Part 28: Assumptions

Sorry that it's taken us so long to update – I was swamped with work and we've both had a lot of things going on. Thanks so much to our fans for waiting for so long – we hope that the wait was worth it – if you enjoy it, please let the authors know. So as a treat, we're posting 2 chapters very close together - Chapter 29 will be posted very soon.

Happy Holidays everybody!

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...

That Monday, Daryl still insisted on going back to school and shook him off, Will forced himself to let his son go with the never ending nagging worry if there was going to be more trouble before this day was over.

By now from what Merle had told him, he was convinced it must have been a teacher and Merle agreed. Did Daryl have class with the bastard?

That Will was worried sick about his son was an understatement so to take the edge off, he downed the glass he was clutching in his hand. It didn't take long before he wished he had something stronger than the whiskey from the store he had that sadly was only a step up from home-brewed moonshine….

Daryl sauntered into the classroom as if he didn't have a care in the world, hiding his apprehension. But there were no twitters or giggles like last time. Everyone was practically ignoring him and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that his classmates thankfully was none the wiser about what had gone down between him and Rogers.

He wasn't worried about Eric as he took his place beside him, ignoring his questioning look. Daryl knew he would stick to his side of the unspoken pact – namely that everything Daryl told him was for his ears only and that he wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone else.

Still, Daryl knew he wasn't out of the woods yet and he shivered, earning himself a concerned look from his friend because their math class – the first once since it happened - wasn't until that afternoon.

He was dreading it.

Eric wasn't as surprised as he pretended when his friend didn't want any lunch.

'You worried about maths?' He asked, effortlessly striking the nail on the head but trying to be subtle about it.

Daryl shrugged. 'Nah. Jus' ain't hungry.'

'I got ya back', Eric offered and Daryl smiled at him, touched despite himself.

'Thanks.' He replied a little uncertainty, resisting his natural urge to say he didn't need anyone to have his back.

'No worries.' Eric grinned back, thankfully pulling him out of the abyss of his dark thoughts and held his eye until Daryl got embarrassed and looked back down at his desk, forcing himself to bite back his tongue. Of course, he wanted to spit out that he was fine alone. That he could handle a pussy like Rogers but if he let himself think about how the bastard had lunged at him, the intimate places he'd touched him...He shivered, earning himself a concerned look from his friend because their math class - was up next.

…...

Maths was torture mostly thanks to Shane because Daryl didn't notice anything different about Rogers other than that he barely glanced at him and didn't ask him any questions. Or more importantly – didn't ask him to stay behind.

In other words, he acted like nothing had happened.

Nobody seemed to notice except for Shane – damn him - who hissed over with an exaggerated lift of the eyebrow – 'What? Not his favorite anymore? Did you forget to do your homework?' He crooned mockingly.

'Fuck off, Shane.' Daryl glared back. 'You pissed because he always asks you questions that you can't answer, dumbass?' He retorted.

'At least I'm not a teacher's pet!' The bigger boy spluttered in rage, face turning purple because he knew it was true.

Daryl grinned infuriatingly back at him and Eric followed suit. 'Better follow in your Daddy Sheriff's footsteps because he'll give you a job even if you are too dumb to get nothin' else.' He added laughingly.

'Why you...I don't want to be a cop! I fuckin' hate cops!' Shane hissed and half-got up to lunge at him - even in the middle of class. Daryl smirked and made a 'bring it on' gesture with his fingers.

'Why do you have to be so mean all the time? Leave it.' Andrea pulled Shane back from Daryl and smiled sweetly over at the Dixon. She glanced over at Rogers who was usually always so hot on classroom discipline but hadn't seemed to notice the loud dispute going on right under his nose.

Shane grumbled but did what she said at least for a while and Daryl zoned out and let the teacher's voice fade gradually as he fell into a sweet day dream about the blonde girl sitting to his far right. He'd always wondered why Shane often did what she told him. He was usually such a macho asshole otherwise.

Well, why wouldn't he play nice? She was gorgeous after all. A few months back, Daryl would have believed that he actually had a chance with her when she broke up with Shane temporarily.

Of course it never happened. He was just a rough redneck – even his heavy local accent gave him away. He was never going to be good enough for a city-girl like her.

Still, didn't mean he had to stop dreaming.

Shane quietened down for a while but as soon as the teacher turned his back again to write some algebra formulae on the blackboard, he started up again, unable to resist. He'd been watching his girlfriend's exchange with his nemesis with narrowed eyes.

