A couple of weeks later and Peter had agreed to allow both Zach and Linda Austin to temporarily Foster-Him. His counselling sessions with Barbara Haven had been going really-well and to Carla, Peter was looking much healthier and his head seemed-to be in a much better place than it had been before, or even for the past-couple of years…..
Peter's counselling sessions with Barbara happened immediately after-school every Friday afternoon. Carla, Linda and Zach were all pleased to see that although the sessions were sometimes difficult for Peter, he did eventually feel all the better for-it and he did actually want to go to them, which made a change for the stubborn-old Peter Barlow that everybody knew and sometimes hated and couldn't stand. But this side to Peter Barlow was much more healthy for himself and everyone-else that was involved behind. Despite the fact that Mrs Austin was now Fostering Peter, she was still given-permission, by the school's head, Mr Smith, to be his form-tutor, as he thought that it would be good for Peter. So things were generally going-well as far as Peter's drugs and family-related problems were concerned.
That Friday evening, after the Counselling Session with Barbara, Peter was heading-over to Carla's, which he generally did at the Weekend's now so that the pair of them could have some space together away from the prying-teacher-trained-eyes of Linda Austin and Zach.
Carla answered the door to Peter and after a kiss on the lips invited-him in to come-inside. "Hey you how were ya meeting then?!" Carla asked-him sweetly, Peter knew that Carla was backing-him all the way with this drugs-problem, and Peter really appreciated that deep-down, but he just struggled to show his thanks to her all the time. So tonight he thought he'd try and make the effort to focus just on Carla, rather-than onto his own old problems.
"It was difficult…..But I'll be okay. Anyway, let's forget about me and my troubles for just a minute. How was your day Babes?!" Peter asked-her sweetly.
Carla gently raised her arm to cutely stroke Peter's cheek with her hand as she shyly smiled at him. "My day was very-good thank-you. I'm back-on track with all of the school work that I have missed…..And I went to each-lesson knowing that I didn't have to worry about you for a change." Carla told Peter happily as she toyed with the neck of his t-shirt.
"Oh Yeah?! Well I'm glad about that Carla. You shouldn't have to be worrying about-me all day, every-day should you?! Which is why I want to cook you a meal tonight?" Peter surprised Carla both sweetly and softly.
"Peter Barlow, after all these years and I never knew that you even knew how to use an oven let-alone cook me a whole meal!" Carla said excitably, but partly with some-form of shock being there too!
"Yeah well my Mum was a good-cook wasn't she…..You knew that Carla. And so was my Dad…..Well he wasn't all that bad…..Anyway, it must run in the family or something….." Peter trailed-off with a gentle-smile forming across his lips.
"Dya know what Baby?! I love ya just that little-bit more every-day. You're gorgeous!" Carla told Peter happily and he just quietly chuckled at her.
"Well thanks Babes, but I'm nowhere near as gorgeous as you." He told-her with a cheeky-smile spread all the way across his face.
"Hmmm well that could be questioned!" Carla replied as she then cheekily winked at Peter, and Peter then stuck his tongue out at her in return for the wink.
Around an hour later, and Peter had virtually finished cooking a lovely-looking curry for Carla. He placed the two-plates-full down infront of them both and Carla then immediately took a large-bite. "Mmm. Peter that is DeeeLish!" Carla told-him happily.
"Well I'm glad that you like-it….." Peter trailed-off a little nervously, none of his mates knew that he could cook like that, he didn't want to ruin his 'bad-guy' reputation that he owned, by revealing that little-secret, but he didn't mind Carla knowing all that much. He trusted Carla not to ruin his Street-Cred around-school.
"Hmmm I LOVE It. Thank-You." She thanked-him gratefully as they caught each-other's eyes for just a brief-second and then sweetly smiled at each-other.
Once they had finished eating their meal together, they returned themselves back to the Living-Room, where Carla was sat on Peter's lap, and Peter was then sat onto the sofa underneath Carla. "You're quiet….." Carla said, concerned about-him as she soothingly stroked his cheek.
"Am I?! I'm just thinking that's all….." Peter trailed-off a little-nervously.
"Oh Yeah?! What about?!" Carla asked-him both calmly but yet worriedly all at the same-time.
"My Parents….." Peter told Carla sadly.
"What about them Baby?!" Carla asked-him sensitively.
