Disclaimer: I don't own any SJA characters, they all belong to BBC. Except My OCs. They are mine.

Sarah Jane's POV

I almost didn't believe it when Luke said he wanted to talk about his nightmares. It just seemed so sudden. And only a few days ago, Luke had quickly said he didn't want to talk about them like he always does. But I suppose this is a good thing. I had always told Luke he could talk to me about them if he wanted or needed to. I have wanted him to tell me about them so maybe I could understand what goes on in that head of his.

Luke's hurting. He's been hurting since that day I've found him. Though I've given him as much love as I can give him, I know whatever those people did to him still hurts.

I just hope talking about them will help like I hope.

I took him over to the couch to sit down and Luke told me about a couple of them. More recently, one he had last night. He tells me about how they thought he was stealing so they hit him with a belt. He also told me that it wasn't the first time.

"The first time was quicker." Luke says and I felt my stomach hurt. I remember seeing those scars on his back when I took him to see Harry. Now I know what they're from.

This made me feel sick. It made me feel angry. How could those people do something like that to Luke? How could they do something like that to a child? How did those two get a fostering license in the first place?

"Mum?" Luke's voice brings me back from my thoughts.

"Sorry." I say. "Do you feel better talking about this?"

"A little. I guess." Luke says. I guess I should say something, but I didn't know what I could say. My mind was drawing blanks. I want to say something—something may to make him feel better, but I don't know what to say or what will help.

I just wrap my arms around Luke and bring him close.

"You're not saying anything." Luke points out.

"I'm sorry Luke. I'm so sorry." I say. That's the only thing I could think of to say.

"It's not your fault." Luke says, but I still felt responsible. What if I had Mr. Smith do something that afternoon when I first found Luke? Maybe if I had done some things, I could have just had him do the adoption papers and then Luke would have never been with those people. I felt like there was something I could have done to prevent this.

"I just wish there was something I could have done—if only I had gotten to you before they did." I say shaking my head. It had taken me two months to get my fostering license. If only I had gotten it sooner. Maybe then things would've been better for him.

"It's not your fault."

"Well, just know that nothing like that will ever happen here." I promised.

"Do you want to talk about other ones?" I ask.

"Can we do it later, though?" Luke asks after giving me a nod. I knew that this was hard for him. It was hard for him to talk about the things that happened and I knew it would take time. But his is a big step.

"Yeah." I say.

Luke was starting to talk about them to me. I guess that meant he was really trusting me now. I guess it made me happy that he was opening up more and more to me. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Luke asks.

"I thought we could watch something together? A nice, calming Sunday morning. Sound good?" I suggest and Luke nods.

"Can we watch Star Wars?" Luke asks and I laugh a bit. Clyde's gotten to him again. Soon, before I know it, Luke will have more friends and maybe even a girlfriend. Well, I don't think that will happen too soon—I guess, I hope not. I really don't want to have to talk to Luke about that yet.

"Yes. It can be whatever you like." I say. I guess that means either Clyde left his films here or Luke wanted to watch the one we got at the store yesterday. It didn't matter to me. I was fine with whatever Luke wanted.

We went upstairs to my bedroom and I put the movie on. Luke cuddled up in my arms and we watched it together. While he kept his attention on the telly, my mind was elsewhere. All I could think about was Luke. I can't help but worry about him. I know he's doing better, especially since he's starting to talk about his nightmares, but I just can't help but feel like that's not enough. I feel like there's other problems he's not telling me about.

I wonder if Luke should talk to someone about this stuff. Someone other than me. I know he's comfortable with me and I wanted to avoid this as I'm exactly fond of therapists. I remember seeing one when I was thirteen after my friend Andrea died. All he did was tell me it wasn't my fault over and over. It's not like I blamed myself in the first place. I was just in shock that in moments, I lost my best friend like that—oh she was so young. But, I guess my personal feelings for therapy isn't the popular opinion. Though I may not have needed it that much—or cared for it—I feel like Luke might need it more than I might have. I can't help but feeling this might be one of the few options I have for him.

"Luke." I say.

"Yeah mum?"

"What do you think about talking to someone?" I ask.

