Brassington High (HS AU) by Satsuma grove
Summary: Justin's whole life is about to be turned upside-down. Can a change in circumstances change this young boy's life?
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Long Stories
Characters: Joshtin
Genres: Drama
Warnings: adult language
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 05/23/04
Updated: 07/12/04
Index
Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter 2: Chapter 1
Chapter 3: Chapter 2
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter 1: Prologue
To be honest, he was a little bit scared. He knew that if he were hauled in front of the judge again, he’d be looking at a stretch in Juvie. He’d been told that the last time he was in court. It was so fucking stupid though, getting caught for this. All that he did and he gets pulled this time for spitting gum on the pavement, ironic really considering he’d ripped off three car stereos the night before.Juvie wouldn’t be too bad, would it? He’d heard bad stories about it from Trace and the other members of the gang. They threatened you with it. ‘Do what we say or we’ll set you up and you’ll end up in Juvie’ followed by stories of guards beating you up and lewd comments about what happened in the shower rooms. Things the 14-year-old Justin Timberlake didn’t really understand, he just knew they sounded bad.
Now, he was sitting on a wooden bench, waiting to go into Juvenile Court again. His Mom wasn’t even there with him; she, his step-dad and his lawyer had gone to talk to the Judge about something, leaving him all alone. They shouldn’t have left him alone, this place was scary. He didn’t want to go to jail. He didn’t really even want to be part of Trace’s gang anymore, but once you’re in you can’t get out. He’d tried, honest he had. He felt the tears well up in his eyes and tried to blink them back. Where were they and what the hell did they want with the Judge? His mom had been weird all week actually. She seemed so pissed with him, more than normal. Well. He could understand her being pissed; he was up in court again. Normally though, she was sort of understanding, this time, she’d just plain ignored him.
He was due in at 10, and it was 9.55 now, so not long to go. Justin scratched his neck. His mom had insisted he wear a shirt and tie today, and proper trousers. He was itching everywhere though and his hair was probably everywhere without a cap to keep the curls in place. This just wasn’t good. He wasn’t even missing a day in school, no. It’s the summer holidays. He should be out, skateboarding or playing basketball. Maybe see if anyone was down on the community courts, not that many people would play with him though, not once they worked out who he was.
What he was. What he was. Yes. He was a Ay-ite. He wasn’t Justin Timberlake, he was Justin Timberlake, Ay-ite. He pulled himself up a little, furrowing his forehead. So what if he went to Juvie. There were other Ay-ite’s in there. They’d see him right. Fuck them, fuck his mother who didn’t care and fuck his fucking stepdad. He didn’t need them, he had his family, his brothers. He took the tie off and loosened his top button, pulling his shirt out from his trousers. He’d take what was coming, he’d take it like an Ay-ite.
He was called to the court room to see his Mom, Step Dad and Lawyer sitting down already. The Judge already waiting for him to take his seat. He gulped once, his not caring attitude wearing off at the sight of his Mom noticing he’d lost the tie. The Judge did all the legal talk, stating that Justin had violated the court order to stay out of trouble and had, once again ended up in front of him. He stated again that this would normally mean a stretch in a Juvenile home.
Hang on. Would normally mean a stretch. He wasn’t going to jail? Justin suddenly looked up at the Judge, his mom. Waiting to hear what would be next.
Chapter 2: Chapter 1
He tried not to be curious as the dark blue people carrier pulled up a gravel driveway. He could see the top of what looked like a castle behind the trees, but as they turned the corner he could see that it was in fact a country house. Large and imposing, Justin swallowed slightly. Maybe he’d have been better off in Juvie.Justin ran over the events of the past couple of days in his head again. His reaction to the Judge when he was told that his parent’s were moving to the UK for four years due to his step-father’s job and he’d be enrolled in The Brassington School for the foreseeable future had been explosive to say the least. The Judge had nearly changed his mind and sent him down. Fucking England. All it did there was rain from what he knew of the country and they played stupid sports like rugby and soccer. Still, at least he’d still have some freedom and by all accounts it was fairly easy to get booze in the UK.
