Paulo's inner side sighed to himself as he looked over the catastrophic mess of a jigsaw puzzle before him. He was still at it - trying to piece things together, sorting them from one another and putting them in the spots he thought they belonged. He couldn't help but feel a little agitated; a little impatient with how long it was taking. It was ever such a slow process. He wondered to himself if it were okay for things to be like this. He didn't know who to ask. Was there anyone else suffering as bad as he was? What if they didn't have an answer either? He felt he needed one now, just so he'd keep sane.

He sighed again; it would take a while, a part of him knew as much. It knew he was only trying to entertain himself with the idea of figuring it all out sooner. It was going to take longer, that was certain. It's just how it was, and he had to accept that alone. Still, if only he knew more about these pieces, he wasn't quite sure of. There were pieces that he didn't know where they belonged. He felt his anxiety fly when he looked at them. He wasn't sure if he could take looking at them right now, so instead he tried looking for the more nostalgic ones. Except they weren't where they used to be. Where did those ones go? He asked to himself. He was very sure some of those memories had once been important to him, but they weren't in the places he remembered. He turning towards another mess of pieces, pieces which continually changed shape. Were they part of this mess now? The pieces he hadn't been able to figure out? Some where about him, he knew. Others about opportunities available, some not. There was a massive worry, and he frantically began to dig into the pile, tearing into them one after another to find the pieces he wish he could remembered. To his horror, he couldn't find them. He only had his worries. Nothing comforting, and that frightened him. He didn't know where he was going. Where was life trying to lead him, and to what end? He bought his hands up against his head and slid down onto the table. What was he going to do now?

There was a bit of shock when he felt a hand against his shoulder. He turned towards it, Sue was here, somehow. That confused him. Wasn't he supposed to be alone here? Did she come in suddenly? Did he let her in?

He didn't think about it. Instead, he watched her as she came closer and surveyed the disorganised pieces. He studied her reaction, only feeling it was about right when she looked like she had a lot of things to say. The saddened expression she gave told him so much about the state of things. She didn't speak. He couldn't help but worry about it.

But as she would; she started reaching for the pieces one by one and started putting them where she thought they belonged. It popped out of place. So she tried another. That one didn't either. Her look changed. More determined. Another, then another. She gave it another few attempts but nothing stuck. He thought she was going to get aggravated - shout aloud and throw her hands up in the air in frustration. It be like her if she did. He thought to himself as she turned her head towards him. She'd been like that with some aspects of him in the past.

But he found himself surprised as she didn't. She did sigh her usual sigh and fold her arms at him, but then she smiled a very lovely smile at him. He focused on that, he couldn't look away from it. The weight seemed to disappear as his shoulders fell and the anxiety vanished. He only felt reassured by it and smiled back as well. Then Sue returned to the pieces. He watched her as she picked up the same piece she tried to put down just before. He wanted to say something but wasn't fast enough. He watched as she tried putting it in the same place she tried.

And it stayed.

He looked up to her and caught her looking at him in surprise as well. Again she smiled. He picked up a piece and put it on the board. It stayed too. He could only smile.

Still. There was a large pile to sort through, and there were going to be some pieces she couldn't touch. He wouldn't let her. At least not yet. He'd need to figure those out on his own.
-

It was the Monday following the weekend. Katie's party was ancient history and that morning Paulo found himself slugging through the same old snow-covered walk-way he took along the usual route to school. It was a little later than the usual time, and there was much disgrace to be had in that knowledge. In fact, he'd been making such a huge effort to get to school on time since getting serious about his studies. He'd been keeping it up for months in a row, and being a few minutes late ruined such a loss of a wonderful record, though if anyone other than himself could seriously care about it. It was made worse as he couldn't have cared either. He just couldn't; he wasn't at all there that morning, bringing a hand to his mouth and yawning loudly into it. He'd not been sleeping well at all. Not since the party and the welt to his face. The pain kept him from sweet dreams. He'd writhe every night instead. Even the pain medication he got from the doctor gave him on Saturday did very little. He took double that morning. It didn't do much. And he cursed himself, hoping the doctor didn't prescribe him a placebo. It was the fear that kept him from taking more. He was sure he'd overdose if he did. He cared about that at least, but not to think back and remember what the box said.

He didn't care about the record, at all. All he cared about as getting over the soreness and the agony. Even the thought of dying sounded good. Anything to just deal with the pain.

He wanted to slap himself, a hand came up to do that, those weren't good thoughts after all. But it stopped before it could make contact as a very desperate plea from his own body imagined how much worse he was going to make it by doing so.. He needed to find a way to cope.

He began to care more about his appearance. He had no choice in the matter; the welts he received from the party flared up and reminded him they existed. It made him look less forward to school; he was going to attract an awful lot of attention and there wasn't much that could be done about it. The bandages across his face had to stay for at least a couple of days more. It was either that or don't wear them, and so everyone could be disgusted by the puss-filled mass. It made time he busted his other eye back when he crashed Matt's car look a lot more tame. It hurt a lot less too. For that reason he dared not take it off.
His walk wasn't much of a walk either; it was a limp, that too was going to attract a lot of attention. But it wasn't a great problem for him; at least with that he could fake it once he got inside the doors. He didn't need to exert himself until then. He felt better thinking about it, remembering it was the last week of school, and it was unlikely anyone else was going to be rushing to school as early on a cold winter's morning. He was sure most of the other students would prefer to get dropped off from the warm enclosures of their parent's cars rather than walk early in the morning.

