Author's notes: This chapter replaces Renewed. The original ended on a cliffhanger which I thought felt tacky.

'I'll be frank, this is one of the best drafts you've ever given me. Having said that, I'd remind you it would be the first. I'd like to say there are some things you need to fix, but I honestly can't see anything that's wrong with the structure of your report. . .which makes me need to remind you the school has a policy against plagiarism. Now, be honest; whose work is this really?'

It had come as a shock, Paulo's teacher, Mr. Noodle berated Paulo for plagiarism as he waved the paper back and forth towards Paulo. His heart had hurt at the words as they were said; a lot of sacrifice and tears were poured into that paper, all just to be sullied as a copy of someone else's work, immediately as the teacher reviewed the last few sentences. He felt a rage in his heart as he grew frustrated by the insinuation. He had read the book, several times in fact! He knew the answers that the assignment asked! And most of all, it undid all the turmoil of the last few days between him and a friend. He couldn't help but grit his teeth as his rage began to build up inside of him. . .

. . .but he let it subside within him a moment later when his thoughts went back to that one day weeks ago when he fell asleep in math, when it all began and there understood why this was happening. It made sense that a lot of the teachers had given up on him.

But he wanted the teacher to believe he was trying to make a change for the better.

He balled up his fists. 'It's mine! I didn't copy it.' He argued back.

Mr Noodle studied Paulo. He'd known this student for a number of years. He had been in all his classes ever since he was a freshman; naturally average, neither excelling and never really failing outright at the same time. Except for the last couple of weeks, everything of recent had been of poor effort. It was less than what others in his grade were producing. Up until now that seemed.

And yet, he was at a loss. He couldn't prove Paulo otherwise.

His attention went back to the draft Paulo had given to him. To the point, it was what he said earlier; there was nothing he could see that was wrong with it. Establishing this, he didn't believe for a second that a student such as Paulo was capable of pulling out such a rabbit out of his hat. He was adamant about that.

But still, a feeling lingered within Mr. Noodle and he still pondered at the possibility that he might in fact be wrong; Paulo was here, after all, in front of him with his draft. Paulo had never shown him a draft of his assignments, choosing to simply submit them as they were. Surely he wouldn't be silly enough to try and show him it and ask for recommendations to improve if it wasn't his own. Was this a prank? Was there a camera nearby filming him? Surely, there was a reason behind this.

When he looked at Paulo, he could see the fire in his eyes. Mr Noodle pondered about it. Indeed, what if?. . .

That October Monday morning, Paulo had arrived uncharacteristically early at Roseville High. It would've been another week, the same as the old at Roseville, but unlike many of the ones before, there was an energy that hung about Paulo. He was going to follow Sue He wanted to mark that change in his heart in stone by following Sue's recommendation from yesterday to the letter; he'd get his draft checked over by their teacher, just as she told him to.

As he hung outside the staff room door, he couldn't bring himself to open it. His arm hung on the door handle, but didn't immediately twist and open it. He'd frozen as he began to pay attention to the butterflies in his stomach and gulped to himself at the question of how long it had actually been since he had been inside of the staff room? He couldn't remember a time. He couldn't help his head wonder at what the teachers would be thinking when he walked in. What could he possibly be there for? Was he here to receive an extension? Oh, well, at least he had the diligence to do it early rather than the last minute!

His hand moved off the door knob and straight across his face. It actually hurt, he didn't know why he did it, but he resolved he needed to stop thinking like that. He wasn't going to leave without a recommendation to his book review.

His hand made its way back to the door handle, he twisted it, and the door opened. Peering inside, he spotted the silhouette of his English teacher in the back of the room. His teacher didn't immediately acknowledge his presence even when Paulo stood beside him, his attention set on the book in front of him. It was only until Paulo coughed did Mr. Noodles elicit a response. He apologised and agreed to review his draft, begrudgingly for a moment as the book was almost finished and the ending was just in sight. But a delay was necessary, it was his duty, after all, as a teacher at Roseville high to ensure his students were provided with the foundations they needed to succeed. But Mr. Noodle couldn't provide this without first questioning the draft paper as it were.

There was a problem with it, he didn't quite believe Paulo. His work was always a bit of a mess; a bit on the end of a D-Grade. This time, he didn't really see anything wrong with how it's been written. That peaked his curiosity, things just didn't seem to line up.

'Paulo…'

'Sir?'

'If you are lying—'

'I — I'm not lying!' Paulo interrupted. 'I mean it! I spent the entirety of my Sunday writing it up with Sue! You can ask her if you really don't believe me! She helped me write it!'

Noodle's brow rose with the name, 'With Susan, you say?' Well, now there may have been a little hope. Susan was a far better writer. This could explain a whole lot of inconsistencies. 'I sincerely hope she didn't write it for you?' He inquired again, clearly even the mention of Sue's name wasn't enough to distil the contempt against the paper.

