William's Love - 45. Chapter 45

Schools Back

We pulled up at the Derek’s Youth Shelter to pick up Jason, thankfully, he was already waiting out front chatting with Stephen. Jason hopped in the backseat with Lee. Stephen leaned in the window on Liam’s side.

"Have fun guys; good luck Lee have a great first day of high school."

“Thanks, Stephen, I’m a little nervous,” Lee said worriedly.

"Don't be, you'll be fine, you have your family and your best friend will be there," Stephen smiled, "I'll see you all tomorrow."

We all waved, yelling goodbyes of one form or another.

Liam and I had been asked by the school to be part of the Peer-to-Peer program for the Freshman class. Did I say asked, I meant conned by the Principal and then pressured by Uncle Ian and the Coaches. Damn lovable family. Jason was with us because it was part of the deal he made with the Principal about coming to our school, so the poor guy was stuck with the Freshman for the day.

“Stephen’s right, don’t be nervous. Everyone in your year is new so you won’t be alone. I’m starting my senior year at a new school, it’s a little nerve-wracking, but I have all you guys. We’re gonna kill it bud,” Jason told my brother.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Lee tried a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. I couldn't stop glancing at him in the rear-view mirror; he's been anxious since we picked him up, "Hopefully I'll make some friends this year."

“People are going to love you, Lee, you’re fabulous,” Liam said, “it’s not like before, you’ve come out of your shell, you’re more comfortable with who you are now. Besides, if anyone picks on you, they are going to meet your extended family of brothers and sisters. God help any of them cross Sasha,” Liam laughed.

“Don’t be fighting my battles for me,” Lee said firmly, “I need people to know I can take care of myself. If anything gets worse, I promise, I’ll let you know.”

“However you want to play it, just know that we’re here,” I assured him.

<>-<>-<>

“You guys ready?” The four of us were standing outside the auditorium.

“No!” Lee retorted.

Jason got Lee in a headlock, “Let’s do this little man,” and then walked toward the doors. “Talk to you guys later,” Jason threw over his shoulder while he dragged Lee with him.

“Are you ready Babe?” Liam said taking my hand and stealing a quick kiss. A few of the freshman kids were shocked, but I did see a couple of relieved faces and some confused.

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

Two freakin’ hours later we walked out of the auditorium carrying a lever arch binder and a small stack of cardboard packets. We had been designated an area to sit and go through the packs with the kids that had been assigned to us individually. I had a look at the names on my list.

“Yes! I got Lee,” I sang to Liam.

Liam looked at his list, he gave me a frowny face, “I don’t know any of the kids on my list. But I do have a Bartholomew Simpson, and one Mr. Petrovelli as the support teacher,” Liam poked his tongue out at me. Oliver’s older brother is starting as an English teacher this year, even though we know him, it’s not like we grew up with him. We’ve only known him as an adult and for probably the last year or so. I’m not sure if it will be a little weird or super weird to have him as a teacher.

“Yeah well, I got,” I looked at my sheet of names, “no-one exciting,” I turned down the corners of my mouth giving him a mock sad face.

“You got Uncle Ian, didn’t you?”

“I’m saying nothin’,” I said my face changing into a grin.

“Balls!” Liam growled.

I laughed, “You’ve been watching, the blooper reels for ‘Big Bang’ on YouTube again haven’t you?”

“Yeah, well you fell asleep so early last night…”

A young version of Paddy walked up to us; I'm pretty sure Liam and I both did a double take, "Hi, what's your name?"

The poor kid looked around nervously, “Um… I’m… uh… Declan Drake?”

“You're with me,” Liam said smiling handing him a packet, “Just stick around here, I’m Liam, and this is Will.”

“Hi,” the kid said it was barely a whisper.

“Do you know anyone in the Freshman class?” Liam asked concerned.

“Um… No, we just moved here from Louisville,” Declan said.

“Our brother’s a freshman, we’ll introduce you,” Liam smiled warmly at the nervous boy, who nodded his head.

“Speak of the devil,” I said, Lee and Jason were walking our direction.

Declan looked in their path, and his eyes popped out of his head. He did try to hide his reaction to my brother, but it didn’t work very well. Lee had gone to see Spike at the salon when we went back to school shopping and had his hair cut back to fabulous, jet black, usually with fire engine red foils or some such nonsense, anyway this time the color is bright blue. But I have to admit it suits him. Our Dads and Mom also let him get an eyebrow and lip piercing through the summer, and trust me there was some arguing about that. Papi is usually soft when it comes to Lee, Dad is the disciplinarian and Mom mediates, which ends with some compromise in between. Lee is wearing what he often does, so I didn’t even think about it when I picked him up. A pair of Docs, jeans, band t-shirt over the top of a long sleeve shirt.

“Name?” I asked with as much indifference as I could muster.

“Shut up, am I on your stupid list or not?” Lee rolled his eyes, Declan tried not to smile.

“Yes, you’re on my stupid list, here take this and shut-up ya little turd,” I chuckled handing him a pack, “this is Declan guys, he doesn’t know anyone either Lee.”

“Oh cool, at least we’ll know each other now,” Lee shook Declan’s hand, “I’m Lee Blundell-Sunderland, and this is Jason Simpson, my best friend.”

Declan reached out to shake Jason’s hand, even though the kid looked terrified at the big guy.

Lee laughed, “He’s a Senior, it’s his first day at the school too, so he had to do orientation with us.”

I saw the kid, sigh with relief, but was still nervous when he spoke, "Hi Jason, I'm Declan Drake."

“Who are you with?” Liam asked Jason.

“Either one of you two I’m assuming, you were our last stop,” Jason answered.

“Not me,” I told him, then I turned to Liam, who was now laughing his ass off and nearly weeping.

Jason snatched the pack out of Liam’s hand, “Say it, I dare you,” Jason growled, that only made Liam laugh even harder.

I’m such an air head sometimes, “Oh my God, you’re Bart Simpson,”

“OW!!!” I squealed in a not so dignified manner, “Sorry!” I said sheepishly while rubbing my arm.

“Not a word to anyone,” he said pointing to all of us, we all held our hands up in defense.

“Wouldn’t dare,” I answered.

Declan was shaking his head side-to-side quickly, and Lee, well Lee, deserves every bit of punishment Jason dishes out to him – after Lee stops laughing of course.

Once all the other kids arrived on our lists, we went to our designated sitting areas. I managed to find a nice big tree that we could sit under and go through the program. We all sat down, getting comfortable before I started.

“Hi, I’m Will, and a Senior this year…” by the time I finished my welcome speech, which is outlined in my program notes, all of their eyes had glazed over, and one kid was snoring.

"Wow, I really am boring," I chuckled and indicated for Lee to wake up the kid next to him gently.

“HEY! Dude,” Lee thundered. I could have done that myself. I was trying to save the kid some embarrassment since nobody was paying attention.

“Who here already has friends at this school?” I asked, and four of the eight put their hands up.

“Okay, before I risk putting all of you to sleep, we’ll go around and introduce yourself to the group. Anyone want to go first?” Eight blank, pale faces staring at me, “Fine,” I chuckled I’ll go first.

“My name is Will Blundell-Sands, I’m seventeen, I have a younger brother, who of course is a pain in the butt, but I love him.” Lee rolled his eyes at me, “my favorite TV show is ‘The Big Bang Theory, ’ I love country music, and I play baseball and box.”

I looked at the group and waited until… no-one said anything. Okay, I’ll move this along.

“Lee, you’re up,” I glanced in his direction, but not looking long enough to see the exasperated look on his face.

“I’m Lee Blundell-Sunderland…”

“Are you two brothers?” A young girl piped in.

"Yes! I'm the pain in the butt younger brother; I'm fourte…”

“But you said a different name at the end,” she said sounding confused, “are you, stepbrothers.”

“No,” I said immediately, “we are brothers.”

“He’s married,” Lee informed her and didn’t that just get everybody's attention. Suddenly I was fascinating.

“Married!” The girl looked further confused, but she glanced at my hand and saw the ring, I could see the cogs turning, trying to piece it together.

“Yes married, Lee, please finish, we’ve got a lot to get through.”

“I’m fourteen, I have two older giant pain in the butt brothers,” Lee said pointing at me, “my favorite book is…”

“But how can you be married?” the girls asked, “You said…”

“Hey, Annabelle?” Lee said impatiently.

“That’s not my name,” she said indignantly.

“Really? It’s not? Maybe if you zip it, and let me finish, we can find out your name,” Lee frowned. Yeah! You tell her little brother.

“Lee,” I warned trying so hard not to laugh. His personality has been really starting to come through lately. He’s become a sassy little thing, and we all love him for it. He was so young, insecure, unsure, and frightened when he first came to live with our Dads and Mom. They've done a great job letting him be comfortable, and made sure he could be himself. At least he's learning Martial Arts; he's gonna need a way to back-up his mouth.

“As I was saying,” he paused and shot the girl a filthy look, “I’m fourteen, I don’t really watch TV…”

“How can you not watch TV?” The same girl asked, the entire group of kids groaned simultaneously.

Kill me now.