Certainly not a privilege he had . Not something he wanted to think too deeply about either, and he stopped doing just that. He allowed himself to take in a deep breath for a yawn. That turned out to be a mistake; his jaw stringed.

Fuck...this sucks! He complained.

He only wanted to compare whether it was the same pain or it was getting better from the weekend. Instead the thought about that night lingered dangerously, dredging up awful and painful reminders.

Naturally, he couldn't forget about the fight. But it wasn't the only thing his body wanted to remind himself about. He had been pushing himself in other ways too.

God, he was a show off, wasn't he?

He'd been pushing his body quite far that evening, way beyond his usual limits. His face ached with a great pain. His back too when he bounced off the floor during the fight. He'd done it greater injustice when he offered to carry Sue through the neighbourhood. Not that he'd ever say it to her face, but she's not anything like Lucy. On any other day it wouldn't have mattered too much, he was fit after all, but god he was not built for that kind of stress. He was also quite tired from the walk to Katie's mansion, but to go back as well, and even sprint during some of it? He must have been mad!

There was a bit of an epiphany during this revelation, although he wasn't happy to have had it. It might have been for the first time he might have felt that he was not as invulnerable as he used to make himself out to be when he was a kid. And he had done some stupid things!

Even the countless times when he got on Lucy's wrong side couldn't compare to the agony he was facing now.

He stopped thinking about it, diverting more thought into how he was going to drag his dead-weight corpse up the school stairs without hurting himself, before making his best attempt to walk as normal as possible through the hallway. It'd be a futile effort in the end, he was in so much more pain when he tried and his attempt just came off just as half-assed as he thought it would be.

A glance from an underclassmen made him try and stand straighter. He swore he must have thought he looked like a zombie coming down the hallway.

As he guessed, the kid would ask. 'What the hell happened to you?' He shouted at him. Other's heads would follow into his direction too.

He shook his head, and his brains for a way to suitably explain everything. A thought told him it was better not to. He trusted it. 'Don't ask.' He muttered, and hurried along the hall until he could catch his breath by his locker. He reprimanded himself in front of it. He had nothing about regrets; should've listened to the side of him that begged him to stay home and had done so. He was in that much pain. But there wasn't anything he felt he could do about it now. It was much too late, his father was going to be at work and he was already here. There wasn't much he could do than concern himself with school. So he did, and with the books he needed for the first class which were inside the locker. He'd study in the library where Sue would likely meet up with him like they always did. Things would be more predictable from this point forward. He was so sure of this when he bought out the key and thrust it in the keyhole. At least, he thought he did. He didn't feel the slide, he didn't hear it miss with the "thunk" of connecting metals or the scraping usually associated with it. He wondered if muscle memory failed him, something that happened because he was in so much pain today. He was forced to look down and acknowledge the reason, and saw the yellow tape plastered over the keyhole entrance. Without a second's thought he ran his forehead into the locker in his frustration.

Administrative tape. There to let him know someone from the school office had opened it recently.

He groaned to himself. It simply meant trouble.

He pulled his head off the door and glanced around to the other lockers, hoping it was not just his that had been targeted and there were a few others which had been as well. He walked down the corridor further, glancing towards both sides and desperately trying to ignore growing hole in his gut which told him it was his and only his that had been targeted, and he returned to it with his shoulders fallen as well as his head. Every other locker in view had appeared untampered, his was not, all to his dismay.

Standing still and staring down his locker he allowed his head to race forward with all the possible reasons why someone in the office would think they would need to search his locker. He'd been keeping well out of trouble as best as he could manage, so it only made him curious. He focused on that side, ignoring and giving as little time as possible listening to the side of him which felt offense; his locker being messed with. He was sure this was an invasion of his rights, a violation of his privacy for certain. It wouldn't get the best of him, he wouldn't let it. It was just the way things were and he had no say in the matter; the school had a right to search. He knew that much, but he was sure they had nothing. There was nothing of value in there. Nothing illegal either. It only had his dumb books, two or three of them, the rest were in his bag.

His head came to the same conclusion as his gut; there wasn't a reason. Why would they have to investigate it? He hadn't a clue.
His head hurt from all the thinking. He just wanted his damn books. None of this crap this early. The question would threaten to plague him the whole day. That much he knew about. In one fell swoop of his wrist he ripped the tape off and jammed the key all the way in. One twist after was all that was needed to gain access to his locker. A seamless effort, but he wasn't ready for what was after, and scrambled quicker than his body would have allowed in its achy state to stop something from falling out of it. He had little time to even see what it was as it filled his view and his arms with its weight. They protested and ached under the strain. A panicked thought of it falling on him and doing serious damage bought strength from some unknown part of him, and in one motion he threw it back into the locker. He held his breath. When the object stayed and showed no signs of moving did he then allow himself to gasp for air from all the exertion.

He stood back and studied the object to find it was just an extremely large burlap sack. It wasn't his.. Is this a prank? He asked himself, 'Who put this in here?'

He was mystified. How couldn't he be at its sudden appearance? The day was getting more interesting the longer he stood around. A sack of something had now come into his possession. Whoever broke into his locker must have put it in there. Who did it, and why? Thoughts he wanted to care deeply about, but were instead drowned out by another natural curiosity that began to reign over him; the contents of the sack. Any other thought that ushered caution was drowned out by any interest in seeing exactly what was inside.

