Chapter Twenty-Six

Friday came and Sam and Debs refused for him to go to school.  He was in a lot of pain so didn't protest too much.  By afternoon he was so bored that he decided to go and see Mr Cassidy.  No-one was in the shop as he lifted the counter. 

"Mr C?" he called towards the back room.

The door to the store room opened suddenly as Mr Cassidy came backing out with a box of goods.

"Lincoln, give me a hand, would you?" he said, his back to Lincoln.

"I would but I don't think I can" said Lincoln.

He plonked the box down on the counter.  "Why?" he asked, looking up.

As he caught sight of Lincoln, he gasped.  "Sweet Jesus, what happened?"

"It is a long story" said Lincoln. "Basically, I was beaten up."

"I can see that" said Mr Cassidy, "Who did this?"

Lincoln looked away.  "I can't tell you."

Mr Cassidy looked at him from under his brow.

"Does this have anything to do with Abbie?"

Lincoln's head snapped up.

"How did you...?"

"I may be old but I am quite perceptive" said Mr Cassidy.

"If I tell you, do you promise not to repeat it?"

Mr Cassidy made the cross the heart gesture.

"It was some boys from school – Nathan was with them, and Abbie's old boyfriend.  They wanted me to stop talking to Abbie" confided Lincoln.

Mr Cassidy looked astonished.  "Nathan did this?  I am disgusted."

He grabbed his keys.

"That is it.  I am going to have a word with him myself"

"No Mr C, you promised.  Please just leave it alone. I have enough pressure from Sam."

Mr Cassidy calmed down. 

"I can't promise I will be able to hold off giving that boy a thick ear forever."  Mr Cassidy sighed. 

"Well" he said, his tone lightening, "You aren't going to be much good to me for a few days.  Go on, get off home."

Lincoln ignored the glances from passer-bys as he walked home from the shop.  He let himself in and walked into the lounge.  He considered leaving when he saw Connor was in there, but decided he hadn't been the one in the wrong; he wouldn't hide out upstairs.

Connor looked up from his book and smiled nervously.  He sported a bruise under his eye from where Lincoln had punched him.

"Hey" he said.

Lincoln ignored him and switched the TV on.  They watched in silence for a few minutes.

Connor raised his voice above the drone.  "Linc, we need to talk."

Lincoln turned the volume of the TV up.  Connor got up, switched the TV off and stood in front of it.  Lincoln could hardly ignore him now.

"I don't want to talk to you" said Lincoln, coldly. He stood up.  "In fact, never talk to me again."

Lincoln turned to go and Connor grabbed his arm.  Lincoln roughly knocked his hand away.

"Let go of me!  Unless you want another black eye to match that one" he growled. 

"Linc..."

"Just leave me alone.  Haven't you and your friends done enough damage?" spat Lincoln.

"I'm sorry.  I can't tell you how stupid I have been.  I am so sorry.  We weren't getting on and... I just wanted them to respect me.  They said you needed to be taught a lesson" mumbled Connor.

Lincoln smiled at the irony of his choice of words.

"Need to be taught a lesson?  Wow, that is a phrase I am familiar with.  One of Ray's favourites.  I spent years being beaten by him, every day fighting for a scrap of dignity.  I thought that after he left, that would be the last time I would see the inside of a hospital." Lincoln lifted up his shirt.  Connor looked away from the purple and black bruises on Lincoln's body. "Until you, my own brother, gave me that pleasure again."

"It wasn't meant to go that far.  They just said they would rough you up a bit and I, I didn't touch you" breathed Connor.

"Don't you see that you being there and doing nothing is as good as, no worse, than if you had hit me yourself!" 

There was a pause and Lincoln looked at Connor sadly.

"When I was first sent here, I thought about running away all the time.  But then I got to know you.  I had a brother – I could see why my friends had such strong bonds with their brothers.  Then when I met Abbie, it all began to fall into place.  I stopped thinking about leaving.  I was happy, happier than I have been since Mum died."  Emotion filled his voice.  "You and your friends have ruined everything.  What hurts most is that I thought we were becoming friends as well as brothers.  How could you betray me like that?"

"What can I do to make it right?" asked Connor, his voice cracking.

"Just keep your mouth shut about who was there.  I presume you won't have a problem protecting your mates, seeing as you do anything they tell you.  Other than that I don't want anything from you ever again."

As Lincoln left the room, Connor began to cry.  Lincoln's sympathy was all dried up.

Lincoln's weekend consisted of avoiding everyone – Connor and Sam especially.  Sam was intent on knowing who had injured him and spent many conversations trying to coax it out of him.  Sam also spent many hours interrogating Connor, but to his credit, he never uttered a word about who had hurt Lincoln.  Lincoln didn't know if that was because he had asked him not too or just to protect his friends.

Luca came over a few times and they had some long talks.  They planned a trip for him to come to London over half term.  Lincoln brightened up a bit; the present was shitty but at least he had something to look forward to now.

Monday morning eventually came and Lincoln found it hard to drag himself out of bed.  Connor was back in the room now after Sam had sat him down and Lincoln agreed not to thump him again.  He hadn't uttered a word to Connor since and nor had Connor communicated with him.  Connor was getting dressed as Lincoln stretched unthinkingly, sending pain soaring through his ribs,

"Aah" he cried out in pain. 