"About how much they would have loved-you to be my future-girlfriend. And now you are…..It's just a bit weird that's all…..But I knew that they wouldn't want me to be with anyone-else so…..Thank-You." Peter replied to Carla truthfully with a small-smile on his face as he did-so.
"Awww Peter, you don't need to thank-me. And by the way, your parents would be so so SO proud of you, ya know?!"
"Really?! They'd be proud of their drug-addicted, bully of a son would they?!"
"They'd be proud that you've made the effort to conquer all of those troubles. You're doing so well, honestly Peter…..And as for being a bully…..Well…..I know that you're a big massive softie really…..And well…..As-long as I know that…..Then I don't care to much about everyone-else who comes-across you….." Carla then told Peter cheekily as she then hugged-him tightly.
"Hey I ain't no softie!" Peter tried to defend himself but Carla then just giggled-at him before she then decided to test him by placing a long and meaningful kiss onto his lips. "Mmm." He groaned in pleasure as she then continued to kiss-him, their tongues exploring each-others mouths as they did-so. The kiss continued for a couple of minutes or so before Carla then gently pulled-away from Peter and then rested her own forehead against Peter's forehead. "I Love You So Much." Peter sweetly whispered to her, but this just made Carla laugh.
"Ya See?! You're soft. The big and hard Peter Barlow is one HUGE Softie!" Carla teased-him as his cheeks then began to turn a little-red at the very thought of that very-statement that had come from Carla.
"I Am Not!" He chuckled as he then continued to try and defend-himself as his cheeks then began to turn redder and redder by the very-second.
"Awww don't be like that. I like Peter 'The Softie' Barlow. He's dead cute." Carla told Peter playfully.
"Yeah well some people deserve that softness…..Not many people though…..Infact, only you get to see the real-me." Peter told Carla truthfully.
"I'm Flattered now come-here." Carla told-him cheekily before she then kissed-him on the lips once-again.
The weekend was soon-over and before Peter and Carla knew-it, they were back in their form-room as Mrs Austin, or Linda as she was known-as outside of school, approached the newly-happy-couple. "Heya Peter. Did you and Carla have a good-weekend together?!" Mrs Austin asked Peter in a rather Motherly Fashion.
"Yeah it was great thanks." Peter replied with a sweet-smile on his face as he did-so. Mrs Austin then rubbed Peter's shoulder in a Motherly-Loving kind-of a way.
"I'm glad to hear-it. How was your counselling-session on Friday?!" She asked-him, generally interested-in how he was doing, which Peter was glad-about. It's been a long-time since an adult had been so genuinely concerned about Peter, so now Peter really appreciated that kind-of adult support like-that these-days.
Peter sighed as he processed her question. Friday's session was really tough-on poor Peter and he wasn't quite ready to talk to Mrs Austin, or Linda as he called-her, about that subject yet. "It was tough." Peter told her truthfully.
"Okay….." Mrs Austin trailed-off, not wanting to pressure-the poor-kid into talking-any-further-on about this counselling-session.
As Mrs Austin then headed-back to her desk, Kyle walked-into the classroom, he had been standing-in the doorway as he watched and listened-in on her conversation with Peter & Carla, he had also noticed the brief squeeze of Peter's shoulder. He smirked as he approached Peter. "Alright ya little teacher's pet?!" He taunted Peter. "Don't think I didn't see ya. Getting all cosy with Miss just-now. Ya know what Peter, you think you're all hard! But you're just a pathetic little teacher's pet aren't ya?! What is it ey Peter?! Dya fancy her do ya?!" Kyle continued to pick-on Peter as Peter had then had-enough as he stood-up to be face to face with Kyle, stamping-his-foot down loudly as he did-so, his chair also flying-backwards as he then finally lost.-his-temper, but he refused to shout.
"You have no-idea what you're talking about Kyle so just leave-it alright?!" Peter warned Kyle angrily but through gritted-teeth, not wanting to shout-in the classroom infront of Carla & Mrs Austin all-over-again.
"No why should I?! You're just a little weakling Peter. You're just weak Peter! You're WEAK!" Kyle shouted-at poor-Peter, laughing-right-into his face as he did-so.
"Shut-Up Kyle I'm warning-you!" Peter threatened Kyle seriously as Carla then stood-up, placing her hand against the front of Peter's shoulder to try and calm-him down and prevent-him from punching-Kyle. This then caught Mrs Austin's attention, and she was tempted-to intervene, after-all, Peter was now essentially her Foster-Son. But she didn't want to make-things any worse for him, so she chose to leave-it to Carla unless there was any violence carried-out.
