Just double it

A little boy who grows into a troubled young man, a young successful business man. Both leading different lives. Their lives contrast greatly, But what amazing thing do they have in common?

Just double it
Written By Karim Aregbe

6.30am, in the northern city of Sheffield, on a dark bitterly cold winter’s morning. A young boy is awoken by his ringing alarm clock. He pushes the covers away and turns off the alarm clock. He then pulls his legs out from under the covers and pulls his slippers onto his feet. He sits on the edge of his wooden bed as he hides his freckled face behind his chubby hands as he dreads another week at school, another day at school is almost too much for the young lad to bare.

Not far from this young lad’s home, is a young man, who is woken up by his digital alarm clock, he sits upright, stretches and yawns quietly so that he doesn’t disturb his wife who is still asleep. He looks over to his young wife and smiles. He too pulls his slippers onto his feet, and walks out of their large bedroom and into their massive bathroom. He looks in the mirror and sees his face staring back at him. His freckles dotted around his cheeks, his sharp blue eyes filled with happiness, gazing back at him, his short hair is the only thing messy about this young man. In contrast to the young boy, he looked forward to his week and his day at work.

The young boy, steps into the bathroom, pulls on the cord, and turns the light on. He looks in the mirror, his blue eyes filled with sadness, and fright. He looks into the mirror wondering if he will grow up to be something. He combs his short hair and makes sure he looks presentable before appearing at the breakfast table with his strict father and mother.

It’s 7.00am now and not too far away, at the young man’s house, he puts on his costly Italian designer suit as his wife creeps up behind and embraces her husband. He smiles at her and turns to kiss her on the cheek, the pair sit together and eat breakfast, the young man now steps out of the large mansion, and onto his large drive, and into his Ferrari, off he goes to work.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing all seems to be well.
It’s now 08.00am in the morning, and the young boy has just pulled the front door shut. Relieved that he hasn’t been smacked, the young boy makes his way to the bus stop, to face his next challenge of being at school, he walks to the bus stop and waits for about 10 minutes. The bus roles in at around 08.12am, the young lad looks to the floor as he prepares to jump on the bus to school. He steps onto the back of the bus, and is immediately under fire from the bus conductor demanding 20p for the journey to his school. The young lad slowly gets the money from his short legged school trousers and reluctantly hands over 2 10p coins. He climbs the stairs in his grey short legged trousers, white shirt, and navy blue blazer. As he reaches the top deck, the laughter and teasing starts as he appears on the top deck of the bus. He tries not to cry as he walks towards the front of the bus, some children even throwing bits of food at him as he passes. The constant name calling goes through his head as he sits at the front of the bus. Freckle face is a common insult he gets. As the bus continues its journey to the young lads school, a fast sports car passes and over takes it. The young lad looks at it and wishes he could have such a car in the future, but doubts this will ever happen.

Its around 08.20am, and the young man is driving in his Ferrari passing a bus of school children oohing and ahhing as he flies past them, he accelerates and within a few seconds he is out of sight of the school children. He opens his glove compartment as he navigates the sports car and pulls out his shades. He lowers his roof and shows off a little. The sun is out, but the wind blows through his short hair. Women stop to stare at this young man as he steers his impressive sports car down the road. He is the man of every woman’s dreams and he knows it. He pulls up to his office and pulls out his card. The barriers open up and he drives into the underground car park.


08.50am, and the dark grey clouds begin to gather over the old Victorian school building as the young boy walks onto playground after being teased on the bus. It starts to rain and the young boy’s hair becomes soaked, to top it off, one of the bullies from the bus, sneaks up behind, and pushes him into a frosty, cold, muddy puddle. Not only is he cold soaked he is also an utter mess. He lies there on his stomach in the rain, asking himself what is the point, why does he bother with school. As he gets up, a young girl with short red hair comes to his aid, helping him up. She smiles at him as he brushes himself down and he gives a nervous smile back. The school bells ring, alerting everyone that it is time to get to class. The young boy walks into the school building already looking like he has completed a full day at school, his short hair soaked, his clothes drenched and muddy. Immediately he is met by laughter, other young people staring, pointing, laughing at him. He keeps his head down in shame, and steps into his first class, knowing that the teacher will use the cane on him for stepping into the class for his poor appearance. Into the old classroom he steps. Children already sat neatly at their seats, waiting for the teacher to begin the lesson. The teacher sees the young boy who has nervously stepped into the silent classroom and asks him to hold his hands out. Whip!
There it is! The cane over his fingers, it hurts so much, but he can’t cry because he knows the cruel teacher in her black dress, will use the cane on him again, all because some bully found it funny to push him into a muddy puddle on the playground. The children snigger as they see the young boy getting whipped, and then sent to the back of the class. As he walks to the back of the glass, another child sticks out their leg and trips up the young boy. He falls to the ground and smacks his nose on the ground, as the content of his bag scatters across the hard cold classroom floor. He holds his nose as blood begins to drip from his nose. He tries his best not to cry as he picks up his belongings. The class is now full of laughter at this young boy’s distress. All bar one laugh, the exception being the girl, who is yet again witness the bullying the young boy receives.

She wants to help him, but she too will be laughed at if she helps him. She has helped him once today, but doesn’t want to been seen helping again, so she turns and silently looks out of the window.

Just the to the other side of the city, the young man has arrived into the office, looking sharp in his suit and shades. As the young man steps in, everyone stops typing, and all fix their eyes on the young man as he walks through the office. He greets a few people giving them a polite smile or wave as he passes the desks, making his way to the back of the office.

He opens a door and steps into a private office, a large room, with a medium sized desk, a laptop on the desk, and a picture of a woman. Behind the desk is a large leather seat. The young man steps in and sits in the leather seat. The big boss has arrived into his workplace, everyone in the building knows it. He looks at the picture of the young woman with short red hair and smiles. Life is good.

12.30pm, lunch time and it looks like it's wet play, back at the Victorian school. The young boy’s day has not gone well, nor will it get better. He sits in the large canteen, filled with the cheerful chatter and laughter of young children all in their group of friends. The young boy steps into the canteen, the mud has dried into his uniform now, and he feels awful. He is last to get his lunch, the highlight of his day. The young boy walks past the tables of groups of friends who watch the young boy and whisper as the young boy nervously passes them. The young boy’s eyes nervously flicker from left to right as he tries to get to the back of the dining hall. Suddenly, a bigger boy steps in front of him, and menacingly looks down at the young boy. The young boy knows the procedure, as he holds out his tray of lunch, and lets the bully take his food.

Today, it’s the chocolate cake with chocolate custard that the bully takes, as well as the small piece of pizza, and the small carton of milk that the young boy had on his tray. The bully shoves the young boy and he slips on a piece of food on the floor. Causing his tray to fly into the air and land on the floor.

The young boy has no lunch now as it’s all around him, as he lies on the floor covered in green beans and carrots. The young boy picks himself up and wipes off the mess and stands up to see the whole hall laughing and a few fingers pointing at him. The young boy has had enough and runs out of the canteen crying.

He can’t run home as he will get told off by his strict father, possibly smacked, he can’t speak to the teacher as he will get beaten up by the bully, so he runs down the corridor and into the dark red tiled empty stairwell.

He sits there and folds his arms over his legs, as he looks into his lap and cries. The stairwell is cold and lonely. The best place to be for now. He wipes his tears from his eyes and furiously punches the wall in frustration. What is wrong with him he wonders? Why does everyone hate him?

From behind the young boy comes a quiet squeaky sound, as the large wooden doors open. Behind him is the girl with the red short haired girl. He looks at her angrily with tears in his eyes, and rudely asks her what she wants. The first words he has said all day. The girl doesn’t say anything, but pulls out her desert from the pocket in her blazer. A nice warm chocolate cake wrapped in tissue to keep the crumbs from falling into her blazer pocket. She carefully lays the cake wrapped in the tissue at the boy’s side and kisses him on the cheek, smiles and then returns back to the canteen.

The young boy sits there for a few moments feeling sad, not realising that he has one friend, till he realises the little girl with red hair kindly left him her desert and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The young boy picks up the cake and slowly unwraps it from the tissue and begins to nibble at the cake cheerfully. He may not be popular, but he seems to have one friend! Perhaps his day can get better!

13.00pm, and back in the office on the other side of city, and the young man has gone for a few drinks with his friends during his lunch break. He is a man of few words around his friends but he is a happy young man, and his friends love to be around him.