He was led out of the court room by his parents who took him home and showed him the school. Well, when he found out it was boarding school, well, his parents had actually locked him in his room till he’d calmed down. A fuckin’ boarding school, probably full of pathetic mother’s boys called Winthrop and Tarquin. They’d flown to England the next day, his step-dad going straight into meetings and his Mom and him going to some department store in London to fit him for his uniform. The uniform, that had been another fit, till the man in the store took him to one side and spoke to him. Well, frightened the crap out of him if he was honest. No one had ever spoken to him like this guy did and seeing how he was like, totally ancient, and probably had no idea about child protection laws, he’d behaved rather than face the consequences. So here he was, his new wool trousers itching his thighs and the collar of his shirt digging into his neck, on his way to school.
The car stopped by the entrance to the school, pulling up next to a tall, thin man wearing a well cut charcoal suit. The driver took his trunk from the back of the car and left it on the gravel, whilst his Mom went up and introduced herself to the man.
“Mr Timberlake, I’m Dr McKay, the Headmaster here. Your mother has to get back to London, so say your goodbyes and we’ll get you settled into the school.” Dr McKay held his hand out to Justin, who shook it shyly. From one look at this guy he could tell there would be no messing and so he turned and gave his Mom a hug, the look of pleasure on her face when he did that making him feel guilty for a moment, before he remembered they were dumping him in a boarding school so his step-dad could be some high flying American accountant in England.
Leaving his trunk on the gravel he followed Dr McKay into the school. “The majority of the pupils won’t be arriving till tomorrow, Justin, but we thought it best to let you get acquainted with the school first. Normally we don’t take on new boys into Year 10, but in your case we made an exception. “ The doctor spoke quietly as they walked through the entrance hall, not stopping his monologue until they reached his office. As he directed Justin to a seat, he sat down behind his large oak desk.
“So, Justin.” He started, picking up what was obviously Justin’s file. “This is what’s going to happen. First, you’re going to do some tests, so we know where to place you. You’ll be going into Year 10. That’s the start of the GCSE years for English pupils, so in less than two years you’ll be sitting public examinations. We have a very high standard here, with 100% of our pupils getting 9 or more GCSEs at C and above. You will not be allowed to ruin that percentage, Justin. Once we know your strengths, you and I will decide what subjects you will study. Mathematics, English Language and Literature and the Sciences are compulsory, as is a Modern Foreign Language. I believe you have studied Spanish to date?” Justin nodded, opening his mouth to speak, but being interrupted by Dr McKay carrying on. “So, tests, then you’ll go upstairs to unpack. I’ve put you in a dormitory run by Mr Chasez, one of our 6th form prefects. He’s American too, so I thought that might help you adjust somewhat. Mr Chasez has already arrived, his parents having to go away on business, so at 7pm the house staff will provide a dinner for the two of you in his study. Mr Chasez will then go over some of the school rules and traditions with you. He’s been here since he was 11 so he’s well versed.” Dr McKay took a sip of the tea which had been placed on his desk in preparation of this meeting.
“One more thing, Mr Timberlake. The only reason you’re here is because your Step Father’s Company is one of our valued sponsors. If I even suspect you are up to any of your old behaviour you will be expelled, Justin. If you’re expelled, you fly straight to America to a Juvenile Home. You will not tell any of the other boys about your criminal past, they won’t be told by any of the staff. Once this meeting is over, you start with a clean slate. I advise you use the opportunity. Now, if you’ll follow me, you have some tests to sit”
Chapter 3: Chapter 2
Justin sat, chewing the end of his pencil. Dr McKay had explained the English system to him and he knew he was getting off lightly. English kids had to do a weeks worth of exams. Two Science, three Maths and three English. He was just doing basic papers, one of each. Didn't mean they were easy though. He was working his way through the maths now. He had an hour to do it, no calculator allowed. Thank goodness this was the last one. 3 hours of exams and he was ready to drop. He'd played lip service to the tests, doing as little as he possibly could, rebelling against the fact he was having to sit them and the fact he was in the school. He'd been too shell shocked to say much to Mr McKay, but sitting on his own for three hours, well, his mind had been going a hundred miles per hour and the resentment was building up.He was still chewing on the pencil and staring into space when the wooden door opened and a curly haired head popped round. "You're done." It said, before walking into the room.
