WARNING: Upsetting Content.
Brief mentions of racism, ill parents, death of a parent, anxiety, being in care.

The students stood there, completely dumbfounded.
Some looked at each other, whilst others just looked at Aahan, hoping they had heard him wrong.

"I'm sorry, are you... threatening us?", asked Spencer.

"He's blackmailing us", corrected Elliot.

"What makes you think we'll agree to that?", asked Eloise.

"Because you're all in your final year of school, which means your grades matter now more than ever.
I literally hold your fate in my hands", he said.

Irene looked at Zee, who was usually quick to fire back at someone for saying something she didn't like, but the black haired girl just stayed silent.

"What's your plan here?
We're just students, what do we know about awards?", asked Atlas.

"You can help me discover opportunities to earn votes", said Aahan.
"Come on, one of you must know what the award judges are looking for?"

"We're just students", said Irene.

"It makes the most sense that they'd want teachers who help out in the community, not just the school", said a shy looking boy.

Despite looking like a gust of wind could break him in half, the boy spoke with confidence in his words.
There was no denying that he was sure of his response.

"Rowan's right", said Elliot.
"And I think a quick Google search will give us all the answers we need to know about the award."

"Why are you helping him?", asked Atlas.

"We don't exactly have a choice", said Elliot.

"Good, uh, Elliot, is it?
Yes, I think an hour of researching will be helpful."

"Our classes only last fifty minutes", said Eloise.

"Wait, what about the actual history content?
If we spend all our time helping you, won't we fail anyway?", asked Irene.

"How about this—I will teach you the content for one of our three lessons during the week, and in exchange, you'll help me look favourable in the eyes of the judges?"

"Only one session?
Will we be able to cover all of the content with just one lesson a week?", questioned Rowan.

"We'll do some after school sessions too. 
So... do we have a deal?"

"Do we even have a choice?", asked Spencer.

◆◆◆

After putting on a powerpoint for the 'lesson', Aahan joined the rest of the class in researching the awards ceremony.

Elliot walked up to Zee's desk, a small packet of cookies in his hand.
He sat in the empty seat next to her, sliding in seamlessly.

"Picked up an extra pack of those cookies you like from the shop this morning", he said, before putting the packet in front of her.

Zee didn't think anything of it.
A lot of people were extra nice to her, or tried to bribe her to avoid their secrets getting revealed.

Elliot didn't always do this.
In fact, he pretty much treated Zee like she didn't exist when she joined their class half-way through the school year last year.

He had seen her around the school, but she was in a different history class for most of last year, before getting moved to his for unknown reasons.

It was only when he realised that getting on her good side would mean that he'd be more likely to learn secrets about his fellow students, that he started to buy her cookies.

It was purely for the objective of gaining knowledge on his peers, but it helped that he thought she was easy on the eyes.

"Ethan, that chair was empty for a reason.
Get your butt off it", said Zee.

Ok, so she got his name wrong, but that was just a minor setback, ok?

Besides, there were plenty of other ways to get information.

"I think I found something", said Spencer.

He pushed his chair in further so that everyone could gather around his desk. Admittedly, the closeness made him feel uncomfortable, but he just focused on his laptop screen.

"This is the official site for the
Teaching Awards.
The other categories are for Most Improved Teacher, Most Successful School, and the
Taylor Sozin Award
for the school that recognises racial injustices within their school community and have made significant steps towards fixing them", he read.

"Well that last one definitely won't be given to a school in Marleyport", said Zee.

"What do you mean?", asked Aahan.

"Racism ranges from subtle to intense around here, depending on your neighbourhood.
But racism as a whole runs through Marleyport like blood through veins", said Atlas.

Aahan frowned.
"Wow.
I thought things had changed around here."

"You used to live here?", asked Irene.

"Still do.
In a different neighbourhood.
I used to go to this school though. Bullying and racism were two of the biggest problems."

"Well if you ask me, the bigger problem is that everyone at this school fails their GCSEs", said the boy who had fought with Eloise.

He was referring to the end of year exams that determine whether they can go to the college of their choice or not. They did mock exams last year, which around forty percent of the school failed.

The Head Teacher is hoping that this year's mock exams will be much better, especially since there are no more chances before the real exams.

"Good thing no one asked you then, James", said Eloise.

"Let's get back on track, please", demanded Aahan.

"Uh, it says here that previous winners have done a lot of volunteer work for their school.
Oh, the votes come from their fellow staff members!
And others in the community", said Spencer.

Aahan sighed.
"Cr*p.
I've only just got here!"

"Oh no, too bad.
Guess we'll just have to give up and go back to studying", said Elliot, earning a nod of agreement from the others.

"Not a chance.
We'll just have to work extra hard", said Aahan.
"When's the voting deadline?"

"At the end of the school year", said Spencer.

Aahan grinned.
"That's perfect!
That gives us a few months!
That's plenty of time to get votes."

"I still can't believe we're doing this", said Eloise.

Aahan turned his attention to the laptop screen, and Elliot lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Don't worry guys, he'll be gone soon. We just have to wait it out", he said.

"That's true", said Eloise.
"Thanks for that reminder, I was about to panic."

