Chapter 7: The Lightwood & Bane Boys vs. The Bullies
Raphael was staring Tommy down with a look of pure hatred. Tommy had been staring him down for weeks now since their last encounter, but he had never said anything to him until this morning and he was getting on his last nerve. All day he had got his digs in, calling him gay like his father's, a loser, an idiot because he never got the coursework on the first try, and it went on and on from there. He ignored them but sent his glares with every word. He didn't tell anyone what was happening, but the gossip was going and it was going strong. It was going to reach Max and when it did Raphael knew he wouldn't be able to hold him back.
And that is exactly what happened.
One minute he was standing there glaring at Tommy and the next Tommy was sprawled out on the floor with Max standing over him.
Raphael stared at Max in complete disbelief.
Max stood above Tommy pointing down at him, "You leave my brother alone." He sneered in anger. He had heard the rumors all day from his friends that Tommy was going after Raphael, but their paths never crossed until fifth period. He saw Tommy's mouth moving and the hate words pouring out of them made him want to kill him. The word 'faggot' was the final straw. Max walked up to him from the side, no one saw him coming, and he sucker punched Tommy. He hit him square in the jaw, dropping him to the floor in an instant.
The entire hallway seemed to freeze in silence until a teacher came around the corner pushing his way over to the center of the room. He took in the sight before him. Raphael was standing there with tears in his eyes staring at Tommy on the floor. Tommy was staring up at Max with a look of total fear. Max was still pointing at Tommy.
"Do you understand me? Stop messing with my brother. And stop using that language, that's a hate crime. My father is a lawyer and I will tell him everything that happened here." Max stepped back as the teacher came over to him at a slow pace.
"Max, Raphael, and Tommy, come with me."
…
Alec was pissed. Alec was beyond pissed when he got the call from the school. Max had been fighting this time. He got a quick text from Max saying 'Tommy was harassing Raphael' and that was all. He called Magnus and told him to come to the school. He was going to raise hell and he needed his husband and lawyer.
He waiting outside the main door for Magnus to show up, he was only five minutes beyond him, although his office was closer, it was always harder for him to get away.
"Is this the same kid who Raphael punched last time?" Magnus asked, when he reached Alec who was tapping his foot in clear irritation.
"Yeah," Alec frowned, "Hello, husband, how are you?"
Magnus frowned back at him, "Are we really always this laid back?"
"Yeah, pretty much. If we go in there pissed off it's not going to end well for anyone." Alec reached for Magnus to intertwine their fingers and walk in together, "At least being a good actor and pretending I'm calm."
Magnus squeezed his hand and smiled, "You are right, as always."
"Damn straight," Alec responded with a smile, they had to remain calm, or this was really going to turn sour. Alec was anything but calm. He was pissed and annoyed.
"Dads," Max called from his place in front of the office with Raphael and the principal, Mr. Green.
Alec wiped the smile from his face, releasing Magnus and going straight for his boys. He put his hands up to hold onto both of them with on hand on either side of their faces, "Are you two okay?" Max nodded and Raphael shook his head. Alec sighed, "What happened?"
Magnus put his hand on Alec's shoulder, just squeezing him and look Max and Raphael over as much as he could, "Max, your hand is bruised."
Alec looked down at his hands then, "Max." Alec picked up his hand to examine him, "Move your fingers." Max complied, he winced but otherwise got all of his digits moving, "Not broken."
"Max punched Tommy in the face, knocking him to the floor, and almost completely out. We are suspending him for two days." Mr. Green spoke up.
"Tommy has been harassing Raphael all day and when I found them, Tommy said, 'Raphael, you are nothing but a faggot like your dads.'" Max frowned, "You left that out, Mr. Green."
Alec's eyes whipped to Raphael, "Son, is this true?" Not that he didn't believe Max, but he needed backup.
Magnus pulled Max to him and put his hand on Raphael's shoulder, Max curled into his side.
"Yes," was his weak reply until he raised his head, he hoped his pain and hurt was showing clearly to everyone, "Yes," he spoke stronger, his voice booming, "He's been saying those things all day. Calling me a loser and stupid and gay."
Alec turned his glare to Mr. Green, "Where is this Tommy and how long will he be suspended for? Because I can tell you this, if you don't expel him from this school then you will have to deal with me until the day you do. This is the second time he's harassed one of my children and it will be the last." Alec felt the fire in him burn.
Mr. Green sighed, "He has been expelled." He looked at Raphael, "You can go back to class unless your parents are pulling you out for the day."