Justin turned his attention away from the spiders web adoring the picture of the school's first pupils and focused fully on the interrupter of his sulking. He looked around 17/18, tall but skinny with dark brown loose curls making his head look bigger than it should be. "You what?" Justin snapped, annoyed to have been interrupted, he'd just managed to think of a good escape plan and now he'd lost track.
Josh decided to let the rudeness go this time, after all, Justin had just sat 3 hours worth of exams. "You're done, Justin. I have to take you upstairs to unpack and things before dinner. I'm Josh, your dorm prefect."
'What the fuck is a dorm prefect' Justin thought, but stood up reluctantly. Josh started talking as soon as Justin was next to him, explaining how normally they couldn't talk in the corridors, but because school officially didn't start till Monday, and today being Friday, the rules were relaxed. Josh took Justin up a back staircase to a thin corridor with solid wooden doors leading off it.
"We're in Sage. All the dorms are named after herbs or spices." Josh explained, as he opened the door to reveal a small living space with four doors leading from it. "This is our area. Only dorm members are allowed in each dorm, so any socialising is really done in the common rooms. There's a kettle and a little fridge and I collect subs once a month to keep things stocked up. Okay - through here." Josh opened a door to the right of the room, showing Justin a small bedroom/study with a shower and toilet through an alcove. "This is my room. If you have any problems, then knock, I'm generally available. Now, over here." Josh pointed to the other doors, "These are your rooms. 2 rooms, 2 of you in each room."
Justin looked at the simple rooms in astonishment. Small single beds with a bookshelf above them at opposite ends of the room, with desks in the middle. Wardrobes took up the remaining wall space. His trunk was in the middle of the floor, unlocked.
"Who's been through my stuff?" Justin asked, not knowing what was more annoying, sharing a room or the fact someone had been in his things.
"All trunks are inspected, Justin. It's procedure. Don't worry. Now. I'll help you unpack because everything has a place and if you don't keep it there, then. Well. Matey'll be on to you and you don't want that. She's a dear, but she's a daemon when ignited." Josh started unpacking Justin's truck, putting socks in one drawer, pants in another. Making sure trousers and shirts were hung up just so.
"Matey?" Justin asked eventually, he was sitting on his bed thoroughly confused.
"Matron. She runs the dorm staff and the sick bays. Rules the school, basically. You don't want to get on the wrong side of her, Justin. Look. I know this is a shock to you, being here. My dad works with yours and I kind of know some of the things what've gone on, but I'm not going to say anything, don't worry. You can make this work or not. It's a good school and I've got a good group in my dorm. This is my last year though and I'm not going to have some punk kid spoil it for me. Okay?"
"Fuck off." Justin snarled. Who the hell was this kid telling him what to do and where to put his fucking socks. They were his fucking socks. He'd put them on the floor if he wanted too.
Josh turned to Justin, anger showing in his eyes, but his voice calm and rational. "Justin. Look. I'm your dorm prefect. What I say goes. If you don't do what I say, then you go to the Prefect Council. They can get you sent to the Head, and you don't want that. Lose the attitude, Justin. You aren't in your street gang anymore, there's no one to show off to here."
Justin averted his gaze, looking down at the corner of the room. Josh mentally chastised himself. 'Way to go there, Chasez' he thought, 'alienate the new kid before he's even got his stuff unpacked. Spotting a well loved bear in the corner of the trunk he pulled it out and sat on the bed next to Justin, letting go of the toy as Justin grabbed it and held it close.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay. This is my first time as dorm pree and I'm learning the ropes too. Start over?" Josh asked.
