Page 31 of Grin and Bear It

“Water’s off!” Nash shouted. “Swap over the fittings.”

Focus on that, on the next step, I told myself. If I couldn’t give Ellie the bathroom of her dreams, I’d at least make sure she had a reliable water supply. I looked through the boxes in the bag I’d brought in, finding some taps with a kind of old fashioned design that at least wouldn’t look too out of place here and then grabbed my wrench.

“It’s too late!”

I was finished, having replaced the taps in the bath, shower and sink too, but when I stepped out into the living area, I saw Knox snap at Ellie. He threw himself back against the couch. “Mrs Bailey is a bit…” He shot her a wary look. “She’s never gonna give me an extension.”

“She won’t if you don’t ask,” Ellie told him. “And even if she can be a bit of a bitch sometimes.” The boys' mouths dropped open at that. “We all can be, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask. I could have a word with her—”

“You could?”

Fuck, that wary tone. I hated it so damn much. Knox always walked around like he was king of the world, the little punk challenging me on the basketball court more times that I can count.

Where I beat his ass, obviously.

But the kid’s confidence had seemed unassailable before… Before tragedy sucker punched him in a way no kid should ever have to deal with.

I should know.

“Of course. I’ll make an appointment to talk to Mrs Cleary, the year coordinator, and see if an email can be sent out to all of your teachers. That won’t get you out of the work.” Knox groaned into one of her throw pillows. “But we should be able to arrange for more time. So, now we know what we have to get done.”

“There’s too fucking much— What?” Mads jabbed his elbow into Knox’s ribs. “Nah, it's OK. Miss is cool, right?”

“It’s not too fucking much.” She looked at them meaningfully as the boys spluttered. “It’s the same fucking workload you did last fucking semester, it just feels like too much fucking work, because you’re so fucking behind.”

“Oh my god, Miss—” Knox said in mock horror.

“Say a word about this to anyone at school and you’re dead.” Her eyes narrowed, right before she smiled. “It’s overwhelming. I get that, seriously, but…” She swept away the rough schedule they’d been working on. “We’re not going to focus on that. Instead we’re going to focus on one thing. What do you think is one achievable thing you can work on first?”

“All of it.” Knox crushed the pillow to his chest and I was willing to bet I knew exactly what he was feeling. Just do it, all of it. Accept no substitutes. Never give up, never surrender. I’d been raised with the same bullshit, which was great when you were on top of things.

And was like being kicked in your ass if you weren’t.

Growing up, sometimes it had felt like being a guy was this weird kind of balancing act. If somehow you managed to claw your way to the top—which I did, being taller, bigger and fucking brutal on the basketball court—once you were up there? Every other fucker was waiting for you to screw up, so they could step in…

“Biology.” Mads flicked Ellie a guilty look. “We’ve got a poster to do and it's not due for a bit, but it's pretty straightforward.”

“Do you think you could work on your poster, Knox?” she asked.

“There’s no point!” I tensed as I watched him jerk to his feet. “I’m never going to be able to get this done. Mads—”

I wanted to march right in there and force him to sit down and listen to Ellie. I wanted to bark at him that he was getting a whole lot more chances than I ever got. My teachers either hadn’t given a shit or would’ve agreed with everything he’d just said, telling me what a loser I was. But before I could respond, Maddox looked up at his brother.

“Yeah, we can.”

“What?”

“We did it with Mum, but she didn’t do the work.” He looked at Ellie then. “She just made us accountable, like our coach does. You don’t want to do it, don’t want to even try because–”

“Shut up,” Knox growled. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Because if you do, it's one more thing—”

“Shut up, Maddox, or I’ll fucking end you!”

I did step forward then, ready to intervene, because Knox’s eyes were gleaming bright gold, his bear close to the surface.

“—you’ll have had to learn to do it without her.”

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