Connor grimaced, grabbed his stuff and walked out.

Lincoln was down in time for some breakfast,

"How are you feeling this morning?" asked Sam.

Lincoln shrugged.  He felt pretty bad.  His muscles were stiff and painful now the bruises were fully formed.  He said nothing: he didn't want Sam and Debs fussing.

"What are you doing dressed for school?" asked Debs.

"I am pretty sure that clothing is not optional" said Lincoln.

 "You need to stay at home for another day, if not two" said Sam.

"No, what I need is to get back to school and get on" said Lincoln, firmly.

"But you are on those strong painkillers, and they can make you feel dizzy" said Debs.

"Well tough, I am going.  If I feel faint, I will lie down ok?" said Lincoln getting up.  "I have to leave now, if I want to get there on time."

Sam picked up his keys.  "I'm going to drive you to school." 

Lincoln began to protest but Sam silenced him.

"Not negotiable."

Sam pulled the car to a stop outside of school.

"Hold on Lincoln" said Sam, as Kat, Connor and Jenny got out and headed to the school.

When they had gone, he spoke.

"Please reconsider.  I really don't think it is a good idea to go back so soon.  Especially since the people who did this haven't been caught yet" implored Sam.  "I spoke to the Head and Mr Adams.  They suggested assigning another pupil to walk with you to and from classes."

"Are you crazy?  I don't need protection.  Just butt out, you'll only make it worse."

Lincoln hauled himself out of the car as fast as he could, leaving Sam behind.

As Lincoln walked down the crowded hallway, people stopped and stared at him.  He could hear their whispers.  He hurried to his first lesson for the first time ever.

He hadn't been in class long, when there was a knock at the door.  A note was given to the teacher.

"Lincoln, can you go to see Mrs Jones immediately."

All eyes were on Lincoln again as he gathered his things and left the class.

Lincoln knocked and then opened the door to the Head's office.

"Come on in" said Mrs Jones, from her seat.  She indicated to the seat across from her.  "Have a seat."

Lincoln sat.  He noticed Mr Adams for the first time, sitting to the right, looking sombre as usual.

"Well Lincoln, your father has informed us that you have been attacked on school property by six boys" she stated.

Lincoln nodded.

"He has also indicated that he thinks you know their identities and that they are students here" she continued.

Lincoln shrugged unhelpfully.

"If you don't tell us who did it, we can't stop them from attacking you or somebody else" said Mr Adams.

"I don't know who they were" said Lincoln plainly.  "They were wearing masks."

Mrs Jones and Mr Adams looked at each other.

"We have spoken to your father about your physical condition and we agree that you should have some more time off." said Mrs Jones.

"Thank you for your concern but I am fine.  I prefer not to miss too much work" said Lincoln as severely as possible. 

"Well, I hardly want to force you to miss school.  If you insist..." said Mrs Jones.

Lincoln nodded.

Kat met Lincoln outside of school at break time.  They walked outside the school gate towards the shop.  He lit a Montgomery and walked alongside Kat.

"Aren't you even going to wait until we hit the street?" asked Kat.

Lincoln breathed in.  "Right now, I really don't care."

There was a pause for a moment.

"I spoke to Kyle about what you said" said Kat "He admitted it was true."

Lincoln didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry Linc."

"What are you sorry for?  You didn't do anything to me."

"No but with Kyle being my boyfriend and everything...." her voice trailed off.  "He seemed very sorry about what he did and seemed quite worried about what might happen."

"What?  He is worried that I might tell the police he is involved?" asked Lincoln.

Kat nodded.  "You wouldn't though, would you?  I mean I was going to dump him but he said it would never happen again.  I made him promise to leave you alone."

"Well, thanks for your concern" said Lincoln sarcastically, "But don't do me any favours.  It is obvious where your loyalties lie."

Lincoln stormed off.

Lincoln walked into the busy cafeteria and scanned the room quickly.  He had been so mad at Kat that he couldn't bear to go to lessons so had bunked the rest of the morning.  Not a good start to the day.  He spotted Dale and James at a table in the far corner.  He started to make his way across the hall.  People were still staring at his injuries and he could hear some of their whispers.  As he looked up he saw Theo, Nathan, Connor, Kyle, Luke and Toby – all of his attackers.  Panic and fear suddenly struck him and he had an urge to run.  He kept his cool and forced himself to keep his head up high.

Kyle nudged Theo and Nathan as he caught sight of Lincoln.  They both turned and their faces displayed shock at what they had done. 

"I think we went too far" muttered Kyle, echoing everyone else's thoughts. 

Theo quickly regained his composure.  "Remember he deserved it" he said looking away.

As hard as it was for him, as he walked past, Lincoln made eye contact with each of them.  He wanted them to know he wasn't scared of them, even though his insides were shaking.  They each looked away ashamedly.  Lincoln sat down next to Dale and took a breath.

"How you feeling buddy?" asked James.

"Don't ask" he replied smiling nervously.