I apologize for being late. I hope you can forgive me. I made a couple of small corrections to Chapter 4, so if you're interested you can read it, if not, that's okay. Thank you to all that review! Thank you so much to qt-angel for helping me, and inspiring me to write! I hope this chapter is okay.
Chapter 6. First Day at School, First Day at Work
Friday Morning
"Dickie, would you please hold still?" Elliot said, as he undid the tie around Dickie's neck.
Elliot was alerted to the bathroom when he heard Dickie yell. When he entered the bathroom, Elliot found that Dickie had somehow knotted his hand to his neck with a tie. Elliot had to rescue Dickie from the knot.
"Don't you know how to do a tie?" Elliot asked, as he redid the tie.
"Yes . . . kind of. Mom usually does it," Dickie said. "If she's not around, then Maureen or Kathleen helps me. I don't wear a tie every day."
"We'll practice ties over the weekend," Elliot said, when he redid the tie. He then examined Dickie's . . . well, his own face closely.
"What?" Dickie asked, getting at little annoyed at Elliot staring at him.
"I need to shave," Elliot stated.
"'Shave?'" Dickie repeated, backing up a little.
"We'll work on that over the weekend as well," Elliot said.
"But dad . . ." Dickie exclaimed.
"What? I shave. So will you one day!" Elliot replied.
"Fine, fine, I'll shave," Dickie replied reluctantly. "Let's get it over this with."
"What? You want to do it now?" Elliot asked.
"No, but I know you'll just keep staring at me until the weekend," Dickie said. "So let's do it."
"Okay then. Now, hold still," Elliot told Dickie, while reaching for the razor and shaving cream.
/\
"Now Elliot, I want you to behave yourself at school," Munch said, as he stopped in front of Dickie's school. "Play nice with the other kids, and listen to the teachers. Do all of your assignments. Be polite and study hard."
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Elliot said, frowning at Munch.
"Me? No," Munch said, trying to act innocent. "But in a twisted way . . . yeah."
Elliot sighed and shook his head.
"See you later, Munch," Elliot said as he exited Munch's car.
Elliot watched the car drive off. Now he had to find Dickie's friends. He had seen them when they came over to visit, but he never paid that much attention. Praying, he hoped they would find him first, before he did anything Dickie wouldn't do.
"Hey Dickie!" a young boy's voice called out.
Elliot saw three boys running towards him. One boy had spiky brown hair and brown eyes. Another boy seemed to be a little heavier than the other two, and he had short brown hair and brown eyes. The last boy had wavy dark blonde hair and brown eyes.
"How your day off?" the boy with the wavy dark blonde hair asked Elliot, when the boys stopped around him.
"Oh . . . it was okay," Elliot said, mentally thanking that his prayers were answered; Dickie's friends found him first. Now all he has to do was to remember their names. Unfortunately, it was a long time since he saw any of Dickie's friends, so he had a hard time recalling. He just hoped he could pick up enough hints to figure out their names.
"What did you do?" asked the boy with the wavy short dark blonde hair, as the boys and Elliot walked through the hallways of the school.
"I . . . visited my Dad," Elliot said. "What did you do?"
"I finally figured out how to solve that puzzle," the boy with the wavy short dark blonde hair said. "I never thought that video game would be that challenging."
"Dickie did warn you that you weren't ready for it, David," the boy with the short brown hair said.
"Ah, shut up, Benny," David said, playfully.
"Hey, Dickie," the boy with the spiky brown hair said. "Even though you're at your dad's, we're still going to meet on Sunday, right?"
"Of course . . . Rick," Elliot said, hoping he got the name right. Elliot was relieved when the boy, Rick, smiled back.
Elliot was actually feeling better. He now had Dickie's friends with him. If there was something at school that didn't make sense, Elliot would just asked Dickie's friends, and say that he forgot. This could work.
Elliot then realized that he was walking by himself. He stopped, and looked back. David, Benny, and Rick had stopped; they looked scared.
"What's wrong?" Elliot asked, getting a little worried. He soon got the answered.
"Dickie!" a deep, but young voice exclaimed behind Elliot.
Elliot turned around to face the stereotype profile of a bully. All of Dickie's friends, who now stood far away from Elliot, stared at the bully. The boy then looked at Dickie's friends.
"What are you looking at?" the bully demanded.
"Nothing, Melvin," Benny responded, as Dickie's friends backed further away.
'Melvin?' Elliot thought. Where did he hear that name before? He then remembered what Dickie said yesterday: "If you run into a boy named Melvin, stay away from him."
Elliot then figured out Dickie's problem. Why didn't Dickie tell him? He had to solve that problem later. Right now, he had to solve the problem of Melvin. If Elliot was in his real body, this would be easy to handle. However, since Elliot was now a few feet smaller, the situation was more complicated.
"I heard you tattled on me for what I did to those kids a few days ago," Melvin said. "Is that true?"
Elliot was silent. He didn't know what to say.
"Whatever. I don't need a reason to pound you when there are no grown-ups around," Melvin said, and formed a fist.
Melvin then took a swing at Elliot, but Elliot dodged the punch. Every time Melvin tried to hit him, Elliot just evaded the blow.
"Stop moving!" Melvin growled, trying to punch Elliot again.
This time, Elliot didn't realize that his detective's instincts took over. As Melvin's fist came closer to Elliot's face, Elliot grabbed Melvin's fist, twisted his arm back, and pinned him to the wall.
"I guess no one taught you how to be polite," Elliot said through his teeth, as he restrained Melvin.
Elliot then realized that was acting like a detective, not a kid, and that he was treating Melvin like a criminal. He then noticed that Dickie's friends were staring wide-eyed at him.
He let Melvin go, and walked back towards Dickie's friends. Melvin ran off in the opposite direction, running as fast as he could.