He undid the rope keeping the top shut. He peered inside. Made a sound and as quickly as he looked shut the door. It wouldn't swing open, he kept his body pressed against it as he twist the key and locked it tight. With that sorted and a moment's hesitation he pushed off it and made his way down the corridor. He forgot his books. But it was okay. He needed to pee. He needed to walk for a bit he figured, and quickly made his way to the toilets. He didn't feel his body protesting, he felt numb instead. Just as well, he cared more about his hands, they shook as he walked.

'Paulo.'
He didn't hear it. He wished he did. Instead he chose to keep thinking back to the locker.
'Paulo!' His homeroom teacher shouted again.
'O-Oh! Here!' Paulo said, arm raised.
He heard laughter from all sides of him, and he was confused for a moment. Oh, he realised; they already did roll-call. What was he doing? Embarrassment washed over him as he sank into his seat.
The teacher sighed at him. 'Yes, we heard you the first time. Head office have asked for you.'
A moment of confusion, 'Why?'
The teacher opened her mouth to say something, but at the last second they had some reservation again it. 'They didn't tell me. But you need to go there now.' She said pointing towards the door. 'Oh, and no dawdling.'
He looked up towards the clock and noted homeroom was going to end soon anyway. He assumed she wasn't talking about the morning class. He muttered a swear only he could hear and rose. It hadn't been enough with the unexplained sack in his locker. Hopefully they answers were at the office.

