NOT MANY PEOPLE KNEW this but as a kid O'Connor was quite chubby. He liked to keep this on the hush, hush because he wanted people to think he always fit and athletic. O'Connor was short and fat back then with blond hair so light it was almost white. The first time I met O'Connor we were in year four and he had just crashed into Arthur, one of my twin brothers. Mac and Arthur had just been scolded by my mum for hiding letters from school so they weren't in the best mood.

Arthur had moved to shove O'Connor back but Mac and I stopped him.

"Watch it," Arthur glared at him.

"S-sorry, I-I...uhm...sorry, I was in a rush, s-sorry," he'd sputtered. He ducked his head and ran towards the school.

It was later that morning as Tam and I sat in class listening to Mrs Atkinson talk about something or another that O'Connor walked in. She waved him over and resting her on his shoulders, she introduced him to the class. His big brown eyes surveyed the class as he clung to his Power Rangers lunchbox.

"We have a new student, he's just moved from a placed called Limerick in Ireland and I want you all to be nice him."

I honestly wasn't too happy when Mrs Atkinson assigned him as my "buddy" and told hm to take care of him. Back then O'Connor, I thought he was a little weird. For the first couple of weeks all he did was follow me around. Whenever I said something to him his only replies would be a nod or the occasional yes or no.

I don't think it was until the third month that O'Connor actually started having proper conversations with me and Tam and it wasn't until near the end of year four that he heard his laugh for the first time. When we came back from the summer holidays in year five I managed to coax O'Connor into playing the occasional game of footy with me and my brothers and I persuaded him into joining the school footy team.

By the time we were in our first year of secondary school at St. George's, O'Connor was no longer fat and by year nine, O'Connor had lost his Irish accent and grown into a heartthrob. By the middle of year ten, O'Connor had a lot of girls after him and by the end of year eleven he had quite a reputation with the girls.

Which is why I wasn't too surprised to see had an arm slung over Millie Wu's shoulders. She giggled as he whispered something in her ear. I let out a faint sigh. He pulled back to grin at her and she giggled again. I looked back to the front of the hall where Mr Grimsby was giving his annual speech on advent.

"It's an important time for the catholic church," Mr Grimsby said, "This year's advent begins on November 28th and ends on Christmas Eve. Now, who can tell me what Advent symbolises?"

Silence. A few coughs scattered here and there as two hundred and fifty pairs of eyes stared blankly ahead at him. Monday morning assemblies were always like this. I bet only half of the students here were actually awake and I bet the other half was still asleep.

"Well, in its symbolism, the Church continues to stress the penitential and preparatory nature of Advent." Mr. Grimsby said, his gruff voice booming in the vast hall, "The word advent comes from the Latin advenio, "to come to," and refers to the coming of Christ. This refers, first of all, to our celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas -"

And that's when I zoned out. We got the same speech each year and each year Grimsby's hairline receded a little more. It was almost half way now. I guess being the head of sixth form for five years was more stressful than I thought. My gaze left Grimsby and landed on back O'Connor and Millie. There was a high chance he would take her to the back of the science block and kiss her for most of lunch. I was so fascinated by O'Connor and Millie I didn't realise Elliot had come in until he slumped down in the seat beside me.

He folded his arms over his stomach and said. "You're an asshole you know that?"

I kept my gaze on O'Connor and Millie as I said, "I'm sorry?"

"You're an asshole," he repeated, almost hissing it this time.

The corner of my mouth twitched upwards. "Ah. And why is that?"

We turned to look at each other at the same time. He pushed a hand through his dark hair, messing it up even more and glared at me.

"Why the hell did you leave me on the bus?" he said.

Every time we got on the bus to school Elliot had a tendency to ignore everybody by shoving headphones over his ears and falling asleep. Today when the bus reached school, I let O'Connor and Finley get off first before I stood up and looked at Elliot.

I planned to kick his leg to wake him up but then - then something I couldn't pinpoint happened and I just found myself staring down at him. His black hair stuck to his forehead from the drizzling rain outside as we'd waited for the bus. His dark lashes were long, fluttering ever so slightly against his flushed cheeks as he slept.

I grit my teeth, spun on my heels and left the bus. If he wanted to fall asleep then let him. He should have known that you only fell asleep on a public bus if you wanted to wake up with your shoes gone.

Elliot frowned, "What the hell is your problem Jensen?"

"Oh I don't know," I shrugged, "You looked pretty cosy, I didn't want to wake you."

His eyes narrowed.

"Fuck you," he hissed. "You're lucky I woke up only ten minutes from school. The driver looked at me like I was an ass."

"You are an arse, so..."

I looked back at Grimsby. I could feel his dark gaze on me for a few moments before he swore under his breath and looked to the front as well.

"....achieving an award will give you the skills, confidence and a view on life that everyone is looking for, from employers to universities."

I leaned into Tam, "What's he talking about?"

"The Duke of Edinburgh Award," she answered.

"It's for all young people, whatever their background or ability, between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. It gives opportunities for personal achievements, adventure, community and social involvement." Grimsby said, "Since you are all sixteen and over, the sixth form will be carrying out the Silver Award. If you're interested just go to see Miss Fernandez in W102 of the East Wing at lunch anytime this week. There are only twelve places so be quick."

"Fuck that," Tam muttered as she glanced down at her nails.

The bell rang, telling us it was the end of assembly and the start of first period. Everyone started getting up but Grimsby raised a hand.

"I haven't dismissed you yet," he said, "Benjamin O'Connor, Alexander Kopov and Christopher Finley. I need you three to stay behind."

*

"How the fuck were we supposed to know the kid was allergic coconuts?" O'Connor said.

Finley nodded and Kopov took a bite out of his sandwich. Finley said, "Exactly."

