"Do you really think he has your back?” 

☆

The lunch bell went and everyone had dispersed to their lessons like nothing had happened. As if Mark and Gus hadn't beaten Bay to the ground. As if it was a normal thing to do in the world of school. Mark sat there in class, replaying it all in his mind, reliving each moment as if he were a bystander watching it all unfold. That person giving the punches and kicks wasn't him. It wasn't him who, with every strike, was beating the innocent boy down. It was someone else, but now, here he was, getting away with it. 

Mark stares at the empty desk by his side.  Maths had been the only lesson they had shared, just the two of them. No Archie. No Gus. It was where things had begun for him, watching the boy by his side. Developing those feelings which got him questioning his own self, but now, even that had been tainted by his own hand. 

“Mark….” His attention is drawn to the front of the class. Mr Thompson was pointing to an equation on the smartboard. “Tell me, how do you find the linear quotient of the sum?”

Mark looks at the symbols on board. His mind was unable to focus. Bay would have known just what to do. “I… I don't know, sir.” He replies, lowering his head, he could hear the sniggers of laughter from around the room. 

Mr Thompson sighs. He is about to give a small lecture about paying attention in class with the up and coming tests looming, when the classroom door opens, after two light brief knocks. “Mrs Hill.” Mr Thompson announces, as he sees the female partially enter the classroom, as she hovers in the doorway. 

“Could I have a quick word?” She questions, looking at the teacher, who glances at his class, all eyes on him, wondering what the interruption could possibly be about. 

“You have two minutes to solve this equation.” He gestures at the board one last time before leaving the class in silence. That is until the door closes. Then the mutterings start. 

“What's that about?”

“Do you think it's about Bayley?”

“Yeah, where is he? I just noticed he's not here.”

‘Didn't you hear? He split Archie and Lena up.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Is he gay?” 

Mark stays at his desk. Hearing every word, but saying nothing, but it didn't mean the words weren't affecting him. Each sentence uttered made his heart beat faster. His jaw clenched tighter, his fist ball so much his knuckles whitened until it reached its peak as he suddenly slammed his balled fist on the desk. It causes the class to at least silence as they watch Mark get to his feet and turn around to face the class all fired up. All ready to tell each and every person to shut the hell up, but again as soon as the glimmer of bravery shows its light, it is shut down once again by the fear of exposure. “We…We need to work.” He ends up stumbling on his words, wanting to recoil as he takes his seat once again. 

The classroom door opens, stopping the mutterings picking up as Mr Thompson returns, this time alone as he looks directly at Mark. “Mr Lester. Can you step out a minute?” 

A strange feeling of karma fills his bones at the mention of his name. Mark even emits a chuckle under his breath as he gets up from his seat and makes his way towards the door. He steps outside, where the female teacher is waiting for him. “Mark, you need to come with me.” She looks at the boy with a sorry looking smile. He could tell what she was thinking. That this was some kind of mix up. Some kind of misunderstanding. Whatever this was, he would not be involved. Not Mark Lester. The role model of the school, the top boy. But she knew nothing. She didn't know what burned under his skin. What he was really capable of. She didn't know anything about him.  The only person he had let in, he had pushed down to the ground. 

He follows her lead as they silently walk towards the school offices. They stop just before the reception desk, where she turns to him. “Just take a seat for me Mark.” She gestures towards the row of chairs against the brick back, showcasing the poster of the school motto “Aim high and achieve! '' He obliges, as he watches the lady disappear into one of the offices. 

Mark stares at the well meaning logo opposite him. It seemed that the school was hell bent on success. There was no room for failure.

“Sit here please.” Mark looks to his side to see Gus approaching, accompanied by another of the school's support staff. He takes a seat next to Mark. A look of irritation about him as he kept his hands in his pockets, his body hunched as it settled into the seat.

“He has guts, I'll give him that.” Gus speaks as he looks up at that same logo. “It's his word against ours. We say nothing.”

Mark looks at Gus's profile. That air of arrogance the boy always seemed to have irritated him more in that moment. It made Mark feel angry. Not at Gus, but at himself for the way he had behaved. Gus was classed as his friend, but was he really?

“What are you scared of?” Mark questions and it causes Gus to look at him. 

“Getting suspended of course! My dad would kill me.” 

“So not about people knowing you're homophobic? Or that you beat someome up.” Mark feels the words leave his lips before he can stop them.

“You're the same as me.” Gus utters under his breath. “In fact, you did most of the dishing out if I'm not mistaken.” He leans across, eyes scrutinising Mark's face. “Or are you hiding something after all?” 

The door opens a little further along the hall. It causes Gus to withdraw into his seat as both boys watch a lady leave, followed by Bay and Archie. The lady's arm is wrapped tightly around Bay's shoulder as she guides him out of the school building in the opposite direction. Archie stops, a fraction behind. He watches as Bay leaves, with Bay unaware of the perpetrators sitting along the hall. Archie turns to see the boys looking at him and doesn't hesitate to approach. His steps quicken and Mark instantly stands up to meet his gaze. “Coward.” He utters through clenched teeth. “I should give you the same treatment but then I would be just as low as you.”

“Hey what's all this?” Gus looks up from his seat at the pair. Amused at the potential of another fight.

Archie doesn't even look his way as he stays focused on Mark. “You should pick your friends more wisely. Do you really think he has your back?” 

Mark feels his fists ball so tight that he feels his nails dig into his palms. He hated Archie more than ever at that moment. He hated that he was still by Bay's side. The friendship they had. But most of all he hated how Archie highlighted the truth. Gus was a bad self centred friend and Mark had lost one of the best things he had possessed in his life because he was weak.