I feel like I'm always apologizing for the long waits for chapters in my stories, but some new health concerns have come up for me and I'm definitely not writing like I used to. I still love it, but feel out of practice and the words just aren't coming as easily. In any case, thanks for your patience and I hope you like this chapter.

xxxxx

Sunday was a quiet day. Callen mostly kept to himself except for helping Hetty out in the garden for an hour or so, which he had to admit, wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be. It was a nice day and it was good to spend some time outdoors. After the gardening, he took a walk around the grounds by himself. The amount of land Hetty owned was impressive, but what really intrigued him was the size of the garage which housed her automobile collection. It was locked up tight and although he knew he could have gotten in pretty easily, he wasn't quite ready to test his luck in that way. So far, this was the best place he had been in since he had lived with the Rostoffs and he wasn't prepared to give it up. Although Hetty had said he could stay there for as long as he liked, he really didn't trust that and knew if he screwed up, that he would be sent packing.

Hetty watched Callen from the window of her sitting room as he circled the garage twice. She was more than a little curious as to what he had planned, but she breathed a sigh of relief when he turned away from it and headed back towards the house. For a boy who had stolen cars in the past, she knew the temptation was a great one, but she was pleased that he hadn't given in to it...at least not yet.

xxxxx

Callen didn't sleep well on Sunday night. He hated started new schools with the cliques and bullies and the way certain groups of kids looked down on other groups. He preferred to keep to himself, but it didn't always work out that way. He rarely made friends and even when he had, he'd been onto another school in the blink of an eye. He thought about feigning an illness in the morning, but he knew that Hetty would see right through him. Finally, after tossing and turning for hours, he fell into a troubled sleep.

xxxxx

Hetty rapped soundly on Callen's door at 6:45 a.m. on Monday morning. "Mr. Callen? Rise and shine. We don't want to be late. Mr. Callen? Can I come in?"

"Come in," came Callen's voice from behind the door.

Hetty opened the door and walked into Callen's room. She was surprised to see Callen sitting on the edge of his perfectly made bed. He was dressed in blue jeans and a blue and white striped shirt. His denim jacket was draped over his lap and his new backpack was beside him on the bed. He appeared to be ready to face the day. Everything seemed in place except the look on the boy's face. He didn't look at all happy, not to mention, the telltale dark circles under his eyes which indicated very little sleep. She was almost tempted to let him stay home from school and do something special with him, just the two of them, but she knew that in the long run, it was only postponing the inevitable. He had to go to school. "I'm impressed, Mr. Callen. Bed made and here you are, already dressed and ready to go. I'm glad to see you so eager to start your day."

Callen gave Hetty an incredulous look, but didn't say anything.

"We have a bit of extra time. I can cook you whatever you'd like for breakfast."

"I'm not all that hungry," Callen replied.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I'm certainly not letting you go to school on an empty stomach. Are you feeling alright?"

Callen met her eyes, tempted to lie, but in the end, he didn't. "I'm fine," he said as he picked up his backpack from the bed and slung it over his shoulder.

"Good, good," Hetty said, nodding approvingly. "Then come along, there has to be something you want for breakfast, even if it is one of those sugary cereals that aren't good for you."

Callen followed Hetty to the kitchen and in the end he was able to put away a decent amount of bacon, eggs and toast before they headed out of the house to start the next new chapter in his life.

xxxxx

"This is supposed to be a very good school, Mr. Callen," Hetty said as they drove the short distance to the high school. "Perhaps you'll be surprised."

Callen shrugged as he stared out the window. "I've never been in one school very long anyway."

"Well, I believe things will be very different here," Hetty said. "Unless, of course, you decide you'd prefer a private school."

"That's not gonna happen," Callen said, rolling his eyes.

Hetty then pulled the car into a spot directly in front of the building and got out of the vehicle. She then stood patiently waiting for Callen who was dragging his feet and making no attempt to hide his reluctance at heading into the school. It was a large, modern high school and Hetty had a feeling he'd do well there, if he gave it half a chance. Finally, he came up beside her and the two walked up the stairs to the entrance of the high school.

xxxxx

Once inside the admissions office, Callen stood nervously shuffling his feet as Hetty filled out the numerous forms necessary for his entrance into the school. She had to question Callen often about information that she didn't know and there were things he didn't know either. In the end, between the two of them, they managed to get most of the questions answered sufficiently. Hetty then brought the forms over to the woman behind the front desk. "All set?" the woman asked with a smile. She began to glance through the forms, but looked back at Hetty almost immediately. "We do need to have his first name, school policy."

"G is my first name," Callen spoke up, quickly aggravated by the question. It was the same old thing, every school he went to.

"I assure you, that's all the information we have about his name," Hetty said, giving the woman a reassuring smile. "You can check with the boy's previous schools. You'll find it's the same for each of them."

"Well, fine then," the woman said with a clipped tone as she proceeded to go through the rest of the forms. She didn't question them about any of the other missing information though and after a few more minutes, she handed Callen his class schedule. "You're too late for morning homeroom, but you will be in time for your first period class, History with Mr. Teegan. Room 112, take a right when you leave the office, then go down the hall and take your next right."

"Thanks," Callen muttered and he quickly turned and left the office, already wishing he was old enough to just leave school and get a job. He knew he could work, but getting someone to hire him was the trick.

"I will be here at 3 p.m. sharp to pick you up," Hetty said, smiling at him. She was highly tempted to give him a hug, but knew he would balk at such a gesture.

"I can walk home. It's not that far."

