Dislcaimer: I own no one your recognize.
Author Notes: Thank you to Beguile once again, for beta reading for me! Thank you to all the reviewers who have enjoyed this story so far, here's the next chapter!
Chapter Two-The Lie
"What happened to your hand?"
Mutt froze in his sweeping motion before looking down were the band aid lay exposed for all to see. The edges were beginning to fray away from his skin. Thankfully the cut was not exposed. Mutt forced himself to give his father another slightly sheepish look, and hoped he would buy the story he had come up with.
"I had a small accident at school is all," he told him, in what he hoped to be a flippant tone. He finished sweeping up the broken glass, moving to trash to dispose of it, hoping his father would believe him.
"What kind of accident?" Indiana asked, watching his son's movements. Something about his son's demeanor didn't sit right with him. Mutt normally didn't care that much about having Indy around. He was almost giving off the vibe that he wanted to be as far away from his father as humanly possible.
"We were doing some dissections in biology and my lab partner left the scalpel blade side up. I wasn't paying attention and nicked myself with it. The nurse bandaged it up and said I was fine," Mutt explained. That seemed like a believable enough story, he was sure that must have happened to people in the past. He fought the urge to shift under his father's scrutinizing look.
"Oh, well be more careful next time," his father said at last. Mutt was barely able to hold in the sigh of relief, his father had bought his excuse. Now all he had to do was be careful for the next few days. As long as he didn't come home with any other marks on him, he might be able to pull this off.
"I will. I'm sorry about breaking the glass," Mutt said, shifting his weight slightly. He just wanted to get out of there and go back to his room.
"It's alright, we have more," Indiana assured him, eyeing the bandaged hand that Mutt was quick to shield from view.
"I think I'm going to go finish my homework now, if that's ok," Mutt waited for Indiana to nod before turning and walking quickly out of the room. Indiana frowned at the sight. His son was keeping something from him, he could tell. Pushing the boy could put them in another fight, which he was trying to avoid. He had a nagging feeling that band aid wasn't covering a small puncture hole.
He had promised Marion he would not push him and to let Mutt come to him if he needed something, and he planned to honor that promise. He heard Mutt's bedroom door click shut and sighed before heading back towards the living room
to assure Marion that things were ok.
Mutt sighed as he pressed his back against the door, releasing the shaky breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. That had been a far to close call for his liking. His father had either believed his story, or chosen to let it go, he was not sure which. Either way, he was glad he was not pressed on the matter, he was not sure how long he could have kept up the lie without giving himself away. He moved tiredly to his desk to finish his last bit of homework. He hissed through his teeth quietly as his hand clenched around his pencil. Once he was finally done, his hand was killing him and he decided to just call it an early night. He
quickly changed into his Pajamas and slid into bed, without even bothering to wish his parents a good night.
The next morning had come far to quickly for Mutt's liking, who had spent half the night tossing and turning restlessly. After picking at his breakfast, and avoiding questions of his well being from both his parents, he found himself sitting in his first period class. His hand was already throbbing and Mutt knew he was in for a really bad day. He was not mistaken. Xanderson was in a foul mood, and had taken to slamming his ruler down on students' desks or the occasional student's hand while they discussed the latest book they had read. He heard the ruler more than felt it as it connected with his shoulder. The sting followed moments later, the flat side at least. There would be no cut, but he was sure there would be a fairly awful bruise. Xanderson snapped something at him about paying attention before stalking off to the front of the room. The boy in the seat next to him gave him a
sympathetic and slightly horrified look before looking away.
By his last class, Mutt really was having a hard time paying attention. His hand was throbbing and his shoulder would sent a random, and painful reminder of the bruise that was rapidly growing there. He only had to hold out for another ten minutes, then school would be over and he would have an entire weekend to himself. The thing about time seemed to be that the more you wanted it to go, the slower it went. When the class was finally dismissed Mutt was ready to run all the way home just to get away from the dreaded building. He moved slowly to his bike wishing he had accepted his father's offer of a ride that morning. He finally settled onto his bike and left the school, glad to be away from it for two days.
All Mutt was going to have to do was convince his parents he was fine. Once he convinced them of that, they'd let him do what he wanted over the weekend. Maybe he could go see Oxley or hang out with a couple of the kids he knew from school, anything to get out of the house and away from the situation at school which was rapidly growing unbearable. Part of him just wanted to break down and tell his parents. He was convinced however his parents would see this as something Mutt had brought upon himself. Mutt must have provoked his teacher, done something to warrant such a punishment. The actual reasons would only
sound like bad excuses. With a sigh Mutt put his energy into making it seem like nothing was wrong, all he had to do was pull off one more lie, then he could stop feeling so guilty about it.
He hoped.
