Oakleaf Academy For Boys

forty

Lucky watched the teacher as a dull buzz of her words circled his head. He tapped his pen over the page distractedly, watching as small droplets of ink bubbled onto the paper.

He lowered his concrete eyes onto the page in front of him and scratched the nib of his pen onto the white sheet.

'My eyes were dazed by you for a little, and that was all.'

Lucky jotted the quote down, lazily flicking through the book, searching for more. He noticed Jake's gaze on him. "Here." Jake murmured, sliding his own page of notes over the table, noticing that Lucky was zoning out.

Lucky didn't even look up. "Thanks." He grunted, quickly copying down everything Jake had written.

'Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolised.'

"You alright, mate?"

"Yeah." Lucky replied.

"You sure?" Jake pressed.

"Fuck off, Wesley."

Jake rose his brows but stayed silent, leaning back in his chair as he waited for Lucky to finish with his work.

'This hobble of being alive is rather serious, don't you think?'

"You sure you're-?"

"I'm fine." Lucky snapped.

"Not a fan of Hardy, huh?"

"Bit of a twat really." Lucky breathed. "Why does he give her such a shitty life?"

"It's fate."

Lucky laughed humourlessly. "'Tess of The D'Urbervilles' is definitely not about fate."

"Course it is." Jake scoffed. "Nothing is coincidental. She was fucked from day one."

"You're an idiot." Lucky rolled his eyes. "She's a product of convention. Of society. Hardy doesn't believe in fate; he's mocking it."

Jake chuckled under his breath, "Sure. Whatever you say."

Lucky just gave him a glare and shoved Jake's notes back over the table towards him.

"So, how's the new roommate?"

"Why are you talking to me?" Lucky asked impatiently.

"We're still drinking together later, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You seem pissed." Jake observed.

"So?"

"Didn't think you'd want to talk to me-"

"I don't and I won't. We can drink in silence."

"What'd I do?" Jake frowned.

"Beat me half to death in the showers."

"Oh, c'mon, that was ages ago. You're not still mad about that, are you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know." Lucky snapped through gritted teeth.

"Fucking hell, Lucky, just-"

"Just what? Relax?"

"What's up?"

"I don't know. Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"I see people fall apart every fucking day." Jake responded simply. "I see fresh scars on my friends' wrists everyday. It doesn't mean I care, it just means I'm not an idiot."