(no subject)

Despite his faith in his teacher, Fry was pretty sure Mr Irons was wrong about him learning to get on with Bradley. The kid next to him had simply ignored him for an entire half term, or given one word answers.

It suited Fry just fine.

Bradley seemed to be trying to make up with Jamal in the row in front, but periodically would lapse into bragging about his Christmas trip to Disneyland and Lapland, or his smart phone, which didn't seem to be earning him any favours with Jamal. Bradley and Tommy still weren't talking, and Jamal, caught in the middle, would go off to Tommy as soon as break time started.

Fry remembered from talking about X that maybe it was worth finding out more about it. But the weeks went past, and he pretty much gave up on it.

There were more exciting things to think about, like their trip to the Nature House.

The Nature House was an overnight trip that the class were taking at the beginning of half term. It was particularly exciting because Mum and Dad couldn't go, as they were both committed to another event with Coral, and it's the first time Fry's been away for the night without either them or a relative.

On the last day of the half term, they set off on the coach. Fry sits at the front, with the itinerary, next to Teddy who is his Buddy for the trip. Bradley, in his wheelchair, is on his own in the disabled space opposite, glowering and playing on his smart phone. Periodically, Teddy would lean over and try to include him in conversation.

Everyone gets off the bus before Bradley. Mr Irons lingers behind to unstrap his chair.

"So." he says. "This whole not talking to people thing. How's that going?"

"What do you care?" Bradley asks.

"Your mother is worried about you." Mr Irons says, undoing the second wheel. "So am I. You're a smart boy, Bradley. You have a lot of friends."

"Had." Bradley says. "They all sided with Tommy."

"Were you mean to Tommy?" Mr Irons asks.

"Yeah." Bradley shrugs.

"Well then why not apologise?" Mr Irons says. "Tommy's not one to hold a grudge."

Bradley shrugs again. Now free, Mr Irons helps him down from the coach and he makes a quick exit.

***

Fry thoroughly enjoys the nature trip. Although it's cold, and they're mostly looking at things like spring growth and hibernating bugs, hours of late night animal documentaries mean this is very much his thing.

But by the time he's expected to go to bed at eight o'clock, he's overstimulated and wired, and having three other boys - Teddy, Noah and Tommy - in the same room, isn't helping. Tommy is busy making farts and telling ghost stories, making the others laugh, so Fry sits on his top bunk and rocks.

"Hey Tommy?" Teddy asks, when the story ends. "What actually happened between you and Brad?"

"Oh." Tommy's grin fades. "He was just a real jerk. He laughed at my trainers because they were my brother's old ones."

"Is that it?" Teddy asks.

"Well when I told him he was a jerk, he told me I was retarded." Tommy glowers.

Fry listens. Once he would have scoffed at Tommy's intellect - even if he hadn't used that word - but last term he really got to understand that he and Tommy were just different, and even if Tommy did sometimes do stupid things, that wasn't a reason to be mean. Hearing that Tommy had been called the r-word, that's a word he's had thrown at himself, and he knows how that feels.

"You're not retarded." he says. The other three look up at him. "You just do silly things sometimes. Like when you eat worms for a bet."

Tommy nods, understanding what Fry means.

After being told to be quiet several times, the other three boys eventually go to sleep. Fry lies awake, hearing the little noises people make, and tries counting breathing like X told him, but it's still so noisy... and then he tries to think where else he might sleep. And he remember the kitchen, which had a big buzzing fridge, and it had been a good noise among the noisy dining room where there had been two different school parties.

He picks up his duvet and pads out, avoiding any teachers, and goes into the kitchen. He wraps himself inside the duvet and curls up next to the fridge.

It's a good noise.

He's just about to doze off when someone else comes into the kitchen. He opens his eyes and looks at the feet approaching the fridge and opening it. He sits up.

"No midnight snacks."

Bradley jumps, nearly falling over.

"Why are you down there?" he demands.

"Couldn't sleep, noisy, why are you going to the fridge?" Fry asks.

"I wanted juice." Bradley says.

Fry is about to tell Bradley his teeth will rot, when something makes him look back down at Bradley's bare feet again. Seeing Bradley walk without his wheelchair isn't a new thing; he knows Bradley can, just not very far. But part of that was because Bradley's foot used to be stuck downwards, which made it really hard. Now...

