The End of the Tunnel

Chapter 2

-Proven Right-

"When people assume they are right, most often they are wrong."

Lancer attempted to alphabetize the latest homework assignments and noticed that, per usual, Daniel's was not turned in. More often than not, the freshman failed to complete his work, and if he ever did complete it, he never turned it in. To see his name on an assignment was always a pleasant surprise; he didn't want to fail the boy, especially given whatever circumstances took place behind his closed door.

The teacher heard the door to his classroom open and his student trudged inside, all too clearly exhausted from another school day. He wanted to go home, probably in hopes of resting for a while.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton," Lancer greeted him. "Please, have a seat."

Daniel's eyes slowly moved from the ground to Lancer as he chose a seat from one of the desks and pulled it up to Lancer's desk, sitting directly across from him and reluctantly prepared for a talk about his behavior.

Lancer set aside his papers and folded his arms on the desk.

Clearing his throat, he began the conversation. "It's come to my attention that you can't seem to focus in class."

The boy opened his mouth to speak but Lancer interjected with, "Apparently outside is no better for you than inside. I need to know what's causing you to act this way, Daniel. You used to be such a bright pupil; I knew I could always expect a good mark on your assignments. Then one day your grades began to lower. That was fine; you weren't failing and kept up at very least a C. But now, Daniel, your grades are the worst I've ever seen. I'm aware that you want to learn and want to make better grades, but I know that any extra credit I give you would only be incomplete and probably never touched. You don't turn in your work, unlike before.

"It's not only about your work and grades. I'm interested to know what goes on outside of your school life. I know something has to be going on, and before you say anything to object, I can start listing off the strange things I've noticed beyond spontaneously shivering and having to use the restroom often. Two weeks ago you came into my classroom with a terrible limp. It healed quickly enough, thank goodness, but I couldn't help but wonder what happened."

Daniel grew extremely edgy and nervous. He began to fidget with his fingers and chewing on his lower lip. He would no longer look his teacher in the eye, and Lancer had no intention of forcing him or even asking him to do so. But he continued speaking anyway.

"You're completely exhausted, Daniel," he said with much concern. "I don't know why that is, but as your teacher and as a person of higher authority, I'll give you fifty points extra credit for my class on one condition: You have to stay home all day tomorrow and use that time to eat and sleep. You need to take care of yourself and I can't have you passing out in school. That's my assignment to you; to help you focus. Think of it as a study tactic. You'll be rested and well fed, so when you come back to school the day after next, you'll be able to take notes and learn like you used to. So to recap, in case you were too tired to comprehend what I told you, my extra credit assignment is for you to take a day off from school."

"No!" he shouted, jumping up and finally looking his teacher in the eye.

Lancer cocked his head. "You would turn down fifty points to your lowest grade just for staying home?"

Daniel slowly let himself back down into the seat and went back to his quiet, nervous nature. "I-I mean... My parents won't like that. Besides, I'm okay, Mr. Lancer, I really am. Trust me. I'll get rest tonight and eat a big breakfast in the morning. Then I won't be tired or hungry. I-If I promise to do that, can you let me come to school tomorrow?"

Thinking about the teenager's reaction to the two things every teenager should love, he knew for sure that there was something very wrong going on with him. Here was a teenage boy, fourteen years of age, who was clearly starving and severely deprived of sleep. He was barely functioning anymore yet he immediately declined the golden opportunity to sleep, eat, and just for doing that, earn fifty extra points to his lowest grade. Fifty! That was plenty to motivate a teenager to be lazy.

"Why are you so set on coming to school?" Lancer asked.

For a moment young Daniel had a blank expression, but quickly recovered his fake, 'I-am-feeling-on-top-of-the-world-today!' expression. He had been making up an excuse; Lancer had been teaching long enough to know when a student was about to lie when they got that giveaway look on their faces, the one that popped up without their ever knowing about it.

The boy cleared his throat, even though there was nothing to actually clear, and answered, "Attendance. I know I use the bathroom a lot and s-sometimes I skip school altogether. I-I really should come back tomorrow to keep my attendance record in check."

The teacher smiled warmly, knowing how good of an actor Daniel had become over the past four months. Had he not been stuttering so much, he might've actually pulled off another act.

"Well," he said, "I personally think health takes priority over attendance. However, if you're so worried about your attendance record, I'll make sure to mark tomorrow off as 'on time'. I won't be lying because by staying home, you're following the instructions I gave you."

Daniel vigorously shook his head. "But, Mr. Lancer, I-"

"Danny!" the teacher barked.

Said teenager shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the use of his nickname rather than his full name, the one most teachers called him by. Normally if someone had a frequently used nickname, their full name became their "trouble name" and was only used when in trouble. For Mr. Lancer, however, the tactic was reversed.

Lancer sighed heavily to settle himself. "You can argue all day and all night, but know this: I am not taking no for an answer. My assigned work to you was to go home and relax for one entire day. If I see you in school tomorrow, I will fail you on this assignment; and right now you should focus more on your grades than on your attendance record. Do you want to fail, Daniel?"

The teenager shook his head, this time more slowly. "No, sir...I don't..."

"Do you want to go home and rest?"

This time he nodded his head but, surprisingly enough, hesitated to answer. And even when he did it was nothing more than a nervous fumble. "I...I mean... O-Of cour- Um..." He sighed and hung his head in defeat. "Yes, sir...I do..."

Lancer's brows furrowed as he realized that there was a reason Daniel wanted to attend school tomorrow. He was positive that that reason went much deeper than a simple record. Perhaps it wasn't a very good idea to force his pupil to stay home when he clearly didn't want to, but a growing boy like him needed sleep, food, and the chance to lounge around (the boy couldn't sleep forever, so relaxing on the couch would help build his energy back up for when he came back to school; and having all-day access to snacks would undoubtedly help him gain a little weight).

The teacher could imagine the teenager wolfing down food like there was no tomorrow. He could imagine him flopping exhausted on his bed and conking out as soon as his head hit the pillow. Maybe it sounded strange, or even as the kids say it, "creeper-ish", but Lancer would actually like to see (with his own eyes) Daniel going about occupying himself with normal teenage activities. It would help to put his mind at ease and assure him that the boy really would be okay.

But if there was one thing he had to hand to that boy, it was that he was overly determined to come to school each day. That had to be the very reason he acted (or tried to) like one of the most focused and...

Hold on now... What was that on his neck?

Lancer pretended to casually move a tad to the left in his chair. Thankfully the boy was either zoning out again or didn't notice him.

The teacher's eyes widened. There was no doubt; the dark spot on Daniel's neck ran down under the collar of his shirt. Only part of it was exposed, which was probably the reason why Lancer had overlooked it, but this spot... The bruise was livid and horrible. It looked painful, and it made Lancer question whether or not his student was experiencing any pain or soreness moving his head.

It strengthened his resolve to make Daniel rest.

A/N

Well, I guess the wpc will fluctuate. Ummm... Well, I have to thank those who took the time to review, so thank you.