Class

(Wednesday Afternoon, August 14th)

"Pumpkin?" Ella knocks, before she enters the room. She sees Chad lying in bed and turns to the daytime guard, "Derek. Has he been up at all?"

"Only to use the bathroom," he informs.

Ella walks over to the bed and touches Chad's shoulder, "Pumpkin?"

"It's summer," he complains.

"It's two in the afternoon," she adds. "It's time to wake up."

"I'm tired," he complains.

"You need to eat," she instructs, before she sets the cup on his nightstand. "Here. I thought apple crisp would be a nice, enticing breakfast for you." Chad opens his eyes, before he turns to take a bite. "You're not going to ask how much fat is in it?"

"I don't care," Chad answers, before he shuts his eyes again.

"Pumpkin. Can you sit up for me? I'd like to talk."

"Then talk," he invites.

"I want to ask you about Professor Hawthorne." Chad pulls the blanket above his shoulder, and she suggests, "Did something happen?"

"No," Chad firmly replies.

She moves the hair from his face, "Pumpkin."

He squeezes his eyes shut, "I said nothing happened." before he turns onto his other side. "Is that it, then? Because, I was having this really cool dream about this hot chick."

She moves a hand over his head, "Let me know when you're hungry. I can make you something special."

"I'm really not hungry," he whispers.

"I know." She solemnly smiles, "But I want you to know I'm here if you need me."

"I don't want to be in his classes," Chad whimpers. "Get me out of it. Please."

"Maybe you don't need to attend the classes to be in them," she considers. "We can discuss options with Fairy Godmother."

"I hate him so much," Chad stammers. "He makes me question…" He takes a deep breath, "Everything." She reaches for his shoulder and feels him shake. "I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"Your mind is very much intact," she reassures.

"Then why am I grounded?" Chad counters. "Even you and Dad think there's something wrong with me. And maybe there is. Maybe I just like getting attention, and people can see that."

"You're grounded, because it gives you opportunity to reflect and grow," she informs. "That doesn't make you wrong in any way, and wanting attention is a normal thing." He fails to respond, and she comments, "There are going to be people who will want to take advantage of your sociability, but we're here to help you."

He sadly laughs, "It's a little too late for that."

"Pumpkin," she says again.

"I don't need your help," he spats. "I want to be left alone." He cuddles against the pillow, "I wish everyone would just leave me alone."

"What are you doing?" Charming asks, as he sees Ella spread icing across the cake.

"Something happened," she insists. "I know it did."

"We don't know anything, yet," Charming counters, and she twirls around.

Her eyes glisten, "I said we were here for him, and he said it was too late. What does that sound like to you?" She sets the spatula down to wipe the tears from her face, "He's blaming it on his attention-seeking behavior. He thinks it's his fault."

He places his hands on her arms, "I promise, whatever's going on, we're going to figure it out. Everything's going to be fine."

"But if it happened," she starts.

"Ella," he tries to reason.

"Then the damage is already done," she finishes.

"And cake's supposed to help that?" he points out.

"The school doesn't even officially open until the eighteenth," she stresses. "It's going to be a full week before we can even talk to Fairy Godmother about this, and I can't just stand here and watch him disappear into himself."

"Well, he's not going to eat cake," Charming reminds her.

"That's the thing." She explains, "I gave him an apple crisp for breakfast, and he didn't even ask how much fat was in it."

"So, he was hungry," he reasons.

She stares at him, "If you make one more excuse for Chad's behavior, I'm ungrounding him. He needs to know we're on his side."

"If he's as depressed as you think he is," Charming comments, "then the last thing he needs is to be left alone."

"I just wish we could help him somehow."

"He was happy when he was chatting with that girl," Charming suggests.

"That was before he found out he's been assigned three classes with this teacher, who's been emailing him all summer," she reminds him. "This isn't going to stop until that does."

Charming pauses, "When we meet with Fairy Godmother, we need to know exactly what we're accusing this professor of."

"We're accusing him of sending our son constant emails," she states.

"Bernard said the subject lines were innocent," he reminds her.

"But it was summer vacation," she persists. "The number of emails he's sent is inappropriate. Bernard also said Chad's friends didn't get nearly as many."

"Okay," Charming settles. "How about you get dinner together, while I try to get Chad out of bed. We can ask him exactly what he thinks Hawthorne's intentions were."

"I don't want to put him through that again," she inputs.