"About?"

"Your nightmares and how you're feeling. Stuff like that."

"I talk to you about them." Luke points out. Well, he was starting to talk about the nightmares, but technically he wasn't always upfront with me about how he's feelings and what's going on at school. I don't know—I just have this feeling that he's keeping things from me. I don't get a good vibe from it.

"I mean someone else Luke." I try to explain better so Luke understands. "I mean a therapist."

"Why?"

"I think it would help—maybe talking to someone else—or maybe even some other kids that may have gone through similar situations as you." I knew not all kids might have, but it could help Luke feel like that he wasn't the only one in the world going through these sort of things. He could feel like he wasn't the only with these feelings, he might have.

"No." Luke says.

"Are you—"

"No. I don't want to." Luke says quickly before I could even get more than two words out. I sighed. I really think it might be a good thing for Luke. To see that other kids go through similar problems like him, but I didn't really want to force him. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

"Will you at least think about it?" I ask. I just wanted him to think about it and consider the pros and cons of it. I know some people that said therapy really helped them. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Luke nods. At least he would think about it.

"Do you not want me to tell you about my nightmares?" Luke asks.

"No, no, it's not that. I do want you to talk about them to me as long as you're comfortable with it. Luke, it's just that I feel like it might be good for you if you talk to some other people that may understand what you're going through." I explain as best as I could. I wasn't going to pretend I was some expert on this sort of thing. I'm not. I don't know what it's like for Luke. I don't know how he's feeling and I certainly don't know what it's like to be hurt like he has been.

The only thing I could possibly understand in some way is the feeling of not liking to be alone. As a child, I was almost always on my own. My parents died and I was raised—if you could call it that—by my Aunt Lavinia. She was never in a place long enough to lick a stamp as some would say. So I was on my own a lot. So I knew what it was like to feel alone, but I knew it wasn't the same way Luke could feel that way.

"I don't want to." Luke says once again.

"Alright. I won't force you." I say, trying to hide my slight disappointment in his decision. But I didn't want to make him do something he didn't want to do if it wasn't completely necessary. Maybe I'm just paranoid and Luke's doing fine at school. Yeah, I'm probably just paranoid.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do—that you'd like me to do—that could make you feel better about those nightmares or anything." I add. Luke needed to know I was here for him. I think he knew that at this point, but I had to make sure he knows.

I'd do anything for Luke.

"I like it when you hug me." Luke says and I smile.

"Well, I like giving you hugs." I reply as I place a kiss on his forehead. "I'll give you all the hugs you want." I added as I would never stop giving Luke hugs if he wanted them. I liked them myself. Luke being with me like this. It just made me happy. Luke made me really happy. Luke laughs a bit as pull him closer and run my hand quickly through his hair.

"I love you mum." Luke says as he turns over on his side to face me.

"That's good because I love you too."

Luke's POV

I was in the bathroom changing for Gym Class. I had come out of the stall and was washing my hands. When I looked up I saw Archie and David were standing next to me.

"Hello Luke." Archie says.

"H-Hi." I replied nervously.

"We're going to have a fun time in Gym today." David says. What? What do they mean? What were they going to do to me? I knew when they said things like that it meant it wasn't going to be fun for me. Archie then shoves me before walking out of the bathroom.

I go over and stand next to Clyde.

"Hey, you wanna come over later? After the assembly?" Clyde asks. We were having an assembly to discuss classes for next term and then to say an early goodbye to our current head teacher whom was leaving for retirement after this term.

"I'll ask my mum later." I tell him.

"Ask her now." Clyde tells me.

"She's not here."

"Text her."

"We're not allowed to use our phones." I say. I didn't want to get into trouble. I knew Clyde was going to say something else, but then we were startled by the coach blowing his whistle. I still don't understand why he had to blow that and yell the entire time. We were inside most of the time and we could hear him fine without it.

"Listen up! We're going outside today to play some football." Coach says. "Now you'll be split into two teams…" He trails off before calling our names and splitting us up into two groups. He separated Clyde and I. Why did he do that? Maybe it wasn't intentional? I didn't like this, but I had to deal. I wasn't going to ask to be on his team.