When his eyes found Sue's on the journey to the office reception he felt some relief. His heart began to settle along with the anxiety. 'I'm guessing you were called up too?' He asked.
'Probably the same reason why you were called here.' She said, breathing a sigh of relief. 'God, it's really good to see you.'
There was surprise in him. Sue wouldn't often say such things aloud and he couldn't stop his ears shooting up as quick as they did. 'Oh?' He wondered.
'Yeah! I thought it was going to be something really bad for a moment!'
He deflated, his gut was right; it as too good to be true. 'Oh. Why do you think that?' He asked.
'Well, I got called up thinking they were going to ask me to close up the drama club. That was until you showed up. Since you're not in the club it has to be over something else.'
He swore for just a moment he heard what sounded a bit like some hope in that sentence. He'd only hope as much for her sake too; he knew about the problems they were facing that year in that club — not nearly enough members to run properly that year. There just wasn't any interest from the youngest students, and Sue was the only senior in the class. 'What makes you think they still wont and I'm just here to drag you back to our class?'
'That would be a classless act and I want to believe we're all above that, don't you? If you're here it naturally has to be something else.'
He allowed a pause. 'It's going to be because of-'
'Yes it's probably about the party.' She cut in. Her hand went to the bridge of her nose and scowling as she did it. 'This is all I want for my Monday.'
'What do you figure they want?'
She shook her head and gave him a shrug, 'Your guess is as good as mine, I couldn't begin to imagine what they want to try talking to us about.'
They were joined by Stacy very soon afterwards, but not before being ushered into the Principal's room. Paulo didn't recognise the other two people in the room. He'd only learn later one of them was a P&C member, he'd learn from Sue the other was the Head of Department of the school. Of course, the Principal of the school was here too.
'Is this everyone? No, we're missing one. Where's David?' She asked looking towards Paulo.
He shook his head. 'Haven't seen him this morning.'
'We'll have to start without him. Would you all mind taking a seat?' She said, gesturing towards the seats opposite her desk before taking her own.
None of them moved. Stacy turned to Paulo, who turned to Sue, interested in seeing what she would do. 'Do you mind telling us what this is all about?'
'Of course, just take a seat.' She beckoned again.
He felt worried but watched as Sue stood forward and took her seat, and he followed suite. Ride it out and see where this goes.
'I heard you all had one heck of an evening.' The Principal asked again.
He stared at her flatly. If that expression didn't parade his feelings, his ears plastered themselves onto his skull in good measure too. The expectation might have been Sue should be the one doing the talking, but he couldn't stop himself. 'Yes, you could say that.' He said. He braced for a nudge from Sue, it didn't come.
'I'm sorry to hear that happened.' She said, sounding very sincere. 'David caused that, right?'
His eyes narrowed onto hers. 'No. It was not from David. It was from someone else at the party.'
'Someone in this room?' She asked.
He felt mildly perplexed at the question. He shook his head. 'No. Not in this room. The person doesn't go to this school, or any school for that matter.'
'Do you know that for certain?'
Stacy felt it was her turn 'Yes, I knew who the person was.'
'And you both saw that too?' She asked, referring to Stacy and Sue.
Stacy nodded. But Sue took a second to take in what might have been going on. 'Are you suggesting to us that Paulo didn't get attacked by someone who shouldn't have been to Katie's school—sponsored party?'
'No, I'm not. I'm just trying to understand what happened that evening.'
'Why assume David assaulted Paulo then?' Sue asked. 'Wouldn't it be better if you heard us out and listened to our recollection of events.'
'There's no need. We've already been told.'
Paulo turned towards Stacy and saw confusion, turning to Sue's didn't give him that idea, but she looked enraged.
'So the school's choosing Katie's side of things?'
The head of department laughed towards the other person. 'I told you the story didn't sound right.'
The other man and the Principal shot him a glance. He gave a cough and settled down.
'So you are then?' Sue asked.
'No. We aren't taking Katie's account into the matter. But we are suggesting some things didn't happen.'
Again confusion, 'So you're saying Paulo didn't get assaulted at the party?'
'Yes.'
His jaw dropped from the audacity. Did he hear that right? They were suggesting it didn't happen? His first reaction was to try and say something, but Sue would leap for it.
'We are not acting like that night at Katie's house never happened and Paulo didn't get attacked from someone who shouldn't have been there in the first place. What the hell are we even discussing? Are you seriously asking us to be quiet about it?'
They heard the door open, and Paulo felt his attention move there as he looked behind him to see David had ended up joining them with a yawn. 'Whoa, and I thought I looked like hell.' Paulo said.
'I haven't been able to sleep.' David yawned back.
'Why?' The Principal asked.
David didn't answer. Paulo couldn't help but feel it might've been obvious given what Katie said to him that evening..
'Right. Well, take a seat and I'll start again.' She asked again, and David complied. 'The school's looking to forget about the events that happened over the weekend. In short we will compensate a few of you in order to keep it all between us.'
'You want to act like it never happened?' Paulo asked.
'Yes.' She replied.
'Why is the school distancing itself from it now?' Sue asked. 'It had this choice weeks ago!'
'I think it was a mistake to have allowed it in the first place. Wouldn't you agree?'
'Of course it was a bad idea. It still went ahead anyway!'
'Right. I agree.' Her gaze went to the Head of Department. 'It was a bad call.' She said firmly, and Paulo watched him squirm against the wall. 'A miscalculation.' She continued. 'There weren't nearly as many monitors as there should have been and there should have been more control. A few people were uninvited. People received food poisoning,' She looked at Paulo. 'One person was assaulted.' She looked at David next. 'Something about damaging a carpet?'
David sunk in his seat.
'Don't forget the drugs.' Sue suddenly said. 'Don't forget about those.'
He swore he saw sweat start to prickle on the Principal's forehead.
'Yes.' The Principal said. 'Let's just say a few people have been in contact with the school about that evening too, and concerned parents.' Her attention went to Paulo again. He didn't give a reaction. He had to have guessed his father wouldn't inquire about it. He'd have been a bad parent had he not. There was no chance of convincing him not to; Paulo tried.
It wasn't just his dad, a thought said to him, and he looked towards Sue. Her eyes went in his direction for just a second, before looking elsewhere. He knew. It wasn't just his father. It was Sue's mother as well.
'Your mother as well, huh?' He asked.
'I wasn't going to stop her.' She replied.
The Principal cleared her voice, getting their attention again. 'The school — and Katie by extension, honestly regret everything to do with this happening in the first place. We'd be willing to appropriately compensate all affected parties and be willing to move on.'
He wasn't able to mask his surprise. His eyes couldn't mask his disbelief.
'Ooooh!' David shouted and turned to him. 'We're part of a conspiracy!'
'David not now!' Paulo shouted back.
Sue shook her head. 'If Katie's "apologetic" then why isn't she here as well?' She asked.
The Principal turned to answer her. 'She was here earlier in the day but is aiding the police with some external matters. Trust me, she too would like to forget this all happened.'
'I bet her father would too.' Sue said.
And there was his epiphany; remembering Katie's father was running for Mayor. He hadn't particularly cared, it was only something he overheard on the news recently, and then it started to make sense.
'Alright, you don't need to get smart.' The Head of Department called out. 'You know where this is going so let Mrs Sinclair finish.'
The Principal eyed him. 'Thank you Mark, I'll take it from here.'
The Head of Department appeared to take her word for what it was and went back to laying against the book case.
'The point is, as I'm sure you all know, Katie's family would really like for this to be forgotten for obvious reasons. The school, and Katie, would be open to providing appropriate compensation to secure your cooperation in putting the matter behind us and moving forward.'
They were all silent.
'What compensation?' Sue eventually asked.
'One of you have already has been.' Mark said, drawing some confused looks from the kids, but not from Paulo, as another epiphany distracted him. He looked over towards the Head of Department, and Mark nodded in his direction when he thought he saw Paulo make the connection.
The Principal looked in David's direction. 'Katie would also be willing to forget about the carpet incident as well.' David looked like he was going to speak, but the Principal held up her hand and he stopped. 'We don't need to know the details. The less the better.'
'It wasn't really David's fault.' Stacy said suddenly.
'Again we don't need to know the details. All we want is cooperation from all of you to close this matter, and Katie's assisted with compensating the two of you.'
Sue appeared puzzled at the thought. 'How is that compensating David?'
'Her family are looking over the carpet removal.'
'Removal?! For using baking powder to clean the stains?' Sue objected loudly.
Paulo watched David sink into his chair, Sue realised and looked in his direction as well. Her ears flattened.
'It wasn't baking powder, was it?'
'I thought it was!' He shouted. 'It was mislabelled.'
Her hand went to her face. 'I should have expected that. Well, what was it?'
'Not important.' One of the men said. 'Katie's having her house renovated. That's the story.'
Sue turned and scoffed at him. 'And what? The party—'
He interrupted her. 'Didn't happen.'
Sue turned back to the Principal. 'Seriously?'
She nodded in affirmation. 'Katie's house was being renovated last weekend. She couldn't host a party there if she tried. Most of the carpets in her house have been torn up.'
He only guessed by looking, but Sue's temper was surely reaching its threshold.
'Do you expect people to go along with that?!' She asked them.
'Gauging from the interest in the newspaper, it should go over well.'
Another club that wasn't doing too well. Readership had been down, and Paulo knew the engagement was close to a percentage under five in the whole school. That was the truth and as he looked over towards Sue he was unsurprised not to find her agreeing to anything that was going on. Her sense of justice was finding itself at odds with the coverup taking place in front of them. She had all but been aggrivated by the school letting the party go ahead in the first place and forcing her to go to Katie's houses of all the places she never wanted to be to supervise. But to have them tell her they're covering it up and asking for their cooperation to save face? She wasn't going to have that, and that worried him. She wanted justice; she wanted to fight tooth and nail for him, even against something so powerful — And that worried him more. He took a moment to look at the P&C Head and the Head of Department and considered the powers involved and the money he found in that locker. Sue's sense of justice would make her think she had some power here to hold people accountable, but there was a lot of power behind everything going on. Money talked, and if Katie could throw away that much for just getting punched in the face just to not talk about it, then who else could they buy out? He couldn't think more about it. All he thought he knew was they were fighting with unseen forces, powerful ones, ones they just couldn't trifle with; they were just kids. Who knows what these unseen forces could do?
He ignord Sue as she continued to protest, standing from her seat. He was much too distracted. They just weren't in any place to challenge, sure, they had the first-hand account of the evening, but who could they complain to? What were the chance the police were bought out? They had too much to lose.
When Sue turned to him he missed the question. Instead he thought to worry about her. He turned to the Principal instead. 'So your terms are not to talk about it and act like nothing had happened at all?' He asked. 'Anything else?'
Sue turned to him dumbfounded. 'Paulo, you can't be serious!' She pleaded.
He shook his head. The sad look on his face said what it did. He turned back to the Principal. 'Forget it happened. Right? Talk to no one.'
'It never happened. You all had an enjoyable weekend doing other things.'
'I see. Are we done then?' He asked.
'No, not yet.' The secretary chimed in. 'We need all of you to sign a document. Nothing serious, just so we know what we've agreed to.'
'What if I don't?' Sue asked. 'What will I get out of this?'
Paulo shook her arm. 'Sue, no!'
Sue turned to him with tears and a fire in her voice. 'I can't believe you! You're willing to let this go!? You almost died!'
'I'll explain later! Just let it go.'
She had a brave face on, but inside he knew she was crest-fallen. A scornful 'fine' came out of her as she held back strong thoughts.
The secretary jumped forward, appearing to have remembered something at that moment. 'Oh I forgot to mention — we'll be needing to shut down the school's newspaper too.' He said, turning to Stacy. 'Sorry, it isn't personal. But as it was mentioned earlier; we can't keep producing the newsletter if the engagement is too low.'
Sue choked. 'You're joking!'
'Sorry.' He said again. 'Not everyone's getting what they want.'
Paulo's attention went to Stacy, she'd been very quiet up to ths point. She looked at her lap and played with her fingers for a bit, her head lifted. 'It's fine, Sue.' She told her.
'But Stacy-' Sue tried to shout, but Stacy again shook her head.
'It's fine.'
'No it's not! It's your—'
'I guess we're ready to sign then?' The Principal asked.
All eyes went to Paulo. Even Sue, who looked dejectedly at him. She must have thought he stabbed her in the back, he had to consider he might have. He turned to David, who nodded back as soon as his eyes laid on him, willing to put this all behind him and finally be able to sleep.
'Yes.' He said.
He watched as the Principal opened a draw and pulled out a piece of paper, the legally binding document showing compliance between everyone involved. She sighed her name before turning it towards them and leaving the pen there for them. David was first. Then Stacy. Already the events over the weekend never seemed to have occurred. The school was innocent, the baking soda incident never happened, and Paulo was never attacked by some asshole at the party. . .
When Paulo took the pen a thought came to him. 'There are going to be some people who will ask though.' He told them.
The secretary shrugged. 'You tell them it never happened.'
'I'm not talking about Katie's.' He said, and pointed to his blackened eye. 'What am I supposed to say about this if they ask?'
The Principal, Secretary and P&C looked at each other.
'Just tell them a lie.' The P&C said.
'You could always say David did it?' The secretary said. 'Didn't you both fight back in Middle school? It's noted in your record.'
David appeared flippant. 'I'd never hurt bro!'
He shrugged. 'Out of ideas then.'
The P&C laughed to himself.
Sue wasn't amused by it. 'What's so funny?'
He shook his head. 'Nothing. How'd you break your arm?'
She was unsure about the question and hesitated at first. 'I broke it on Paulo's door when that snow-storm hit the town.'
'Oh?' A grin formed on his face as he pointed towards Paulo. 'Then he tripped on the way to your house and the door knob caught it.'
Sue stood with such a speed from her seat like a whip-crack and screamed. 'NO!'
'What?' The man said. 'You wanted an excuse.'
'I'm not being the reason for that! I want nothing to do with it!'
He finished signing his name. He stood back and flicked the end of the pen to Sue. She wouldn't take it, she tried not to acknowledge him.
'I can't believe you signed it.' Sue sobbed at him.
'I promise I'll tell you why.'
'You'll hope I'll listen.' She muttered, taking the pen from him and signing the paper.