The young man then stands up from the bar stool and hold his glass up. He has an important announcement. His young friends, all in the same age bracket all look up at him and gaze eagerly at him awaiting the announcement.
What is the announcement they wonder. He holds up a glass up slowly announces that his young wife is pregnant. His friends are all extremely pleased and happy to hear the good news of their friend, the young man. They all hold up their glasses to hold a toast to his exciting great news. A few of his friends even get up and hug him. The bartender hears all the noise and makes his way over to the group of friends, to see what is going on. The bartender hears the good news and offers a round of drinks on the house. The young man’s blazer pocket begins to buzz and vibrate, he pulls out his phone and sees a text from his wife. It’s a very simple but meaningful “I love you text”. It has a great effect on the young man as he smiles to himself. One of his friends peaks over his shoulder and sees the text, and pats the young man on the shoulder. Across the bar is a young blonde woman, with light blue eyes and long hair. She has an amazing figure, and dressed smartly. She eyes the young man as she drinks her drink. Her friends sitting around the table look around to see what she has her eyes set on, and there they see, a tall young man, spikey short hair, yet well groomed and dressed to kill. ‘He has got such a lovely smile, Snow White teeth, and the cutest blue eyes.’ The woman says to her friends as she continues to eye him.
Her friends all giggle as they sit round the table talking about the young man. They encourage her to go and talk to the young man with his friends. So she opens her handbag, pulls out a mini mirror, applies some light red lipstick, smacks her lips together, before checking her face to make sure it looks pretty. Yeah she looks fine, so she gets up, clenched her breasts together, pushes her bottom out a little and walks over the bar to the young man with his group of friends.

The young man is standing at the bar with a glass in hands listening to one of his friends sitting on the table telling a funny story, along with another 2 of his friends. The group all laugh loudly as they hear the funny story progress and unfold.

The young man feels a soft tap on his shoulder, so he turns to see who it is and how he can help them. In front of him stands the young lady with long blonde her, and sharp blue eyes, and a pretty face.
The young man smiles and asks her how he can help. His friends are now all staring at this striking young lady.
She kneels down seductively asking for his name. The young man smiles politely, and tells her his name. The young lady,continues to ask if she may join the group. The young man is happily sat with his friends but sees no reason why she can't sit with them, See the young man knows he can have any lady he wants, but he is satisfied with his life and will never let anyone rob him of his happy life. The young lady and her friends join the group of friends. The young lady discreetly hands the young man a number scribbled on a card and hands it to the young man.

He smiles again, but politely tells her he is happily married and is in fact celebrating the news of his wife being pregnant. The young lady gives a disappointed smile, and then turns and walks away disappointed he showed no interest. The young man’s group of friends all gasp with their mouths wide open as they see what their friend has just turned down.

However They aren’t disappointed in him, for they know the young man has something great with his wife at home. As a matter of fact, his friends respect him more for turning down temptation.
The group of friends drink up and leave the bar together. They walk down the river front and all go their separate ways at the great bridge near the centre of city. The young man walks into the office and once again goes into his office to finish work the last couple of hours at work.

14.00pm, and the young boy has half an hour to go in class. He seems to have cheered up a little after his experience at lunch time. He takes a slow shy peak at the girl with the red hair. As he looks in her direction, she turns around and looks directly at him, gazing into his blue eyes for a split second; she then gives a shy smile and shyly turns away to continue her work feeling a little embarrassed. The young boy feels happiness inside.

He smiles to himself as he continues his sums in his yellow arithmetic’s book. The class is dead silent, but has the atmosphere has changed. Now the young boy seems to have made a new friend he has a sense of hope. He looks up once more in her direction and watches as she quickly turns back to do her work, pretending that she was never looking at him. He then sees her friends giggling and jokingly teasing the girl with red hair. She looks up from her work as she holds her sharpened pencil in her hands. She frowns at her friends and smacks one of them on the arm, telling her friend to be quiet.

After a while The teacher begins to walk through the class, handing out the test results from last week’s test. The young boy fidgets nervously in his seat as he awaits his result. The teacher slowly hovers over the young boy menacingly. The young boy begins to feel frightened, and the feelings of hope lessen slightly. The teacher’s dark eyes stare down at him, full of emptiness. Her black dress and old fashioned glasses don’t help the tense situation. She slowly places the test on his desk and holds it there for the Young boy to see. The young boy’s face lights up as he sees his high grade, he has achieved an A+ in English. The teacher looks down at boy and gives him a small smile and wink. Relieved, the young boy is once again filled with hope and happiness. It all seems to be going well for him.

The school bell goes, and the young boy has cheered up, after the events of the day. He has made a new friend who kindly gave him her desert, and he has achieved the highest grade in English.

He walks out of the damp playground as the sun begins to emerge from the grey skies. It is the happiest the young boy has felt in a very long time, he has forgotten how many times he got tripped up, during the day, and how he got pushed into a massive mud puddle. He doesn’t remember the mess he is in and the trouble he will be in when he gets home.

As the young boy gets on the bus, his happiness is short lived as the lunchtime bully strikes once more on the back of the bus. The young boy nervously leans towards the window as the bully holds his fist ready to punch him. The bully demands money for his bus fare, the last 20p the young boy has. The young boy shakes his head slowly. The bully realises that the conductor is due on the upper deck of the bus soon, so he asks the young boy once more. The young boy shakes his head, so the bully punches him in the face. The young boy holds his hands in his face as the bully ravages through his coat pockets. Ah there it is! The bully has found the 20p coin and has taken it. All the other school children cheering the bully on enthusiastically, whilst the young boy cries in agony holding his sore nose. Not one person has stepped in to help him.
The bus conductor appears at the back of the top deck of the bus and begins to check tickets and receive payments for the fare. The young boy no longer has the fare to pay. The conductor approaches the young boy and ignores the fact that he is crying, demanding 20p. The young boy doesn’t get a chance to tell his story, instead, the bus conductor grabs the young boy by the arm and drags him down the stairs. The bully watches with a grin on his face as the young boy gets chucked off of the bus,and into the sudden rain. The conductor rings the bell, and the bright red bus disappears into the distance. The young boy has forgotten about all the good things of the day, and remembers the mess he is in. He walks home, in the pouring rain, and arrives home drenched. His nose is cold and sore, and his lip is bruised from where the bully had hit him.
He makes the final approach into his street, and dreads the idea of going home. He knocks on the front and waits in the rain for a while, the door flies opened, and to his horror, his father has arrived home from work early. His father’s small stern eyes squint through his glasses as he looks at the state of his son. The young boy tries to smile and presents his father with his high test result from school, hoping that his test result will calm his dad. Alas, his dad drags the young boy in throwing the test on the floor and tells the young boy to get upstairs and get cleaned up. The young boy knows that his father has seen the test but has not congratulated him. The young boy sadly climbs the stairs and into the laundry room.
The young boy cleans his uniform and prepares it for the next day. Then goes into his room and sits at his small desk and switches his small desk lamp on. His writing is neat and he double checks his work. Yep, it seems all good. He closes his homework book and goes down the stairs to see his parents in a furious argument. In the background the huge wooden black and white TV is displaying his favourite TV show, but he dare not enter the midst of his arguing parents. He just can’t take the arguing, so he turns and goes back to his room, climbs into bed and pulls the pillow over his head. The arguing can still be heard as his parents argue, followed by the sound of a loud tap, and then followed by the sound of his mum howling away. The young boy closes his eyes and holds the pillow tightly over his head.

18.00pm, and a Ferrari sport’s car pulls up to a massive mansion. In the Ferrari is our young man. He winds his window down and holds his arm out with a remote control to open the large black gates to enter the mansion. He drives in, picks up his suitcase and opens the double door and steps into his large reception to be greeted by a line of servants, and his young wife who immediately jumps on him and hugs him. The young man decides his servants can take the night off and dismisses them. The young man then carries his wife into the large living room and lays her down on their leather couch. He dims the lights and turns on the electric fire, he then disappears into their large kitchen, putting on the kettle and preparing two cups of hot chocolate. He takes off his suit blazer and tie and unbuttons his shirt. He then stretches over to glass shelves and picks two plates and puts some biscuits on the plates. He places it all on a tray and takes it to his wife. Seeing the little pre dinner snack, she invites him to join her on the sofa. He comes over to his wife, bends over and kisses her, and then sits beside her as she lays down on the couch patting the small lump in her stomach. The young man turns and rubs her stomach and then holds his ear to her stomach. She giggles and then sits up and kisses her husband. The couple sit and talk for ages, till the young man’s wife falls asleep. The young man finds a duvet and covers his wife. The young man kisses the sleeping woman on her forehead and relocates himself to the dining table and opens his laptop bag and pulls out his laptop. He opens up his e-mail accounts, and starts typing up documents for his company. Time flies by, but the young man doesn’t realise. His young wife sits upright and stretches. She pushes herself off the sofa and looks for her husband. She staggers over to her husband and puts her arm around him. The young man, concentrating on his work, is startled but then turns to his wife and smiles as he strokes her hands as he watches the computer screen, his wife climbs onto his lap, clinging to her husband as he continues typing. He looks up from the laptop, saves his work and then shuts the laptop and hugs his wife.