Especially since Archie and David were on that team as well.

"Team two…" The coach shouts as he looks at Clyde's team. "Take your shirts off" Why did they have to do that? I watched as everyone in that team took their shirts off.

"Why did you have to take your shirts off?" I ask Clyde as we slowly walk outside to the football field together.

"Different teams, Luke. How else are we going to tell the difference between team one and two?" Clyde explains. I guess that made sense. Why couldn't we just have something to put over our shirts or something? At least I didn't have to make mine off. I wasn't going to want to do that.

"So how do you play football?" I ask.

"Oh right—you've probably never played. Okay, you can't touch the ball with your hands. You try to kick it into the other team's nets. You can pass to team mates." Clyde explains and I nodded. I guess it'd be too easy to use your hands—or too much like basketball or something.

We played for a good twenty minutes and I figured out that I really am not good at football. I don't really like it. I don't see the appeal of it. Plus, I either get hit in the head or legs with the ball or I mess up trying to kick it.

"GET IT LUKE!" Someone yells as I go for it. I try to kick it, but I end up falling back—after missing. I hear everyone start to laugh. I guess to them it's funny for some unknown reason to me.

"You alright, Luke?" Clyde asks as he helps me up.

"Hey Luke!" I turn to see David. "You know you're supposed to kick the ball, right?" He starts to laugh, along with Archie whom was now standing next to him. I glance to my left and watch as Clyde glares at them.

I flinch as the loud whistle is blown close to my ear.

"Ow."

"You'll get used to it." Clyde tell me as I put my hand over my right ear. There was a way to get used to have whistle blown in your ear? I didn't see a possibility in that.

"OKAY!" Coach yells. I don't know what's worse, him yelling or screaming in my ear. "TEAM ONE TAKE YOUR SHIRTS OFF! TEAM TWO PUT THEM BACK ON!"

What?

I turn to Clyde whom was putting his T-Shirt back on. Everyone that had shirts on had taken them off—except me.

"SMITH!" Coach yells. "ARE YOU DEAF? TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF!"

I just kind of stared. I couldn't do that. I didn't want to do that. I didn't even want people to see me getting changed in the locker room—and that was usually no more than five people in there. Let alone the whole class.

"No." I say.

"WHAT?!"

"I can't."

"What's wrong Luke?" I hear David and Archie tease from somewhere behind me. I don't care if anyone laughs at me, but I don't want to take my shirt off. I can't. I just can't.

"I'm not going to ask you again." Coach says, taking a step closer to me. His tone suggested he was getting angry and frustrated. I don't understand what the point was. It's just a stupid game and it's just a shirt. I'm not even good anyways. Why can't I just sit and watch?

"Coach, I can switch teams with Luke—" Clyde tries to offer.

"SHUT UP LANGER!" He yells.

"No." I whisper.

"Take your shirt off or I'll be sending you to the head teacher." He threatens. I couldn't have that either. Then he'd call Sarah Jane and what if she decided she didn't want me anymore because of getting all these calls? I didn't want that. But I didn't want to do this either. They'd see everything. I don't want anyone to see. It was enough my doctor and Sarah Jane had to see them.

This would be so much worse.

"Five seconds." Coach says before slowly counting down.

I take off my shirt and hold the rolled up shirt over my stomach so no one can see that I don't have a naval. It was enough that people would see my scars.

"Oh god…" I hear someone whisper.

"Are those…?"

"That's a lot of scars."

"Gross."

"What a freak." I could tell that was Archie's voice.

I turn around slightly and see everyone staring at me. I knew this would happen. They were all looking at my scars. Most of them were from the belt. Some of the bruises I had are from the last night I ever saw George.

"Shit." I hear Coach say. "Put your shirt back on. No one needs to see those."

"He's such a freak." I hear David say once again.

I did the only thing I could think to do next. I ran. Everyone started to laugh as I did, but I didn't care. I needed to get out of there. I ran back into the school and went into one of the bathroom starts where I started to cry.

Clyde's POV

I watched as Luke ran off, upset at what just happened. I should have said something more. I knew Luke didn't want to get dressed in front of people. I knew there had to be for a reason for that. He wouldn't tell me and I could see why.