Sue would make sure Paulo would discover quite soon she wasn't pleased with him. Refusing to hear him out when they were released, and every attempt to try and break the ice since the office had and would continue to fail through most of that morning. She acted like she hadn't heard him when he called out. He knew she did, especially when he whisperd directly into her ears. When the fist came up he flinched back, and he kept his distance. But he'd keep trying, he needed to explain everything to her. Had to. He chose to do it during lunch, and she heard him beg again from the other side of the table. But again she did nothing to address Paulo's concerns. She focused more on her sandwich and not the concerns of her boyfriend.
'You're really gonna act like this, huh?' Paulo said, clearly having had enough of her tamtrum.
'Again?' David asked as he arrived with his lunch.
'I guess. I'm trying to get Sue's attention but she really isn't interested in talking.' He returned.
'Kiss her. That'll get her attention.'
Oh David. She said to herself. That's not going to work.
Paulo contemplated the thought for a moment. He shook his head. 'Nope. Not going to do that.' He said, and for a moment she felt surprised. Weird as it was for Paulo not to respect boundries too much when the situation seemed right. Or was he learning?
Paulo sighed. 'Can't do that..'
A realisation to Sue. 'He's learning!'
Paulo continued. 'Kisses are rewards these days between us.'
She destroyed her sandwich when her hands clenched together and bought her foot up against his shin.
'OW, SHIT!' Paulo screamed loudly.
That might have been a bit too much, she realised, knowing Paulo was being a little fragile today.
Suddenly her leg felt a sharp pain of its own. She screamed, somewhere between a choke and a cough as the lettuce didn't quite go down. She managed. Then went looking for the culpret. Paulo still tended to his leg, as David had his back turned towards her, it couldn't have been him. She looked over to Amaya and found a face of concern staring back at her.
'Amaya that really hurt!' She said. After a moment. 'You cannot be seriously on his side of things.' She asked.
She didn't look like she took either side.
'Are you willing to talk now?' Paulo asked.
She glared at him. 'We aren't supposed to talk about this in public, remember? It never happened.'
He sunk a little into his seat. 'Right. It didn't happen.' He coughed. 'In that case, can you at least come by my locker this afternoon?'
'Why?'
He thought. 'I need help with Math.'
'Math?'
'I'll show you what I mean later his afternoon. I promise.' He said just as the bell rang.