"You're WARNING Me Are Ya Now?!" Kyle chuckled-at Peter with an evil-smirk growing-onto his-face.
"Yeah I Am!" Peter replied.
"Pft. What ya gonna do to me?! Because errr…..Your favourite teacher is just over-there…..And you wouldn't want to upset her now would ya Pal?!"Kyle whispered to Peter.
"Leave-him alone Kyle!" Carla tried to help Peter out. She felt sorry for her boyfriend. He didn't deserve the grief he got from both James and now Kyle and sometimes the rest of their little-gang. Peter may have been a troubled-kid, but those kids certainly weren't helping-him to get any better.
"No! I Won't! And urm, Peter, if you even think about dobbing-me into your precious teacher over-there, then urm, some trouble might be coming-into ya lover-girls way. Have you got that Mate?!" Kyle practically threatened-Peter, causing Peter to then roughly gran Kyle by the collars of his shirt.
"Don't you DARE hurt Carla!" Peter told Kyle, being-all protective over his girlfriend, which Carla appreciated, but she was worried that Peter would only make things worse for himself by answering-back to Kyle's threats with violence.
"GET OFF OF ME!" Kyle shouted as he then violently shoved Peter backwards, causing-him to fall-over the chair that was behind-him and he then eventually ended-up on the floor.
Mrs Austin then felt the need to go-over as Kyle casually strolled-out of the classroom. She would deal with him later-on. Carla then helped Peter back-up to his feet as Mrs Austin then approached them both. "Are you okay Peter?!" A concerned Mrs Austin asked her newly-taken-in Foster-Son.
"Does it look like I'm okay?!" Peter asked-her angrily.
"Do you want to chat about-it?!" She kindly offered to Peter.
"No I Do Not want to 'chat' about-it! Ya know Miss, I may be living with you now, and I appreciate everything that you have done for-me recently. But you're not my Mother and you never will-be. Because MY Mother…..And infact, my Father too, is DEAD! So just leave-me alone okay?!" Peter told-him, but Mrs Austin knew that Peter was only angry because-of what Kyle had just said to him, so she let-it pass her by just for now.
Mrs Austin then returned to her desk and Carla & Peter both then sat themselves back-down together. "Just ignore what Kyle said sweetheart." Carla tried to re-assure-him.
"Dya know what I could do with right-now Carla?! I could do with getting completely-off-of my head on drugs, and right-now, I wouldn't care too much what it did to me!" Peter said, and the shakes in his arms began to return as he strongly-craved the drugs that he had so desperately tried to conquer and give-them-all-up for-good.
"You don't mean that Peter." Carla told-him confidently.
"No I don't mean that. I'm sorry." Peter replied to Carla as she then gently took both-of his hands into her own and squeezed them tightly, shooting-him a re-assuring smile.
"It's all gonna be okay Baby…..Hey you're shaking?!" She asked-Peter, both of face and her voice full-of concern as she did-so.
"That's what happens when I'm desperate for some drugs…..It's like I have no-control over-it." Peter then revealed to Carla both truthfully and quietly.
"Oh Come-Here Sweety-Pie." Carla told-Peter gently, hugging-him tightly as she then placed a soft kiss into his hair. "You don't need the drugs Peter. Because I'm here for ya…..And I'm going to try my best to make everything better for ya okay?!" She softly tried to re-assure-him as Peter then looked Carla into the eyes.
"I Love You So Much Carla." He then whispered-to her as her hands then rested-against his shoulders.
"Awww I Love You Too." She said as she then sweetly stroked his cheek with her fingers.
"But I don't wanna let-you down…..And I'm afraid that I will….." Peter then told-Carla nervously.
"As-long as you're 100% completely honest with me Peter, then you could never let-me down. Okay Babes?!" Carla gently re-assured Peter as she then softly ran her fingers through his hair.
"I don't deserve-you Carla." Peter replied.
"Yes you do. And I couldn't have asked for a better-boyfriend if I'd have even tried." Carla responded, and Mrs Austin then watched-on with a smile on her face from her desk as the couple then both lovingly and meaningfully kissed-each-other on the lips.
This will be the last-update for a week as I am going-on holiday and I won't have access to the laptop! But will be back-soon! (: Please keep the reviews coming-in! I love reading-them! (: