Second Chance(17)

“Come in.” Jack ushered him inside and shut the door behind them. “Do you want a drink? Tea, coffee, beer, wine?”

Alcohol was tempting because Nate had left his car at home and walked over. Booze would help him relax, but he didn’t want to make things harder for Jack. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

“Tea then,” Jack said. “I may be replacing my alcohol habit with a tea and coffee addiction, but I guess that’s an improvement.” He chuckled.

Nate followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter while Jack put the kettle on and got out mugs. Jack seemed cheerful, more relaxed than Nate had seen him so far. It was good to see the change in him. “So, how’s your week been?” Nate asked.

“Pretty good actually. I’m feeling a bit better, and I’ve got a job starting on Monday.”

“Congratulations, that’s great news. What is it?”

“It’s an admin job at Marlham High School.” Jack glanced up from pouring water on the teabags. “I’m going to be organising cover for when teachers are off sick or on courses. It’s part-time, five hours a day, and I start horribly early in the morning. But I usually wake early anyway, and at least this means I keep my afternoons free.”

“Was it weird going back there for the interview?”

“Very weird. And working there is going to take a bit of getting used to. Not all my memories of that place are good.” His face darkened a little.

“Yeah. I find it odd going back there for parents’ evenings.”

Both Nate and Jack had struggled during their first year at Marlham High. Bullied for not fitting in with their peer groups, they weren’t in the same tutor group, and hadn’t been to the same primary school. They hadn’t met till their second year when they were in the same sets for Maths and English, and they’d clicked straight away.

Jack’s friendship had transformed life at school for Nate, and Jack had always said he felt the same. Once they had each other, they gradually found other kids who didn’t fit into the boxes they were supposed to aspire to. Kids who didn’t care—or who pretended not to care—about being cool or popular. Kids who wore their differences with defiant pride.

“Do you still like your tea the same way as me? Strong? Milk, no sugar?” Jack asked.

“Yes.” Nate smiled at Jack remembering.

“It’s funny,” Jack said as he stirred. “I was surprised at how difficult it was being back in the school building. I only had a really shitty time when I was eleven or twelve. After that, it was so much better, and by the sixth form I was pretty happy there. But when I went there last week a lot of the crap stuff came back up for me.”

“I felt the same.” Nate took the mug Jack offered. “Going back the first time, I remembered some of the bad things I hadn’t thought about in years. I suppose while we were still students we suppressed a lot of it because we had to get on and cope. For me, a lot of it came out in therapy—things I’d almost forgotten. So, when I went back with Cass to look around, those memories were vivid again.”

Nate had been shocked at his visceral response to the dining hall. Mealtimes had been one of the hardest times for him as a kid. Age eleven, during his first year at secondary school, the socialising had been split rigidly by gender. The boys Nate had been friends with at primary school ignored him now, but Nate had no idea how to make friends with the girls. Their interactions were governed by rules that were incomprehensible to him. No matter how hard he tried, he always got it wrong. It was as though the other girls could sense he wasn’t one of them, even though Nate wasn’t consciously aware of it himself.

“Do you want to sit in the living room? Or go up to my room?” Jack asked.

“I don’t mind, wherever you’re most comfortable.”

“My room then. It’s the only bit of this house that feels like home to me.”

Nate glanced around as he followed Jack through the hallway and up the stairs. Jack’s parents’ place had always been like a show home. Tidy and perfectly decorated with nothing out of place, apart from in Jack’s room, which was always a mess.

Jack’s bedroom was a little different to how Nate remembered it. The posters of The Cure and Sisters of Mercy were gone from the walls, and it had been redecorated from Jack’s teenage choice of dark purple to a neutral cream. The clutter was the same, though. Books were stacked high on the shelves and clothes spilled out of drawers. Jack’s double bed—still pushed up against one wall as it had been when he was a teenager—was covered with a purple blanket and a collection of multicoloured velvet cushions. A thick burgundy rug hid most of the boring beige carpet, and when Jack turned on a lamp with a red shade and switched off the main light, it was much cosier and inviting.

“We’ll have to sit on the bed. I wanted to bring my two-seater sofa but it wouldn’t have fit, so it’s in storage with the rest of my stuff.”

Nate kicked off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the double bed, leaning against a pile of cushions. “It feels like old times.”

“Yeah.” Jack smiled, taking a seat at the head end. “I think we need some music on to get the true retro feel. Any requests?”

“What have you got?”

“I’ve got Spotify, so you name it, I can probably find it.”