She hadn't promised, but he knew Sue was going to show up at his locker after school. He wouldn't comment on it. That was more than enough to show she was willing to forgive. He made sure no one was looking as he opened the door and pointed to the undisturbed sack of money someone he had earlier suspicions about.
Sue was wide eyed. 'Is this a body? Are you showing me a body?!'
His ears sunk. 'Oh my god, what? No!' He said between a shout and whisper. 'You can trust my word enough to come to my locker but your first presumption was that I killed someone?'
She blushed in embarassment. 'Well, Katie did show up today.'
Paulo gave her a doubtful look. 'You're wishful.'
'I can hope, right?'
'It's not a body. Look inside.'
'If this is a prank. . .' She started. Her voice trailed off as he opened the sack and took out a stack of money to show her. She felt her fur beginning to stand on end before taking it from him and throwing it back into the sack, she tightened the strap around the top andbacked away from it, quickly glancing about the hallway in case anyone else had seen. Nobody would have; the hallway was deserted, and she turned back towards him with a panic in her eyes and a million questions.
Paulo would get in before she could decide on one. 'About the reaction I expected.' He said.
Her jaw dropped. 'H-How much is in there?!' She asked.
'I haven't been able to count it yet..'
'Is this what they were talking about earlier today? You actually had been compensated?'
He nodded. 'Yeah I'm guessing that's what they meant. Why, what were you expecting?'
'Certainly not this.' She said with a shake. Her eyes didn't leave the locker or the contents. 'I was expecting something laughable; like when they said they'd just forget about it, like with David. Or that it was your phone you lost. I forgot Katie's Dad had been running for mayor. Maybe he learned about it and didn't want to take chances.'
'A chance?'
'Oh come on Paulo, even you follow politics going on in the town, right?' She asked.
He tried not to laugh at her when she realised she was beinga bit too hopeful with the many changes he made. An interest in politics was not one of those. She allowed a hand to her head.
'The news would have had a field day over this if they found out about everything, the school would've been embarassed and a few people would've had their jobs on the line, but I had absolutely no idea this is what that election means to them!'
They both stood there looking at the locker for a moment before Sue turned to him again. 'I still think we should've still held Katie and the school for this. You should have stuck up for yourself. You could've died!'
'I know.' He said, taking his eyes of it. 'I should've said more. I know how you feel about it.'
'Then why not? Why accept this bribe?'
He had a moment to himself. 'Because my dad needs it.'
Sue opened her mouth and made a sound, but nothing legible came out. She wanted to speak, but the more she thought back to his predicaments she realised and took it out on the floor. 'F—Fuck!' She shouted at it. 'Of course she would! Buying her way out of every mistake she makes. I'm just so . . . mad she can keep getting away with it!'
He didn't say anything. Instead thought about how much grief Katie put on her and Stacy, and run a hand over hers. 'Sorry. I know.' He said, allowing a sigh of relief when her hand stopped shaking.
'Fine. So you've gotten a pay-out from the biggest bitch in the school. Enough to probably buy half a house with. What're you going to do with it?' She asked him, sounding calmer, but Paulo knew would still be particularly angry about it. 'You're going to put it away in a bank or something right?'
He thought about it. 'The thought came across doing that. But can you imagine how many video games I could buy?'
The back of her hand came up against his chest and he blurt out a sound somewhere between unexpecting it and defence against being hurt. It got a smurk from her. 'I thought it was for your dad, you idiot.'
'I was just kidding!' He laughed back. 'I've got no real use for this much!' He said, looking back at her and seeing her ears down.
'You're not going to try for college?'
'Oh come on, me?'
'Well, you haven't done the SAT's yet.'
'I haven't thought about it. College, me, right? My dad on the other hand. . . he could probably use this. He kinda goes on about how he's stuck in a position at his job because he doesn't have a degree, and that's bought him down recently at home. I mean if this helps with some night classes . . . it should be enough. What do you think?'
Her heart was heavy. 'You know, that would be a really nice thing to do.' She smiled. 'That being said.' She frowned. 'Couldn't you give a bit more thought about where you want to go?'
'Guh.'
She had another look at the locker. 'How are you getting all of this home?'
'I was just going to carry it.' He said, ignoring the protest his shoulder gave with a pulsing ache.
'Are you sure you're going to be all right taking all of this home all at once?' Sue asked. 'It'd be an awful thing if something happened to you.'
'I'm not going to get mugged on my way home, my neighbourhood isn't dangerous!'
'I didn't say that!' She shouted. 'But you know, carry this much money. Not to mention you must be pretty sore today.'
He gave a pained sigh. 'You noticed.'
'What, I shouldn't have? Do you realised how you looked for most of the day? You were walking really pathetic looking earlier when you walked back from the office.'
He groaned loudly.
'You really pushed yourself quite hard the other night, didn't you?'
He didn't answer, his eyes looked in a different direction. Sue stepped into the direction he looked in when she realised she was being ignored.
He dropped his shoulders. 'Might've.' He said, realising he couldn't unrun the questions.
'You should have said something.'
'I was fine for the moment. Besides, the snow was cold and I didn't want you getting something like frostbite. The dress was basically ruined, wasn't it?'
'No, mom told me to throw it out.'
'Ah, I"m sorry to hear that.'
'It's fine, something was bound to happen to it like one of those idiots spilling their drinks on it.' She leant against him. 'Thanks for everything during that night regardless.' She said. She looked up with an idea. 'I could ask mom to drop you home.'
'You can't do that. I live too far.'
'Nonsense, she's fine with it.' She said, drawing her hand into her bag.
'I'm sure she's going to be getting annoyed driving out that far.'
'She won't. She'll understand.'
He scratched the back of his head, but Sue's smile felt reassuring. 'Fine, but how about we keep it over at your place.'
'Wait, what are you talking about?'
He reached over and yanked the sack of the locker and whipped it over his shoulder. 'We leave this at your place.'
'I don't want Katie's dirty money anywhere near me!' She shouted at him.
'How am I supposed to put this in a bank all at once, someone's going to think I broke into a bank or something!' He said shoving it in her hands.
'It's a gift! Just get your dad to drive you there.'
It was when he staggered backward ran forwards and took it off his shoulder. 'God Paulo at least ask for help if it's giving you trouble. I'm worried more about you than the money.'
'Look who's talking.' He said.
'What?'
Sue strained under the weight as well, he needed to rush over and take it bak.
'That thing's heavier than it looks! God, wouldn't you rather just donate this to the drama club?'
The face he gave her made her laugh.
'Just kidding, it's your money. I'm still offering a trip home with me. I think we've both had our fill of surpises for today.'
'You don't have to—'
'But I will!'
'Fine. 'He said. 'So long as your mother's okay with it.'
'She is.' Sue said, already on her phone.

