Never Say What You Really Mean
Summary: A well-meaning substitute teacher misinterprets one of Alex's English assignments. After alerting the principal and the nurse, they decide to get take action on it. Can you say Children's Services, anyone?
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A/n: Inspired by Kerowyn Van'Seph's review to The Ten Things I Fear. Would probably make more sense to read that one first, but you certainly don't have too. I estimate this to be about three to four chapters.
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The substitute teacher groaned as she looked at the overwhelming pile of papers that had appeared on her desk. "You've got to be kidding me," the teacher said. His face showed clear opposition to the idea. "I'm supposed to grade these?"
"Yeah. You only have one class to teach today, so it shouldn't be too difficult." With that, the other teacher was out of the door in a flash, relieved to be out of the room. She would be really glad when Benjamin, the other English teacher, was back. He was so much nicer. Although she really had no idea why the kids called him "Fox."
Slipping out of the door, she exhaled and breathed a sigh of relief. She really did not like that substitute.
Hopefully, he would get better soon…
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The substitute teacher frowned as he turned over the list of papers. "The ten biggest things I fear? Dude, what on earth?" he muttered, glancing at the list. "Okay…."
He graded through the first few assignments, stopping when he saw the name Alex Rider. Now why did that sound so familiar?
He quickly skimmed through the list.
Number One:
"I'd have to say my tenth fear, going in order from least phobic to most phobic, would have to be Wolf. That guy can be seriously scary when he hasn't had his caffeine. I'm sure you know this, Fox, because you were in the unit with him…"
The teacher's first thought was that Wolf had been an animal. Now it seemed to be something different. He frowned once more, re-reading the entire paragraph. Wolf looked to be a person. What did the person mean by Fox being in the unit with him?
It was then when he realized where he recognized the name Alex Rider. Fox was Alex Rider's foster parent. Well, adopted parent, he quickly amended. The previous teacher had made a huge stink about it, and Fox had patiently requested – from what he was told, anyway – that the teacher not teach any of his subjects again.
Skimming down the next few, he read, "Arrhenphobia. I don't really have the fear of men, but I do have the fear of some men. This fear will be used up on Eagle. You live with Eagle, so I think that's enough said right there."
That made the teacher frown. Okay, so Eagle was a person, too. The kid was afraid of Eagle, whom his guardian lived with. It didn't make sense. Was he in some sort of a… relationship with the man? Or did he just live with him?
Why was Alex afraid of him?
Troubled, the substitute considered this. This was something that no doubt needed to be addressed. He sighed and finished reading the assignment, willing for some "ha-ha, got you, just kidding." He just didn't like the vibe he was getting from this.
He continued reading down the list, each time getting just a little bit more anxious. He knew that it was stupid, and that he was probably just stressing, but he couldn't help it. He wondered if maybe there was more going on to Alex Rider than anyone knew.
Scanning down the list, he was surprised to see the name Eagle jump out so many times.
That wasn't good… was it?
5. Aulophobia: Fear of flutes. Okay, it sounds weird, but I've had to listen to Eagle play a flute, and I think that is more thanenoughsaid on this subject.
The teacher didn't really care about the flute thing; for him, it was that the name "Eagle" came up again.
Who was Eagle? Why wasn't the kid referring to Eagle by his real name? Was he worried about his guardian's reaction, or something else entirely? He didn't know the whole story. Frowning, he thought, what if his guardian was in a domestic relationship with this man, and he didn't want to use his real name because of backlash?
Now this one I actually do have a fear of. I really would be SOL if I got amnesia. I suspect Eagle would tease me, Wolf and Tom would team up to blackmail me, you would try and rescue me, and Blunt would attempt to use me.
There were the names Wolf and Eagle again. Stretching, the teacher sighed, his eyes flashing down to the last one:
Eicophobia: Fear of home surroundings. I really do have this, but don't worry, it's only when Eagle's over.
Oh, wait, I forgot, Eagle lives there!
So "Eagle," whoever this mysterious character was, did live in the home. The teacher checked his watch. He still had about three hours until his only class. It was time to talk to the school nurse.
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"I don't think you have anything to worry about with Alex Rider and his current guardian," the nurse responded as he told her his fears.
"What's his current guardian's name?" he responded, pointedly ignoring her statement. He didn't think it was the boy's guardian he was worried about.
"Benjamin. But everyone calls him Ben or Fox," the nurse replied. "Why?"
The teacher showed her Alex's paper. He'd been careful to make a copy of it so that the original one couldn't be sequestered. "See all these times he mentions 'Eagle' as one of his fears? I'm not kosher with it. Do you know if this Eagle has a real name?"
The nurse frowned. "No, I don't. I can pull his medical records, we have them at the school, but really, he's a good kid."
"A good kid who sounds like he's in trouble," the man responded.
"Personally, I think you're overreacting, but that's just me," the woman responded. She was new to the school, and had only seen Alex with his current guardian. She thought they were great together. She really liked how much he cared for the boy.
Frowning, she flickered open Alex's medical records.
Together, the two scanned the documents, frowning. "Look at this picture," the man said, pulling out one of Alex's files from a recent date. Michael Knight had not taken kindly to Alex calling him gay and had beaten him up behind the bleachers. The bruising was a result of that. The incident, however, had never been reported and documented by the nurse, even though Alex had mentioned it to the principal and Michael Knight had been expelled by it.
"I remember that. I was there that day, and I never got a reason over it." The nurse turned towards the teacher. "I think you might be onto something. Let's get Principal José in here. If this is a serious case, we're going to want all the documentation we can get."
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Meanwhile, at Alex's house, Fox yawned, trying to get some sleep. He had been hit really bad by the case of the flu and had actually ended up calling off for a week. He was abruptly awakened by Eagle looking at him.
"What?" he groaned. He felt miserable.
"I'm leaving now."
Reaching half-heartedly for the water canister next to his bed, Fox grabbed it and chucked it at him. "Yeah, sure. Don't wake me up next time."
Eagle jumped to avoid the well-aimed target. "See you later," he responded, closing the door. Wow. Fox sure was cranky.
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Principal José hadn't been impressed with the pictures. While he wasn't mad at the teacher and the nurse, he was worried about one of his students. He had been the principal at the time when Alex was still going on missions with MI6, and he knew what had been involved then. He knew that Alex had recently been awarded to a new guardian (he hated using the word 'awarded' about a kid), and he had high hopes that this would be better than Alex's previous custody battle.
After conversing with the staff in general, the principal decided to call Alex Rider down to the principal's office. Five minutes later, Alex Rider was there, sporting Tom Harris, who was attached to his side.
"Tom. You have class. Go," Alex ordered, standing at the principal's door.
"But I want to hear what you're in trouble for!"
"Trust me, you and the whole school will know soon enough. Just go, alright?" Alex all but shoved his friend out the door before sinking in the chair in the principal's office. He was alarmed to see both the nurse and another man he didn't know there.
"Alex," the principal said, pulling out his folder from the nurse's office, "We're concerned about you, here.'
Alex buried his face in his hands. "Why? What did I do this time? I've been staying out of trouble!"
"Take a deep breath, Alex," the nurse encouraged. He shot her a scathing look. "It's not about you getting in trouble. It's pertaining your medical history and one of your assignments."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, now fully alert. He knew the insinuations that the woman before had made, and did not like where this was going one bit.
"Alex," the substitute teacher said, leaning in, "Are you being abused by your guardian's domestic partner?"
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The next bit will be up in a day or two!
Challenge: How far will they go with their theory?