MUD - An LGBT+ Story

Year 8 - Same Table

Made it through the innocent Year 7 and now into the most awful time at school, Year 8! I'm 13 and every minute of the day I just want to escape, this is really going to be an unlucky year for me I just know it. My form teacher was Mrs Breeze, she taught girls PE and Games which meant she was always wearing a tracksuit and trainers and had lots of energy, although I didn't feel she was as approachable like Mrs Howard and wished I could have her as my form tutor again. The form room was an old CDT craft classroom which smelt of wood shavings and varnish, during winter it was freezing and created an echo effect which made the noise from the other students 10 times worse. Actually the rest of the class seemed more louder and most importantly cocky, this cocky attitude resulted in more snide remarks from them and frustration from teachers trying to control the situation. I was still in the same form as John, he had made friends with the kids who were always in trouble and disturbing classes and as a result he was in regular detentions. I had no sympathy for him and the further away from me the better, which is unavoidable on the school bus though, this has now become a living nightmare firstly the route had changed which meant a lot more kids were collected and as a result the small bus had changed to a double decker. There was some unofficial seat ranking Year 7 and 8 on the bottom deck and 9,10,11 upper deck with Year 11 at the back and unsupervised school kids was just madness and to make things worse my stop was the penultimate one and John's was the last. As the kids slowly became less John would always approach me and say some idiotic comment or ask to copy my work, which I ignored and became increasingly frustrated by.

I was my usual quiet self and just wanted to focus on school work trying not to draw attention to myself, my group of friends are still the same strong squad, although Philip hangs out with other groups more these days mostly because the classes have been mixed up from last year. No I didn't join the library book club but I did see as a walked passed on my way to the first lesson that the notice board had been moved from the back of the library to now outside and the book club poster was still on display, I gave a slight smile, talking yourself out of something was considerably easy. It also made me think of Him and us bumping into each other in the library and honestly this was the last time we really chatted. After we talked in the library we didn't really say much for the rest of Year 7, he generally kept his distance and he never returned to the library to find me so I came to the conclusion being friends was not an option plus we never seemed to be in a situation to be able to talk., it was fine as I still hadn't worked out if he was just interested in messing about, anyway we had our own group of friends.

The first lesson to kick off Year 8 was Geography I liked this subject and found it interesting so was pleased with this start. After a chaotic form and welcome back assembly I made my way around to the Geography class carrying my extremely heavy bag which was full of my sports kit, brought with me just in case Games was on the first day like last year but my luck it isn't so I get to carry my boots around for no reason. Games would be the first lesson on Wednesdays now, I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing, get it out of the way or is last subject better? Last means there was some comfort that I'd soon be home. After making my way to the geography room which was on the second floor, along the same corridor as my old history room, I stood outside the classroom with my three friends. As we waited to be let in I notice He was in the same class, and was talking to the group He usually went around with, a mix of boys and girls. The neat organised queues which formed when waiting for class in Year 7 were now a thing of the past as instead huddles of groups greeted the teacher when he arrived to open the door. He swung the door open and we all entered the room and chose seats with our friends, this time the tables were in groups of four, and the teacher Mr Grant a tall slim man with thinning hair watched amusingly with his arms folded as everyone jostled for positions. When everyone was happy with their seats Mr Grant exclaimed "Nice try! I will be choosing where you are all going to be sitting for the rest of the year" The collective sigh was noticeable from the class and for the next few minutes Mr Grant pointed in various directions like a conductor of an orchestra. I ended up in the worst seat, at the very front of the room but with my back to the screen and board so my view was of the rest of the class and it felt like they were all looking at me, and the teacher would be right there but I couldn't see without twisting round in my seat, it was the most awkward and exposed feeling. On the same table as me were three others, next to me was Jen I knew nothing about her and had no interest the only thing I picked up on was that she was always chatting and gossiping with her friends yet could tell she had a bit of an edgy personality, Jen had long black hair which I was already realising she liked to flick, which was becoming annoying. Opposite her was another girl, Claire she had short brown styled hair and everything was very neat from her posture to uniform to how things were laid out on the desk, again had no interest in talking to her and before today wouldn't have considered sitting on the same table, at least the only comfort I had was that they were probably thinking the same regarding the injustice of having to sit with me, sat opposite me, was Him.