He shut the locker and walked with her through the hallway and through the front of the school. Paulo heard his name called and looked to the right, he met a boy he hadn't seen before who looked curiously at the sack.
'What's in the sack?'
'Dirty, smelly clothes from the Drama club.' He said. 'Want 'em?'
Paulo watched the boy take on a face of revulsion and shook his head before going back to minding his own business. There he spotted another figure not to far away from all of them. He'd recognise this person from earlier that day, but he'd already forgotten his name. They caught each other in eyesight but said nothing to each other. The continued looking out towards everyone as they left the school grounds. Paulo knew he could see him, as the man curled his fist into a ball and then gave him a subtle thumbs up. They walked over to the car park and waited.
'I'm sorry.' Paulo eventually said.
Sue's attention didn't deviate from her phone as she tapped away at it. 'I told you not to be apologetic. You're my boyfriend and you're allowed to have trips home with me. You're practically a hero since you looked after me that time.'
That startled him. 'O-Oh! You didn't need to talk me up.'
'They were just thankful nothing bad happened to me.' She took a second. 'Though I had to convince them nothing between us had happened.'
He snorted. 'Uh oh.'
'Yeah, awkward and all that. Mind you, if we start studying at my house it'll be in the living room. There's no way mom's gonna let you come close to my room.'
'I figured as much. But, I actually meant about Katie.'
'Nothing happened, remember?'
'I'm more talking about how she's always been such a bitch to you.'
'She's been a bitch to everyone. It's nothing new.'
'Oh bullshit you can't say I've not ever seen how much she takes it out on you whenever you both come into contact with each other.'
She stopped and retreated her phone to her pocket. 'Doesn't matter, what's done is done.'
'Maybe.' He thought loudly. 'Well, at least in a couple more months and you won't have to deal with her again.' He said sitting down beside her on a bench.
The sound she made acknowledged it, but she didn't precisely answer him.
'My little vengeful Sue.'
She balked. 'God, don't start with that crap, it sounds creepy when it's said like that! She's just freaking lucky she managed to win you over or I'd have had a field day on her by letting the whole school know.'
He laughed. 'Yeah, but you're not. You'll let it go and you're a better person for it.'
She only felt she could worry from that, 'Am I?' she asked, particularly serious.
'Yeah, you are because I know you can let it go.' Paulo said, 'Did you see Stacy and Katie during lunch? It looks like they're at least trying to be friends again.'
Sue bought her knees up and closer to her chest. 'I'm so pissed Stacy's giving her a chance again, after all that happened.'
'Evena bitch like Katie needs friends I suppose. I wonder exactly how much trouble she realised she's gotten herself into.'
'She probably remembered she wasn't going to survive the year without a good tutor at all..' She laughed. 'Ungrateful bitch.'
'*Maybe*.' He thought to himself. 'Whatever, who gives a shit about Katie, right? Once we finish the year she'll be gone. You wont have to deal with her again and then there won't be any more worries.'
Sue didn't say anything for a moment. 'Hey.' She eventually said. 'You said back at lunch you got your phone back, didn't you?'
'Yeah. I was trying to tell you during lunch. You thought that was the thing they compensated me with, right?'
'I was going to laugh at them back in the office if that was what they meant. You got that back earlier too right?'
He shook his head. 'No. I found it in my letter box when I got home the other night.'
She blinked. 'You said you lost it at one point, just before you got there?'
'No, I definitely had it on me when I got there. It fell out of my pocket when that idiot attacked me.' He pulled it out of his pocket and held it in front of her. It disappeared a second later.
'Oh! Let me see!' She said.
'It's just an old phone.'
'I just wanna see how you've personalised it.'
'Are you seriously into that?!'
'Of course!' She said, and pressed he power button, she made a face at herself. 'Augh. When did you take this?'
'A couple of weeks ago.'
'God, do I smile like that?'
'It was a candid shot, you didn't see it.'
'We should replace it with a nicer one with the two of us.' She looked at him. 'Once your eye's better.'
'Sure. Anyway I'm so happy I got it back. I didn't want to have to go and buy a new one again.'
'Well, you've got money for a newer phone now.' Sue said, and sighed towards the other side of the street.
'That's true.' He leant into her and dragged an arm around her shoulder. He sighed. 'Come on Sue, cheer up. I'm sorry not everyone got something out of it.'
She grumbled. 'How can I feel better about things? Even ignoring Katie. The news paper club's been shut down and my drama club's on the threshold of being shut down too. God, if only there was something I can do!'
'You'll figure out a way.'
'And if I don't?'
'More time with me?' He smiled.
Sue groaned. 'Because that's all I need.'
'Oh wow, ouch!' He exclaimed.
She laughed. 'Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just my outlet.'
'It's fine. I know. Don't worry about it. Hopefully something good comes out of it.'
Sue didn't say anything for a while. She shook her head and gave a small laugh. 'What am I doing? It'll either happen or it won't. What's the point in worrying?'
'That's the spirit.'
She made a very convincing Mmmmm sound looking down to her phone. She looked back up towards Paulo. 'I was going to say earlier, but you look like shit.'
'I feel it too.'
She pushed into him and gave him a hug. 'I'm so sorry about the party.'