My eyebrows pulled together as I looked between the three of them. "How did this even happen? Why were you taking money from year eights?"

It was lunch time and like always, we were all hanging out in the common room. Dane and Tam sat on either side of me. Dane found the whole thing funny for some reason and couldn't stop laughing whilst Tam didn't really seem to care. She was too engrossed in the latest issue of Grazia.

I hadn't seen Elliot since assembly this morning. As soon as it had finished he'd bumped past me and walked out the hall. Goodwin said he'd last seen him at the convenience store during break buying some gum and a bottle of water.

"No - no, El, listen," Finley said, "It was break time and me, OC, Kopov and Jamie were heading to the offie on Rutledge Street right, then this little year eight called Karsten or whatever comes over to us and -"

"And he asks us to buy him some Bounty chocolate bars," Kopov said. "He says he'll pay us a fiver if we do this."

O'Connor stole a few chips from Finley's lunch and chucked them in his mouth. He dodged Finley's slap and grinned.

"Five pounds is a lot of money Jensen," he said, "You see I like money, Finley likes money, Kopov likes money -"

"Jamie likes money but he thought it was a bad idea," Finley said.

O'Connor shrugged, "But Jamie's a coward so -"

"I'm not a coward, Ben, you're just a fuckin' idiot," Jamie cut in from the other end of the common room. I couldn't understand his Irish accent at first but I was getting to it now. It was quite charming actually. It reminded me of O'Connor back in primary school before he'd lost his accent. He now talked like a proper Mancunian but sometimes you could hear the Irish in him in the lilt of voice and the way he pronounced his r's.

He was lying on the sofa again, jotting somethings down on his notebook as he listened to music on his headphones. I don't know if he could hear us considering how loud he played his music. I think he just had a sixth sense for every time O'Connor said his name.

Like Elliot, Jamie was new to the country too. He'd moved from Ireland in mid-August with his parents since his dad had gotten a job offer as an inspector for the Manchester police. O'Connor hadn't been particularly happy with this information considering the fact he didn't get along with his cousin.

O'Connor glared at his cousin, "Piss off James!"

Jamie rolled his eyes and pulled his headphones back on.

"Anyway," O'Connor glanced back at me, "So, we say yes to Karsten and take his money. The four of us come back like fifteen minutes later and give him his chocolate bar."

"Oh wow," Dane laughed, "So you just bought a random thirteen-year-old chocolate? That is so shady."

"So, what did Grimsby say?" I asked.

"Apparently Karsten's been in hospital for the past two days," O'Connor said. He raised a finger, "But there's no evidence to say it was us who sold him the chocolate bars. So there's no reason we should get done for it."

Kopov frowned, "But Grimsby said he knows it was us and he's determined to prove it. The guy's a dick."

Tam looked up from her magazine, "Wait. Karsten Richter? Short fat kid in year eight?"

"Yeah...yeah, that's him," Finley said with a nod.

Tam's eyes widened, "You realise that's Joey Richter's brother right?"

"Shit." Kopov frowned and cast a worried glance at Finley and O'Connor, "You don't think Joey will say anything do you?"

If there was one word to describe Joey Richter, it would be unstable. I think everybody in our year (and the years below) had been scared of him and his little minions who did whatever he wanted. Luckily he hadn't come to sixth form and last I heard of him, he'd been arrested for joyriding in Cheetam Hill.

"Put it this way," Dane grinned, "I'll be surprised if you can still walk at the end of the month."

I spent the rest of lunch talking to Dane and the boys about the next footy match as Tam read her magazine. When the day ended at half three, I made my way to the bus lane at the front of the school with O'Connor and Finley. For the first time since the assembly Elliot Fintry finally made appearance. I saw him talking to Jamie by the steps to the main hall. Jamie had a small smile on his face as he showed Elliot something on his phone. Elliot nodded and Jamie's smile turned into a wide grin.

"El, come on," O'Connor said, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to the line of buses in the large lane between the science block and the main building. "I don't want some snotty year nine taking our seats again."

I looked away from Elliot and Jamie, "Alright, alright."

Laughter and wild chatter greeted us as we stepped onto the bus. I spotted Astra sitting at the back of the lower deck with Millie Wu and Prosper Cadwell who were part of the hockey team with her. Millie blushed a brilliant red when O'Connor threw her a grin. To keep O'Connor from outright flirting in front of dozens of other students, I pushed him along and up the stairs to the top deck.

"Jesus, O'Connor," I said as we made our way to the seats in the back, "Keep it in your pants for just a second will you."

"And make all the ladies weep in mourning?" he said, "Never."

I took the seat by the window and dropped my head back with a sigh. My eyes wandered from the front of the bus where a couple of year sevens were shouting about something to the main building where Elliot and Jamie were still talking. Jamie pushed a hand through his mop of dark curls, said something and Elliot shrugged.

"Isn't Jamie taking the bus today?" I asked.

Finley shook his head, "Nah, he's got a clarinet recital this afternoon."

"Clarinet?" I said, "I thought he played piano?"

"He does. Piano, saxophone, drums, clarinet and now he's learning the organ," Finley said, the corner of his mouth lifting up, "He's pretty talented."

O'Connor frowned, "He's a pretentious dick that's what he is."

"You're just jealous he still has his Irish accent and you don't," Finley said.

"Oh yeah," O'Connor scoffed, "You got it in one Fin, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact he's a massive twat."

Jamie gave Elliot one more nod before he tapped his shoulder and they went their separate ways. Jamie headed to the school gates and Elliot headed to our bus. He glanced up then, his dark eyes meeting mine. I swallowed and looked away, hating the way my heart sped up.

   _____________

a/n : for those wondering "mancunian" means someone who's from manchester, england.