Bonus - UDC 10 - Week Five
Prolix
A shake to his shoulder and Pete was awake, a question forming that never came to fruition because Alan was studying him thoughtfully. "Has Sheila started joking again about charging me rent?"
"No, but she is amused every time you sack out on the couch in here," Alan told him. "How did you meet Nick?"
"He offered me half his sandwich," Pete answered with a smile as he sat up.
Nick snorted in laughter. "You were studying in the cafeteria and tried to tell me no, you weren't hungry."
"That, too." Pete winced at the frown Alan was directing at him. "It's not as bad as it sounds, Mr. Jenkins. And Nick's right: his mother does make an excellent boloney sandwich."
Tenebrous
Alan glanced from one to the other, frowning. "Did you not take your own lunch to school with you?"
Pete sighed. "It's not that. It's more I'm the smallest in my grade, and..."
"Oh, that explains it," Nick said, and Alan frowned again. "Explains the bruises, too, actually. Our principal is right: run to his office when stuff like that happens."
"I'd be running there all the time, Nick."
Nick glanced at Alan. "How old is he?"
"He'll be thirteen in July," Alan told him. "He skipped a couple grades."
That answered a few more questions that Nick didn't quite realize he'd had.
Inertia
Pete knew he'd have to answer the unspoken questions radiating off of his case worker eventually, but how did he explain that he'd been trying to find a way not to sing in his sleep after Mrs. Tatham had asked him about it? After he'd feigned ignorance and shrugged and tried not to talk about it? After Bart had started singing it at him to be annoying, not realizing why it wasn't the best thing to do or what the song meant to him?
When Nick suddenly dragged him into a hug, Pete blinked up at him, startled. "I probably shouldn't ask, but what's the importance of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay?"
"Mom made me play it all the time," Pete whispered, honest, because he couldn't not be. "And I know she'd been listening to it. That day."
Jenkins leaned back and looked at Dorinda, who was still standing in the doorway like a sentry. "Would you go call the Tathams for me? I think we're keeping Pete for the night. Maybe the weekend." She nodded and left them to it.