Violated

(Tuesday Afternoon, August 13th)

"Oh," Ella hands the letter to Chad. "We got your school schedule."

He puts down the fork to take it, "This was delivered two weeks ago."

"Was it?" his mother strains a smile.

"Yeah." Chad holds it up, "And who opened it?" His parents give each other a look, before Chad shakes his head and unfolds the papers. "No." His heart pounds, as he grits his teeth, "No. No. This isn't right."

"We know you're not a fan of Professor Hawthorne right now," his father recognizes.

"I asked to take Astronomy instead of Biology," Chad infuriates. "And Jenkins was supposed to teach those health classes."

"Biology is a requirement for graduation," his mother reminds him.

"That's not the point," Chad frustrates. "I was hoping to go the year without seeing his smug face, and now he's in charge of three of my classes?"

"You've had this all planned out since grade school," his father frowns, "becoming more concrete and realistic each year." Chad narrows his eyes, and he continues, "You were so sure this is what you wanted."

"Well, maybe I want something else now," Chad rebuttals.

"You have to follow your dreams," his mother insists. "It's important that you're happy. You can't let anyone get in the way of that."

"So," Chad analyzes, "you're saying that I should sneak out to see Ben?"

"Does that mean you know where he is?" his father asks.

Chad doubles down, "If you wanted me to be happy, you wouldn't be grounding me for having feelings."

When Charming starts to speak, Ella places a hand on his arm. He stops himself, and she faces Chad, "You can't back out of a class just because you don't like the teacher."

Chad stands from his seat, "Watch me." before he turns away.

"If you don't finish your meal," his father retaliates, "we will lock the weight's room tomorrow."

"I don't care," Chad shouts, as the guard follows him out of the dining hall.

"He's not going to listen to us," Charming notices.

"Maybe he'll listen to someone else," she suggests.

When Chad opens the door, he sees Brendan and William, "I'm not allowed to talk to anyone right now."

"Your parents wanted us to remind you to keep the door open," Brendan mentions.

William smiles at him, "Probably thinks we want to make our marriage interesting."

"Marriage?" Chad questions.

"Inside joke," William explains.

Brendan looks over him, "I've decided you're not skipping any more feeding sessions."

"What?" William frowns.

"I like you better when you feel better." Brendan announces, "From now on, I expect you to stay this way."

"But, what if—" he thinks.

"No what ifs," Brendan declares. "When you eat, you can take a joke. I'd rather have that than have you bite my head off for trying to make one."

"You're going to get sick," William reminds him. "Your plan's not going to work."

"Hey," he recalls. "Didn't you say you were going to ask Carlos?"

"Right," William slowly says, before he meets his eyes. "Aziz has this absurd idea that Carlos could be some kind of carnivore."

"But he's donated to carnivores before," Brendan disproves.

"I'm just saying what I heard," William backtracks.

"Um. Hello," Chad makes himself known, and they turn towards him. "Uh, yeah. I'm still here, and this is still my palace. So, either get the fuck on with it or leave." He pauses, "Please."

They step inside, and William comments, "We heard you want to drop three of your classes, because Hawthorne's the professor."

"Don't tell me my parents decided I'm allowed to talk to my friends under the condition that they convince me to take classes from such an, uh, backpfeingesicht," Chad warns.

"And what makes him deserve a slap?" William asks.

"Because," Chad enforces. "He is."

"And I'm asking why," William irritably replies. "You can't just call someone something like that without a reason."

"It's the way he acts," Chad argues. "He's so greedy and pompous."

Brendan steps forward, "You don't even know what that means."

"I know it suits him," Chad defends. "All he does is take and take, and he always wants more. He's a predator."

"Predator?" Brendan points out, "Isn't that a bit much?"

"No. I don't," Chad protests. "Don't you think it's a little weird how involved he gets with his students: giving food to the tourney team, offering his personal advice, and sending so many emails?"

"He's just being supportive," William evenly answers, "and five emails isn't really a lot."

"It's been way more than five," Chad disbelieves.

William looks at Brendan, "Wasn't it just the reading list, class material list, and those summer events?"

"And the field trip reminder," Brendan adds.

"That's only four emails," William counts.

"He only sent you four emails?" Chad whispers.

Brendan turns towards him, "Maybe he sent you a few more, because you're in more of his classes."

Chad stares, and William mentions, "It probably just feels like a lot because of all those, um, candies you eat."

Chad's heart picks up, as he mutters, "Get out."

"Chad," Brendan starts.

"No," Chad steps forward. "If I'm so damn lucky, then it doesn't matter what I do and you don't need to worry about me." He points, "Get out. Now."

"Okay," William quietly agrees, before they back towards the door.

When they enter the hall, Brendan suggests, "You really should cut down on the candy."

Chad shuts the door, walks over to the computer, and he notices the new email. He deletes it, goes to his trash box, and erases every email that wasn't from Hawthorn. There's dozens of them, and he knew there would be. He's not crazy. It's not the drugs. He's been getting sent multiple emails every week. "Prince Chad," the guard addresses.