Lee threw his hands in the air, falling backward behind him, right into another kids lap. Lee stayed there for a moment, “Sorry,” he said pulling himself to sit upright again.

“S’okay,” the kid chuckled, “I don’t blame you. I’m pretty hot.”

Lee laughed and turned around to look at the boy, shrugging his shoulders, “Meh, you’re okay!”

"I'm Matthew or Matt," he introduced himself to Lee, then all the kids started jumping in and greeted each other. I sat back and let them talk for about five minutes, but kept an eye on the conversation. It turned out better than having them regimentally introducing themselves one by one. Lee was a big hit, he's different and is going to own it. So far it's working for him.

The mouthy girl sat back and didn't talk to anyone, and no one had attempted to speak with her.

“So what is your name?” I asked her with the friendliest smile I could muster. I felt little bad for her, she hadn’t made a good impression so far, but she in no way had come across as a horrible person.

“Katie,” the girl said sadly, her head hung low as she picked at the grass in front of her crossed legs.

"Pretty name, so what is your favorite TV show, Katie?”

She made eye contact with me for a moment and mumbled, “The Good Doctor.”

“Yeah, I like that show too,” I smiled at her, "let's take a tour of the school, what do you say Katie?”

Katie shrugged her shoulder, “I guess.”

I had them quiet down, and I handed out the class schedules. I gave them a few minutes to look at the schedule, and as I saw their faces start to look up from the schedule with questioning eyes, I pounced.

"Alright, we going to take a tour of the school, if you have any questions feel free to ask as we go. We'll end at the cafeteria where all your class will be having lunch together today. After lunch, we'll meet back in our groups, and the coaches have organized some activities for the afternoon."

The tour was uneventful and predictable. The kids all hung in little groups Lee with Matt and one other kid, Katie continued to ask questions, and the others were relatively quiet. Once that was done we went to the cafeteria to meet up with the rest of the Freshman class. Meals are paid for by the school today, so we only had to line up and get our lunches. Seniors didn't have to wait in the line, but I chose to. I wanted to make sure all the kids ate. I learned to watch that after we had found out, Paddy had not eaten in two days when we first met him.

Once everyone in our group had their food, they went to sit with either friends or together, I walked to our usual table, and Declan was sitting by himself.

“Hey Declan, where’s Liam and Jason?” I asked.

“They said I could sit here, I can go though if it’s not okay,” the kid held his tray ready to leave.

I waved him to stay put, “Of course you can sit here, I just wondered where they are,” I smiled, then Lee and his two new companions sat down at the table.

“Hey Declan, are you as bored as we are, my brother managed to put one of the other kids to sleep.”

GIBBS!

“Ow, what was that for,” Lee rubbed his head, “It’s not like I’m lying.”

Liam came from behind me and put his tray down opposite my while he leaned down and gave me a quick hello kiss. We do it without thinking these days. Then Liam took his seat next to Declan. I heard Lee snicker next to me.

“What?” I asked him. Lee just pointed to the three frozen kid sitting at our table. Shit!

“Uh…” I looked at Liam.

He smiled and winked at me, "Get over it boys, he's my husband, and I'll kiss him if I want," then dug into his lunch, under the table, he encased my feet with his. I smiled and started eating paying no attention to Lee's new friends.

“I thought you were joking when you said your brother was married?”

"Nope and they are gross about it too. Our Dads are just as bad,” Lee said as if it were nothing.

“Your Dads, you mean…Huh?” Matt looked confused.

Lee laughed, “I love freaking people out with our family,” he shook his head, then looked at the other three boys, “Do any of you have a problem with gay people."

Matt looked at him confused, "Not that I know of; I've never known anyone that's gay before."

The other kid, whose name I didn't even know took his tray and left the table. Matt stood, and I felt Lee stiffen, but he just moved to the other side of the table next to Declan.

“Dick,” Matt said.

“Yep,” Lee added, “I’m gay too, hope you don’t have a problem with that.”

“Can’t see why I would,” he said popping a fry in his mouth and grinning.

“What about you Declan?” Matt asked him, already seeming protective of Lee his new friend.

“No, I don’t care, so far they’ve all been nice to me,” Declan still seemed timid or intimidated by Matt. He swung his arm around Declan’s shoulders, “Good answer my little friend. I think the three of us are going to have a great year together. This is going to be so cool,” Matt removed his arm from Declan and looked at him, “We’re going to have a gay best friend. Just think about all the girls who are going to be jealous.”

Lee rolled his eyes but laughed, he leaned across, and fist-bumped Matt and then Declan, who was wearing the biggest grin. He'd found a place to fit in I guess.