20.00pm and the young man and his wife haven’t eaten, so the young man pulls his mobile out of his unbuttoned shirt pocket and rings the local Chinese delivery, ordering for both his wife and himself. It's a one off treat for his pregnant wife. The couple sit and talk, as well as watching television till the food arrives.

20.30pm. The young man opens the door and takes the food after generously tipping the delivery guy. He carries the hot food inside to his pregnant young wife, who is wrapped up by a quilt and sitting at the table ready to eat. The young man serves the food and the couple eat their meal together, talking about their day. They both finish the meal, but as the young man has sent his servants home early tonight, he will be the one to clean the table and do the washing up. His young wife sneaks up behind him once more and nibbles on his ear. The young man smiles, dries his hands in a towel, and then carries his wife up to bed. Goodnight.

21.00pm and Not so far, in a dark room, there is the young boy, fast asleep. He has been there since he ran away from his arguing parents. He has done everything he has to for school. But he hasn’t had any recreation time or eaten. But that’s okay, because the young boy is dreaming about pleasant things; his mind is far away from reality. He is at peace. Sleep well.


07.00am, and an alarm clock goes off. The young boy puts his hand out and lazily tries to turn off the alarm clock. He stretches his long legs and puts on his slippers. He walks into the bathroom and stares into the mirror. Staring back at him, he sees his blue eyes, thin face, but less freckles. He looks at his chin and sighs and grumbles to himself as he sees the hairs dotted around his chin. He looks at his long hair dropping down to his shoulders and frowns. He no longer likes the long hair look anymore, but he doesn’t have the time or money to cut his hair.

From downstairs he can hear his strict father calling him. The young lad answers, but not with the voice of a young boy anymore, No,for his voice has deepened and now sounds like that of a man.

His father storms into the bathroom nagging the young adult about something. This is the norm. The young lad rolls his eyes and walks out of the bathroom and slams the door shut. His strict father storms out of the bathroom behind his son and into the young lad’s room. The young lad turns to see his angry father storm into his room and begin yelling. There they go again, another early morning yelling match, leaving the young lad in his typical foul mood.
The young lad waits to hear the sound of his dads old car pull out of the drive, then goes into bathroom once again and gets ready. He's no longer frightened of his dad, but has an attitude towards him.

Its 8.10am and the young lad is running late for college, but he doesn’t care. He pulls out a cigarette from his ear, and lights it. As he stands outside his house smoking the cigarette, blowing smoke into the air, before flicking the cigarette into the neighbours front garden. The neighbour, an elderly lady starts screaming at the young lad. He looks at her and flicks his middle finger up at her as he climbs on his and cycles towards college. After so many years of abuse from others, and being bullied, the young boy has become used to it and has learnt to cope with yelling.

It doesn’t bother him that he doesn’t have any friends, nor does his strict father scare him anymore. The only thing that bothers the young lad,is the memory of his mum running off with another man, which lead to some changes in the young lad. He continues to college on his motorcycle and arrives 15 minutes late.


08.45am, and the young lad has chained his bike to a fence and walked up the stairs into the college building with another cigarette in his mouth. Just like school, all kinds of people stand with their group of friends, all watching the long haired young lad. He knows people are watching him and making comments about him as he walks into college, but he doesn’t care anymore. He smokes his cigarette and steps into his college lecture.

The tutor looks at him and calmly asks him he to take the cigarette out of his mouth, the young lad takes the cigarette out of his mouth and throws it on the floor and steps on it. The class of young adults, snigger as they see the young lad acting sarcastically toward his tutor. The middle aged tutor shakes his head in disappointment and asks the class to settle down.
The young lad walks to his seat in the back of the class and sloppily sits down on the chair. He is sat at the back of the classroom sat amongst some of the troublesome students. The young lad can relate to them, and feels more comfortable with the tree troublesome young men. He knows they aren’t his friends, but every so often they share cigarettes, they are his acquaintances. He is a smart young lad but he doesn’t show it. The lesson begins, and the young lad starts to take notes, immediately he is drawn into the world of physics. His acquaintance friends try their best to distract the young lad, and as per norm, he gets distracted and loses concentration. He doesn’t want to be distracted, but the jokes amongst his acquaintances are so funny he joins in the banter, forgetting about the important lessons being taught.

The tutor stops the lecture and puts down the chalk and slowly walks to the back of the classroom. The young lad doesn’t notice the tutor standing over him till he sees the smirks fade from the faces of his acquaintances. The young lad turns up and sees the tutor furiously towering over him.

The young lad knows the drill, the tutor doesn’t need say anything, because the young lad knows he needs to leave the lecture. He picks up his bag and walks out of the class slamming the door. Another detention again, great! And to make matters worse, his acquaintances didn’t even stick up for him, no, they sniggered as he got in trouble.
The young lad strolls into the cafeteria and sits down, and starts to think to himself. He wonders why he tries to gel and fit in with such troublesome people, and why he can’t take his work seriously. He opens his bag and pulls out a golden box of cigarettes, he goes to light a cigarette, but just as he pulls a cigarette from the box, he spots someone familiar watching him from a table across the hall. The young lad sees a young female adult, in a pink t-shirt , blue jeans, and short red hair tied up at the back. No way?! Could this be his long lost friend from school? The girl who once shared her dessert with him?
They stare at each other across the room. The young lad shy’s away from the staring contest and throws the box of cigarettes in his bag. He pulls out his physics book, and starts taking notes, taking a peak across the cafeteria from behind his book. The young female lady still watching him as he looks up at her. She giggles and then moves away from her table and disappears into the toilet.

The young lad wonders who she really is, but then tries to get down to studying physics. He opens the book and reads a few words, over and over again, he just can’t concentrate like he can in class. He shuts the book in frustration. He just can’t concentrate. Once again the young lad begins to wonder what the point is. Why does he even try to the read the book if he always gets distracted in class, and never manages to catch up with his work? He throws the book in the bin and storms out of the cafeteria. The young lad has not noticed his tutor standing in the corridor watching him. The middle age tutor shakes his head and turns to go back to return his lecture.

12.30pm, and the young lad knows he will not be having his break today, after missing the physics lesson. He walks into the emptying lecture room as the students vacate the room.

The middle age tutor is standing behind his desk writing on the chalk board preparing for the next lecture as catches a glimpse of the young lad. He tells him to come in and take a seat. The young lad walks in to the empty room and sits by the window waiting for his lecture. The same pointless lecture he hears all the time.
The tutor turns to the young lad and pulls up a chair and sits opposite the young lad, he holds his hands together and pauses before he speaks. The young lad waits for the shouting to begin, but gets a surprise when his tutor calmly starts talking to him. The tutor asks questions about the young lads life at home, and asks for honesty.
Not being a person of many words, the young lad, doesn’t reply, he just looks out of the window, into the distant. It’s a cloudy day, but it’s not gloomy. Under the cloudy skies, the young lad sees the busy city outside, people going about their daily life, all seeming to have a point in life. He turns back to his tutor, sighs and lets it all out. The young lad just isn’t happy with his life, he just can’t seem to get anything out of life. He has never had a good friend that who remained loyal. The only friend he has known, was the little girl with red hair from school, and she moved away with her family.


The middle aged tutor doesn’t say anything, but listens with interest to the young lad as he pours out his heart and begins to break down. The tutor takes off his glasses and cleans them in his jumper, before putting them back on. He looks at the young lad, and pauses before making a reply. He stretches over to his desk and pulls out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, and hands it to the young lad. The tutor then explains that the young lad is still only young, not only is he young, but also very intelligent, he is more than capable of leaving college with high grades and catching up with the work he has fallen behind on, he has enough time to catch up on the work. The tutor also points out that the young man has a bright future if he works hard and mixes with the right people. It might take some b effort, but it can be done, nothing is impossible.

The tutor then slides the young lad’s physics book across the table, and looks over his glasses at the young lad. He finishes the chat by telling the young lad that he has faith in him can aching a high grade, but the choice is down to him. The middle aged tutor stands up, puts on his jacket and then pats the young lad on the shoulder.