"Perhaps another day, but for today, I will be here at 3. Now try to have a good day, Mr. Callen. I highly doubt that things will be as bad as you anticipate." She watched as he headed down the hall and then disappeared from her sight. She really hoped that her words would prove to be true.

xxxxx

Callen reached the room just as the bell rang. The room was empty except for a man who appeared to be in his late twenties with longish brown hair and a beard. The teacher gave him a curious look. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"I'm a new student. This is my first day." Callen handed the teacher one of his forms he needed to pass on to each teacher then stood by his desk awkwardly.

"I'm Mr. Teegan," the teacher said after briefly looking at the form. "What would you prefer I call you?"

Callen smiled briefly at this unexpected offer. He usually had no choice in the matter. "I'd prefer to just be called Callen."

"Callen it is then," Mr. Teegan said. He got up from his seat and went over to a bookcase at the side of the room and pulled out a textbook. "This is the book we're using this year. We're just starting a section on American History so you don't have anything you need to catch up on." He then eyed the desks in the classroom, looked back at Callen and put the book on a desk near the back of the room. "You can sit here. It will give you a good view of the lay of the land"

Callen again smiled at the teacher, already liking him. He then sat down and watched as the other students began to straggle into the room. Except for curious glances in his direction, no one really struck him as being particularly hostile. When everyone was seated. Mr. Teegan began to speak. "I hope you all had a nice weekend. As I'm sure you've noticed, we have a new student in our midst. This is Callen. I hope you all will make him feel welcome." He then went on to start the lesson and Callen breathed a sigh of relief, happy that he hadn't been the focus of a large amount of attention.

The next two classes were English and Science, both of which went in a similar fashion to the first. The teachers were pleasant enough and it wasn't until Geometry that he ran into a problem. Not a particular fan of math, Callen was already apprehensive when he walked into the classroom. The teacher was a middle aged woman with permed reddish hair and glasses. She grabbed the paper from Callen when he offered it to her then looked at him sternly. "What does the G stand for?"

"It's just G… ma'am," Callen answered. The class behind him was completely silent and he could feel their eyes burning a hole in his back. He really couldn't stand the way some adults acted. When he was grown, he would never treat kids the way he was treated.

"It cannot be just G. My name is Penelope Higgins, but you will call me Mrs. Higgins. So what is your full first name?"

Callen shrugged. He found it hard to believe that this woman was married. He felt bad for the poor bastard who had fallen into her web. "It really is G. You can call me Callen…the other teachers are going to…"

"I don't care what the other teachers do," she snapped. "Some of them are not fit to teach. I prefer things to be done properly or not at all. Now, since you refused to give me a proper first name, I shall come up with one for you. I shall call you Glenn."

For a moment, Callen looked appalled, but then he began to grow angry. "I'm not going to answer to that name."

"You will do as I stay or go speak to the principal."

"Fine, I'll speak to the principal," Callen retorted, glaring at her. Anything to get him out of this class was fine with him. He then turned his back and walked out of the room, ignoring all the stares of the students and Mrs. Higgins' shocked expression.

xxxxx

Callen sat in the small waiting area outside the principal's office. He wondered if they were going to tell Hetty about what had happened. He didn't care if they did. He wasn't going to let some horrendous old biddie call him some made up name, especially Glenn. He didn't know what the G stood for, but he knew it wasn't that for sure.

"Mr. Callen? Mr. McGregor will see you now," the secretary smiled pleasantly at him as he stood up and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Mr. McGregor called and Callen headed into the office with a feeling of foreboding. It wasn't even lunchtime yet and he was already in trouble. He entered the office and found a thin, middle aged man with thinning hair and glasses seated behind his desk. "Take a seat, Mr. Callen." Once Callen was seated, Mr. McGregor looked at him speculatively. "Now tell me, what brings you to my office on your very first day of classes?"

"Mrs. Higgins told me to come here," Callen answered sullenly. He started to wonder if Hetty was going to kick him out over this. Oh well, he ought to have known it was too good to last. At least he hadn't had enough time to get used to his new life. Maybe Hetty would let him take a book or two when he left.

"And why would she do that?"

"Because she was mad that I don't have a first name."

Mr. McGregor gave Callen a look of surprise. "So... what did you want her to call you?"

"Callen, sir. The other teachers so far are going to, but she just got all mad when I told her. She wanted to call me Glenn and I'm sorry, but no one is going to call me Glenn. So, when I refused, she told me to come here and now here I am."

"I see," Mr. McGregor bit back a smile. "Well, this issue is easily resolved. "I shall tell Mrs. Higgins, as well as your other teachers, that you are to be called Callen. Does that work for you?"

"Yes…" Callen was more than a little surprised at how well this was working out and was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I called to have some of your records transferred to us first thing this morning. I also talked to Ms. Lange. She told me that you've had a history of being thrown from one place to another without having the chance to really settle into anywhere. She wants to give you that chance now and I would also. Now, a word of warning about Mrs. Higgins. She's a very good teacher, but she's old school, very set in her ways. If you have any more trouble with her or any other teacher, please come and see me and we'll try to work it out together."

"Okay," said Callen. He realized that he was being let off the hook and wondered if he might be able to push his luck a little bit further. "I don't suppose there's a different teacher I could take math with?"

Mr. McGregor chuckled. "Sorry, Callen. This was the best schedule we could come up with you at this time. Don't worry. If you treat Mrs. Higgins respectfully, you might find she's not as awful as you think. Now, I see that you have lunch in a few minutes. I'll speak to Mrs. Higgins and the rest of your teachers. I don't think you need to worry about this kind of an issue coming up again."

"Thank you, sir," Callen said.

"You're welcome," Mr. McGregor said. "The cafeteria is in the basement. Why don't you head down there a little bit early and take a look around. Get yourself some food before the masses descend on the place."

Callen nodded and left the office, glad to be able to put this episode behind him. Now for the next problem, lunch. From past experience, this was another thing that didn't tend to go particularly well for him.