"But if something has happened," he puts forth, "then Fairy Godmother needs to know." She eyes down, and he calmly comments, "If Professor Hawthorne really did hurt Chad, then he will come forward."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because," Charming justifies, "if Hawthorne assaulted a student, he won't be able to teach at the school. If that's why Chad doesn't want to take his classes, he will tell us."

"And if he doesn't?" she questions.

He shrugs, "Then maybe it's not as simple as a teacher preying on a student."

"Here." Charming lays the outfit on Chad's bed, "Take a shower, and I will let you out of the palace for a few hours."

"Really?" Chad murmurs.

"Well, I'd be with you," he adds, "but we can go to the museum, the park, or the theater."

"How about the zoo?" Chad asks.

"We can do that," his father agrees, "but it's getting late. You will need to get ready quick."

Chad takes a deep breath, as he finds his clothes, "Okay. I'm showering."

"You don't seem happy," Charming notices, as Chad looks at the lions.

"No. I'm happy," he frowns.

"Chad." He waits for him to face him, "I want to talk about Hawthorne."

Chad shakes his head, "No."

"When we schedule the meeting with Fairy Godmother, I need to know what we're telling her," he explains. "What did Hawthorne do?"

"Nothing," Chad eyes away.

"Please," he calmly persists. "I want to understand."

Chad folds his arms, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Chad," he continues.

"Why are you punishing me?" Chad yells, as his shiny eyes meet him. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"Look," he enforces. "We can either talk about it or we can go."

"Then let's go," he quietly cries, before he turns around and leaves.

When he meets Chad at the car, Charming hands him the large drink, "I got you a lemon icy." Chad takes it and sips, as his father notices the redness in his face. "I'm sorry for pushing, but if something happened, it's important that we know."

Chad tugs the straw up-and-down, listening to the scratchy squeak, "He was my favorite teacher, and I trusted him. Nothing in my life made sense, and I thought he could give a scientific answer." Chad's head lowers more, "I told him everything about me, and it felt like he understood…"

When Chad fails to continue, he prompts, "And then what?"

"I'm not sure." Chad shakes his head, "He said he wanted to help, but it didn't feel like help. I just don't know why… he's like completely obsessed with me, and I don't know how to stop it." He cries, "Every email, just a reminder that he's there. And now he's somehow taken over two of Jenkins's classes?"

"You think he took those classes to get to you?" his father deduces.

"Why else would he?" Chad whispers. "He already teaches Biology, Anatomy, Life Science, Botany, and Engineering. Oh. And that new Virology class he made up. How the fuck does he have the time to teach my health classes too? And why my classes? The school offers a dozen separate health courses."

"I promise you," his father reassures, "we're going to get to the bottom of this."

"He didn't say anything else?" she asks.

"You were expecting him to say he was assaulted," Charming notes.

"That's what it was sounding like," she answers.

"Well, he's obviously afraid it will happen," Charming accepts, "but shouldn't we be happy that it hasn't?"

She pulls the bedsheet over the corner of the bed, "I want Hawthorne out of that school."

"Ella," Charming starts.

"No. I will not wait for him to explain himself," she answers. "Hawthorne's a very successful man. He can lose his teaching license and still keep his career." Charming places his hands on her shoulders, and she faces him, "He got Chad to open up about things that he was never willing to tell us, and he somehow convinced Chad not to tell us about him."

"We don't know that," Charming says again, and she sighs. "For all we know Chad… you know… admired him. He might not have told us, simply because he was embarrassed."

"No embarrassment should make him think being in danger is a good idea." She takes a minute, "What are we doing, Charming, if our own son feels safer under the gaze of a predator than our parenting?"

"Possible predator," Charming corrects.

She sternly eyes him, "We're doing something wrong. You have to know that."

"Or, maybe, we're doing something right," Charming suggests. "Males are less likely to report sexual assault, and Chad's going to be king of Charmington. He must feel really insecure about asking for help. We're lucky he did before anything worse happened."

She takes a deep breath, "I still don't feel right about any of this."

"Of course, you don't," Charming understands. "Our son is still in danger. We're not going to feel right about it, until we find out what Hawthorne's intentions were and we make sure he stops placing all this stress on Chad."

"I don't want him dorming at that school, not until we know it's safe."

"Well, he won't be." Charming reminds her, "He's still grounded. He will be commuting there until his birthday."

"Right," she recalls.

"I know you're not sure about it," he acknowledges, "but knowing what we know now…"

"It's safer," she agrees.