Justin carried on sulking, his bottom lip pouting out, but tears forming in his eyes. "This place blows." He murmured, before the tears spilt over, running down his face. Josh just carried on sitting next to him, giving the comfort just by being close. Thinking to himself that Justin was going to have a rough year if he kept up the attitude, but at the end of the day hoping that what his dad had told him was right. That Justin was a good kid, but had got caught up with the wrong crowd. What had made him do that though, was what Josh really wanted to find out.
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter 4.It was an awkward dinner, the dirty-blonde, curly-haired youngster moving the food around his plate rather than eating it and the older of the two trying to encourage him to eat to no avail. Justin had got his exam marks just before the kitchen staff had brought dinner up to Josh’s room and he’d gone into a bigger funk than he’d been in earlier. Josh didn’t know what results he’d got, but from the expression on Dr McKay’s face, they hadn’t been good.
Watching Justin eating, Josh recapped what he knew about the boy in his head. What Justin didn’t know was that Josh’s father had gone to school with Justin’s real dad, and that was the reason Justin had been put into this school in particular. All of Justin’s parents hoped that Josh might be able to get through to their delinquent son.
“His parents don’t know what happened, Josh,” his dad had told him. “It was as if one day he just changed. He’d being doing a lot of shows in the area, he’d even got onto a national TV programme for his singing, but then he went away to summer camp when he was 12 and came back like a different kid. Suddenly he quit the choir, refused to attended the dancing lessons and started hanging around with that Ayla boy and his friends. He started getting into more and more trouble, firstly reports back to his parents about not doing homework and assignments, he’d always been an A/B pupil, but all of a sudden he was pulling C/D at a maximum. No one knew what happened, the camp councillors couldn’t shed any light on the matter, neither could the school. It was as if he’d had a brain transplant. How a nice boy can turn so quickly, it defies belief. It seems that now he hasn’t got the singing and dancing, he’s given up on everything else too.”
“What camp was it?” Josh asked.
“Sports and Arts. Combines the sports activities with things like music and choir, to try and get the less sporty kids active and the kids who just love sport interested in the music side of things, like dance, to help their balance and general fitness. Mostly kids who need help in English and those subjects too, it’s like summer school, but without the stigma. Justin was a good all rounder, this was the second year he’d been and he was really looking forward to going again. He was signed up for basketball, choir and modern street dancing. Hip hop, rather than ballet and tap.”
“In school, all he wanted to do was play basketball, so the school used that as a way of getting his grades back up, but it backfired. Once they dropped him from the team, he just went off the rails. That’s when he started bunking off school, getting in trouble with the police for loitering, shop-lifting, graffiti. His parent’s suspect he was involved in stealing cars, but he was never caught doing that. Other members of the Ayla gang have certainly been caught for stealing and assault though, so you can see why his parent’s wanted to get him away before the petty crime turned into major.”
“In the end, he was put on a social disorder notice, meaning that he wasn’t allowed to go into the Mall without a parent, wasn’t allowed out after certain hours, all that kind of thing. That’s why he was up in court for spitting gum out. It was a violation of the order. By all accounts, he should have ended up in a Juvenile Home, but because Lynn and Paul were coming over to the UK, the Judge let him off, this time. It was only likely to be a week long spell anyway.“
“So, who are these Ayla people then?”
“White trash from Justin’s neighbourhood. The youngest of the brothers is Justin’s age. A lad called Trace. There’s three older brothers who are the real firebrands. One is currently doing a spell for assault, where as the others are all involved with drugs, car theft, you name a crime, they do it as far as the police know. The only thing they don’t get involved in are sex-crimes. They just beat up the people convicted of them! They have a gang of about 20-30 people, male and female, numbers go up and down depending who’s in prison, call themselves Ay-ites. Justin seems to have go involved with Trace just after summer camp. Seems like they welcomed him with open arms once he started rebelling.”
“What we need you to do, Josh, is befriend the lad, give him a bit of guidance and see if you can get him back on the straight and narrow again. He’s a good kid under all the bravado. Just give him a chance. Yeah?”