"What?" Elliot asked Dickie's friends.
"That was so cool!" David exclaimed. Benny and Rick nodded in agreement.
"Thanks… my dad taught me," Elliot said, saying the first thing that came to his mind.
"Really? Wow!" Benny exclaimed.
A thought then came to Elliot. What if Melvin told an adult what happened? If Kathy found out what he did, she'll yell at him, then at Dickie, thinking he's Elliot.
"What's the matter with you? You just stopped Melvin!" Rick asked, seeing Dickie's (Elliot's) upset expression.
"I was thinking, what if he tells an adult, and that person tells my Mom?" Elliot said, acting more like Dickie's age. "If my Mom finds out about this, she'll yell at me! Then she'll yell at my Dad, for teaching me that stuff! I don't want my Dad to get into trouble because of me!"
"Are you kidding? Melvin will never tell anybody about what happened!" Rick said. "It will ruin his reputation if word got out that someone beat him!"
"Plus, who will believe him? He told enough lies that most teachers don't trust him," David said.
"Really?" Elliot asked, hoping that this situation could turn out good.
"Hey, if I'm lying, then . . . I'll buy you all of next months issues of your favorite comic books," David said.
"Okay," Elliot said, putting on a smile. He then thought of something else. "Listen, can you keep this a secret between us? I know it will cool if everyone knows what I did, but I just don't want anyone to tell my Mom yet."
"Sure," Rick said. David and Benny also agreed.
Elliot was relieved that he survived that incident. He wondered how Dickie was doing as he followed Dickie's friends to class.
/\
"Hey Dickie, did you find the information I need?" Olivia asked Dickie, when she was close enough so no one else could overhear her. Dickie looked up from the file he was reading.
"Sure, here," Dickie said, handing Olivia another file.
"Wow, thanks," Olivia said, smiling. "Your dad is never this quick finding information."
"Really?" Dickie asked, starting to smile. Olivia responded by nodding and smiling back. She then noticed the file Dickie was holding.
"So what are you reading?" Olivia asked.
"Just . . . some . . . stuff," Dickie said, trying to close the file. However, Olivia was too quick, and grabbed the papers from the file, before Dickie could close it. She then realized she didn't have papers in her hand, she had a comic book. Olivia couldn't help but laugh a little. She then looked at Dickie.
"I was bored," Dickie said. "Dad said it was okay if I pretended to work."
Friday Afternoon"Four. One, two, three, four," Dickie moved the green piece across the board. Elliot and Dickie were back at home, playing a board game. Dickie looked at Elliot. "Your turn."
Elliot picked up the dice and rolled. It landed on an 'one'. "There. So how was work?"
Dickie shrugged.
"What you do?" Elliot asked, curious.
"Pretended to work for most of the time," Dickie replied.
"That means you were reading comic books," Elliot translated. Dickie looked at him. "Olivia told me when she picked me up."
"Well, I did other stuff besides reading comic books. I was a big help. Go to Jail, Dad! It's the rules!" Dickie said, smiling, as he moved Elliot's piece to 'Jail' section of the game board.
"Did I tell you? I meet Melvin today," Elliot said and looked at Dickie.
Dickie's blood drained from his cheeks, "Melvin."
"Yeah, interesting person," Elliot said.
"What happened?" Dickie asked. Melvin, the school bully, and Dickie was his favorite punching bag.
"Well, I found myself separated from your buddies. When I asked them what's wrong, I meet Melvin," Elliot said.
"What happened then?" Dickie asked, getting nervous.
"He tried to hit me, but I dodged his blows," Elliot said. "Until, well . . . okay, for a moment I forgot I was you, and acted like my real self. The next time he tried to hit me, I restrained him."
"You what?" Dickie exclaimed. "Dad, do you know what you did?"
"I know, I should have handled the situation differently," Elliot said.
"Not that!" Dickie said. "Dad, you defeated the school bully!"
Elliot's eyes widen.
"That explains why your friends were so impressed," Elliot said.
"They saw?" Dickie exclaimed.
"Of course they saw it! Don't worry, I told them to keep it a secret," Elliot said, and then sighed. "Dickie, why didn't you tell me about this?"
"You didn't need to know," Dickie said, not looking at Elliot.
"What do you mean by that?" Elliot asked.
"You're mostly busy with work, and since Mom and you aren't together, I rarely see you," Dickie said.
"What about Mom? Does she know?" Elliot asked. Dickie shook his head. "Why not? Don't say that 'she doesn't need to know.'"
"Mom listens to my sisters more than me," Dickie said, getting up and walked away from his dad. Elliot followed Dickie.
"What make you say that?" Elliot asked, as Dickie sat down in a chair in another room.
"When I try to talk to Mom, Kathleen or Maureen tells me that what I have to say isn't important, so they can talk to her more," Dickie said. "So I talk Elizabeth; she promised me she wouldn't tell anybody."
"Dickie, even if Kathleen or Maureen pushes you away, you have to continue to try to talk to your Mom," Elliot said; he was somewhat happy that Dickie did talk to someone about the bully problem. "She will listen to you; she does love you."
"Okay, Dad, I'll try that," Dickie said, looking at his father. Elliot nodded back; then he looked back into the room where they left the game.
"So . . . you want to finish the game?" Elliot asked.
"Maybe later, Dad. It's getting late, and I have to do my homework," Dickie said, getting up and checking the time. "I have to get it done today; Captain Cragen asked me to work a little tomorrow. How about we finish playing after dinner?"
Elliot nodded back in agreement, and Dickie left the room to do his homework. Elliot sighed as he sat down in a chair. He felt awful that he didn't know about the difficulties of Dickie's life. Elliot wanted to make things better for Dickie, and started thinking.