That's horrible.

What's worse is everyone was just staring at him and making comments.

"Shut up! All of you!" I yelled.

"I guess he's truly damaged." I hear Archie comment and I felt this heavy urge to go over and punch him. But I wasn't going to do that. Not now.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole?!" I yell at Coach. I know I'll get in trouble for that, but I don't care. He deserves it after what he forced Luke to do and then what he said after. Couldn't he just think that if someone didn't want to take their shirt off it obviously was for a reason?

"GET OUT OF HERE LANGER!" Coach yells.

"Gladly." I comment before I quickly run off the field. As I got to the gym, I see Jessie. I knew she had Gym this period, but it was with a different teacher.

"I just saw Luke. He looked upset." Jessie says and I nod.

"Coach was being an asshole. Archie and David were being assholes. Most of the class were being assholes. Same as always." I say simply. "I can't explain—I'm sorry—I have to find Luke." I say as I go past her and into the bathroom. I had to find Luke. Plus I knew I shouldn't explain to Jessie what I know. So many more people than Luke wanted to, know about his scars. I think I shouldn't add to the list. If Jessie wants to know, she'll have to get it from Luke.

Once I stepped inside the bathroom I could hear crying. I walk in slowly until I get to the only stall in the bathroom that was closed. I knocked.

"Luke?" I say, but there's no answer. The whimpering continues. "Luke? It's Clyde."

"Go away." I hear Luke choke out.

"Luke? Are you alright—okay stupid question. Of course, you're not alright." I shake my head. That was a stupid thing to say. Luke obviously was not alright. I tried to think of something to say.

"I'll be fine." Luke says, but I don't believe that.

"Luke—don't listen to them. They're assholes." I say. He really shouldn't. People can be stupid and big jerks. Especially when it comes to something like this and they don't really understand. I could tell most people were freaked out—besides Archie and David whom are just assholes to begin with.

"Just go." Luke says. I don't think that's a good idea right now. Luke needed a friend.

"Do you want me to call Sarah Jane?" I ask. I knew that usually helped and made him feel better.

"No! Just leave me alone!"

I sighed. I had picked up his bag before I came inside the bathroom, so I slid it into the stall for Luke to have when he was ready to come out. He could change. I then slowly left the bathroom and walked to the head teacher's office. I was not letting Archie, David, or Coach get away with what happened. Nobody ever reports these things, but this couldn't stand. Someone had to do something.

Luke needed a friend. And this is what a good friend would do.

Luke's POV

I didn't come out the bathroom until the bell rang for lunch period. I was too upset and too humiliated to get changed or go to class. That was awful. I don't know if just going to the head teacher would have been better. Maybe that would have been the better choice.

I don't know.

Maybe both choices were equally bad.

I'd probably still feel horrible with either choice.

I changed and then I just stared at myself in the mirror. I hate myself. I sometimes wish I could just not exist. Sometimes I wish the Bane never made me. I was a failed experiment anyways. Sometimes I think it might have been better if they had killed me.

Sometimes I just hate everything and want to disappear.

I hate it here. School sucks.

Sure, I have Clyde, Maria, and Jessie, but I'm sure they won't stick around that long. Especially after what Clyde saw. He'll probably call me a freak at some point soon. He'll tell Jessie and Maria, then they won't like me anymore. Then maybe Sarah Jane will decide she doesn't want to deal with me and all my problems anymore. I'm surprised she's lasted this long.

It's just like George and Silvia told me: Who would want me?

I went to my classes and didn't say a word.

I didn't answer the teacher's questions during lectures. I didn't ask any questions when I was confused. I didn't even talk to Clyde, Maria, or Jessie when we had our classes together.

I didn't want to talk. I was too upset.

I think that's why Clyde didn't try more than once to get me to talk.

After last period, I sighed at realizing that I had to go to the school assembly. I didn't want to go. I just want to go home and go to bed. Today was terrible. I just want to go to bed and be alone while I wish that today along with many other days hadn't happened.

"Luke." Jessie approaches me. "Are you alright?"