Needless to say, Josh hadn’t been happy when he’d had all this dumped on him. This was his last year at Brassington and he hadn’t wanted it spoilt. He had his own dorm for the first time and was a Sub-Prefect on top of that too. He had a good group of friends, the quartet, who’d he’d been with since Year 7 and after all, who wants to be looking after any snotty-nosed kid, never mind one a criminal snotty-nosed kid. Being the nice kid that Josh was though, he agreed, so now all he had to do was come through for his dad.
“What did Dr. McKay say?” Josh asked. Trying to break the ice.
Justin just grunted.
“Have you thought about which GCSEs to take then? We do twelve here. Maths, English Language and English Lit. The three Sciences, ICT and RE we have to do. So you get to choose 4 other subjects. What do you like? I did Music, French, Art and PE. None of those shop classes for me, I couldn’t risk my hands!” Josh tried his hardest to be enthusiastic, but it was hard.
Still nothing but a grunt from Justin.
“I’m in my second year of A levels now. I’m doing Music, Art, Sociology and English Literature, and I want to go on to study Popular Music in Liverpool. Home of The Beatles and all that! People keep asking me why I don’t go back to America, but it feels like home over here, you know. Plus, it’s much cheaper.” Josh laughed. “What do you like to do? We do loads of sports here, rugby, football, oh. You’ll call that soccer won’t you. I’ve been here so long I’m speaking the lingo! Umm, I’m on the gymnastics team and the trampoline team, there’s swimming, no diving, you can’t do that ‘till you’re in 6th, basketball.” Josh stopped as he noticed Justin look up slightly at basketball.
“You play ball? Wow “ you’ll be the star here then, there’s a couple of kids who love it, but they’re is always short on reserves. You might even have a shot of getting in the starting team.” Again, Josh stopped as Justin muttered something.
“Sorry?” he asked, not understanding Justin’s quiet speech.
“I don’t FUCKING play anymore and will you shut the hell up. Please.” Justin screamed, before standing up and walking out of Josh’s room, slamming the door behind him.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Justin lay on his bed, face down in his pillow trying his damnedest not to cry, but at the end of the day, he was only 14 and however hard he tried, the tears trickled out of his eyes. It was just all too much, the court case, Josh, England, exams. Dr McKay had not been happy when telling Justin his results, he was below standard in everything examined as a result of which he should be put into the lower ability groups. Thing was, Dr McKay had spoken to Justin's old school, knew that he was capable of more, knew that he was purposefully failing the tests to try and get an easy ride. He'd shied away of making Justin re-sit, as the rest of the school proper would be arriving the next day and he didn't want to make him stand out any more than he already would, being new and American. He'd had a right ear-full from Dr McKay though, and he was pretty damn scared of that guy already. They'd decided on his GCSEs, as well as the core subjects he was going to do Spanish, Music, Physical Education and Business Studies. Dr McKay had chosen them, based on Justin's interests before he went off the rails. The lack of participation from Mr. Timberlake had pretty much forced his hand, he hadn't wanted to inflict courses on Justin, but in the same respect, he couldn't allow him to disrupt everyone else.He was really nervous about the next day, he'd always been popular, both before and after joining the Ay-ites he'd been a leader amongst his friends, now though he was going to be the new kid, different because of his accent and the time he'd joined the school. Different. Fuck. 'I'm not going to be different'
He took his head off the pillow and looked around the room, looking a little bit more homely now he'd put a couple of posters on his part of the wall. He thought about his new roommate, what would he be like, would they get on. He hoped he wasn't a total dweeb or something, it'd be just his luck to get roomed with some total dork. That Josh kid was bad enough, with all that hair of his, he looked like a fuckin' queer.