He hadn't liked it one bit.

Not one bit.

'Is it because you ain't as tough as you make out?' He needled.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Daryl spat.

'Oh, just thinking out loud.'

'Must be painful for you. To think, I mean.' Daryl sneered.

If Shane had glanced a little to his left he would've seen his girlfriend hide a little smile behind her hand, but his focus was totally on Daryl. Therefore, he ignored the rude comment about his ability to think and continued,'Jus' wonderin' how the hell you get everyone stickin' up for you? Do they do it 'cause they feel sorry for a loser like you?'

'You're the only loser here. Get a life, will ya?' Eric grumbled.

'I don't need people sticking up for me, I can handle assholes like you just fine on by myself.' Daryl hissed back.

'Yeah, I can see that.' Shane hissed back sarcastically.

'Shut up, Shane.' Andrea nudged him under the table and offered an apologetic smile in Daryl's direction. 'Leave it.'

'Ha! And they keep sticking up for you!' He grinned at her, then at Daryl. 'Babe, come on, what do you see in him anyway?' He asked her and smirked when he saw how angry she was. 'I mean seriously – do you have any balls at all, Dixon?'

Daryl blushed and gave him the finger. 'I'll show them to you in the yard if ya want after I beat ya into the ground, Walsh. Remember last time?'

Shane leered at him with a dismissive shrug but he went pale first. 'Nah...I ain't interested. Ain't a pussy fag.'

'Nah, you're the one without balls.' Eric piped in. ''Cos ya ain't got the guts to fight him again after he beat you up in front of everybody.

'Jesus! That was ages ago!'

'Shut up, all of you.' Andrea said. 'I'm sick of this. ' She punched her boyfriend hard on the arm but he ignored her. 'I sometimes wonder why I'm with you when you're like this!' She exclaimed.

'Well then, why don't you go and be with him since you like him so much?' Shane replied coldly without looking at her.

Her eyes met Daryl's but he was the first to look away.

Shane smirked triumphantly then and leaned over confidentially towards the slightly uncomfortable Eric and the bristling Dixon who were currently speechless with rage and his friend. Daryl was gripping the edge of his desk so hard that his knuckles were white and Eric was getting ready to stop a fight breaking out.

'What's going on back there?' The teacher barked without warning, his voice raised slightly in irritation. But he wasn't looking at them as he continued; 'Shane, Eric and Andrea – see me at the end, please. Now, can we just get on with class?'

Daryl found himself staring at the high-school educator's back even though he had been determined to completely ignore him. He blinked, unable to believe it – why hadn't Rogers included him? He'd told himself that he wanted the creep to stay away from him and now that he was he was suddenly left with an empty feeling in his chest. Daryl frowned, confused at his own conflicting emotions. He hated Rogers!

Roger's omission didn't go unnoticed by his arch-enemy either. They sat in a tense silence until the teacher turned his back again to write on the blackboard. Apparently, Shane thought that the man had also lost his hearing while turning his back to them.

'Go on, you can tell me.' His voice turned low and coaxing. 'Why's he ignorin' you? You used to suck up to him... did you accidently bite his dick or something while you were working hard to get those grades?'

Daryl was once again rendered speechless in a mixture of rage and disbelief as well as shame which he could feel burning his cheeks.

That jibe was low, even coming from Shane who he expected almost anything from. It was the worst thing anyone could have said to him and trust Walsh to say it. He would have lunged at him then but his friend held him back.

'He ain't worth it – he's tryin' to get you to blow your top and get a detention.' Eric whispered to him.

Daryl forced himself to calm down. A detention with Rogers? That would be his worst nightmare. His mind whirled at the thought and he had to stop himself from showing his alarm.

A couple of chairs away from him, Andrea had been momentarily frozen at the vindictiveness of her boyfriend's verbal attack and now she nudged Shane with her elbow, unable to believe her ears.

She knew that he had a vicious side to him but she still couldn't quite believe that he'd said that to Daryl of all people even if they did hate each other's guts.

'You're disgusting, Shane. How could you say stuff like that when you know what…what...' Now she was blushing as hard as Daryl when she realized what she had been about to say and that Daryl had heard every word of it.

'Know what?' Daryl almost snapped at her, his nerves had been stretched to the limit by Shane and now there was a hint of menace in his voice.

