Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:57:00 +0000 (GMT) From: Nathan Me Subject: james chapter35 'James' by Nathan Email address nathan7new@yahoo.co.uk My stories are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nathansstories/. This story contains material of a sexual nature and describes sexual acts between adults and children. If you find this kind of material offensive, if you are under the legal age to read such material or if it is illegal in your country, please do not read any further. My stories may contain some factual or autobiographical elements, but they are works of fiction and any apparent similarities of my characters to real people are not intended. This story is protected by copyright. It may not be downloaded, copied, printed or otherwise reproduced in any way other than for your private enjoyment and may not be changed in any way without express written consent of the author, me! I hope you enjoy this story. James: Chapter 35 They drove the van right up to the maintenance sheds and Mr Spiller carried the rucksack back to the school and up to James' room. Sam was just getting ready to go down to dinner and James joined him, thanking the two men for their help. Tom watched James run off with his friend and felt a pang of jealousy. "Well, Tom, so how has your first proper day been?" "Eventful." The counsellor laughed. "I guess you could call it that." They started walking towards the stairs. "You off home now, Mr Spiller?" "Please, Tom, call me Alan, when the kids aren't around. No, I've got another couple of hours before my shift ends." He looked across at the young man and decided now was as good a time as any for their chat about James and any other kids that might make sexual advances. "I need to have a quick chat with you about the kids, Tom, especially young James." Tom immediately felt uncomfortable. Did the counsellor sense something? "Oh?" "Yeah. You know that many of them have been through very difficult experiences and for some they have a warped view of what is expected of them. They don't know how to behave appropriately and can even make sexual overtures to adults because they think that's what's expected of them." "Ok. I read something like that in the bumph I was given before I started." Why was he going through this again? He must know something. "Well, a few days ago, I was talking to young James and he obviously felt he needed to respond to me and he tried to touch me sexually. It was embarrassing for both of us, but I explained that no matter what he'd had to do before, he didn't need to do those kind of things for adults here and that it would be better if he didn't get into those kind of sexual situations 'til he was older." "Right." "So, he seems to have taken a liking to you and I'm sure the other boys have too, after your heroics today, so you may find yourself in some uncomfortable situations. The best way to deal with them is to explain they don't need to be sexual with adults, you're not offended, but don't want that kind of relationship. Then you must always come and report to the duty counsellor or duty head, to cover yourself in case anybody says anything about it later on. Last thing you or the school needs is a accusation, so cover yourself at all times." "Ok, Mr... er, Alan." Phew, so this was general, not based on something Alan knew. "Have you read the requirements for the Durham trip yet?" "Skimmed them. All seems very bureaucratic." "True. There are a lot of rules and regulations regarding school trips. But most came about as the result of previous problems, so they are there for a reason. James and his friends have all put their names down, so how would you feel about supervising their group?" "Er, fine, if you think it's ok, what with James being like..." "I don't think hell try anything on with you, but he does seem to like you, so you just need to be careful, but it's good for them to have someone they feel they can communicate with." "Ok, then." "Just one other fly in the ointment." "What's that?" Again, Tom worried what Alan was going to say. "Seems we will have an observer on the trip. We're going to be assessed." "Oh. Does that happen often?" "Not on school trips, but Mrs Daniels, the Social Work liaison, has it in for us and so she is personally going to assess how close we stick to the rules on this trip." "Is she that big a pain?" "Big, bigger, biggest pain ever." They walked into the refectory and joined the diner queue. Tom looked around and saw James and Sam sitting with another boy he didn't recognise. They were deep in conversation, but something must have cued James that he was being watched, as he turned, saw Tom and a big grin stretched across his sweet young face. "That's him, behind Mr Spiller." James said to Dean. Dean looked round at the dinner queue and saw the man standing with Mr Spiller. "What, like a judo roll or something?" "Kinda." Sam replied. "He just scooped Danny up, curled round him and rolled out of the way." "It all happened so fast, but seemed to go in slow motion, like in a movie." James added. "Wow. He looks fit. Guess he works out or something. So how many days will he be here?" "Nita said a couple of days a week, Friday and Saturdays, I think." "Mint. Is he going on the Durham trip?" Dean asked. "Don't know. Is the final list up yet?" "Went up this afternoon. We're all listed. Going to be great." Dean replied. "You been before?" James asked through a mouthful of spaghetti. "Not to Durham, but I went to Cornwall this spring. We went surfing and boating and Pony trekking up into the New Forrest." "Sounds great. Never been horse riding." Sam said. "I did with my mum a couple of times. First time I crushed my balls." James said and the others fell around laughing. Sam and James raced back up to their room. Mr Spiller was going to try and arrange for Sam, Chris and Danny to fetch some personal items from their home too, but as arrangements had dragged, they had lost hope that it would actually happen. James getting his stuff rekindled that hope. They tore into their room and James grabbed the rucksack and tipped everything out onto his bed. They spent a couple of hours arranging and rearranging the toys and photos on the desk and shelves. They sat and played together, until they decided to go back down to the common room and watch some TV. When they got there, Danny was sitting between Tom and Big Tony. There wasn't much difference in size between the teen and the man. Both were tall and broad. They were talking football and watching a league game on the TV. Danny was comical. He sat between them, looking at whoever was speaking, so that his head swivelled back and forth, as if he were watching a tennis match. Chris walked in behind them and thumped James on his shoulder. "Bully." "Pansy." "Daffodil." "Daffodil?" "Well, you started with the flowers." The boys flopped, laughing at their silly jokes, onto seats