“Why don’t you bring your new best friends over after school and play some basketball, then well fire up the grill. I’ll invite Jason, Stephen and I’ll text Paddy, see if he wants to come over?”

“Really?” Lee asked excitedly.

“Yeah, of course,” Liam said with a mouthful of food.

“Will?” Lee asked me.

"Of course, let me know, and I'll text Kat and get her to pull meat out of the freezer."

“Who’s Kat?” Declan asked.

Lee then told his two new friends about our family, leaving out the part where he’s adopted, which made me happy. He’s my brother, no matter how he came into our family. Jason sat down next to Lee, and he introduced his best friend to his new friends, then invited him to play basketball and to eat after school. The two new friends of Lee’s took no time at all to contact their parents.

<>-<>-<>

This school year is so different to the start of last year. Last year it was just Liam and me, but now we have a lot more to be excited about. Our Dads or Mom would be dropping Lee off at our place in the mornings before they went to the foundation. He would be coming to school with Liam and me, Ollie and Kat would drop Noah off with Mrs. Petrovelli before school, picking up Sasha to bring her to school. Jason and Stephen would be taking the bus, and Paddy would come with Uncle Ian and Beau with the Coaches. I know it is ridiculous, but I'm looking forward to this year.

“You ready Spud?” I asked Lee as I entered the kitchen, he was sitting at the table cuddling Noah. Liam was sitting across from him, giving him the stink eye.

“Babe, Lee won’t let me cuddle Noah. I won’t see him all day,” Liam whined.

"You'll have to be quicker tomorrow because we have business at school this morning remember. You've put this off for a long time, and now you have no choice. Let's go!" I told him.

"I don't want to do it. Why do you think I've been putting it off. I think Mom and Dads have already given the coaches a heads up. Can't we just leave it at that?"

“No! Let’s go grumpy,” I said.

“Fine, but I’m driving,” Liam snatched the keys out of my hand as he stomped past me and out the back door.

Lee snickered, “Here Kat, worked like a dream. Can’t guarantee it will work twice.”

Kat sighed taking her baby, “I know,” then she turned to me before stalking off, “Hurry up and get pregnant Will.”

Lee cracked up, “Yeah, Will, hurry up and get pregnant. I want to be an Uncle.”

“Come on Spud, this morning already has disaster written all over it.”

<>-<>-<>

We stood just outside the gym doors. Liam was anxious and nervously jigging around. He’d been putting off talking to the Coaches about baseball nearly all summer. Time has now run out, and he doesn't really have any choice. Instead of playing Liam wants to help coach, but he's nervous even to ask as no student has ever done so, not at our school anyway.

“Hey, are you two goofballs going to stand out here like a pair of creepy stalkers or are you going to come in and just talk to us. It can’t be as bad as you think it’s going to be, surely,” Coach Campbell said, holding the door open.

Liam's shoulders dropped in defeat; we walked through the doors past the Coach who was giggling. Then followed Coach Campbell to the office. Once we sat down, Coach Ferrige joined us perched on the corner of the desk, while Coach Campbell was in his chair behind the desk.

“Okay boys, spit it out, we’re busy men!” Coach Ferrige chuckled.

Liam froze, I think it's just now sinking in, he was sitting next to me, and I could almost feel him physically shaking.

“I…” Liam fidgeted, taking his hand I gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Do you want me to tell them?” I asked.

He swallowed audibly and shook his head; then he blew out a breath, “Idon’twanttoplaybaseball.” Liam said quickly as if it were all one word.

Coach Ferrige nodded, Coach Campbell stared at Liam, I squeezed his hand, he was looking at the floor.

“Are you sure Liam?” Coach Campbell asked.

Liam nodded his head looking at the floor.

“Can I ask why?”

Liam shrugged his shoulder, "I can't pitch anymore, it hurts, and I have nowhere near the speed I'd need. They did warn me that it was a possibility that this might happen, I'd like to move on. I don't want to leave baseball behind. I was kind of wondering if you'd let me help coach so I can learn from you Coach. Will is still going to play, and if you'd let me, I can help maybe get Ollie up to scratch to help with the pitching. He's pretty good, which you already know."

Coach Campbell nodded his head to show he was listening, “I'm not sure how that would work Liam but leave it with us for now, and we'll figure something out."

"Thanks, Coach," Liam said in a gravelly voice.

Liam stood and exited the office, I went to follow but stopped, “You’ll help him right?”

"Of course we will don't worry we've been expecting this. It's why we didn't drag this out, he needed to talk to us for himself, so we knew what he wanted," Coach Ferrige smiled warmly, "Go take care of your husband, he needs you right now.”

"Thanks, Coach," I answered, and left to find Liam.