Paulo shook his head. 'No she…she just gave me input on how to try to write as well as she does.' He leaned forward slightly over Mr Noodle's desk, it was as close to pleading before really getting on his knees and begging. 'I'm really trying, Sir. I mean it! Please tell me what more do I need to turn this into a passing grade?'

Mr. Noodles was quiet for a few seconds, before finally giving into the slightest of possibilities. The thought of taking his suggestion and asking Sue had crossed his mind, but Mr. Noodles realised he really couldn't. It left him with no choice. 'You only need to keep up this effort.' Mr. Noodles replied. 'Just get those last couple of chapter's done and you'll have a completed report.' He handed back the sheet of paper and retreated to his book. He expected Paulo to leave in that instant having all he really needed, but Paulo remained.

'And…if I wanted to go higher than a passing grade….' He asked again.

It would've been a lie if somewhere inside Mr Noodle there wasn't an 'Oh-ho!' followed with his eyes lighting up at the question. 'You need to delve a bit further into the actors in your report, do more analysis into their behaviour.' He snatched the page back from Paulo while his other hand fished for a red pen. He let his hand flick around the printout as quick as it could, circling and writing notes, 'You can fit a bit more into the areas here, here and finish it off about here.' Sated with his handiwork he handed back the paper. He looked up towards his revitalised pupil, giving him a parting request; 'I'd like to see the finished draft before you submit it. That's all I can do, you'll have to do the rest.'

Paulo allowed himself to keep the same smile Mr. Noodles gave him and thanked him before turning towards the exit.

As Paulo left Mr. Noodle contemplated the sudden turn of events; the deadline for the assignment was weeks away, and Paulo was the first to have a nearly completed draft. He couldn't lie, where did this sudden change come from?

He returned to his book and finished off the last page he was reading before Paulo's interruption. He closed it shut. Overall, it wasn't a bad book. But he'd hoped it would've ended on a happier note; the long struggles of the hero ended with little return in the end. But that was fine considering; sometimes the unexpected happens. The hero appeared to be happier despite not having the best result. His thoughts went to Paulo as the book was put back into his drawer. He wondered if he had not been as inspiring to his students as the hero was in his book.

He'd try a little harder.

Paulo couldn't help but know even without seeing her that it could've only been Sue's finger pressing into his cheek during lunch in the cafeteria. What he didn't realise is that it had been there for a while, and she had called out to him several times. He was already far too gone until he stopped thinking about how he was going to fix his report. She'd known she had finally succeeded getting through when it caused him to snap out of his stupor.

'Excuse me, what are you doing?!' Paulo yelled.

'You're excused.' She replied witfully and pulled back off from across the right side of the table so she wasn't leaning over Amaya anymore. Amaya gleefully joined sitting between them after having been near pushed out of her seat. At the same time Paulo had felt a shoulder nudge him from his left; that was David, not actually wanting Paulo's attention, but digging into his food. It had become obvious at this point the new lunchtime arrangements were painfully tight at the new table. He'd been strategically placed between the people he'd call his best friends. Though Paulo wondered if it was only this way so he wouldn't run away, not that he'd really want to; he'd been asked if he wanted to have lunch with them. It was an invitation he felt he couldn't pass up considering.

Sue continued talking to him from her seat; 'Now that I finally have your undivided attention, did you do as I recommended and showed your draft to the teacher?'

'I did.' He confirmed.

Sue smiled broadly in response. 'Good! And?'

'And. . .that's basically it! Everything he told me was exactly how you put it yesterday. Though I had asked what I needed to do if I wanted to take my grade further.'

'How did he react?' She asked again.

He didn't know where to start, but he told her all about it, skipping the details of earlier that morning but what Mr. Noodle said to the letter. While he did so, he watched as Sue's grin got larger right up to the end.

'That's perfect! All according to plan!'

Paulo cocked his head to the side, 'What plan?'

'The plan, Paulo. I can't do everything all on my own. You need to get make the teachers to renew their faith in you if we're going to get anywhere. If this year's going to work out, you'll need all the help and support you can afford.' She explained to him.

Paulo wasn't sure how to take that initially, he thought they were doing quite well by themselves. Did they really need them if between them the report was just that good? He thought about the whole point; Why win back the teacher's trust now? 'Can't you just continue to help me like you have been?' He asked.

'Oh, of course I will. I'd say I'm committed at this point. But I can't help you with everything. I'm not Daisy or Mike. But you need a safety-net for the classes we aren't in. If you keep up the look that you're trying to change, the teachers will do what they can to help.' She turned to place a book into her bag and caught Paulo still staring at her as if there was more. There was, she thought to remind him, '. . .by the way, we're still on for this weekend, you're not getting out of those — every Saturday and Sunday at the Library like we agreed.' He was about ready to protest. Did they agree to that? Did he have a choice? Before he could ask about it, but she looked down to his untouched food. 'Lunch's almost over, you're going to eat today, right?'