"I just want to go home." I tell her.

"I saw you during Gym. Are you alright?" Jessie asks me and I sigh. I don't want to talk about that. I really hate this day. I really hate my life sometimes. Why do all these things have to happen to me?

"I don't want to talk about it." I tell her.

"Okay. Well, I'm here if you do." Jessie says as Clyde and Maria walk over.

"Luke, are you okay?" Maria asks.

"Can everyone stop asking me that?!" I snapped.

"We're worried about you." Clyde says as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I flinch away.

"Oh, look it's the crybaby." I look and see Archie, David, and even Becca coming over towards us. Oh great. This day just keeps getting better.

"He looks mad." David teases.

"Awe is the baby sad?" Archie teases.

"Shut up!" Jessie exclaims. "Do you want some of this?" Jesse threatened the three of them while holding up her fist.

"Oh yes, please…" David says before Jessie shoves him angrily.

"Hey, you should see this video." Becca says taking her phone out. The text thread, I noticed said Archie. He had sent her some video. I had a feeling it wasn't something we'd like. I blanched at seeing it was a video of me from Gym Class.

I looked away as I knew Maria and Jessie would probably be staring at me.

"Damaged goods." Archie says.

"What's good about him?" David replies and I feel tears in my eyes. I want it all to stop. I just want to go home. I hate it here. I hate everything about school. I hate it. No one understands and all they do is mock me.

I hate myself. I hate everything.

I then stare in surprise as Clyde punches Archie and then David.

They look back at him in shock as their noses begin to bleed.

I blinked. Did that really just happen?

"You going to pay for this!" Archie yells only to receive another punch from Clyde. He then moves up and punches me in the face. I fall backwards and put my hand on my right cheek as that's where he had hit me. I look up as Jessie moves to shove them.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Mr. Clarke comes over and asks, getting in between the bullies and my friends.

"They were making fun of Luke." Clyde says and I watch as Jessie takes Becca's phone only to give it to Mr. Clarke who watches the video they had of me. No! I don't want anyone else to see it or know about it! I started to cry.

This literally was one of the worst days.

"Luke—Luke, why don't you come with me?" Mr. Clarke asks as he leads me out of the Gym and into his office. I sit down and he hands a cold water bottle to put on my face. I guess it's better than nothing. It's not like they had ice here. I put it on my face and wince. I hope I don't have to go to the dentist again. Ow, this hurts.

"Stay here, okay. I'm going to call your mum okay?" Mr. Clarke tells me.

I nodded—not feeling like correcting the fact that she wasn't my mum.

She will change her mind about keeping me—probably after today for sure.

Sarah Jane's POV

I had finished my work and decided to take a short break. I went through my emails and found a message from Jo Grant—Jones. We had met a little while back before Luke came into the picture. She was the companion to the Doctor before I was. We had sort of gotten together and briefly discussed certain things. Apparently she wanted to meet up again and talk about the good ol' days again along with what's going on in the present.

I was about to reply to her when my phone rang.

Before I picked up the phone I knew it had to have something to do with Luke. I just knew it. Though I was surprised when I picked up to not hear the voice of Clyde, Maria, or Jessie, but one of the teachers at Park Vale. They wanted me to come to pick up Luke, but also to talk about some things.

I knew that probably couldn't be good.

I picked up my keys and got in the car.

I just hope Luke's alright and he's not hurt again.

I went to the office and I was escorted to the head teacher's office where I sat down. Then whom came in along with him was another man—I assumed was the teacher that had called me.

"You must be Luke's mum." He says as he shakes my hand. "I'm Mr. Clarke. Luke's Science Teacher. Very nice to meet you Miss Smith."

"Sarah Jane, please. The pleasure is all mine as Luke tells me how he loves your class." I shake it back before sitting down. It was true. Luke always told me how Mr. Clarke was his favorite teacher and how he loved Science Class the most.

"Now I wish this was under better circumstances." The teacher adds.

"Has Luke done something wrong?" I ask. Though I don't think Luke would do something intentional. I knew very well that Luke didn't like to get into trouble.

"No. Quite the opposite." He says.

I didn't like how that sounded.