'Ahh.' Paulo said. 'Who cares? I still had a good time with you. with what it was.'

He let his hand wrap around hers, and they stayed like that.

In his mind things could be looking up for him. A small fortune in his hand. There was enough money in that sack between them. He and his father could live off it for a time. As much as every part of him that remained a teenager would want to spend it on stupid shit, he only wanted to invest it back into his family; he could fix what was broken in the house, maybe even afford a tuition for his dad and maybe start one for himself. If that was all that was needed to forget about that one dumb night, then so be it. He knew Sue would still have her misgivings about caving to the bribe, and it would take her for a while to really get over it and move on.

Secretly she wanted to put it behind herself too. She wanted to move on, but something in her heart just couldn't find the means to. She was much too distracted by the phone finding its way back into Paulo's hands. It wasn't Katie, so who was it? She tried to piece things together. There could've only been one conclusion. When the realisation hit her, she could only worry. That person may have been wanting to come back into their lives. Even now she didn't know how she still felt about them. Still, why now? Why put everything on her shoulders only to come back to something she struggled to put back together, only barely succeeding in her eyes.

One worry prompted her to look over to Paulo who smiled back to her. For a moment she felt warm and was able to ignore the feelings that plagued her. It was only when she got home the feeling of doubt returned from that entire day; feeling absolutely helpless as the world continued to throw challenges their way and them just barely able to cope.

Sleeping that evening proved to be more difficult, she tossed and turned in her bed before finaly settling on her back and staring upwards into the celing. It wasn't any use, she wasn't able to sleep and tomorrow was going to be a struggle to get through. She just couldn't forget how selfish she had been. She just couldn't stop thinking about how close she was to doing something she would knowingly regret when she found herself near the school's PA system that afternoon. Alone and free to do whatever sh wanted, like pressing down on the microphone's button, licking her lips and taking a deep breath, what soon would follow would be the truth of what happened that friday evening, the whole school would've learned. A part of her demanded it, only for her to refrain at the last second when she thought of Paulo's predicaments and thought to trust his word. The sourness at being upstaged by Katie was no longer there, like the party it concerned itself with. It didn't exist. Instead replaced with more problems, resentment at herself and at how close she came to completely ruining things for Paulo.

It would plague her all night.

Author notes: Sorry, it's been about two months. This chapter is a new one not part of the original draft. I was very much through the next chapter post-party before realising that I'd made a writer-sin; I 'told without showing', we couldn't have that.

So we needed a way to close the party properly but also deal with something I realised was bought up in the past but really never had anything done about it; and that was Paulo's family situation. Sue knew about Paulo's issues as they were bought up, but they weren't directly solved in the original? Paulo getting a bit of compensation of getting stuck in the face seems to suit this nicely. Doon't worry about it affecting the future chapters or needing additional re-writes, he's going to act like it never existed.

We also needed to elaborate on Sue's troubles, it'll be more pronounced a little later in the story.

My expectations are this is the last new chapter, the next will be available next week and next chapters will be every fortnight but I do want it out the door so I can have more time for newer projects. Uni work is consuming all my free time.