Raphael looked at him and leaned into his father as Magus came around Max and pulled Raphael as tight to him as he could. He twisted around to wrap his arms around his father and held on him tight, Magnus looked at the principal, "Is the school board aware you allowed a bully to continually harass his fellow students?" He knew the question would hit the point.
"Sir, I don't-"
"Oh, I do." Magnus squeezed Raphael close to him, "I'm going to leave here and walk across the plaza straight to the admin office. When I get there, I'm going to flash my lawyer credentials and I'm going to sit down with the superintendent. Then I am going to discuss in great lengths about this problem and how he plans on fixing it. Or how I am going to sue this school for not keeping their kids safe both mentally and physically."
Alec pulled on Max, "Max, go get all your school books and come back here straight away. Raphael, you should go back to class."
Both of the boys nodded, each giving Magnus a look before heading off.
Alec turned to Mr. Green, "Did you not hear me the last time I was here?" He shook his head, "I will not let this go. How many other children has this Tommy kid bullied? How were you helping this Tommy kid to get better and not torment his fellow students?" Alec knew his voice was raising, but he was about to go crazy.
Mr. Green lost his nerve, "We don't have a lot of options here. We can recommend actions to the parents, but it is really up to them to take those actions."
"So what, you had meetings with the parents and stopped when they stopped? What about going to the police, you have a dangerous student here who is bullying other students to the brink of violence. You know bullying leads to other things like school shootings." Alec froze as the words came out of his mouth, "My children are strong and loving, but they protect each other. How many students have Tommy harassed that aren't that strong? How many are in this school and upset with no outlet? How are you as an educator going to step up and do the hard tasks?"
"Alexander, that's enough." Magnus pulled on his arm as Max came back, his voice had harden into what the kids always called his lawyer voice, they rarely heard it but when it meant business, "Take Max home. I'll take care of the rest." Magnus waited for Alec and Max to be out of the school before turning back to Mr. Green. "Have you done anything to help Tommy not be a bully beyond speaking to his parents?" Magnus was going to take charge of this situation here and now.
"I did my job." He frowned, "I did my job."
"Maybe it's not you or the job that's the problem but the combo of the two. I have to agree with my husband. I think more could be done for Tommy. He's acting out for a reason and I doubt anyone has tried to figure out that reason." He frowned, "I am still speaking to your boss. Whether you did anything wrong or not isn't the problem. The school system is the problem and I refuse to allow my children to be treated like they did something wrong for being different. There is nothing wrong with Raphael and to have to put up with this when this is supposed to be a safe zone is unacceptable."
"I pulled Raphael's records." Mr. Green held out a file to Magnus, "He reported Tommy twice. Once about an hour before the first hit and another this morning. Nothing was done. I wasn't here for either report until after the fact. That is no excuse, but I would make a copy before you had the original." He waited for Magnus to take the file before heading into the front office.
…
Alec made it out the doors before pulling on Max's hand to have a look at it, "Are you okay?"
Max watched his dad fussing over him and something broke on the inside, he started crying. With everything he learned about his parents over the last few days and everything with Raphael he couldn't hold it in any longer; and let the tears fall. It was all burning a hole in his chest.
"What? What is it?" Alec ran his hands up from the top of his head to his cheeks, "Max?"
"I'm sorry, dad, I don't know what came over me. I just heard those words and I hit him, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Max was full on crying now.
"Don't apologize," Alec pulled on Max's neck to get him close, "You know I don't like hitting but I'm not going to make you apologize for protecting your brother. I'm so angry at the staff at this school. They know they have a bully and they do nothing about it." He pulled Max away from him by the shoulder's, "Kid, it's going to be okay."
"Yes, it's going to be okay." Magnus said from the doorway, coming towards them, "Awe, Max."
Max switched from his dad to Magnus, he went to him and wrapped himself around him, "Father." He just buried his face in Magnus' suit jacket.
"It's okay." Magnus wrapped his arms around Max's shoulder's, "You are going to be fine."
"I think ice cream is in order," Alec smiled to Magnus who shook his head, "What?" He shrugged, "It's tradition, someone get's hurt at school they get ice cream."
"I'm not sure that's the best reward system for fighting." Magnus fake frowned at him, while Max pulled away without letting go.
"I think it's a great tradition." Max looked between his father and his dad.
"Fine, I give in." Magnus pulled back from Max, "I have to go speak to the superintendent. I'm not letting this go." He rubbed a hand up and down Max's arm, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just-" He froze for a moment, "I just got overwhelmed by everything." He had the tears welling up in his eyes again, "Those words and everything, just hurt."