The tutor leaves the room and goes off for lunch, while the young lad sits in an empty classroom left with his thoughts. He looks down at the physics book on his desk and makes a decision as to what his next step will be.

15.30pm, and a young brunette girl runs out of the school gates, she carries a book bag and a pink lunch box in the other hand. She sees her daddy, the young man standing by a Ferrari and excitedly runs to him. The young man takes off his shades and holds his arms out for the excited young girl running towards him. The young girl jumps and clings tightly onto the young man. She refers to the young man as “Daddy.”

He gently places her into his sports car and straps her in, before getting in and driving back home, whilst he listens to his daughters day at school. There is nothing greater than hearing a happy young excited child speak about how good their day was at school.

The young man drives up to the mansion and uses the remote to open the tall black gates guarding the mansion. He pulls in front of the mansion, and parks, while his daughter unstraps herself and runs up to a young woman waiting on the porch. The young woman prepares for the little girl to jump on her and hug her. The little girls knows the young woman as “Mummy.”

The little girl jumps at her mummy and kisses her mummy on the cheek. Her mummy hugs her and holds her tightly, as the little girls daddy, walks up the porch with his daughter’s book bag and lunch box, his black blazer held over one arm.

The young man walks up to his wife and kisses her on the cheek and hugs his young wife and daughter. It’s a family hug! The family now disappear into the mansion together.

The little girl kicks off her shoes and runs up to one of the servants, who carries the little girl to her rather large bedroom. The young man looks at his young wife, and she looks at her husband. The young man looks at the once pregnant woman, and now sees a wonderful, loving mother. She too sees a wonderful at her in her husband. The couple hug, and kiss each other, and both walk up the stairs to play with their precious little girl for a while.

17.00pm and the young lad is back at his small cold house, sitting at his desk trying to do his assignment. He looks at his physics book, and stops doing his assignment. He flicks back to page one, and carefully reads, through the pages till he understands and knows what he is reading. This seems to be the beginning of a new start for the young lad. He flicks on his desk lamp and continues studying. He gets so deeply involved in his work that he doesn’t notice his father open the door. His father walks in, and is very surprised to see his young son working away at his assignment . He steps over to his son, and places his hand on his shoulder. The young lad looks up to see his father looking at him with a smile on his face. It is the first time that he has ever seen his father smile.

His father seems interested in what his young lad is doing, and the pair spark up a conversation. The young lads father even sits with his son, and tries to help and encourage him.

It is the best chat the the father and son have ever had, there are even jokes being told, neither father nor son have laughed so much together. In one evening, the young lad has learnt a great deal, not just about his physics, but about his father. His father leaves, and seems happy as he goes to prepare dinner. The young lad calls his father something he’s never called his father as he leaves the room. He calls him “Dad.”

The short grey haired man, stops in his tracks as he leaves his son’s bedroom, he looks at his son, but doesn’t say anything. The smile disappears from his face and bows his head as he gently shuts the door.

07.00am in the small house as an alarm goes off, but is turned off quickly. The young lad is already awake, and has been for hours. He has got up, and ready for college as well as caught up with his physics assignments. His father comes into his room expecting to have an argument with his son about something, but his son is awake and ready to his father’s relief. His father calmly states he is going to work and nods his head at his son. The young lad watches his father from his bedroom window as he gets into his old car and pulls off to head for work. His father hoots a friendly hoot and gives a wave as he drives off. Thing’s seem to be different today, things seemed to have changed. There seems to be positive atmosphere forming.

The young lad packs his bag and hops off on his motorcycle to college. He arrives early, parks his motorcycle and ties it up. He stands by the entrance of the college and lights a cigarette. As he smokes the cigarette, he watches the city waking up. He sees people taking their children to school, other people waiting at the bus, preparing for their commute to work, secondary school students heading to school in groups gossiping about soaps, and crushes. The young lad sighs, as he realises how lonely he feels, he wonders if he ever will have a family, he doubts it but still tries to remain positive as he remembers the uplifting conversation with his tutor.


He finishes his cigarette and then steps on the cigarette butt to extinguish it. He steps into the college, not noticing the other students gossiping about him. He steps into his lecture, early, not all the students have arrived. His tutor looks up from his desk and sees the young lad stepping into the class. The tutor smiles and greets him warmly, he is pleased to see that the young lad has made some progress. The young lad walks to the back of the class and sits at his desk but Something doesn’t feel right. The
The young lad still prepares for the lesson.


The tutor can see the changes made by the young lad and comes over to have a quick chat with him. The young lad opens his bag and produces a huge chunk of work that he has completed as well as the assignment due in today.

The tutor is absolutely gobsmacked, but accepts the huge pile of work. As the other students pour into the classroom just before the lecture starts, his three acquaintances come into the room, making noise as per norm and sit in their usual places toward the rear of the room. All three of them look at the young lad, and greet him with a cheeky grin. The young lad looks at them and greets them with a simple wave. The lesson begins, along with the usual jokes of the young lads three acquaintances.
They try to get the young lad involved in the banter, but he ignores the attempts to distract him and focuses on the lesson. The tutor looks to the back of the class room and sees the three trouble young males trying to distract the young lad.
Suddenly the young lad feels something in his long hair, and he turns to see the three troubled you males, sniggering He wipes his hand through his hair and pulls out a cigarette butt. The young lad stands up, and moves to a seat at the front of the class by the window. There is no fuss, no arguing, fighting or any trouble. The tutor sees the move and doesn’t say anything. He knows his wise words of yesterday have begun to sink into the young lad’s mind.

10.15am, and the young man, known as “Daddy” To his daughter, sits in his office. He takes a quick break from work and looks at the family portrait on the wall. He smiles a proud smile, and continues typing up a document. His personal smart phone vibrates on his desk, so he looks to see who is trying to contact him. It is his best friend, his wife. He finds a sweet text from his wife, which makes his heart skip a beat, he can’t ignore the text, so he rings his wife. She immediately answers and is happy to hear from her husband.

The couple have a nice brief chat for a little while, before both unwillingly ending the conversation. The couple sound like a teenage couple on the phone, both claiming they love each other more than the other. The young man looks up from his desk at the large silver clock on his office wall, and sees lunch time is fast approaching. The young man gets up, puts on his coat and walks out of his office. As he walks past the desks of his employees, he receives the usual greetings and smiles from his colleagues. He steps into the small lift and descends into the reception, he stops to have a quick catch up with the receptionists. They may work in the same office building, but they both seem like they work in different worlds. Despite the difference between every co worker in the office, the young man wants everyone to feel valued and equal.

The young man waves to the receptionist as he walks out of his office and takes a stroll to Starbucks to have a cappuccino, and slice of chocolate fudge cake. As he leaves the reception, two young ladies sitting in the reception look at him and freeze in amazement. They can’t believe it, they have seen the young man, the one known as ‘daddy’ to his young daughter, the managing director of the company, walk into the reception and talk to the receptionist. The young ladies can’t believe how humble the young man is. Both ladies look at each other and ask if it was, who they thought it was.
The young man sits in Starbucks with his cappuccino and fudge cake as he reads the newspaper. His phone vibrates in his blazer pocket. He answers his phone and gets an. invite to a bar on Friday night from one of his close friends. The young man declines the invite, but accepts an invite to his friends family barbecue on Saturday afternoon.
The young man leaves Starbucks and takes a quick walk around city before heading back to the office for an important meeting. He passes an old educational building, and stares at it from across the large pond. He sees new students standing in and around the building. He looks at the building and remembers great memories. This is where his success and rise to the top had started.

13.40pm and the young lad has been called back into class during his break. His tutor is very impressed, and shows him the high grades he has achieved on all the assignments he has caught up with. He cheers a loud cheer and shakes his tutor’s hand. His tutor chuckles and congratulates him and also informs the young lad how impressed he is with his earlier actions of moving away from the group of 3 troublesome students.

The young lad leaves the classroom feeling empowered, small changes have made such a vast difference . He steps into the college forecourt and stares across the large pond. Across the pond he sees a young man in a smart suit looking back.

The young lad doesn’t think much of it, but as he looks back over the pond, the young man has vanished. ‘That was weird’ he thinks to himself as he pulls out a cigarette and goes to smoke it, but then stops and looks at the golden packet of cigarettes. He looks down and asks himself why he is smoking, what will it achieve?

It was the three troublesome young males he tried to impress with smoking, the three troublesome young males that tried to hold him back from studying, and left him when he got in trouble. The young lad looks at the cigarette packet and puts the cigarette back into the packet. He decides that he will try and battle his smoking as that is part of the old him. So many changes, it won't be easy for the young adult to stop this addictive habit.

