Title: Another Brick in the Wall

Author: Lea of Mirkwood

Disclaimer: Own Kit, Gracie, Rob, Alec, Hayden, Nell, Katie and Mr. & Mrs. O'Connell.

Author's Note: Feeling all...stifled. Blocked. School imminent. Shit. Kit's thoughts towards school is only coincidentally the same as author's. This chapter is a very sad one. It has been in the works since chapter seven or eight. There's a clue in chapter eight. This has no bearing on my personal life at all. It has been planned since whenever I posted those chapters.

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January 4, 1998. Two days before school begins again.

Casey flopped down on his bed and shoved a pillow behind his head. He reached up over his head to the shelf over his bed and swatted at his CD player. It started without a fuss, playing Smashing Pumpkins Disarm. (Salutes Plato's Tragedy) He flipped open his book, Star Wars Heir to the Empire, by

Timothy Zahn. Trying to enjoy his time alone in the house. A couple hours later he heard the front door slam shut. He turned off the music quickly and sat up straight. The heavy tread of his father, walking up the stairs. A lighter tread. Casey froze. He could hear a woman laughing, and his father's deep laughter joined in. Then the door to his parents room slammed. He heard some bumping noises. Standing up quietly, he crept to his door and opened it cautiously. Looking down the hall, he could see that the door to his parents room had bounced back open and was open a crack. He tiptoed down the hall and peered into the room. His father was there, with another woman. A woman that was definitely not his mother. She had long blond hair and a slim, lithe figure. His father was kissing her. Taking off her blouse. Laying her down on the bed. Casey jumped back. He slammed back against the wall with a thud, and turned on his heel and fled. He ran into his room and slammed the door, locking it. He dove back onto his bed and opened his book again.

"Shit," his father growled from down the hall. "Vicky, I'll be right back. I think my damn kid's home."

Casey pressed his head against the wall furiously, desperately trying to disappear.

"Okay, Frank. I'll be right here," she replied in a low voice. Casey heard his father stop outside his door and knock on it carefully.

"Casey? Are you in there?"

"Yeah," choked Casey. "You're home early."

"So are you. I thought you had...uh...photography club today."

"The darkroom got messed up. I thought I heard voices."

"Oh-" his father sounded strangled. "That was the TV."

"Oh."

His father walked back to his room and Casey heard muffled noises, and then the sound of high heels clicking down the stairs. He bit down on his lower lip so hard he tasted the tang of blood.

--- --- ---

Rob woke up on a regular day. He was grounded. His mother knew exactly what he had done and grounded him for a month. He left the house to go drive out to the far fields. Letting the screen door smack shut behind him, he strode out into the yard to his old, rusty truck. As he got closer he could see there was something wrong. Something lumpy was covering the bed of the truck and all in the cab. He started to jog over, and opened the cab door. His entire truck was filled up with horse manure. He stared in horror for a few seconds and then the pieces fell into place.

"GOD-DAMN IT!!!"

Fifty feet away, Alec, Nell and Katie high fived and whooped jubilantly.

--- --- ---

Casey stood in the hall at school, frozen. It was the middle of fourth period. The bathroom pass hung limply from his hand as he stared at the dilapidated phone bank. Two phone booths, with graffiti all over them. Call his mother and tell her? Don't call his mother, and let her find out on her own. Then it would all go back to normal. But had it ever been normal? Was there a normal? But call his mother and tell her? Then everything would fall apart. His parents would split up, and he might have to move. A year ago, moving would have been possibly welcome, leaving Delilah would have been the only wrench. Now he had two friends. Gracie and Kit. And he still didn't want to leave Delilah. And what would this do to his mother? Casey suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of hatred towards his father. He hated him. Hated him. How could he do this to his mother? They'd taken vows! They'd promised to love each other forever and stay faithful! But look at them now! There was barely any love there, if what he'd seen was true. He picked up the phone and dialed.

"Is Mrs. Conner there? This is her son. Yes, it's urgent."

Casey's throat choked up.

"Mom? It's me, Casey. No, I'm fine. I'm in school. I got a pass. I need to tell you something."

Casey's throat closed as he delivered the terrible news to his mother.

"Her name is Vicky. She's tall, and blonde, and skinny."

Patricia Conner was silent, but then finally Casey heard a tiny click as his mother hung up on him.

--- --- ---

"Casey? Casey? Casey?"

Casey lifted his head from his arms with a jerk and blinked owlishly up at Delilah. "Sorry, Delilah. I'm just...a little out of it."

The editor-in-chief folded her arms and looked down at Casey. The rest of the newspaper staff tittered nervously. Delilah waited a second more, then grabbed Casey's forearm and pulled him up.

"Come on," she snapped, dragging him out the door. "If one of my staff is having a problem, they need to talk to me."

Casey blankly followed her outside the classroom, where she pushed him against the wall and stood in front of him with her arms folded.

"Well?" she snapped. "Why aren't you paying attention? What's wrong with you?"

Casey sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Delilah."

"Damn right you are. Now what's going on?"

He looked up at her warily, searching for a trap. She seemed ready to listen. This was Delilah. Delilah, the most beautiful creature in the world to him. Her brown eyes with their long lashes were looking straight at him. Suddenly he knew what it felt like to be a deer staring down a semi. He licked his dry lips apprehensively.

"Delilah, it's nothing."

"No, it's not. Why don't you tell me?"

"No, really. It's just...I caught my father cheating on my mother, and I'm worried."

Delilah nodded thoughtfully. "Are they getting divorced?" she asked flatly.

"I don't know."

"Why are you worried?"

"I'm worried I might not have both parents any more."

"Having one parent...you would be lucky. I have no father and an emotionally absent mother, so consider yourself lucky. I think you should tell your little friend Kit."

"What makes you think I haven't already?"

"If you had, you wouldn't need my advice."

She patted his shoulder sympathetically and returned to her newspaper room, leaving Casey standing, catatonic, in the hallway.

--- --- ---

What on earth possessed me to make Delilah a sympathetic character in here?

My sanity...going...going...gone...

Thanks to my faithful reviewers: Erendil, Kay/WillowVilya, Tenchi-Sama, Zeech (my wonderful sister), and Kadama (another wonderful sister!). Thank you all so much. Loves loves. If you want to see your name here, review my story more!!!! ^^