"Your foot isn't stuck down any more. How come?"

Bradley glares.

"Don't go telling anyone."

Fry ignores the glare, and peers closer.

"You had an operation. There's a scar." He looks up at Bradley. "It's so you can walk better isn't it? Why shouldn't I tell anyone?"

"Because they'll make me walk everywhere." Bradley says.

"What's wrong with that?" Fry asks.

"Because I'm never going to walk normal." Bradley snaps. "I'm always going to walk wobbly. I hate walking wobbly. People will laugh. I'd rather be in the chair. It's your mum's stupid fault, she told my mum I'd walk better with an operation, so I had to go to hospital last summer holiday and it really hurt."

"But you're not walking at school." Fry says. "How did you get out of it?"

Bradley shrugs. "Just told Mum I was tired or I didn't feel very well. That's why she keeps running into school to wrap me in extra clothes."

Fry thinks about this for a moment.

"Did Tommy look at your feet?"

"Yeah. That's why I dissed his trainers. I took it too far, I wish I hadn't now." Bradley sighs.

Fry is quiet for a moment. Bradley gets his juice.

"You don't walk that wobbly." Fry says eventually. "And I don't think anyone will laugh because you're the toughest kid I know."

Bradley is about to snap at him, then stops.

"I'm really the toughest kid you know?"

"I don't tell lies." Fry says. "You're the only kid I know who can give a Chinese burn with one hand." He curls up back in his duvet. "I won't tell if you say sorry to Tommy and Jamal."

Bradley is quiet for a moment, then nods.

"Hey Fry?"

"What?"

"You're the only person I know who doesn't feel sorry for me, so I believe you."

"I don't feel sorry for you." Fry agrees. "I'm just fed up of you acting like a spoilt brat."

***

After frightening the life out of one of the Nature House staff first thing in the morning, Fry pads back to his dormitory before the others wake up and reads by torchlight. By half six, the others are awake, and Fry is pleased to see Bradley - on his feet - muttering an apology to Tommy in the boys' toilets.

The second day seems to be going more smoothly to start with. Bradley does go back into his wheelchair, because being on his feet is tiring, and they merge with the other school for some group work.

Half way through the morning, the Nature House staff are trying to explain something to the group, and Fry finds he's struggling to hear. The table behind him are gassing, and the staff are trying to talk over them, and it's all just getting louder and louder.

Just as he's holding his hands over his ears and about to snap, the teacher announces a break, and the noise level explodes. He stands, and marches over to the table behind him.

"Don't talk while the teacher is talking." he says, glaring at the boys on the table behind.

"What?" One of the boys asks.

"Don't talk while the teacher is talking. It's rude. I can't hear." Fry says.

There is a collective 'Ooooh' from the boys.

"Get a deaf aid then." another boy says, and they all laugh.

"Who wants to hear about funguses anyway?" a third boy asks.

"There are thirty different fungi within a one hundred metre radius of the Nature House." Fry says. "Brittlegills, milkcap, waxcaps, mycena, laccaria..."

The nearest boy reaches out and tugs at the badge on his jumper.

"'Cherry Tree Primary'. That one of those schools where you think you're better than us?" The group of boys get up from the table.

Fry stops his recitation of fungi, as the realisation suddenly dawns on him that 1. these kids are not from his school, and 2. these kids are quite a lot bigger than him.

"Hey, Lord Snooty." one of the boys says. "Show us one of these funguses then."

"We saw some yesterday by the side door." Fry says, heading over to the side door and going out. "They were growing morels..."

"Oh yeah? Eat one." one of the boys says, as the group surround him.

"No." Fry says.

"Why, are you scared?"

"No." Fry says. "They're edible but it's dirty and I haven't washed my hands."

"Here, let me help." one of the boys picks up a hose and turns it on, full blast.

Fry screams. The water is only for a few seconds though, as someone comes out the door and grabs it off them, and turns it on the group, who shriek and run away.

"Ha ha, you wet your pants!" Tommy yells after them. "Go pick on someone your own size!"

Teddy, who was supposed to be buddying Fry, peers at Fry shrieking in concern, before encouraging him to come inside and find something dry.

Bradley, who was the one who had spotted Fry go outside with the bigger kids in the first place, grins at Tommy. Tommy looks thoughtful as he turns the hose off.

"I'll tell Mr Irons we maybe need to look out for him more."