“Fucking Hell. Björklund.”
Damn. “Vasquez,” Tom says coldly and Lukas just sits there on a chair. Arms crossed over his chest. Eyes firmly on Tom.
“Where is Max?” Lukas says as Simon takes a few steps forward, positioning himself between the two of them. Like he always did.
“Outside. I was going to ask if I could speak to you in private before he comes in.” Tom is trying here. Please. Just let me talk to you.
“I’m not leaving,” Simon says, taking another step forward.
“Simon, it’s fine.“ Lukas kind of sighs. Getting up off the chair and instead leaning against the desk at the front so he is at eye-level with Tom who takes a few tentative steps towards the two of them, gesturing to the chair that is pulled out beside him.
“You seriously want him here?” Simon almost shouts out in despair.
“I’ll give you three minutes, Tom. This isn’t about anything else than your kid.” Lukas’s voice is steady, but Tom can tell. His hands are shaking just as badly as his own and he is doing that swallowing thing again. Lukas is just as terrified as Tom. And Tom wants to cry. He didn’t mean for this to happen. He has fucked up so badly. He shouldn’t be here. He just shouldn’t.
Simon just shrugs his shoulders and leaves the room, hurling the classroom door shut behind him to the point that the windows shake, leaving the two of them in an uncomfortable silence.
“I’m sorry,” Tom starts. He doesn’t know how to continue.
“Not good enough,” Lukas replies, whilst Tom just stares at his hands.
This is no good. This is nowhere near good enough, he knows that.
“Look, I have moved on, I haven’t spent the last decades reliving the shit years I spent at school here. It happened, and it was fucking school. It’s not important now.” Lukas’s hands are all over the place. Waving around.
“I made your life hell,” Tom whispers. “I’ve had to live with that for the last decade. It’s not something I can just dismiss. I need to apologise.”
“Well, you have apologised. Now get the hell out of my classroom.” Yeah, now Lukas is shouting. Great.
“Can I try to explain?” Tom is doing his work voice. Gesturing and trying to get Lukas to sit down again and not pace the room like his arse is on fire.
“There is nothing to explain. You are an arsehole. I teach your kid. Let’s just get him to graduate and then, I hope I will never see you again.”
“There is. There are things I need to say to make you understand. It was never your fault. It was nothing you did. It was me being an inexcusable waste of a human being.”
“Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with that,” Lukas huffs out, his voice dripping in anger.
“I’m so sorry.” Tom is close to tears. Something big and black and horrible is expanding in his chest, and if he doesn’t rein himself in, he is going to burst into tears.
“Three minutes.” Simon slams the door shut behind him, then Max opens the door and follows him in looking a bit confused. Half amused. Weirded out.
“Let’s sit down and hash this out,” Lukas says with a deep breath.
It takes less than ten minutes. Work plans and assignment dates and thirty minutes before class with Lukas on a Tuesday and Thursday, with clearly planned small chunks of learning that Lukas will orally assess in the presence of another teacher to pass off as exam questions.
And Max nods in agreement. He can do that. No pressure of writing and sitting exams and doing group presentations which clearly scares the hell out of him. It will be tight timewise, Lukas explains, but as long as Max sticks to the lesson plan and completes all the learning tasks, he can get away with a decent pass mark and move on to Year 3 as planned.
“With Drama, though.” Simon hasn’t even looked in Tom’s direction. He just stares at Max and leans forward to lean on the table. “You need to come back to class. However you can manage it, we need you in that group.”
“I will try,” Max says, hiding behind his hair. Shuffling on his seat and looking just as uninterested and blasé as he wants to look. When in reality, it’s quite clear he probably is – a little bit – interested.
“You will try.” Simon almost shouts. “You are a fucking natural, and there are so many brilliant things in Year 3. I already have ideas for our exam project and the play for the Summer festival, and you would be so bloody brilliant in all of it.”
Max shrugs and Tom’s eyes are now playing ping-pong across the room. Looking at Lukas who won’t look up from the paperwork in front of him. Simon who is waving his arms around speaking loudly about some drama project, Max chewing on his fingernail and himself probably looking like someone has died. What a fucking bunch of losers.
“The extra cred you can earn to make up for missing Drama hours are with Lukas again,” Simon says, and gives Max a stern look. “I hope you are paying attention, because this is a one-time offer.”
“Yeah, right,” Max mutters. “Whatever. I’ll do it.”
“You haven’t heard what I am asking.” Lukas sounds pissed off. No wonder.
“What are you asking?” Max snarls, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“I run one of the after school social clubs, and to be honest, it’s a fucking mess.” Lukas sighs.
“You run the Queer group,” Max huffs, and his chair scrapes against the floor as he moves it further away from the table. “I’m not fucking joining that.”
“You don’t have to join. It’s not just for students who are on the spectrum or are questioning their sexuality. We have several students who have joined for other reasons.” Lukas is speaking calmly and quietly, when it’s obvious he is neither calm, nor wanting to be quiet.
“Yeah, right.”
Max is an idiot. How the hell has Tom not brought him up better? Taught him manners and how to fucking sit at a table? Not half-lie back in the fucking seat like some junkie.
“Max, I have one openly queer kid, two girls who won't open their mouths, and fourteen idiots who watched some TV series and are now obsessed with something called ‘EVOK’. I haven’t got a fucking clue what to do with them all.”
Tom has to kind of smile. He’s still funny Lukas. Still full of that snarky charm and the way he throws his head back, and fuck, he’s still him. He hasn’t changed at all.
“It’s EVAK.” Max kind of half smiles. “Where the hell have you been for the last year? Everyone knows fucking EVAK.”
“What is EVAK?” Tom questions. He’s lost now too.
“I taught a guy who was an extra in that. He went to this fine school a few years back. Very cool kid.” Simon is actually smiling. For about a second before he fixes his gaze on Tom again and scowls, as Lukas continues.
“All I am asking of you is that you attend the Queer meeting next week and help me devise a roleplay thing to get people to talk about things that are important. You can be there as a sort of support teacher if you prefer, because you are good at this Drama thing and I am bloody shite at it. I need scenarios and ideas of how we can open discussions and make people think before they open their gobs.”
Max just shrugs his shoulders.