"How is Luke at home?" He asks me. "Has he been acting different since he has started attending this school?"

"Well Luke hasn't been living with me that long. About two months. I'm fostering him." I clear up so they don't think I'm a terrible mother or anything. "He hasn't been acting much different since when I first brought him into my home." I say.

"What is this about?" I ask. I knew something has happened and I needed to know what.

"There's been an altercation at the assembly. Luke was hit by this boy Archie Jenkins after another student Clyde Langer had hit him along with another student David Miles." He explains. Luke was hurt. Oh no.

"It seems there's a video of your son during today's Gym Class. We had the kids go outside since we needed to set up the Gym for the assembly. Coach—the one who teaches the class—had them outside to play football. According to Clyde, he forced Luke to remove his shirt against his wishes and there were some scars on him—" He tells me what happened during Gym Class. What Coach made Luke do, what he said, and what the other kids said. "—Archie apparently recorded the incident and sent it around the school."

I put my head into my hands. Oh Luke.

"Sarah Jane, were you aware of this bullying because it seems to have been going on for a while." He adds. What?

"Luke's been eating in my room during lunchtime." Mr. Clarke adds.

"I only knew of one incident on his first day." I say honestly. Why didn't Luke tell me or talk to me about this stuff? I thought he was doing better.

"Well we just want you to know. We're concerned about Luke. He's a very bright student, but it seems this problem is getting him withdrawn." Mr. Clarke says.

"We've suspended those two boys for two weeks and Clyde Langer for a week." The head teacher says.

"Why Clyde? He was just defending Luke." I point out.

"I know, but he fought another student." He explains. "My hands are tied."

I really was getting angry and upset. My boy was hurt. Luke was hurt—he's been hurting and I didn't know. He didn't tell me. He was constantly hurting and I couldn't do anything. And Clyde defended him and he gets in trouble too.

This—this is bad.

Then suddenly a teacher walks into the room in sweats. Was this the coach that was partly—was that even the right word?—responsible for what happened with Luke this morning?

"Coach Evans, this is Sarah Jane Smith, the mother of Luke Smith." The head teacher said. I took noticed of how his tone changed when referring to me as Luke's mother. I may only be his foster parent currently but he is my son. Nothing would change that.

"Oh." He says. Oh? Oh? That's all he has to say?

"That's all you have to say?! You humiliated my son!"

"He did that all on his own." He replied and I felt like pinning him to the wall, but I didn't want to get violent. That wouldn't end well for me.

"Do you take pride in yourself by humiliating children? This isn't the first time I've heard something like this." I say before turning to the head and Mr. Clarke. "Are you going to continue to let him treat children like this?" I question. If this is a type of school they are running. One where teachers can verbally abuse children, then I certainly don't want Luke going here anymore.

"We're dealing with this, Miss Smith." He replies.

I take a breath to control my emotions.

He better be dealing with this.

"Can I take Luke home now?" I ask.

"Yes. I'll take you to him." Mr. Clarke says leading me the way. I gave him a hug, but he pulled away from me and walked out the room. Luke didn't usually pull away from me like that.

I think we need to have a talk.

I take Luke home and he goes inside quickly. He starts to go upstairs to his room, but I wasn't having that. We needed to have a conversation. "Hey!" I say, not too loudly to upset him, but loud enough so he knows I'm serious. He stops. He then turns to face me. He still had his hand over his cheek. Though I can imagine that would have hurt—being punched in the face in all. I would know.

"I—"

"Sit on the couch." I told him and he doesn't argue. While he went in there, I quickly went into the kitchen and got an ice pack out of the freezer. I sat next to Luke and held it against his cheek. The cold at first shocked him, but then he took it from me. I wonder if I should have him get that looked that—oh Luke won't like that—he will like that even less than he's going to like what I have to say in our conversation. Maybe I'll Mr. Smith scan him to make sure he's okay. I won't get him checked out unless necessary.

"I don't have to see a doctor, do I?" Luke asks.

"I'll have Mr. Smith scan you first. So, only if you really need it." I tell him.

