Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

How It Came to It

     "You're dead to me Barrow! Dead to me!"

     How had it come to this?

     The day had started out normally. Teddy had gotten used to the business of the war, after all, it had been for years, and he could barely remember a time before it. So, he had grabbed his slate, his books, and his lunch, and left for school. He stopped by Percy's farm first, the boy coming out of the house to continue walking with him. From there, they would stop at Abigail's, then move on to Everett's, as they usually did.

     As previously stated, everything was perfectly normal. Teddy laughing at whatever insane thing Everett had said, he couldn't remember what it was anymore, and Abigail and Percy had laughed too. They'd walked into their classroom and sat in their seats, now separated due to the rules of the new teacher, who separated the students by both gender and last name. Even though Teddy's last name was legally still Knighton, he still came before both Everett and Percy alphabetically; Rainford and Wilson respectively. Abigail sat towards the front of her side, but there were times where she and Teddy would be able to catch each other's eyes and mouth comments to each other. It was a shared fact among the group that their new teacher was terrible. None of them liked her as a person, and they were desperately waiting for some new replacement.

     Teddy wasn't able to talk to his friends again until lunch, when they all sat outside to eat, joined by Katherine, which was new. But, Katherine was Abi's friend, which made Teddy decide that she couldn't be too bad. 

     Everett had brought up some sort of play his parents were going to see in London, and how he was going along as well. Teddy wasn't really listening, if he was honest, just catching enough so that he would know where to make a comment or nod to make it seem like he cared. With glances to the three others in the circle, it seemed that he wasn't the only one doing so. They'd known Everett for years now and even those who weren't particularly close to him would get tired of him rambling about the next big thing his parents were spending money on. 

     "Why don't you all buy tickets and you can come with me?" Teddy looked over at Everett, and it took him a moment for him to realize that he was being serious. Percy was already responding by the time he did.

     "I'm not sure that would be the best idea. At least, not for me." Everett stared at him for a minute, before responding with a rather rude way of asking if it was because of the colour of Percy's skin. Teddy could tell it was offensive by the just the look on Percy's face. A mix of slight shock and hurt, yet a bit of resignation as well, as if this wasn't the first time he had been referred to as such.

     "Everett!" Abigail looked at their friend in disbelief. In the four years that they had known Percy, the group had never made any comments about his race. It just wasn't what they did. Their friendship was based on personality and some sort of connection that brought them together, not appearances or things that they couldn't control. 

     "What? I'm just saying it how it is." Everet finished the sandwich in his hand, leaning back as he chewed it.

     "No, you're saying it the way fancy, rich people see it." Teddy's counter was fueled by the look on Percy's face and the wetness that had been transferred to his sleeve after he reached up to wipe his eyes. "Fancy, rich, white people."

     "Is that an insult?" Everett said, crossing his legs in front of himself. "At least I can actually pay to go to the theatre." There was a soft gasp from Katherine as Teddy adjusted his hat. Everett had now insulted three people in the circle, Abi being the only one untouched.

     "Excuse me?"

     "That's right. My family hires people like your father!" Teddy's hands curled into fists in an attempt to keep himself as calm as possible.

     "Well good for you, you get to have other people do everything for you. You've grown up so privileged that you need other people to dress you because you don't know how buttons work! Well, not all of us have that luck."

     "If you're good, maybe you'll get some luck and get to be the person who dresses me one day!" Everett stood up, and was practically yelling now, but Teddy wasn't backing down. His father had been brought into this now, and that was enough to make him want to punch the boy in front of him. He stood up, his eyes meeting Everett's, and replied.

     "At least I'll be able to do things for myself." Everett thought for a moment, then smirked.

     "At least I have a mother." Abi's jaw dropped, Katherine gasped once again, and Percy looked up at Everett shaking his head. Teddy stared at him for a moment, ignoring that many students looking towards them now. His hands were still in fists, as he was focusing his anger towards how tight he made them, but Everett must have seen this the wrong way. 

     Everett's fists were up and, before Teddy could even register it, one of them had come into contact with his face. He heard one of the girls let out a scream as Everett swung again. Teddy put up his hands, but couldn't bring himself to fight back as he fell to the ground. No matter how much Everett's words had hurt him, he couldn't bring himself to punch his friend. If he was still considered that.

     It took a few seconds, but Everett's punches stopped coming. Teddy opened his eyes and looked up to see their teacher, Ms. Peirson, with a hand on his shoulder as an older boy held him back. Ms. Peirson said something about talking to Everett in private and something about Teddy going home. He couldn't process it all, still wondering what had caused the drastic change in Everett's mood. Ms. Peirson and Everett were walking towards the school now, and as they walked away, Everett turned to look at Teddy and yelled;

     "You're dead to me, Barrow! Dead to me!"

     Katherine was walking Teddy back to Downton. He wasn't sure why it was her. He didn't care. His head was pulsing, and he was holding a handkerchief under a bleeding nose. She made a comment about a black eye, but Teddy didn't respond. He just let her gently hold onto his arm and walk with him all the way back to the Abbey.

     He walked in with his head down, far earlier than he normally got back. Teddy had to hold in some of the sobs that were trying to finally escape him. He had used the walk to process exactly what had happened. He had been hurt by one of his best friends, and it had started out as him trying to defend another friend. 

     He finally looked up as someone said his name, earning a few gasps. Everett must have done some good work to his face.

     "Can he get some ice? For his eye." He heard Katherine say beside him. He hadn't realized that she was still here, yet he was glad that she was. A quick scan of the room told him that his father was not downstairs at the moment, although he wished he was. 

     Someone was handing something to him. He looked over to see that Daisy had brought the requested ice. She still had the black band on her arm, and Teddy couldn't help but feel that it fully represented how he was feeling at that moment. 

     "Thank you." He said to Daisy, then turned to Katherine. "And thank you. For walking me back and making sure I was alright."

     "Of course. And thank you." She didn't have to state what she was thanking him for. 'I should get back to class. Or Ms. Peirson will think I'm not coming back." Teddy nodded and, once Katherine was gone, escaped up to his room without any word to anyone else.

     Thomas walked in after about ten minutes. He's come downstairs only to be bombarded with people trying to tell him what they had seen. He had gathered enough to know that his son was in their room, and that he had somehow gotten hurt. That was enough for him to go and check on him.

     Teddy sat on his bed, holding the now slightly melted ice in his hand as he let himself cry. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up at Thomas, then went to him, feeling safe in his arms.