He wiped the tears away from his face, and tried to flatten down his hair before pulling his toothbrush and paste from his wash bag and making his way to the dorm bathroom to clean his teeth. Josh had explained this earlier that the four boys shared this bathroom and there was a rota. 15 minutes each, rotating, so no one was always stuck getting up at 6am. He had also said that mostly it worked out that one guy would be showering while another would be cleaning his teeth and things, as no one ever liked getting up, although Justin had vowed then he'd always take the 6am slot if it meant having privacy. No way he was sharing a bathroom when he was all naked. He was thankful that there was a curtain segregating a small dressing area in his bedroom otherwise he'd never be getting changed.
As he left the bathroom, a call of 'Justin' from the couch got his attention. He saw Josh sitting on the couch, laptop on his knee, google's homepage shining from the screen.
"Matey popped her head in. We don't have to get up till 10 tomorrow, so if you wake up before hand there won't be anyone about. She's left us some bread to make toast, sorry?" Justin had interrupted again, muttering so Josh couldn't understand.
"I've got cereal, if there's milk." Justin muttered again, Josh finally turning around to look at Justin to try and work out what he was saying.
"Hey. Kid. Look, I'm sorry for pushing you before, if you don't want to talk about stuff, that's cool, I won't make you. But know, that if you want to talk, I'm here." The expression on Josh's face was genuine enough for Justin to stand there for a moment running things over in his head. He was nervous about the next days school, new things and new rules, new people. Maybe Josh could help him, make things a little easier. It was worth a shot.
"Josh?" Justin asked, quietly, standing half in and half out of his room, biting his fingernails. "Umm, what's gonna happen tomorrow? When everyone's here. I don't want to look like the new kid, you know."
Josh laughed to himself, not wanting to tell Justin that he'd stand out a mile tomorrow regardless of knowing what to do or not. This was a small school, only around 400 boys in total, and anyone new stood out straight away. Especially as Justin was coming into the school for Year 10, something that had only ever happened once before as far as Josh knew. Even new kids in Years 7,8 and 9 stood out as most of the kids knew each other from the Prep Schools that traditionally fed into Brassington. Still, he could help out a little bit, it wasn't like he was really doing anything online anyway, just checking his mail and stuff.
"Tomorrow. Well, the new kids arrive first, the Year 7s. They're scheduled to arrive between 10 and 11, which is why there 's no rush for us to get up. Lower school have different dorms than we do, they're 10 to a room and a Dorm Prefect. Lower school is Year 7, they're 11, to Year 9, the year below you, so 14. So, they arrive between 10 and 11, and Matey plus the other staff'll see to them. They an induction and then taken to the dorms and things before everyone else arrives. That starts happening at 2, people can arrive anytime from 2 till 4, and we're expected to know the drill. Come in, find your dorm on the notice board, put your trunk in the right area and then go to your common room. You aren't allowed into the Dorms until the trunks are all sorted into the right places and checked through of course. Basically, the day is a whole load of sitting and chatting, till 4.30."
"What happens at 4.30?" Justin asked, filling in the gap while Josh took a drink of juice.
"4.30, we all go first into the Hall, for the welcome back speeches, it's pretty dull. Then we all go back to the common room, where the Head of Year, yours is Ms Wainwright, tell everyone what form groups you're in and gives you timetables and stuff. That normally takes till about 6.00, when we have dinner. Then it's unpacking, which takes us till 8. After which the lower school go to the Lower Hall for activities and you and Year 11 go to the main Hall. We in the Sixth get a lot more free time than you do, so we'll be in our common room, I guess. "
Justin looked confused; all this talk of year groups and form rooms was new to him, and although he was getting an idea from how Josh was using them, he wasn't entirely sure.
Josh didn't see Justin's confusion though, and carried on talking telling him about the quirks of certain teachers and which ones set the hardest homework, he even laughed at the fact they called in homework, considering they lived in the school. He kept talking till past 11, when he suddenly noticed Justin stifling a yawn.
"Kid, go to bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow and I'm beat myself." Josh said, standing up and stretching. Justin followed his lead, not really knowing what else to do in this place, and went into his own room, his pillow still damp from his earlier tears and tried his hardest to get to sleep.