"Je m'appelle so glad that is over!" Joe groaned as he and Michael exited the door to their French class. It was without a doubt both of their worst subject. "I honestly hate Mrs. Noble and I swear that she hates me."

"She only hates you cause you're an asshole every time we have her," Michael laughed.

"Whatever, I'm just glad it's over. Do you think we can sneak out the side door? That way we might get a better view when everyone else comes out."

"Worth a shot," Mike shrugged.

The two teens made quick work of the stairs and dropped to the ground floor in a bid to be the first ones out the door. Of course, seeing as the last period of the day had just finished, it was highly unlikely that they'd be the only ones thinking the same thing.

Their task became even more challenging when they came across a bright eyed Evelyn, obviously waiting for them.

"Hello boys," She smiled, definitely sounding suspicious.

 "You coming to watch the fight?" Mike asked, grabbing her arm and dragging her along with them down the dim corridor without breaking stride.

"Not again," She sighed. "You know it's going to turn out the same as last time right?"

"I doubt that!" Joe bellowed. "Callum Jones and Jamie Christie properly hate each other. Callum literally slapped him on the back in the P.E changing rooms. It's going to be rough."

Mike then quickly explained to her that this was the reason that they were in such a hurry. Boys will be boys.

"I was hoping you'd actually have changed your mind about joining the astronomy club," Evie asked Michael, knowing full well that Joe wouldn't have.

Though she and Mike were still heavily intrigued by space, their interest had waned a little in the last few years. But that interest had been sparked back into life earlier in the year when it was discovered that Mars had traces of water below its surface. Since then, they'd heard about an astronomy club held after school in the science rooms. Michael though, remained reluctant.

"Still don't want to, Evie. I told you, people are gonna think we're even less cool than we already are."

"So? It'll be fun! It's not like we need to tell anyone!" She cried, swaying her long pigtails, hoping it would do the same for his decision.

"I'd rather watch these two assholes punching the fuck out of each other. Even seeing one of them get hit would be ace."

"Come on Michael! It's just going to be the same as every other fight. They'll swing for each other, run away and then get broken up by a teacher. All for it to be declared a draw and forgotten about the next day!" She pleaded but to no avail.

The fear of missing out the one exception to the rule was too much to change the boys' minds.

"Fine, but I'm going to go and if it's amazing then you're definitely coming next week, deal?" Evie sulked.

"Yep! Sure!" Mike said, waving to her, clearly not listening.

"And you'll both be at my party on Saturday? My dad's cooking the fancy chicken again!"

"We'll be there!" Joe confirmed for them both.

 At least someone was listening.

*

"Do you feel bad about leaving her to go to that shit by herself?" Joe asked as they waited to get out of the now busy side door of the school.

"Nah she'll be fine," He answered without really knowing how he felt about it. "Besides, I'm hoping Stacy is going to be here to watch this wee rumble."

"Why? So you can stare at her for eternity again?" Joe sighed tiredly.

"Dude, you know she's one of my dream girls!" Mike cried in frustration. Why wouldn't Joe understand?

"Yeah and neither Stacy or Avril Lavigne are going to make the first move ok! Sooner or later you're gonna have to say something. Geography is the perfect chance three times a week and you're never taking it!" Joe laughed.

"Alright Romeo that's enough from you. When are you going to ask Lauren out?"

"When the time is right," Joe lied. He was never going to do it.

"What's up wankers!" Boomed a voice behind them as soon as their turn to go through the door came.

"Hey Danny," They both groaned.

Though Scott Garden no longer bothered them, it seemed they had just swapped one bully for another in Danny Taylor.

"You going to watch the fight?" He asked them.

"Yup."

"Your hair sucks, Ashford." Danny commented.

"Well that was unprovoked," Mike whispered under his breath before booming louder "My hair is exactly the same as yours!"

All the cool kids seemed to have the same hair style of only using hair gel to spike up their fringes, whilst leaving the rest untouched.

"Yeah but I pull it off," Danny said smugly. "And you look like a row of cactuses," He now pointed at Joe.

"Cacti," Joe corrected.

"Shut up, fat Sonic," Danny snapped before barging past them taking prime position to watch the upcoming fight.

"Oh yeah . . . well Sonic is fast . . . so who's the real loser!" Joe yelled at him after he was long gone.

Little did Danny know that in the end it would be the kids that he bullied who would have the last laugh when he was sent to prison eight years later.Without this knowledge yet though, the boys settled in to watch the fight.

Nobody won.

*

Evelyn bounded along the hallway to classroom 309 and excitedly knocked on the door and opened it. The school newsletter had stated that anyone could join the club but she still felt slightly out of place. She wasn't a part of any other school clubs so she didn't have a clue what to expect.

 The first thing that she noticed was that this was the emptiest she'd ever seen the classroom, including when she was early to class. The next she realised was that she was the only girl. Great.

