He was so absorbed in his book that he didn't hear a certain heavy-footed classmate approaching.

"This seat taken?" came a gruff voice. Pat was pulled out of his stupor to see Robin standing next to him.

"Oh, hello Robin! No, it's not." he slid his bookmark inside his most treasured possession and closed it.

"Good." the scruffy teen lowered himself onto the seat with a plod. "How are you today?"

"M-Me? Oh, I'm fine. How are you?"

"Okay." Robin replied, his tone a little sad. Pat caught onto this and leaned in closer.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he practically whispered. Robin was so easy to read.

Robin held his hands together and fidgeted on the seat, something obviously on his mind. He folded his arms to steady himself and turned his head away from Pat. "Maybe."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Pat offered, taking a sip from his juice carton.

"Do you know anything about... girls?"

Pat almost spat out his juice. He hadn't expected Robin to come out with anything like that.

"Um, well, not really. Why?"

"It's just that... I have this friend who likes this girl, right? But my friend doesn't know how to tell her he likes her because he likes her a lot but doesn't know why - maybe because her hair smells like strawberries or something but like my friend is worried what to do next. And stuff."

"Oh! Well... this isn't really my forte, Robin. Perhaps you should ask Thomas." Pat bit his tongue, feeling a little bad about not being able to help him. He really couldn't though. Nobody had ever fancied him because he was too short, fat and ugly for anyone to even consider him as a crush. He was hopeless.

"Ask Thomas what?" came a snooty voice from behind them.

"Oh, hi Thomas!" Pat greeted warmly. "Robin was just asking me about-"

"Forget it!" Robin rose to his feet. "Thomas isn't good with romance."

Thomas let out a sharp gasp, "I'll have you know I'm excellent in matters of the heart!"

Robin just shrugged him off with a laugh, dismissing himself from their table. Thomas angrily stared him down as he sauntered away. Pat cleared his throat and hopefully patted the seat next to him. After a brief moment of consideration, Thomas sat down. He let out a mournful sigh and slowly turned to the shorter teen.

"How are you today, Patrick?"

"M-Me? Oh, I'm just fine thank you, Thomas. Are you?"

"No, not really." he sighed again, "Mrs Cooper hasn't spoken to me for a WHOLE day! I miss her..."

"Right..." Pat didn't know what to say to that. Instead he changed the subject. "Erm, so, are you ready for our English club later on? I know you like English!"

"Love it, actually." Thomas corrected, "So I'm sure to blow everyone away with my work."

"Y-You might be able to help them too!" Pat suggested. He was met with a look of distain from the lankier teenager.

"Isn't that your job?" Thomas droned accusingly.

Pat just shrugged his shoulders, "Every little helps?"