Chapter 7

It was Monday morning, the day the forgery assignment was due and Neal was about to dart out the front door when El called out.

"Not so fast, young man. You've haven't had any breakfast yet. You've got time for some cereal at least and then Peter can drop you off at Stanton," and when it looked like Neal was about to ignore her she added, "Or would you like another taste of grandma's spatula?"

The threat worked and Neal slid in across from Peter while El brought him a bowl and told him to dig in. It was all Peter could do not to laugh at Neal's expression.

"You might as well get used to it kid; she now considers you her son and she is going to make sure you start the day with a good breakfast," he explained with a smirk, "and a good supper not to mention anything else she can think of to keep you healthy and safe."

"Oh, man," replied Neal as he contemplated his new "parents". "I don't suppose that El can just cool it a bit and be one of those quiet parents who allow their children to continue with their lives?" he asked wishfully.

"Nope…and if you do anything to hurt her in her attempts to be a parent, something she has always wanted to be but couldn't because we couldn't have children, I will be testing her grandpa's strop out on you," replied Peter seriously.

Neal nodded alarmed at the hidden promise in Peter's words. "I'll be good, Dad," he promised.

Later that day, while Peter was at work and Neal was at Stanton College continuing his undercover assignment of locating the ones responsible for the counterfeiting; Neal walked into his final class…the one where the assignment was forging something. He was so excited. He had been working on counterfeiting a fifty dollar bill knowing that it would draw the eye of everyone in class and hopefully the ones responsible for the counterfeit bills.

"Settle down everyone," Steve Davis, the instructor of this sketching class, said as he called for silence. "I see a lot of excitement here; I hope that means that we have all completed our forging assignments. Who wants to go first?"

Laura, one of the ones that raised Neal's suspicions earlier, jumped up and approached Mr. Davis. She handed him her project and from what Neal could make out it was currency forgery as well. "I thought to try my hand at counterfeiting, sir. I choose a twenty dollar bill to use as my model," she said while Mr. Davis took a closer look at the two bills he was handed. Neal suspected both bills to be forgeries.

"This is excellent work Laura," praised Mr. Davis as he held both up for the students to see. Neal being on the first row got a closer look and recognized both bills as being counterfeit as he suspected earlier, no wonder the teacher praised her. In Neal's mind Laura cheated. He also figured that her boyfriend, Gus would do the same only with the other side of the counterfeit bill and earn them both top grades.

"Who's next?" Mr. Davis asked and Neal shot up immediately and handed him his project. "I too thought to counterfeit currency, but chose to use a fifty dollar bill as my model," he explained as he glared at Laura and Gus catching their looks to each other.

Mr. Davis studied Neal's work a bit longer before saying, "Young man, if I was in the business of counterfeiting, I would want you as my counterfeiter… this is excellent. Your use of detail is outstanding. I had better not get a visit from the authorities later about any counterfeiting they suspect you on," he added with a smile.

"Don't worry about that sir; my parents would kill me if I even thought of doing something like that," he responded with a smirk and took his seat.

The rest of the class turned in copies of paintings and more currency but Neal's was way ahead of any that had been turned in, which gained him top honors and grades for this assignment; something that pleased Neal and caused Laura and Gus to look angrily at him about. Neal had bested them and while he got an A+ their project only earned them each an A-.

It was a happy Neal Caffrey who walked out of the sketching class that day. His project got the highest mark and he was ecstatic about showing it to El and Peter, even more so than telling them about Gus and Laura's cheating by using the counterfeit bills. He was so focused on getting home that he didn't even hear Gus call after him until the young man got closer.

"NEAL!" yelled Gus from only a few feet behind.

Neal turned and waited for Gus to walk up. "What were you thinking about? I've been calling for you for the last few minutes," he asked as he got closer.

"Oh, I'm sorry…I guess I was so excited about my project and telling my folks about it. What do you want?" asked Neal.

"Were you serious when you told Davis that you had no interest in counterfeiting?" Gus asked directly.

"Yeah, I mean it would take me about a week or two to produce a fifty dollar bill and then I could only use it once before the cops would get wind of it since I don't have paper good enough, so what would be the point," replied Neal waiting to see if Gus would take the bait.

He did when he replied, "But saying I could get you the good paper would you be interested?"

"Na… it wouldn't be worth it to put in so much work and only get a fifty out of it… it would take me months to produce enough money to buy anything worthwhile," Neal replied as he dangled the bait a bit more.

"But you wouldn't have to produce it bill by bill if you used a printing press; all you would need to produce is a front and back of a currency bill and we give it to our engraver, who will engraved plates and then stand back and let the machine do its job," Gus said tantalizing.

Neal paused as he considered the proposition and then he smiled and nodded, "Count me in… I can have the other side of this fifty done in a week," began Neal only to be interrupted by Gus.

"No not a fifty, I've been instructed to tell you to produce the front and back of a hundred dollar bill instead. It will take our engraver several months to finish the job so you need to get started at once."

Neal nodded and held out his hand, "I don't happen to have a hundred dollar bill to use as a model."

"We will have to get it from my boss…follow me," Gus said as he led Neal back the way they had come before stopping at the class of the pompous ass, Gerald Martin.

Neal gave Gus a look of incredibility before saying, "You can't be serious?"