He knew it was unfair from him as he was directing his fear and anger with Shane at her and he hated himself for it but he couldn't seem to make himself stop. Especially when she had been just sticking up for him. It was nice of her but it wasn't like Daryl had asked her to do so. Didn't she realise that it was embarrassing as hell for him and would only make Shane worse? Girls never did seem to get stuff like that.

Worse - now it had grown so quiet that you could hear a pin drop and that was when he realized to his horror that the whole classroom had fallen silent and was listening. Even Rogers – especially Rogers! Rogers who had been ignoring their loud dispute the whole time which wasn't like him at all when he must have heard them. Now the teacher looked like he was going to be sick before he slid a mask of detached professionalism over his face.

Even Shane now looked like he was regretting his words despite his smirk. Maybe he hadn't really intended to remind Daryl of Mike after all. Or humiliate him like that in front of everybody.

'I swear, if you don't shut the fuck up and stop talkin' shit, I really will bash ya head in the yard out there.' Daryl forgot all about his audience in his anger as he jabbed a finger towards the window and nearly got up to leave then. Nothing could make him stay in that classroom with them but he was interrupted.

'Hey, guys...' Eric whispered. 'He's comin' over and he looks real pissed.'

It was true, Rogers was stalking over to them and now Daryl really wanted to get out of there for real.

Torn between escape and looking like a coward, he decided to brave it out and glare and sneer at the teacher contemptuously as he reached their table but it turned out it wasn't necessary because Rogers insisted on stubbornly ignoring him. Still, frankly, it was hard for him not to pull his seat back when Rogers leaned over at them getting too close for his comfort. At first the teacher said nothing and settled on sternly making eye-contact with each of them except for Daryl.

'Last warning.' He told them. 'I don't know what the problem here is but I want it to stop RIGHT NOW, you hear?'

All of them nodded. 'Sorry, Sir.' Andrea even smiled up at him sweetly but Rogers wasn't charmed by her prettiness. After all, he wasn't the kind of guy who was susceptible to her feminine wiles.

Daryl wasn't the only one who breathed a sigh of relief when the angry teacher strode off. After that, they sat in uneasy silence throughout the rest of the class.

Daryl really wasn't worried about Rogers, especially as he was keeping his distance and not paying him any attention. Yet this didn't make him happy and paradoxically, he felt hurt by it.

When the bell finally rang, he made sure he was one of the first students to leave after the seemingly endless class was over hoping that the teacher wouldn't suddenly 'remember' he was one of the perpetrators and make him stay behind after all with - or worse - without the others.

As he approached the door, Rogers caught his eye and gave him a cautious glance of concern, and just like that Daryl's contempt and feelings of betrayal flared back up again at the older man's self- delusional hypocrisy.

Perve should be more worried about his job, Daryl thought furiously as he unwilingly approached the man. Rogers looked like he was about to say something just then, however, upon seeing the expression on the Dixon's face, he zipped his lips back up again.

Right at the last minute before he got out of there, however, Daryl looked him straight in the eye before he deliberately bumped the older man's shoulder just to show him that he didn't scare him. He heard gasps of shock behind them but ignored them.

Nobody touched a teacher.

He'd done it more to make a statement than anything else but also because he felt like he had to get some distance between them as they got closer even though he knew that the bastard wasn't stupid enough to try anything with everyone watching.

And if he was honest with himself, he probably wouldn't have dared to do it in the first place if Eric hadn't been directly behind him and literally 'had his back' just like he said would.

They hurried out the classroom as quickly as they could after that and Rogers didn't stop them even though Eric had been one of the students he wanted to talk to and Daryl had just majorly disrespected him in public.

'Shane! Andrea! I told you to stay behind.' Rogers barked at them - his voice was rough and his voice unnecessarily sharp.

The rest of the students gave each other shocked looks as they filed out while the boyfriend and girlfriend stayed behind. As soon as they were out in the yard, Eric high-fived him. 'That was awesome! Did you see the look on his face? Even Shane was impressed. Ain't never been anyone who ever did that to a teacher before, I bet! And he just let us go!'

'Yeah, well.' Daryl shrugged his shoulders, unimpressed. 'Had my reasons. 'Sides, you saw him ignore me the whole time.'

'Yeah. Let's hope he keeps on doing that. He'd be an idiot to hassle you again after how you showed him today. Best of all, he didn't tell you stay behind with us…Looks like he's scared shitless of you!'

'Good!' Daryl exclaimed but Eric could see that he wasn't feeling very happy or triumphant by the latest events to judge by his body language. His friend's shoulders were hunched and he wasn't looking at him when he spoke.