Returning into the college building and straight into the gentleman’s restroom, he walks into a toilet stall and throws the golden packet of cigarettes into the toilet and flushes them away. The packet spins as it gets sucked down into the drains. The young lad watches as the packet disappears. Goodbye cigarettes, goodbye old acquaintances!

The young lad steps into the busy college hall and heads to the cafeteria where he sits down and continues to study physics. He's caught up but still has plenty to learn. He opens the book and revises over todays lesson.

He may not have any friends, but he doesn’t let this bother him now, he wants to focus on his revision. He focuses so much on revision, he doesn’t know what is going on around him. Students come and go, entering and exiting the cafeteria, but the young lad remains undisturbed.


After sometime he finally stops reading his physics book, and looks up to see the young lady with her red hair, this time flowing down her back, studying him with a shy smile on her face.

She stutters out of nervousness, and asks if it is alright for her to join him on the table. He nervously looks over and gives a nervous nod and manages to force a smile. The young lady opens her pink bag and pulls out two black chocolate puddings, one wrapped in tissue. She slides the chocolate pudding over to the young lad. He picks up the chocolate pudding, and looks at the girl. He looks at her face, and studies it, he doesn’t even need to ask who she is as he now knows for sure!
He knows it’s the young girl from school who had once given up her desert for him, the same girl, but now a pretty young woman.


The young lad’s eyes widen as he comes to terms with realisation of meeting an old friend. It's an emotional but joyous moment as they both jump out of their seats and hug each other. They catch up after years of not seeing one another, although they didn’t speak as children, they did have a special friendship. He has so much to share, but also so ,any questions for her, such as asks when she returned to the city and is delighted when he finds out it was only a few weeks ago.

Looking at his watch he realises that he has to attend the final lecture of the week. He reluctantly tells his old friend that he has to go. He wants to continue their chat, but he has to go back to his lecture. The young lady offers to walk with him back to his class. She grabs his hand, and the they walk hand in hand to his classroom. They reach the classroom and stand opposite each other, awkwardly waiting for a ‘goodbye’. The young lad pulls his long hair back nervously, and asks if he can catch up with the young lady at college next week. The young lady looks at him and shakes her head. No, she doesn't want to meet next week. She tells him to make it this week Friday, in the evening, they can go to the cinema, or to have a meal together and catch up.

She tiptoes and goes to kiss him on his cheek, she blushes and waves, before making a move down the corridor. She turns to look back and waves to him once more. The young lad blushes and walks into the class to see everyone staring at him with smiles on their faces, even the tutor. Everyone in the class has witnessed the awkward kiss and holding hands.

He gives an embarrassed smile and blushes again. He quickly shuffles across to his new seat at the front of the class and sits down ready to take in more from his lecture.


14.30pm, and the young lad is packing up preparing to go home, as he gets up to leave the class, one of the three troublesome acquaintances, comes over and shakes his hand, and congratulates the young lad for getting his work in on time. He no longer sniggers at the young lad, but shows him respect. The troublesome young male walks off, looks back at the young lad, and walks away looking down to the ground in shame, he has laughed at someone who now seems to have changed a lot, and overnight.

Another student pats the young lad on the back, and walks off. A few other students pass him and smile at him. For once in his life, he seems to feel welcome, and equal to the other students, finally gaining his place in the class.

The day has been a great success. He leaves the college class and walks through the corridor whistling to himself before he unchains his motorcycle and heads home. As he unchains his motorcycle he finds a letter on it. He has an idea of who has written and left the letter there. He opens the letter and finds a time and date, and a place to meet as well as a telephone number. He knows where the letter has come from, and he knows what he has to do.

The letter is from the young lady he was with earlier, confirming the date is set for coming Friday. The time and location agreed to meet is in the city centre at 17.00pm. The young lad sets off on his motorcycle and heads home, feeling positive and thinking of the pleasant events of today. He hopes it will last.
He arrives home and opens the door; his dad isn’t home yet, so he decides that he will study for physics. He finds it hard to concentrate after such an eventful day. Today seems like a change in his life. He just can’t concentrate any longer, so he gets up and goes to the bathroom, he steps into the bathroom and searches for some scissors and a razor blade…


A small old battered car pulls up outside, and out steps an aging man, his short grey hair neatly combed.

He opens the front door and a step into the house, strangely the house is very quiet, and doesn’t seem to have any life in it. He calls out to his new friend, his son, but gets no reply.

The aging man begins to worry as there are signs that his son has been home. Slowly climbing the stairs, he reaches the landing, and can sees that the bathroom door is half opened, and that there is light in there.

He hears dripping water but no sign of life. It sounds as if the bath has flooded and is flooding the bathroom. The ageing father thinks the worst and rushes to see if his son is still alive. As he approaches the bathroom, he begins to wonder if he has left it too late to try and reconnect with his son, He bursts into the bathroom and stops dead in his tracks.

He stares in shock and disbelief and begins to cry out loud…
He can’t believe his eyes, his son has used the scissors and blade on himself...

He has cut his long hair off and shaved his beard. His hair is now short and he looks more like a young man than a young lad.
He turns to his father who is crying out in dismay, and immediately goes to comfort his dad. He doesn’t know why his dad has reacted in such a weird way to his son cutting his hair, but he listens as his dad weeps and tells his son, that he is upset as he feels as if he has left it too late to repair their damaged father-son relationship, he thought his son had given up and killed himself.

He looks at his dad, and comforts the fragile man, he then does something he never has done before, he hugs his dad. His dad holds his arms in the air and doesn’t quite know how to react, but then he slowly places his arms around his son and hugs his son back.

After the emotional encounter, the young lad tells his dad why he has cut his hair, and changed his appearance, and shows his dad the letter he found on his motorcycle . He explains it’s part of a major change in him and his life, and also informs his dad of his date.

His father is proud and starts giving his his son tips on what to do for his date and how to behave. The young lad listens to the experienced man as he gives the tips, but reveals that he is too scared to call the young lady.

His father’s smile disappears, and marches him down the stairs. He sits his son down and does not allow him to move. Once again the young lad sees his father’s strict side coming out. His dad holds the letter and rings the young girl, and hands the phone over to his son. He's not allowing his son to back down, for he needs to see the changes being made in his son.
The young lad nervously answers as he hears the young ladies voice on the other side of the phone, his father standing over him glaring at him, sharply giving him orders on what to say, pointing at the letter from the girl.

The young lad stutters a little as he tries to repeat and confirm the details for their date. As the young lady agrees, the young lad begins to feel at ease. It's as if the pressure is dying off as his confidence is boosted, soon he is in a full conversation with the young lady.

His father smiles at his son and sits down in a chair with a newspaper. His father thinks back to the time of when he was young adult, he never had such advice or guidance from his old man, so he's not willing to make the same mistake.
After half an hour, the young lad places the telephone receiver back on the old fashioned dialler and looks at his dad, who is peaking over the top of his glasses and newspaper. His dad asks what is going to happen, and his son announces that he has a date. His dad smiles and shakes his son’s hand. Realising the time, he tells his son to get his shoes on and get in the car. The young lad objects, and points out he has some more studying to do, but his dad firmly tells him to get in the car. Once in the car, the young lads does a quick check on his son. Dressed appropriately? Check, Hair cut and neat? Check, Decent shoes? Check, enough money? Check! Gentleman? Check!

His father is happy with his sons appearance and attitude.

As the battered car rolls through the city centre, the young lads dad remains silent, and seems distracted.

The young lad begins to worry that the estranged relationship will return, but says nothing.

His dad pulls up and stops the car outside the city centre and tells his son firmly to step out of the car. The young lad listens and steps out. As he steps out, he looks into a shop window and sees his reflection. How different he looks with short neatly combed hair, with a parting down the side, and a shaved beard.

His father steps out beside him, and stands next to him, and begins to speak slowly. He tells his son, how his father never did what he was about to do with him. The young lad asks his father what he means, but his father doesn’t reply, and asks his son to follow him.
Once again there is silence as the father and son walk down the quiet high street, and into a department store.

Upon approaching the store, the young lads father, stops and turns to his son, he opens his wallet and pulls out 5 £20 notes, and hands them to his son. He smiles at his son, and asks him to pick out a suit for a date. The young lad now realises why his father didn’t say anything, it was a surprise, however the young lad realises the sad truth about his father’s relationship with his father, his father’s father never gave him the same treat as he was receiving now.

The young lad’s father knows his son is dressed well, but it's a special occasion, and he could potentially be meeting a life long partner, so he knows his son needs to look his best!

