To say that he had finished school, however, would be an overstatement – even if, in his mind, it did not stray from the truth at all. He had finished school for he was never going to return. Just because he still had another two years and eight months before he finished his compulsory, legal schooling meant nothing. It was as simple as that and nothing would change his mind otherwise.
So, he decided that with some determined persuading in his behaviour the school he attended would agree that he had finished, too.

Indeed, you guessed it. He had been kicked out. Or not so much as kicked out as being given permission to finally leave, which is what he saw from his perspective.

His "older brother", however, was not so convinced.
"Kyle, you little bastard!" Arthur would curse. "This is the third time now, shithead! Just how many boarding schools do I have to send you to before I can be sure that you're finally getting the education that you need?"
"Damn the lot of you," Kyle would say in return, and that was usually all he would say. Pride? No. He just knew all too well that saying anything more would give him more than one hit with that cane of the Englishman's.

I think it's only fair that we have a bit of an explanation of Arthur, Kyle's "older brother". After all, he shapes much of this story later on.

As I have stated already, he is English – or British, to be more precise. His history with Kyle is clouded, but I will say no more than that in that area for now. All you need to know is that to Kyle's knowledge, he had been "adopted" by Arthur, in a way. It's a rather confusing relationship. Physically, they aren't very different in age. No more than ten years? And yet legally Arthur was Kyle's father.
To both them, though, they were no more than brothers.

When Kyle was very young – long before he can remember – his parents had died, or so he had been told. He was left in the care of his grandmother who had become old, weary, and needed help in raising a young boy. This is where Arthur had come along, sweeping young Kyle up into his arms and eventually taking him away at the age of nine to Britain to be educated to be a proper gentleman. It wasn't uncommon for Arthur to scold Kyle's grandmother, Kylie, telling her that she had raised him to be rebellious and indecent.
As you can imagine this did not impress Kyle in the slightest. His grandmother had cared for him from the start. Arthur had not.
Even so, it was Arthur who was always in charge. He visited a few times a year to Kylie's farm in the bush and made sure things were kept in order.

Kyle was the not the only person Arthur had found and tried to raise, or the first – there were several others, in which Kyle was lucky to have met more than once or twice. Kyle didn't get this trait in Arthur. It seemed that he loved to go around and raise children that weren't his, and yet despised it. Each one lived in a different country – They were all distant siblings in which he had practically no relation to.

But there was always Arthur. Dear big brother Arthur.

"Kyle! Kyle!"

The Australian boy did his best to ignore the calls as he stood in his gentlemen's suit under the shade of a Scribbly Gum tree – another Eucalypt. Actually, this particular common name for the tree is the name for a variety of Eucalypts, but this particular one is the Eucalyptus signata, with typical blotchy white bark, scattered with scribbles which isn't unusual for the Scribbly Gums. The "scribbles" are due to the tunnels made by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum Moth (Ogmograptis scribula) and follow the insect's life cycle. Eggs are laid between layers of old and new bark. The larvae burrow into the new bark and, as the old bark falls away, the trails are revealed.

The song of a magpie drowned out the sigh of the boy as he let his bare toes wriggle into the soil beneath the leaves and bark of the forest floor. Kyle could feel the life of his land flow through his bare skin and her silent breathing soothed his heart. He smiled; he had missed this so much.

With a step forward he wrapped his healthy arms around the trunk of the Scribbly Gum, letting his body stretch in a hug. This tree was particular to him, for many years ago his grandmother told him that it was his tree and when his arms grew long enough so that his hands could grasp each other firmly on the other side, he would be a man.
To Kyle's disappointment he could not yet feel his hands touch.
"Hrng!" He grunted with one last stretch.
Ah! There we are. He felt the very tips of his middle fingers brush briefly.

"Kyle!"
The voice was directly behind him now and he was snapped from his peaceful trance as he felt a hand slap down upon his right shoulder.