They went on their way in companionable silence until it was time for them to part ways at 'their' corner as Eric had grown used to thinking of it. The one with a gas-station lining the left side opposite the cornfield on the other.

'You OK?' Eric asked and jerked his head in the direction of where the Dixons lived.

Daryl understood that he wasn't just talking about his abusive dad and nodded.

Still, Eric touched his arm in concern before they parted. 'You sure ya gonna be OK goin' home? You've been kinda...'

Daryl shrugged away. 'What ya gettin' at?' He growled defensively.

'Sorry – didn't mean...' Eric knew he'd made a big mistake.

''Sides, Merle's back.'

'That's great.' Eric was genuinely relieved because he knew that Daryl's dad tended to hit him a lot less when his big brother was around.

'Well, then...' He stretched out his arms to hug him without thinking but Daryl frowned and neatly stepped round him.

Stupid prick! He berated himself. Eric wondered if he should have apologised again but realised that would only make a big deal out of nothing.

And make himself look like a dick.

'Yeah...' Daryl replied, looking unconvinced and barely glanced at him but stood there hopping from one foot to the other while he fidgeted at his clothes with his hands, looking nervous and uncomfortable.

'Well, see ya tomorrow, then.'

'Yeah. Tomorrow.' Eric watched him leave.

He should have remembered that the Dixons weren't affectionate with each other like he was with his family. Plus, when Daryl's dad was being a bastard and he was hurting, he naturally didn't want to be touched so those times Eric didn't even try.

But Daryl had begun to accept hugs from him – had even initiated one the other day. It was a real shame because Eric reckoned that his best friend was someone who could really do with them.

Eric watched his best friend slope away with a worried frown, praying that his dad wasn't drunk and that he'd be in a good mood for a change and not take his problems out on Daryl. He was often worried sick about him but even if he turned up bruised and battered he couldn't bring up his dad unless Daryl did first.

That went without saying.

But like Daryl had said, Merle was home.

….

Unknown to Eric, Daryl looked back over his shoulder before dragging his feet not for the first time when he continued on his way home. He just knew his father would pounce on him as soon as he got inside, demanding to know who had scared him and if he had tried again today.

At least his brother was there and he'd hinted at taking Daryl out some night this week or the next. Get him away from Dad and his constant questions... Naturally Merle wanted to know as well, but he wasn't as dogged in his questioning. From him it was tolerable because he had the sense to know when his brother had had enough of the questioning and he'd stop. Unlike Dad.

Unfortunately, Daryl had a feeling it would be like this until he caved in and gave them Roger's name but he didn't want Merle to do what he'd done to Mike to Carl.

True, the fucker had attacked him, scared him badly and betrayed him but he wasn't like that sick sack of shit -he'd eventually stopped when he'd been told to. Had even apologized... but not before groping him. More than that, he'd also promised never to do it again, but then again, he was probably only thinking about his job and Daryl didn't necessarily trust him if he found himself alone with him in a classroom together.

Rogers was still a disgusting human being – a pervert and a queer to boot, but Daryl didn't think he deserved to die.

Sure, he deserved some pain and to be scared just like he'd made Daryl and for someone to make sure he didn't do it to anyone else ever again... but surely he didn't deserve the things his big brother would do to him. Daryl also recalled his hurt when Rogers had passed over him - down right ignored him actually, and he didn't know why he'd been upset and not relieved that the creep was staying away.

He figured out that it was because he used to like him and their after-class chats. The man used to make him feel better about himself at one time and tell him that he was smart and could go far if he worked hard. Daryl wondered how much of it was true and heartfelt, and how much of what he said was just because the creep wanted to get into his pants.

Surely everything couldn't be pretend after all and the way he'd looked at him before Daryl had shoved his shoulder into him told Daryl otherwise. It had been a look of genuine concern – not anger or accusation but concern. Rogers was still pondlife in Daryl's book but he guessed that he owed the teacher something at least because before he turned into an A- list psycho, he had helped and listened to him. Not that Daryl had ever told him bout his dad's violence – simply because he didn't need to, it being common knowledge. Besides, Rogers knew who'd painted his face in different colours every time he walked in after his dad had used him to blow off some steam.

Daryl found it a welcome change to talk and focus on other stuff rather than the hell he was living in. Like his hopes and dreams. Like getting out of the shithole he'd grown up in and making something of himself.