Although she was used to dealing with Michael and Joe, she didn't have any sort of relationship with any other boy at school. Though she didn't have many female friends, she did have a small circle. Now however, she was completely isolated.

"What are you doing here?" A boy asked her after cautiously approaching.

This skinny kid with a shaved head and spots all over his face was Michael Murphy. A genius from her Computing class. He was one of those people who knew everything about everything.

"I came to join the astronomy club!" She beamed, her dimples rising so high they almost met her eyes.

"You?"He asked sceptically.

"Yeah!" She grinned. "I love space. The planets, moon, stars . . . everything! I thought it would be fun."

The boy didn't say anything, instead looking around at the other science students in the classroom.

"I'm Evelyn Harper. We have Computing together," Evie offered her hand for a shake, feeling slightly awkward. Her mum was right; boys are weird.

 "I didn't know you were taking physics. You're not in my class," Michael mused.

Now that she was in her third year at the academy, school had changed quite a bit for Evelyn. Gone were the days of one class sticking together for every subject. At the end of their previous school year, every pupil was allowed to choose the subjects that they'd prefer to take. They were split into categories to avoid anyone dodging the classes they may find boring, as well as some subjects like English and maths being mandatory.

"I'm not . . ."

"Chemistry?" One of the other kids piped in.

"No . . . I'm doing General Science," Evie didn't see how this was relevant but answered honestly anyway, like she always did.

General Science was what was recommended to students who weren't particularly gifted in physics, chemistry or biology. Instead, their class would basically give them a crash course in each of the respective subjects. Evie had been devastated when she was told that she couldn't take physics to study the planets but she did accept that there was no point in putting her in a class that she would struggle to keep up in.

The entire room of six began laughing as one.

"General science?" Michael laughed so close to her face that she could feel his breath on her.

"It's not that bad," She defended.

"How are you supposed to do anything here if you can't even do basic science?" Yet another club member snorted.

"I can do basic science! And besides I know tonnes about space anyway. Just because I don't quite understand everything, doesn't mean I can't join!"

"Do you know what the names are of any of Jupiter's moons?" Michael tested. She thought a moment before answering.

"Not many off the top of my head. . . I know Europa . . ." She answered embarrassed.

"Do you know the distance between the sun and the Earth?" He pressed her.

"No . . . but isn't that the point? Maybe you can teach me these things! I'm just here to have fun and to learn. I don't want to get in the way."

"Well you will! This is a place for serious scientific discussion! Not to look at the pretty lights. Why don't you go home and watch the discovery channel?" Michael barked, drawing laughter from the rest of the group.

Evelyn's head dropped, realising that she'd made a big mistake coming here.

"Evelyn!" A surprisingly excited voice cried from the doorway. She hadn't even noticed anyone come in.

She turned and saw her science teacher from first year, Mr. Smith. He had been a great teacher, with Mike, Joe and Evie all loving him.

"Hi Mr. Smith," She tried to smile at the old man who seriously looked too old to still be teaching.

"Are you here to join our astronomy club? I think you'd be a great addition!" He said, spreading his arms as if he was about to hug her.

She took another look at the disapproving faces of the club members before answering.

"No I was just looking for Miss Redfearn. I left a book in class earlier."

"Oh I was just speaking with her. She's just down the hall. If you're quick you'll catch her before she goes home!" He replied, not hiding his disappointment.

"Thanks," She smiled, making her way to the freedom of the hallway.

"If you ever change your mind, this door is always open!" Mr. Smith Called. She smiled as best she could but didn't answer. She knew she was never going to change her mind.

As soon as she left the classroom, Evie ran outside, trying to keep it together. Anyone who had stayed after school for the fight had obviously gone home as the school grounds were more vacant than the science class.

The rain began to slowly trickle from the skies as Evie walked home; making sure to take the back path that was surrounded by trees so that no passing people or motorists on the main road would see her tears.

This was officially the worst birthday ever.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I actually got really sad writing the end of this chapter . . . so much feels!

Anyway, I wanted to use this chapter to tackle a few of the tropes I see in a lot of stories that I didn't realise annoyed me until now.

Firstly, particularly in school settings, why is there no two kids with the same name?! Seriously in one of my classes we had five Sarah's! I get that it's probably mostly so people don't get confused so I figured I'd use it now while it's just one scene. Don't worry, we're not going to see this asshole again!

Second! The nerds can be dicks too! This is something that I've literally never seen in a story before but I know for a fact that it happens. If people get made fun of for being smart, then people also get made fun of for not being smart. Get it?

Anyway I totally banged this chapter out as quick as I could because it was planned in so much detail. But its midnight and I'm tired so if you spot any spelling/grammar errors then let me know and I'll fix them!

Peace out!