"You know I'm here to help", said Elliot, before leaning back in his chair, a smirk appearing on his face.

Aahan clapped his hands.

"Alright then!
Let's brainstorm some award-winning ideas", he said, laughing at his own pun.

◆◆◆

After the school day is done, and the uniting backdrop of school falls away, everyone goes back to their very different home lives.

      Irene sat on her sofa, hands cupping her face.
She watched her Dad eat the ready meal she prepared for him.
She hung on his every movement, her heart almost skipping a beat as he shoved a spoonful of food that was too big.

She had gotten used to performing the heimlich maneuver, but that didn't mean it worried her any less.

    Situated on Kemnal Street, number fifteen to be exact, was the home of Rowan Sterling.

Rowan was in his room, looking up as much of the content for this year's history lessons as he could.
Planning in advance helped Rowan keep his anxiety at bay, although he wasn't sure how much planning he could do given that his history lessons had been taken over by a thirty one year old man hellbent on winning an award he didn't even know existed until yesterday.

     Elliott was at the dinner table, seated across from a girl with ice-white hair and the deepest shade of red lipstick smeared across her lips.

"So, Evelyn... how did you and Jacob meet again?", asked his mother.

"Ah, well Mrs Brown, we actually met at the comic book store.
He was reading one of my favourite comics.
We talked for ages about it, and I made sure to get his number after."

Elliott placed a napkin to his mouth, in an attempt to stifle his laugh.
He looked down at his plate of roast beef.

It was Elliott's snooping that helped his older brother learn what Evelyn's interests were.

When the attention was just on Evelyn, Jacob leaned closer to Elliott and whispered so that only he could hear.

"Hey, did you get your girl yet?"

"My girl?"

"That one you said was good looking. Bree or something?"

"Oh.
Zee.
No, I gave up on that.
I wasn't really that into her.
I just wanted to keep her close because she knows all the gossip about everyone."

"No, I'm not having that.
You're a Brown, Elliott.
We're charmers.
You need to charm your way into her heart so you can get what you want."

"She's not really one to be charmed easily."

"Then flirt with other girls.
I'm telling you, make her jealous and she'll be begging you to date her.
It always works."

      Atlas pushed the swing, grinning when his little sister squealed in delight the higher she got.

"Again!
Again!", exclaimed Lilibeth.

"We've gotta get home!
Mum's cooking, remember?"

"Atlas, hey!", called out Eloise.

She jogged towards them, a big smile on her face when she saw Atlas' little sister.

"Hey, Beth!
Look what I got from the shops", she said, before holding out a bag of sweets.

Yay, sweets!", she exclaimed, making Eloise laugh.

"Ah, no, El... we're going to go and eat. She'll be hyper if she has them."

"Just hold onto them for her then", said Eloise.

Atlas smiled, before playfully rolling his eyes and taking them.
"Fine, fine.
You're not making me out to be the villain, nu-uh, not today."

Eloise giggled.
"Hey, wanna hang out later?"

"Can't, sorry.
Got homework to do."

Eloise frowned.
"Oh."

"Another time?"

"Yeah, sure."

Atlas turned to Lilibeth.

"What do you say?"

"Thank you, Ellie!", she beamed.

"You're welcome, kiddo."

Atlas waved goodbye and walked away, with his little sister already trying to get the sweets from his pocket.

       Eloise exhaled softly as she watched them walk away.
She desperately wanted him to change his mind, and maybe even invite her over.

She just couldn't face going back home.

Not after what her social worker told her.

       Across the road from the park, lived Spencer O'Connor.
The events of today really shocked Spencer.
He was hoping his final year of school would be uneventful.

"Hey, Spence?
Are we skateboarding or what?", asked his Dad.

Well, not his birth father.

No, he died a few years ago.

But Zeke was a worthy substitute.
Of course, no one could replace his Dad, but once he learned that Zeke wasn't trying to at all, he warmed up to him, and realised they had a lot more in common than he thought.

"Yeah.
Thanks for doing this again."

"Ah, no problem.
The last year of school is always stressful.
If skateboarding with me will help relieve some of that stress, we can go down to the skate park any time you like."

       Zalim rubbed a medicinal cream on her mother's leg, working quicker when she groaned in pain.

An accident a few years ago injured Zalim's parents, and although Zalim's mother had recently been able to work again, the extra strain leaves her in an immense amount of pain when she comes home.

Zalim never complained though.
After all, it wasn't her parents' fault that they were injured so badly.

_____________

Hi!

Ok so I was just so excited about this book that I wrote another chapter!

I do need the connections completed, but I've been looking at ways to bypass that, because I'm just loving what I've got planned for this book.

I still need to do a lot of planning, because I don't have enough plot points for it, but I've got quite a few to start off with.

After having a little peek into the group's home lives, is there any specific one that intrigues you?

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

The Taylor Sozin award is actually a reference to a character my friend hopefulfirebird made for one of my stories.

Their character experienced racism growing up, and seeing as that book was set in the 70s, I thought it would be nice to have an award named after him now, to recognise the work he did in his life. The book isn't published yet, so I won't spoil it as a couple of people who made characters for this book also have characters in that book.

starryeyedturtle

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

1-800-SHAWNHUNTER-

Tornado-Jockey