The young lad looks at his ageing father and hugs him again, thanking him. It's been an emotional few days, with so many changes are occurring all at once, the young lad is overwhelmed.
21.00pm, Friday evening, and the young man and his wife step out of a classy bar, walking hand in hand down the street. The young girl isn’t with them, this is bonding time for mum and dad. As they walk down the street to the parked Ferrari, the young man now has his arm around his wife, and she has her arm wrapped around his waist. They approach the Ferrari, and he opens and shuts the door after his wife. A true gentlemen, as he was brought up to be!

He makes sure that her long dress doesn’t get caught in the door. He shuts the car door and fixes his bowtie, and adjusts his collar. He walks around his car, opens the driver’s door and then pulls off onto the road.

He smiles as he holds the staring wheel with one arm, and rests the other on his door. His wife curls up on the leather sleep and prepares for the quick drive back to their large mansion, the young man drives up a quiet road, which becomes a hill. At the top of this hill is a park, with a bench facing the city. It is dark now, so the hill is a little cold, but offers a breath taking view of the evening city, lit up like a Christmas tree. The lights of the cty are so pretty.

The cars door flies open and out steps the young man, he opens his wife’s door and holds his hand out for his wife to take as she steps out. His wife feels cold, so he takes of his jacket and wraps it around her lovingly. They walk together into the park and sit on the bench over looking the well-lit city in the distance below. His wife rests her head on her husband as he looks at the pretty view of Sheffield. Below police sirens can be heard, along with the clattering of a tram as it rolls over its tracks. In the far distance, a fireworks display can be seen.

The young man wraps his hands round her, and pulls her closer. The couple enjoy the moment together, in this moment, it is just them, no one else! It's an intimate Monet for both. They both catch a glimpse of another couple, a seemingly new, young couple sitting on another bench, sharing a passionate kiss.

Both husband and wife look at each other and remember their first visit to the hill. It was where their first date was held and their very first kiss had happened.

The happy couple don’t talk and enjoy the silence as they cuddle up together, both remembering the happy days of meeting and dating. Good times!


22.30pm, and the young lad and his lady friend have come out of the cinema and walked up the hill into the park. They sit next to each other, but keep their distance, it's still new to both of the young ones, and a little awkward still. They talk about the times at school, and how they both wished that they had spoken to each other, as well as kept in contact.

The young lady rests her head on the young lad, and takes her hair clip out, letting her tied up red hair flow, revealing that she missed him, but is delighted that they have found each other. She lifts her head from his shoulder and looks up at him. The young lad looks down at the young lady, locking eyes with her. He feels butterflies in his stomach, as they both gaze into each other eyes, all talk has stopped. Leaning towards each other, both the young man, and young lady go in for their fist kiss. It really is a magical moment for both as their lips connect, forming a passionate, intimate connection between them both. Pulling back from each other, she caresses his face, gazing into his starry eyes.

They both giggle nervously, but remain wrapped around each other, keeping each other warm, and enjoying the connection. They do not notice, a slightly older more mature couple watching them, chuckling to themselves as they watch the young couple and see themselves in the young couple, as they remember their first kiss.

The young lad turns and sees the slightly older couple watching them smiling, but of more interest, is the appearance of the couple. The man looks like an older version of the young lad, and his wife looks like an older version of the young lady he is with. He taps the young lady on her shoulder and goes to show her the slightly older couple, but as they turn back, there is no one sat at the other bench. They both seem to have vanished!

He then turns to the young lady, and tells her he saw an older couple who looked like a future version of them. The young lady giggles as she embraces the young lad,many hints tat it could well be them in the future.

The young lad really does look smart with his short hair, in his new suit and shiny new shoes. His date has also seen the transformation in his appearance. She's now even more attracted to him. He offers her a hand, and the young couple have a funny slow dance, before they head back down the hill hand in hand. It is evident that the pair of friends has now become a young couple, as they walk hand in hand into the moonlight.


The young lad has no car, but this doesn't mean he can't walk the young lady home. He makes sure that she is let into the house by her parents, both seeing if they can catch a glimpse of the young lad. She's home safe and sound, so he walks home to his own house.

His father is sitting up reading the newspaper. His father looks up and winks at his son and asks how it went. His son smiles and heads up to bed.
His father knows that the date has gone well, as he chuckles to himself and continues reading his newspaper. He is feeling happier as there seems to be a change in his son, and their relationship seems to be blossoming.

The young lad and his new girlfriend have set a date to meet up again, but this time he decides he will not let his father pay as his father is already struggling with money. He steps into his room, and starts to study. He needs to study now, so he is prepared for his exams a few months ahead. He also needs to pass the exams so he can find a well-paid job, so he can help out and support his ageing father, and continue seeing his new love. As he thinks of the future, passing his exams, helping out at Home, and seeing his new girlfriend, he then thinks of something he has never thought of, his future. He decides that he will also save for the future.


He studies all night, and gets to bed at around 5 in the morning. He feels so different now, everything around him has changed for the better, he's liking it, but he knows things can only get better, as long as he keeps up with his hard work.

10.00am, Saturday morning, and the young lad wakes up feeling great . He remembers his first date experience from the night before. He sits up in his bed and stretches followed by a long yawn.

Even though things seem to be working out for the young lad, he knows that he has a challenging task ahead of him today. He has to find some sort of work. He needs to open a savings account as well as a bank account. He climbs out of bed and opens his cupboard. Today he will be changing his dress code, from torn jeans, to a simple white shirt, and black trousers.
The young lad irons his trousers and shirt and jumps into the small mouldy bath, and freshens up, before getting dressed, and finding his O-Level results certificate.

He looks at his results and wonders why he never went to university, as he passed his O-Level, with very good results. No problem, for he knows he still has a shot at attending university if he keeps up his hard work.

He packs his results into a plastic wallet and puts them into a bag. He steps out of the old small house jumps on his bike and cycles into Sheffield city centre.
As he cycles, the young lad feels the wind blowing through his short hair, and brushing against his cheeks as the sun shines upon him. The fresh scent of the air is pleasant in his nose. He cycles past a butchers, and sees that the butcher has his family name as the shop name. T.J Samuels Butchers, is what the young lad reads to himself. How cool it would be for the young lad to run his own business, and have his name as the business name, in front of a shop or even office.

The young lad wants his own business, but knows that he won’t be starting with his own business, well not anytime soon at least.

He sighs and continues cycling and comes across a small housing agent, advertising vacancies in the window of the housing agent.
He steps off of his bike and walks on the pavement, chaining his bike to a concrete lamppost.

He looks in the window and fixes himself up, before nervously stepping into the housing agent. The small office is quiet, but welcoming, although the employees don’t look very happy to see the young lad there.

He approaches one of the employees, a middle aged woman with long brown hair, bushy brown eyebrows, and large glasses.

She glares up at the young and says nothing. The young lad asks to speak to the manager, but is rudely informed that the manager isn't there,many that he is too young to apply for any kind of work in that news agents. It appears that he is too young, and apparently mature enough to work in the housing agent.

Hurt at being rejected, the young lad begins to remember how everyone else rejected him when he was. He turns to go back into the housing agent, wanting to give the brutal soman a piece of his mind, but stops and turns back to his bike. He hops on his bike and continues down the high street. There are a few shops that look appealing to the young lad, but he gets rejected by all of them.

It has been a tough morning for the young lad, and the last place for him to find a job, is the local chip shop. The young lad wearily walks into the chip shop, and sees a fat man standing behind the counter, reading the daily mail newspaper. He looks up from his newspaper and bluntly asks what the young lad wants there. As the young lad looks at this man, he recognises him and his stomach turns. The fat man, is actually the bully from his school, the same bully who has violently assaulted him for 20p for his bus fair, as well as stealing his lunch each lunch time. He turns to walk out, angry, everyone seems to have something, but he seems to have fallen behind, even his bully has his own business. It's a chip shop, but it belongs to his bully.

The fat greasy man takes one look at the young man and jumps from behind the counter and runs after the young lad.
He greets the young lad warmly, sounding apologetic and asking him to come back. The young lad is a little confused. Was this really the same bully who beat him up, now being very kind and welcoming?

The young lad follows the young fat man back into the chip shop, named: ‘Bobbies Chippy’, where the fat man begins to apologise for his awful actions at school. He tries to explain how immature he was, but now he is willing to make up for everything he has done. He asks the young lad what meal he wants, on the house, but the young lad declines and says he wants a job. The fat man, pulls the vacancy out of the window and immediately offers the young lad the job, with
As well as a bonus at the end of every two months.