beside Tom. He was the centre of attention as the rumours of the afternoon's events spread and grew like Chinese whispers. By the Friday evening of the Durham trip, Tom had spent another two full days at the school. He'd helped out one morning with gym for the younger kids, spent an afternoon helping in Maths, Saturday morning he was a linesman and in the afternoon he and another volunteer, Alex, had taken a group of kids shopping and bowling. He saw James in the refectory and a couple of times in the hallway. They had said, 'hi' to each other and had quick little chats, but had not had any real opportunity for deeper conversations. Tom had helped Sam in his maths class and they got on fine. Sam was a little slow, but not at all thick. There was a 'lost' quality to the boy that Tom found intriguing. Tom was enjoying working with the kids, but the more time he spent with them, the more he realised that the majority had some tragic story. It was like the school specialised in hard cases and when he suggested this to Nita as they prepped the minibus for the Durham trip, she agreed. "This school and the others the charity runs are all specialist. We take the hard cases and mostly try to give them as normal a life as we can. Since the charity started we have seen kids grow up and go off to university. Many of them could not have hoped for anything like that if they had stayed at home. Small class sizes and on site counsellors help, but the whole ethos of the place is to do the best for the kids. It's not at all like a council run place." "What are they like?" He asked. "Mostly run down, overcrowded, understaffed and under resourced. I know some of them resent the Christian ethos of this place, but it, and all the money the charity puts into it, do make a huge difference to the way the kids are treated and their outcomes." "Outcomes?" "You've not heard that one yet?" She asked. He shook his head. "It's literally what it says: the outcome of the child's situation after intervention is complete. So when a child is taken into care, normally they end up in some dive and the outcome is that they learn, at best, to be petty criminals, at worst they are abused for years till they are old enough to leave. When they leave here they go to uni, to college or we find them homes and jobs. Although you can't stamp it out completely, 'cause about 25% of abuse is done by other kids, there is very little physical, sexual or psychological abuse here. Even difficult cases are treated with the same care and get all the help they need. The counselling team are excellent. And of course, there are the volunteers who make a big difference too." "Like you." "And you, Tom." "I guess. What made you start?" "I saw some of this from the other side first hand and I got help form a really nice family who fostered me for a while. I decided I wanted to give something back and they pointed me to the charity. What about you?" "I'm not to great a human being and I needed to start putting that right. A friend pointed me here, said the kids wouldn't let me get away with not being a real person." "That's for sure. They have great bullshit detectors." They both laughed. They had loaded boxes and bags on the roof rack, secured them down and then covered the whole lot with a tarpaulin, which they then also secured with ropes. "Ever thought about fostering yourself." He asked. "Yeah, and in some boroughs they'd even let a single young woman do it, they are so desperate, but most want you to be a mature married couple." "No chance for me then." He laughed, but half meant it. He was thinking about James again. He desperately wanted to spend more time with the boy, but could he do it and not hurt him? "I guess it depends on where you live, who you know and how picky you are." "What d'you mean?" "Well, most people want babies or little children to look after. The borough Social Service placement teams can never find anywhere to put older kids or teens. They come with too much baggage and behavioural problems." She opened the driver's door and climbed behind the wheel. "Get in. Why do you fancy it?" "Don't know. Just fell I need to do more, you know?" "I know, but don't get too deep in here, Tom. Remember that some will be going back to their own homes and some will be here till they're 18. If you get too involved with them, you will get hurt. It happens to us all and none of us listen to the advice, but it's true." "I guess." They drove round to the front of the building and blew the horn. The other bus was already sitting waiting and kids were milling up and down the stone steps, brining out their personal luggage. Alex and Allan were loading the first bus, watched by Mrs Daniels. Another school counsellor called Ann was herding twelve and thirteen year old children towards Nita and Tom. Ann was in her mid thirties. She wore faded blue denim jeans and a loose, off-white cotton blouse with an elasticised waist. She was maybe five feet, six and very trim. Her hair was pulled back into an auburn ponytail, which hung between her shoulder blades. A nice package and Tom couldn't help but look. "Don't be so obvious, Tom." Nita poked his ribs. "Oh, sorry. Haven't met her before. Who is she?" "That's Ann Morris. She's a Deputy Counsellor and works mainly with the younger children, but it's all hands on deck when it comes to trips. Don't play her at cards, though: she cheats." "I heard that, Nita." Ann walked up to the open drivers door. "You were supposed to." "You're just a sore looser, missy." "Ann, meet Tom." "Hi." Tom reached across Nita to shake Ann's outstretched hand. "Hi yourself. Handsome young man, Nita. Where have you been hiding this one?" "Tom's the new volunteer who rescued wee Danny." "Ahhhhh. Superman. The Children tell of how you flew right across the room and swept Danny up and put him down out of harms way, right before you saved the rest of the world. You are already a legend, Tom. Please to meat you at last." "I think they might just have exaggerate that a little bit, Ann." "Think so?" She winked and had a good hearty laugh. Tom looked at the group she had been herding. Amongst them were Chris, Sam, James and the boy he had seen with James a few times, Dean. The rest of the group were girls. The trip was only for the twelve and thirteen year old children, so little Danny was nowhere to be seen. The kids piled in, stowed their personal luggage and settled into their seats. Each seat had a seatbelt and Ann went round making sure everyone was securely buckled in before they set off. Alan came across and made sure Nita and Ann had the directions and their mobile switched on in case they needed anything. He saw Tom, sitting in between the two women and said, "Rose between two thorns, eh, Tom?" Nita, who was still sitting in the driver seat, punched him playfully and told him to clear off. He did and moments later, the two busses rolled off in convoy. More to come...