'Yes I am, mom.' He moaned at her childishly. He felt her foot kick against his leg a second later. It didn't hurt, but he couldn't stop jumping in his seat as it connected and letting go of a noise David found funny. Paulo thought to return the favour but knowing there really wasn't much time left he chose not to. He really had his head in the clouds before. He went to his sandwich as he listened to David restart his antics from a few days ago in the library, and roll his eyes as his friend posed the question of whether Sue and Paulo were secretly dating. David had expected that Paulo would protect him from the pair of hands moving quickly from towards his neck from their side of the table, but didn't count on Paulo deciding not to involve himself as two of his besties went into a one-sided fight; David losing.

God…he thought, he missed this. When School began he started eating his lunch hidden underneath the seats on the sports ground, well away from anyone, isolated. Since Sue had invited him, he decided to try and re-join the group's table in the cafeteria. Truth was, he'd beg if he really needed to, though they knew they wouldn't try to make him.

He thought about it for a moment. It might have been possible Sue would've made him, had yesterday not happened. He wondered if his earlier self would've gone along with it.

Probably not.

He felt a nudge from David still urging Paulo to help him, but Paulo was too fixated on the new arrangements. It was enough of a shock when he had walked into the cafeteria only to find the usual table they had held last year didn't have the same group of faces he was familiar with. In fact, there wasn't a single member of the old group that were there. He didn't have long to dwell on it, as Sue's hand found itself on his shoulder as she stood beside him, having snuck from behind waiting for him to appear.

'Sad, huh?' She began, 'We ended up losing the large table. There wasn't much of a reason for such a small group of people to hold onto it, so we swapped with theirs, although I admit we really got the worst of the deal.' She turned him towards the corner of the lunch hall and Paulo followed the direction to a pathetically small table, enough to fit between four to five people. But that wasn't as important. He recognised the people seated there. She led him over, David moved the seat over so Paulo could sit between him and Amaya. It was a tight squeeze, he would have complained, but rubbing shoulders with the people who refused to let him go alone was with a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time, even if they were all fighting between themselves just now.

By then he had noticed Sue studying him as he sported the broadest smile across his face from the nostalgia, and he hung his head in embarrassment.

But he really missed this.

The bell sounded for the last couple of periods in the day, Paulo was about to leave before a hand grabbed his arm.

'Do you have a second?' Sue asked. He nodded, before realising he did so involuntarily. He watched as Sue waved goodbye to Amaya and David, and once they had disappeared, Sue moved closer towards him, pulling out a piece of paper from her bag as she did so and laying it on the table. Paulo recognised it as a calendar with weeks highlighted in different Fluro-pens and certain days circled in all manner of colours.

Sue continued. 'I started drafting up a plan for your study sessions. Assuming you're working some nights, we should concentrate the entirety of your Saturday and half of Sunday. Here, look.' She passed it across to him to read over. He felt his face contort from the lack of time to himself in the whole plan. He tried to groan but Sue stopped him. 'Don't start with that! There's a lot of work we need to catch up on. Sacrifices are going to be a harsh reality.'

Paulo sighed, 'I get it, I know. I've already spoken with my job and they're fine with me taking some reduced shifts. Though, I'll still need to work some Saturdays.'

'On those weeks, we'll arrange to do it on the entire Sunday then.'

Paulo groaned louder.

'Stop that!'

'Weekends are my favourite time of the week! A time to just, chill!' He howled before crumpling onto the table. Losing them was like losing a valuable piece of him. All in the while, Sue sighed to herself. She'd seen this coming.

'I'm sorry Paulo but you'll have to treat days off on weekends like a reward at this stage, any moment you're not studying is wasted time. No rest for the weary and all that.' Paulo didn't immediately return a response. She thought for a moment. 'Alright, fine. How about every Sunday I'll show you a bit of the game near the end of the session? And if you do well enough in your midterms maybe. . . just maybe, we can both play together.'

Sue knew Paulo's inaction was not a result of him not hearing her, but contemplating the terms. He rose his head, 'Deal.' He said.

Sue responded extended her hand towards him. 'Shake on it then. You're putting in as much effort in as possible until the midterms.' He did as he was told, and caught her hand following with one swing. Sue smiled once it was done. 'Then the contract is sealed. Now, we'd better go before we get in trouble.'

Paulo picked himself up from the table. 'Wait.' He called out, Sue turned around to him. 'About what you said earlier. . .about not being Daisy?'

'What about it?'

'You shouldn't do that, you know? You're fine as you are.' He said, scratching his cheek a little.

Sue blinked at him. It would have to be a first; Paulo providing some words of comfort, to her of all people. She thought about them for a short moment before making a 'snerk'-like noise at his support of her, causing Paulo to respond with 'What?'

'Sappy.' She told him. 'But it's true, I'm good. But I'm convinced I can teach you everything.' She turned to leave but stopped just before walking away. 'But…hey, that last part, the whole "do our best" thing? Keep that kind of energy about you. That's one of your best qualities.'

She charged off leaving Paulo feeling himself blush around the cheeks. He didn't know what to think of her comment. He picked up his books and walked to his next class.