The young lad looks at the fat man, named Bobby, and shakes his hand. The young lad and Bobby chat for a while, till the young lad decides that it’s time to go home.Bobby has apologised and the past is put behind them.

It's not the greatest job in the world, and working with a former nemesis might be awkward, but the young lad has completed the hard part, finding a job. Now to open up a bank account and savings account.


12.30pm, and the young man has just arrived from his lunch break, heading into his office, he once again walks past the desks filled with the employees watching him as he passes into through the office and into his room. It's Saturday and he's working, but the young man feels good about himself. He has his own business, and after a meeting he has had in the morning, he has taken over someone else’s business. Now he just needs to sign one document, and off he goes. Back home to prepare for his two week holiday. He isn’t in much of a rush as he knows the plane will wait for him and his family at the airport. He will be spending two weeks in Mexico, him, his wife, and his young daughter and her friend. He signs the document, makes a phone call on his mobile, and then locks up his office. It's Saturday and he feels that his employees deserve a treat, so he sends everyone home early.

He steps out of the impressive office block and takes a look at it. The 30 storey building, of glass and steel, carries his name at the top: “Smith’s World.” A simple but literal meaning to the young man’s business, he owns housing estates, modern flat’s, schools, railway lines, buses, and his new business, a small airline. He puts on his Shades and drives home, As his sports car speeds off down the road, we see his car and the young man disappear. This will be the last time we see the young man for a while…

13.00pm, and the young lad arrives back to the small house he shares with his father, and steps into the kitchen and puts some toast on. He pulls out his physics books and studies till 19.00pm. Disappearing downstairs, the he young lad rings his girlfriend and tells her about his luck today, he has a new job.

His girlfriend has been waiting to hear from him all day and is happy to finally receive his call, she is also happy to hear that he has a new job.






The clock of life keeps ticking and a few months pass. The young lad continues to work at chip shop and makes a new friend, Bobby, who was once his enemy. Every so often his short haired girlfriend turns up during her lunch break. Things continue to get better for the young lad, he has begun to save money, as well as support his ageing, but grateful dad.

Occasionally the manager of the housing agent makes his lunch time visit to the chip shop. He's always cheerful,friendly and has taken a liking to the young lad. He always has a quick chat with the young lad. He is So fond of the young lad that he offers the young lad a job at the housing agent, as supervisor salesman. This means double the money that he is earning now, and also,taking on employees who he will manage. He knows it will look good,on his CV.

At first the young lad is reluctant, to leave. He remembers his first visit to the housing agent, and the hostile environment. Bobby notices that the young lad has been quiet for the last few days, so Bobby takes the young lad aside and has a chat with him.


Bobby has listened and is disappointed that his friend wants to leave and progress further, but as a friend, he knows it's in the interest of the young lad. He tells the young ld that he doesn't want him to leave, but he wants the young lad to take the job offered to him. Bobby shakes hands with his, now close friend, the young lad, and tells him that he always knew that he would make something of himself.

As Bobby walks the stores room, he wipes a tear from his eye, holding a bitter secret.

He informs the manager of the estate agent that he accepts the offered position. The manager is pleased with his new employee.
The young lad is excited as he heads home on his bike. As he gets home, he sees his father fixing his old car with the extra money from his son. The young lad, steps off of his bike and runs to his dad, who has his head under the hood of the engine, trying to fix the engine.

The ageing man looks up and greets his son with a smile. He listens to his son’s good news about his son and his new position at the housing agent. His dad closes the engine hood and tells his son that this calls for a drink at the pub. His dad also tells his son to invite his missus and Bobby.

The young lad rings Bobby twice, but does not get an answer, which is odd as Bobby always answer his phone.

23.00pm, the young lad and his dad have dropped the young lad’s girlfriend at home, they head back home after celebrating the young lad’s success.

It's been a good evening, the young lad, his dad and girlfriend have enjoyed a night out celebrating the achievement of the young lad, but his happiness is short lived.

A message has been left on the phones answering machine. The young lads father sits on the sofa and listens as he receives shocking news. The young lad steps into the dated living room looks at the expression on his father's face. He immediately knows that something is not right. The young lads father now has to deliver the sad blow to his son. He puts the phone down, and stutters, as he announces that Bobby has passed away. The young lad heads straight up to bed silently, leaving his dad alone in the living room. He is so upset, he forgets to revise for his final physics exam tomorrow, and climbs into bed without revising.




05.50am, and the young lad’s alarm clock goes off. He opens his eyes and remembers the terrible news about his friend, and then freezes, as he remembers that he hasn’t revised for his physics exam. He gets up, gets washed up and dressed, combs his hair and looks at himself in the mirror. His blue eyes gaze back at him sadly. He looks at himself in the mirror for what seems to be a long time, and then begins to tell himself, that he can’t let the death of his friend affect his exam performance today. He combs his short hair and shaves. He goes into the kitchen, puts on some toast and a warm cup of tea. The toast and tea sure do beat the cigarettes he used to smoke.


He opens his physics book for the last time and thinks back to the time when he threw his physics book away, all those months ago. How glad he is that he took his tutors advice and kept the book. He has finished his English and Maths exams, so he has more time to focus on physics. He closes the book and meditates on what he has learnt. He jumps on his bike at 06.30am and cycles off to college. He does not allow his mind to be occupied with the thoughts of his friend’s misfortune, he focuses on his day ahead. He reaches college and sits in the cafeteria waiting to go into the exam hall, but as he does so, he remembers the time he first saw his girlfriend in the cafeteria, the time they first spoke and how things changed for the lad during his course at the college.

He is disturbed by three loud young males come into the cafeteria, the three troublesome males, with who he once associated with. He looks at them and they look back at him, their smiles fade as they watch him. The young lad turns away and ignores them. He is pleased that he walked away from them, otherwise he might not be prepared for his final exams today.

As he sits down day dreaming, a small arm embraces him, and he feels somebody kiss him on the cheeks. He turns to see his girlfriend embracing him. He kisses her, and moves seats so she can sit down. The couple hold hands across the table as they talk about college life. The couple look up as the young lad’s tutor steps into the cafeteria, looking for the young lad. He pulls a seat up and sits with the young couple. He tells the young lad’s girlfriend, how lucky she is to have a smart, caring boyfriend, and jokes about being invited to their wedding. The young couple look at each other and blush.

They have not openly discussed marriage with each other till now. The young lad’s tutor stands up, and pats his student on the back, and tells his student that he knows, that he will do well. His girlfriend pecks him on the cheek and wishes him luck, as she goes off to her exams.

09.00am, and the young lad is standing outside the exam room, remembering Bobby, but he has to forces the sad thoughts out of his head. He knows that Bobby would want him to pass his exam, and not feel sorry for him, so the best the young lad can do is try and be cheerful for his friend Bobby.

He steps into the hall, and find’s his desk. His name is on a sheet of a paper. ‘Thomas S’ is marked on the top of his paper. And there you have it… A name…
Yes the young lad’s name is Thomas…
He sits at his desk and waits for the exam to begin. His nerves become obvious as he starts to sweat, whilst writing down the answers on the exam. The young lad, might have a good job lined up once college has finished, but he still wants to achieve something by passing his exam, He's come a long way and it would be a shame for him to fail. He's determined that he is going to pass, so he focuses on physics and shuts out the world around him.

The young lad is in a world of his own now, as he calculates speeds, and other formulas. It’s as if he can see the formulas around him, it is all so easy! He finishes the final exam and looks round the silent exam hall. He can see the three troublesome young males struggling with their exams, how glad he is that he kept his physics book, and kept on studying, rather than hanging out with such acquaintances who now seem to be failing their exam.

12.30pm now, and the young lad emerges from the exam, his now ex-tutor pulls him aside, and reveals a secret to him. He reveals that the young lad has passed his other two exams with the highest grades. Both with A*’s. The young lad doesn’t seem surprised, but he cheers anyway.

He meets his girlfriend, at a nearby café. The young lad and girl now step into the café, where she is immediately greeted by her friends behind the bar. ‘Holly.’ Her friends call to her as she enters the café with Thomas.



Holly sits at a table with her friends as Thomas, orders drinks and cakes. Thomas appears at the table with a tray, with two cups of tea, and two chocolate puddings.

He laughs and blushes as he reminds himself of the past, the chocolate pudding being an icon for both Holly and the young lad Thomas.

It was such a pudding that Holly had shared with the young lad many years ago at school. The pudding which would bring the two together, after so many years.

A week goes by, and Thomas, the young lad, is at home preparing for his first day at work. He has a briefcase, and a new grey suit to wear on his first day. His dad, looks at his son and no longer sees a mere young adult, no, he now sees a young man now. His hair cut and neatly combed, well shaved, and looking smart in his new suit. What a difference to the young lad we first knew!