"I know, but we are better then those words. Remember when we teach you guys to think before you speak?" Magnus waited for his nod, "It's because of situations like this. Those are words dad and I haven't heard before and they hurt, and that's why they shouldn't have been said."
"Max, I understand your upset but no more hitting." Alec hated to be the one that had to be tough but right now someone had to and it wasn't going to be Magnus, "I'm sorry this happened but you can't hit everyone that gets in your face or Raphael's, at a certain age they can send you to jail for that. I'm still taking you for ice cream for hurting your hand but you can't hit anymore, you got it?"
Max nodded, "I won't. I promise."
Alec nodded, "Blue Moon or Rocky Road."
"Blue Moon." Magnus and Max answered at the same time.
Alec grinned, "You two are so much a like it's scary. The fancy cloths, the same taste, everything."
Magnus hugged Max to his side, "He's got a good sense to follow the fashion icon of our household."
Alec shook his head and pulled on Max's arm, "Let's go, Meijer has the Hudson's brand of Blue Moon."
Magnus watched them go with a smile but the second they were out of sight from him he frowned, this was a nightmare and he was going to make sure this school listen to him. He looked at the folder in his hand, he was going to make sure the school owned up to the problem and fixed it or he was going straight to his boss then the press. He knew how to make them listen. They needed to find a way to help kids like Tommy so they didn't have kids hitting each other or god forbid shooting each other. This was going to end here.
…
Raphael made it another hour before the second issue of the day arose, he overheard Sarah senior mouthing off to a friend about how horrible Max was to her and it was no surprise that he got kicked out of school for a few days.
"Stop being such a bitch Sarah," Raphael called out to her from his place down the little hallway before he knew the words had flown out of his mouth; he was not the one to speak up like that.
The students in the hall seemed to part like the red sea, giving Sarah and Raphael a clear view of one another.
"Excuse me?" She stopped in her tracks.
For the second time that day Raphael was the center of a hallway debate; he just hoped no one punched anyone during this one, "You made my ten-year-old sister cry." He called over loud so the entire hallway would listen, "You bullied a ten-year-old the same way Tommy has bullied so many of us. It's been a week and Cece still won't speak to Max because he allowed you into our house." He was yelling at this point and didn't care. "You are a bitch that makes kids cry because you think you are better than them. I pity you because you are no better than Tommy."
"How dare you say those things to me?" She hissed at him, "No one likes you anyway."
"That's not true." One of the juniors, Stephen, spoke up from his spot leaning against the lockers, "I like him."
"I do too." A senior girl spoke, "And you have always been a heartless bitch. I'm inclined to believe Raphael."
"You strung my brother along for months, going back and forth between him and other boys and then you convince him to invite you over when he knew he shouldn't have and then you made fun of my little sister. She's ten. Who fucking cares if she likes to watch a kids movie with a stuffed animal? Is that really an important topic to hurt someone's feelings over? Is that really what keeps you up at night?" He was on a roll now and didn't plan on stopping.
Another senior girl frowned, "You called my little sister a creature. Sadly, I didn't believe her at first, because I wanted you to like me."
"You have so much power here in this school, it's a shame you refuse to use it to change the world for the positive instead of the hateful, negative way you are now," Raphael spoke to her, "You disgust me."
The junior boy gave him a thumbs up, clearly satisfied with his tirade against Sarah, but Raphael just went back to staring her down. Something about Stephen called to him, Raphael needed to focus, or he would lose his nerve. He was fighting back for his sister and losing his nerve wouldn't do. If anyone was going to protect Cecily, then it should be him. Max was usually the protector, but Max wasn't here; it was his turn to step up.
"What, now, you're going to give me that love is love pride crap?" Sarah groaned, "Save it."
"I would never ask you to love anyone, I don't think you're capable." He hissed back to her. He was thankful no teacher had caught on to them yet, he still had a lot he wanted to say. A hush fell over the rest of the students, "Love is Love is a great campaign for the entire LGBT community and I would agree it's above your general knowledge."
A few of the kids snickered at his comments.
"I don't want you to think I'm being mean, I'm being honest, as you have said so many times in the past. You hide behind what you think honesty is when you are really a cold-hearted bitch who is just plain mean. You are a disgusting human being who hurts those around you to make yourself feel better."
"I'm going to report you." She hissed again at him.
"Go ahead, in fact, let's walk to the office together." Raphael turned and walked away, he went to the front office area and just waited for her.
She never showed up.