"Don't," Chad quietly commands. Even if he showed his friends these emails, they'd still think Hawthorne's a good guy. All Hawthorne's done is try to help him, and Chad's lucky for having so many people who care about him.

"You should save those," Bernard advises.

Chad confesses, "I'm tired of looking at them." before he empties the trash and heads towards the bathroom. He closes the door, does his business, and then finds the mints' case. He takes the pills out, crushes them, and then takes them in. He'd been there when Chad had been sent to the hospital, after Mal had paralyzed him. He just wanted to help.

"Prince Chad?" the guard checks. Chad wipes his nose, the world slowing, before he opens the door. "Do you want to talk?"

"I want to sleep," Chad murmurs. The guard opens his mouth, and Chad shakes his head, "Why are you still in my way? Your job is to keep me safe, not sleep deprived."

"You've been sleeping a lot," he recognizes.

"Seriously," Chad's eyes droop. "I'm too tired for this. Let me pass, before you have to carry me."

"We need to tell your father about this," he encourages.

"And he'd believe me," Chad sadly laughs. "Hawthorne used to me my favorite teacher, and I have homosexual inclinations. I probably just imagined it happened, because I wanted it. Hawthorne's such a great person. There's no way he would ever… I'm tired."

"Prince Chad." He asks, "What did Hawthorne do?"

"Nothing I couldn't do to you," Chad half smiles, as he stands on his tiptoes, clutches the guard's shirt, and moves his fingers into the guard's waistband. Bernard takes Chad's hand from him, Chad falls, and he catches him in his arms. He carries him over to the bed and coves him with the light blanket. "Why does my dad trust me with you, if he thinks I'm so horrible?"

"Age," he admits. "He knows he can trust me, and you can't take advantage of me."

"I could if I wanted to," Chad denies.

"Good night, Your Highness," he evenly expresses, before he heads for the door.

"Wait," Chad notices. "Don't go."

"I will be right out the door," he promises, before he exits the room. He moves down the corridor, crosses the gallery, and then sees them in the living room. Bernard speaks, "Your Highness?"

The television silences, and the light turns on. Charming comments, "You're supposed to be guarding Chad."

"He's sleeping," the guard informs.

"This early?" Ella inquires, "Are you sure?"

"He's exhausted." The guard's frown deepens, "There's something I've learned that I think you should be made aware of."

"Take a seat," Charming offers, and the guard heads for the armchair. "What's this about? Is it Beth?"

"No." Bernard takes a moment, "Earlier today, Chad and his friends had an argument about Professor Hawthorne."

"Yes," Charming notes. "They told me it didn't go very well."

"They were arguing over the number of emails Hawthorne had sent them," the guard continues. "His friends insisted that there were at most five; however, when I saw Chad's email, he'd saved up to four times as many."

"Twenty emails from his teacher?" Charming questions.

"The subject lines were very basic," Bernard mentions, "but Chad's been receiving emails from this professor on a weekly basis, if not more."

"Oh, Charming," Ella takes his arm.

"This doesn't mean anything," Charming evenly expresses. "Chad's shown interest in the classes. Professor Hawthorne might just have been sending more resources."

"In any case," Bernard enlightens, "it's caused Prince Chad a lot of distress. I recommend that the school steps in to settle this."

"We can talk to Fairy Godmother," Charming agrees.

"Wait." Ella asks, "Why wouldn't he have just told us this?"

"He's afraid you won't believe him," he answers.

"But he has the emails," Charming counters.

"Not anymore," Bernard interrupts. "He deleted them from the trash bin. They won't be easy to recover."

"I still don't understand," Charming shakes his head. "Why wouldn't he tell us?"

When Bernard fails to respond, Ella looks at him, "Do you know something?"

He hesitates, "I'm unsure of the details, but I'm under the impression that Hawthorne has made Chad feel violated somehow. When I asked what he did, Chad said he could do the same to me. Right before…"

"Before what?" Charming cautiously enforces.

"Prince Chad tried to kiss me," he finishes.

"Meaning," Ella falters, "that Professor Hawthorne tried to kiss Chad?"

Charming shakes his head, "I'm not doing this."

"But Charming," she seriously starts.

He faces her, "Chad has a history of overreacting and placing the problems he has onto other people."

"He's our son," she reminds him.

"He just seduced a nurse," he reminds her, "possibly to get drugs."

"We would have found them by now," she denies, "and that has nothing to do with the emails Bernard says he saw."

"And we will talk to Fairy Godmother about that," he accepts, "but I refuse to believe a happily married man with a successful career would jeopardize all that to assault a prince." She folds her hands, and he faces Bernard, "Thank you for your honesty. Do you desire a change in post after Chad's inappropriate actions?"

"No," Bernard answers. "I know he has no inappropriate feelings for me."

"He didn't have any feelings for the nurse either," he points out. "Are you sure?"

"I think he trusts me now," Bernard mentions. "It's important for him to have that."

"Did he manage to kiss you?" he prods.

"No," he shakes his head.

"Good," Charming stares him down. "Make sure he doesn't. If he does, your post will change whether you want it to or not."

Bernard nods, "Understood, Your Highness."