Luke sighed in what looked like relief. At least that made him feel better about one thing. I'll give him that for a few seconds. He needs a moment of some peace before he hears what I have to say. When this conversation is over—well he's not going to like how it ends—I know Luke won't be very happy with me.

I held out my arms out to him, thinking like always he would go into my arms for a hug. But this time he doesn't. He just turns away from me.

Luke never did that before.

Luke never said no to a hug—after all he said he liked it when I hugged him. He never once pulled away from me. I knew Luke needed that. But for some reason, he was rejecting it. Why? I knew something was wrong.

"Luke, what's wrong?" I ask.

He doesn't answer.

"Luke?"

He just shrugs.

"Luke, you need to talk to me."

"Why?" He asks after a few more moments of silence.

"Because I care. I want to know how to help you." I explain. I love Luke so much and it actually pained me to see him upset; I don't like seeing my son in pain.

"You can't." Luke says before turning to me. "Everyone's laughing at me."

"Clyde, Maria, and Jessie weren't laughing." I say. I knew they wouldn't especially from what I was told about Clyde coming to Luke's defense in his own way. I honestly would have liked to hit that teacher, but I couldn't. I was able to control myself—mostly because I knew it would only end badly for me.

"They won't like me anymore." Luke says.

"Don't be silly." I say. That was unlikely. I've seen those three when they are with Luke. They truly liked him and cared about him. I knew if Clyde certainly didn't care that much about him, he wouldn't have done what he did.

"They saw them." Luke says. It took me a moment to realize he was talking about his scars.

"Luke, I don't think they won't like you because of that. Why would those stop them from liking you?" I ask and at first he doesn't answer.

"Because I'm a freak." Luke says and I frowned. I touch Luke's shoulder, but once again he pulls away. I guess he didn't want me touching him right now.

"Luke, just because you have those scars—those aren't going to stop people from liking you. Some kids may have laughed or have said some things, but not all people are going to like you for one. And second, well they may not understand." I explain as best I could.

"But—"

"Luke. People will like you for you. Not because of you having scars or not." I tell him seriously. "And if Clyde thought that way about you, he wouldn't have hit that boy that was saying those things. He did that because he cares about. The same reason why Jessie and Maria defended you."

"Who told you?"

"The head teacher." I tell him. "He and Mr. Clarke always told me about lunch time and those two boys who have been bothering you."

Luke turns away again.

"Why didn't you tell me those boys have been bullying you?" I ask.

"I don't know." I sighed at Luke's response. Not an answer I was hoping for.

"Luke. I thought we discussed you telling me things?" I add.

"Yeah."

"Then why didn't—"

"I get it! I'm a problem! Why don't you just get it over with and rid of me?!" Luke snaps and I just stare at him, not able to say a thing.

"W-What?" I ask, but he doesn't reply. He turns away from me once again. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you won't want me anymore. You won't want to deal with a problem—a stupid kid like me." Luke says.

"Luke, I told you—"

"You'll change your mind and make some excuse for why, but you'll get rid of me. You won't want me anymore. It's like they said—no one will." I heard Luke start to cry and brought him into my arms. I just held him as he cried. I didn't say a word. What could I say? Would he even believe me?

"I won't ever do that, Luke." I feel like crying myself. "I love you and that feeling I have for you will never go away even if I wanted them to. He didn't reply. He just laid there in my arms and cried for a while. I held him and rubbed his back, hoping that showed him—I hoped staying here and comforting him was enough to convince him for now because if not, I don't know what I can do.

Luke was so scared. He felt so alone. Luke felt so worthless. Luke thought everyone would eventually leave him. It made my heart break.

Eventually he stopped crying. He ended up tiring himself out and fell asleep. I kept him there for a while. I didn't move. Luke being asleep was better than him being awake right now. I don't want him to start crying again; I hate it when he cries.

I do know one thing for sure now.

Luke needs to go to therapy.

A/N: I meant to post this yesterday, but I didn't get around to editing this chapter until later tonight. But I hope you like it now that it's up. So they have seen Luke's scars and now Sarah Jane is decided that Luke needs to see a therapist. We also had a small Clyde's POV in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know what you thought. Please don't forget to review.