His dad takes a picture and hugs his son. He wishes his son a good day a work, and for the last time, his son cycles off on his old bike to work. His briefcase tied firmly to the back of his bike


09.45, and in steps Thomas the young man, he sees the rude woman with brown hair and bushy eyebrows look up in horror as she realises that her new boss, is actually the same young man, she threw out a few months ago. Thomas, is lead to his desk, which is right beside the desk of the manager. The cheerful old man warmly welcomes Thomas, and condoles Thomas about the death of his friend Bobby. Thomas is then introduced to his team of salesman. The rude woman greets him nervously, knowing that Thomas now has the power to dismiss her if need be.

In the first few days, Thomas learns how to sale homes, and how to communicate with his team. After the first week, Thomas has become a success, and sold 4 large mansions, all within 3 days. The young lad has done well, and has made himself a lot of money.
A few months go by, and Thomas keeps on making money.

He no longer cycles to work, but drives to work in a small convertible. Thomas has also taken over the managing of Bobbie’s Chippy, and has turned that into his own small business. Bobby had left it in his will for Thomas to take over the chip shop, and do as he pleased with it. The young lad has turned the chip shop into another branch of the Housing agent he works at, but has named it after his old friend, Bobby.

Thomas is rising to the top, he moves out of the housing agency and into the higher level management in head office.

Time goes by, the clock ticks and life keeps passing by...

11.00am, and Thomas is sitting in his office, in what used to be the old chip shop, he is preparing for 6 interviews, of which only 4 people will receive the job for housing agent salesmen.
11.10am, and in steps the first candidate, 5 minutes late for the interview, sweating uncontrollably. Thomas looks at the scruffy young man and realises that the young male, was one of his old acquaintance’s, one of his old acquaintances who laughed at him when he got sent out of the lecture at college. Thomas knows that the young man knows who he is, and is nervous. Thomas remembers all the bad things this young man used to teach him, and the trouble he got him into, and also the fact that he was 5 minutes late, but having the power in his hands, Thomas decides to go ahead with the interview. He even offers the young man a cup of coffee. He holds no malice, and believes in change. Everybody can change, becoming better people. He believes that it's never too late to start again or ,ale adjustments in ones life.

Once he leaves, Thomas sits back in his leather seat and makes a decision. He doesn’t want to say no to the young man, but he has no choice. The young man just doesn’t meet the requirements for the job.
Thomas takes out a red pen and writes ‘Reject’ in large letters on the young man’s profile, and calls in the next candidate.

Finally Thomas is done with all interviews, and has made a selection of candidates selected for the job. The day is over, and work is complete, but Thomas still has something big he needs to do! He makes a call at Holly’s house and takes her to the hill over looking the city. He shows her the industrial city in all of its beauty as the sun sets, before getting on one knee and making a proposal…
The proposal being that she remains his best friend for life, but not as a mere girlfriend, but as his wife!
Holly cries tears of joy as she accepts the proposal and puts on the expensive ring, hugging and kissing Thomas and kisses him.

The now engaged couple go for a celebratory meal in Sheffield, before Thomas drops Holly home.

Thomas waves goodbye and blows a kiss as he drives off in his small modern convertible. Thomas heads home to tell his dad the good news. His father is set to be a father-in-law and also best man!

But it gets better. Thomas does not know that his boss will soon be retiring and leaving the running of business to him. Thomas gets home, to the small house, and runs in to pass on the good news that his father will soon have a daughter-in-law. Not only will he have a daughter-in-law, but he will also be the best man. The old man becomes emotional as he accepts the offer to be his son’s best man, something he would never have expected to be. He has made a close friend as well as son.

He is emotional as he knows his young son isn’t a little boy, or young lad anymore, no he has become a young business man, and soon to move out.

The telephone rings, and Thomas’ boss announces that he will be stepping down from his position as managing director of the housing agent, he wants to retire, but he want’s Thomas, to take over, seeing as he already has another branch of the housing agent. Thomas can’t believe it! He knows that he will now need two other people to become team leaders to the salesmen in each branch.

As the weeks go by, Thomas finds two suitable team leaders, and continues to make a steady flow of cash. He soon has enough money to take over another 4 businesses and employ more people. The businesses include taking over properties once belonging to the council, fixing them up, and turning them into expensive housing estates, as well as providing homes for the homeless.

Thomas has begun sending invites out to his growing circle of close friends, relatives and other people he has not seen in a while, old friends’ inviting them to his wedding, one individual being his old tutor, who responds by ringing Thomas.

15.20pm, Thomas and Holly are cruising around Sheffield, but he seems to be driving to a specific location. They pull up on a large building site, and Thomas turns to his fiancé. He tells her that in a few months, a large mansion will be standing there, but not only will it be finished and furnished, with the way his business has expanded, it will be their mansion!

Holly can’t believe it! She remembers the little boy in the puddle, with no friends, and the young lad he became, making changes. Now look at him! Successful and popular! She realises how it's never too late to change.


Soon after the wedding, Thomas & Holly move into the mansion, whilst Thomas’ business begins to expand by the day.

10 Years go by and he soon owns the railway lines nearby, modern apartments, flats, housing estates and a few food chains and soon an airline. Sound familiar?


22.30pm now, and the young man, steps out of his private jet with his wife and daughter, the family returning from Mexico. They all head back home to their family mansion and go to bed early, for tomorrow the young man has a ceremony to attend as he accepts ownership of the airline he will manage.

06.00am, and not too far from where the young lad used to live, the young man wakes up and gets dressed, his wife too follows him, their young daughter Madeline gets ready. Today isn’t a day to be upset, nor should it ever be.
The young man, his wife and young daughter step into his other car, his family Cadillac , and drive to the conference hall.

09.30am, the final time that I shall include the time.Our young man has stepped onto a stage in front of a massive audience all clapping and cheering. In the audience, he sees his wife, his daughter his dad, and old tutor. He takes off his shades and pauses before he speaks.

He looks around the large hall as begins his speech:
“I’d like to thank you all for being here today. Today is a big day for me, and I don’t think I would have succeeded if it wasn’t thanks to my beautiful wife Holly, my dad Trevor, and my old Tutor, Mr Barnard. My wife, my first friend, the one who shared her desert with me in school, showed me, that there was a bright side to life, and that I could have friends, which kept me going. My dad Trevor, who was always there for me, despite the hard times we once had, he always supported my success as I grew older, my old college tutor, Mr Barnard, the tutor who never gave up on me, and gave me my physics book back after I threw it away, if he had not of done that, I might not be standing here today, the successful man that I have become. The success I have achieved was not from myself, no, it was from these three individuals, who were there to put me on the right path, and make me see sense, help me change my view on life and people. They helped me learn,my hat it's never to late to do a U-turn in life. I remember as a young child on the bus to school, I looked out of a window, and saw a sports car, I never thought I could drive such a car, or live in a massive mansion, but thanks to my close friends and family, it is all possible But it's not just for me. It's for anyone who puts their mind and works hard to it. Age, gender, race, it doesn't matter! If you want something work hard to it, and you too can achieve!. Today, as I mentioned is a big day for the Smith family. Today, I Thomas Smith, will proudly take ownership of an airline. This success isn’t just for me. I share this success with my family, and I can only hope that I can provide my lovely daughter with the things I never had as a child. Once again, a big thanks to the audience for being here today”, I wish you all a pleasant morning! But most of all, I hope that my little story shows you, the sky is the limit, if you have changes to make in your life, do it, it's never too late!’

There you have it…

...There stands the young boy, the young lad and the young man, on stage all three of them, all the same person, but together forming a totally different person. Thomas, a stronger person, no longer lonely, lacking friends or a loving family, a person who refused to give up, a person who worked hard and achieved their dreams. Yes the young boy, the young lad, were all Thomas Smith, the little boy and young lad, who once had no friends, now one of the richest men in the world. For Thomas, he knew he was rich, but his r ches were his family and friends!

Once bullied by three popular troublesome young males in college, where were they now as the audience clapped and whistled for Thomas Smith as he stood on stage? Where were the three young males that once put him down and taught him to do bad things?
Everyone from college knows Thomas Smith, the most successful businessman of all time. But the three troublesome lads? Ha No one even remembered their names!

Author's Note

This is one of my 'classical p' stories I wrote many years ago. I have rewritten it to make it sound better. It is written in what may seem to be a weird format, but please, bare with it. This story blossoms as it goes along. Please ignore grammar mistakes.