Page 36 of Christmas at the Movies
Mr Wu wasn’t just his maths teacher, he was also his form tutor. Mum had spoken to him about how Nick was a HSP – highly sensitive person – and found certainsituations overwhelming. Now, all of his teachers knew he was a freak. Nobody had told his classmates, but nobody had to. Other kids could sense that he was different. He might as well have the word ‘loser’ tattooed on his forehead.
It hadn’t mattered so much in primary school. There were only twenty kids in his class and they’d accepted Nick, because they’d always known him. But things were completely different here at Severn Valley secondary school. The other kids from his primary school had quickly made new friends and moved on. Nick had never felt so alone. He wished things could go back to how they used to be, when everyone played cops and robbers together at lunchtime.
‘You did really well on the last maths mini test, Nick,’ said Mr Wu, sitting down at Nick’s table. He was young-ish and wore a sweater vest. Nick knew that Grace and some of the other girls thought the teacher was good-looking – he’d heard them giggling about it. ‘Full marks. Have you considered joining the maths club?’
Nick shrugged. ‘Maybe.’ He was good at maths, but art was his favourite class. He loved drawing manga-style cartoons. When he was doing that, he could block out everything else.
‘It meets on Tuesday lunchtimes.’
Nick spent most lunchtimes in the toilets to avoid the chaos of the canteen and the glare of the fluorescent lights. The loo was nearly as bad, with its pungent disinfectant smell that did little to mask the other, even worse, odours. The younger boys roughhoused and chucked wet paper towels at each other, while the older boys vaped, puffing out cloyingly fruity scents that made him feel nauseous. But at least he could hide in a toilet stall.
‘You know I’m new to the school?’ said Mr Wu.
Nick nodded.
‘I’ll let you in on a secret. It’s hard for teachers to settle in, too. If you ever need anyone to talk to, my door is always open.’
‘Thanks,’ Nick muttered. There was no way he’d ever take Mr Wu up on his offer. People already thought he was the teacher’s pet.
‘Right.’ Mr Wu took out his phone and checked the time. His home screen was a chubby baby boy with a shock of black hair. ‘Well, I should be getting home – and so should you.’
Taking a deep breath, Nick put on his noise-cancelling headphones and ventured out into the hallway. Luckily, by now the corridor had emptied. Nick retrieved some books from his locker and headed out to the bus stop.
He saw his sister holding court with a group of her friends. He wondered what it would be like to be one of the popular kids like Holly. They were all looking at something on Holly’s phone.
‘He’s so cute!’ squealed Holly’s best friend, Riley.
‘I can’t believe a sixth-former said you were cool,’ said Chloe.
Nick knew they had to be talking about Aaron, who worked at the cinema. It was obvious that his sister had a massive crush on him. Holly thought Nick was clueless, but he didn’t miss much. He could always tell what people were feeling and couldn’t understand why other people couldn’t. It was as obvious to him as the colour of someone’s hair.
‘Oh, look, it’s your little brother,’ said Chloe.
‘Hey, Nicky!’ Riley waved at him in a mockingly friendly way. ‘Want to sit with us?’
‘Shut up,’ said Holly, giving her friend a shove.
For the first week of secondary school, Mum had forced Holly to take the bus home with Nick. She’d grudgingly complied, but, after that first week was over, she’d stopped acknowledging his presence at school.
The bus, when it pulled up, was so crowded that Nick decided to walk home instead, even though it took nearly an hour. The sky, heavy with clouds, was the colour of the graphite pencils Nick used for sketching. Hopefully it would snow and school would be closed for days.
Nick took out his key and let himself into the cottage. Holly had made it home before him, judging from the Doc Martens and backpack strewn on the floor. Going into the kitchen, Nick fixed himself a hot chocolate and two slices of toast with peanut butter. He was always ravenous after school because he was usually too tense to choke down the packed lunch Mum made for him.
Meow.
Jonesy rubbed against his ankles, demanding attention.
‘Did you miss me, Mr Fluffypants?’ Nick murmured, picking him up. He stroked the cat’s soft, tabby fur as he purred. That always made him feel better. Too bad he couldn’t take Jonesy to school with him. He’d heard about some kids getting to take emotional support animals to school. But Jonesy had a mind of his own. If allowed to go to school, the cat would probably spend the whole school day hunting for mice, sleeping on the radiators and begging for scraps in the canteen. Or worse, cosying up to Grace Maxwell. Cats were fickle like that.
Still, giving Jonesy cuddles after school went a long way towards helping Nick relax. He scratched the cat behind his ears and Jonesy purred with satisfaction.
Once Jonesy had had enough, Nick went upstairs. He’d done all his homework at breaktime, so he got out hisart things. It was Holly’s birthday tomorrow and he was making her a birthday card. Not that she deserved one, given how moody she’d been lately, but she was still his sister. Besides, Nick liked having a project to work on.
He decided to draw her as a manga heroine, holding a sword as if she were a ninja warrior. As he sketched, he made up a story in his head, about a warrior who could defeat bullies with one lash of her magical sword of justice. He was so engrossed in his work, it took him a while to realise that his parents had come home. Voices floated up from the kitchen.
‘… I know it’s your night off, but one of us has to go – we need to have two people on duty. I’ve tried everyone else on the rota already. I’d go, but I promised Holly that I would help her study for her chemistry test tonight,’ said Dad. ‘You know how much she needs the help.’
‘What if the sound system breaks again?’ said Mum.