I moved quickly trying to find Liam; he wasn't in the locker room. I went out the front, and he wasn't there either. Where the hell did he go? I checked the parking lot, and he wasn't in my truck, so I went to the baseball field, and there he is in the dugout, sobbing. I am torn between giving him his space and giving him comfort. I knew he wasn't as okay as he had made out, but every time I would bring it up Liam changed the subject, or say he was fine with his decision.

The worst that can happen is he tells me he wants to be alone, but he needs to know I’m here no matter what. Moving slowly toward him, I could not think of anything to say to him, so I sat down next to him and waited silently. After a while he calmed down some, I rested my head on his shoulder and put my hand on his leg and sat with him. Liam eventually covered my hand with his entwining his fingers with mine and rest his head on mine. We sat silently for quite a while, until the bell rang for homeroom.

"Let's go to the gym; you can wash up in there. I'm sure the Coaches won't mind."

I stood up and put my hand out for Liam, he took it got up, and we walked to the gym. Liam went into the locker room, and I found the Coaches and asked for a pass so that we could give it to our homeroom teacher. We're in the same homeroom this year because our last names aren't at opposite ends of the alphabet. Turns out Quinn or Mr. Petrovelli – now, is our homeroom teacher, so there wasn't any drama once I gave him the passes from the Coaches. Anyone could take one look at Liam and see there is obviously a problem.

After homeroom, our first class of the day is where our second hit came. We both chose to take a business class because of the Foundation. The first crappy thing, the teacher was one Liam, and I had in our Sophomore year, he wasn't a fan. We used to get into trouble back then – a lot. The teacher's name is Mr. Cappa, so being young and still thinking the word ‘duty' was funny, we had nicknamed him – Mr. Crappa. We were fourteen what do you expect? Anyway, he walked into the room and had Kat and Liam switch seats. Crappa!

The man the took attendance, “William Blundell-Sands,” both Liam and I answered, Crappa looked up from the roll and looked at both of us. “Is this a joke?” he asked curtly.

"What sir?" Liam asked, he is no mood for Crappa today.

"I have two William Blundell-Sands, the admin has put you both down with the same name," Mr. Cappa said to himself.

“Oh, that’s not a joke sir, Will and Liam got married over the summer,” Kat told him, there was a bit of stir where the gossip hadn't quite reached everybody yet.

“You have to be kidding me,” Mr. Crappa said.

Kat sat up straight in her chair, arms crossed, "Excuse me, sir," she said curtly, "do you have a problem with that?"

“Of course I have a problem with it, besides that teen marriage isn’t a good idea, these two are a test to any one’s sanity, and some genius thought it was a good idea to unite them as one to use their evil powers against the rest of us. We’re all doomed,” Mr. Crappa said in comical voice.

The class laughed, I looked to Liam, he seemed to find it amusing, so I laughed with the rest. That turned out better than I expected. I'll just ignore the teenage marriage comment; we will get that a lot, I assume.

“Alright, any questions before we start? No! Good!” The man didn’t give anyone a chance to raise their hand. I put my hand up anyway.

Mr. Cappa sighed, then stared at me until I put my hand down, once I had he got on with the class. At the end of class, he called Liam and me back.

"Congratulations boys, if you behave the way you did today, you can sit together from now on. However, I will be keeping an eye on you," Mr. Cappa stated, then focused on me, "Did you have a real question at the beginning of the class or was it to test me?"

“A real question, I wanted to know if we’ll be learning anything about not for profit business?” I asked.

"Oh, really," he said surprised, "they will be mentioned here and there if some things don’t apply to a not for profit. Why the interest?”

“We just started a foundation, well our whole family has actually, so I was just wondering.”

"I'll take that into account when I do my lesson plans, good for you guys. When we have more time, I'd like to have more information," Mr. Cappa said as he went about sorting paperwork on his desk.

At lunchtime we ended up at our table, Lee and his new friends sat at a different table. It was great to see that he was making friends, we won't be here next year, so it's good to know he won't be alone. One-by-one the usual suspects showed up at the table.

“Hey, how’s your first day?” Paddy asked sitting down with Sasha at his side.

“Second day," I laughed, Paddy, rolled his eyes.

“Where’s Lee?” Sasha asked.

"He's at his table with his new friends," I answered.

“That Declan kid seems familiar,” Paddy said absently, as he tucked into his lunch. The entire table stared at him. The kid looks like a younger version of Paddy himself; he reminds me of Paddy when we first met him, only healthy and happy, just a little shy.

Paddy looked around the table, “What?” he said with a mouthful.

“Nothin’” We all answered in one form or another.