Chapter One-Hundred and Six

John took Claire's hand as he caught sight of Toby, smirking at the splint he had taped to his face, and the dark bruises around his eyes. "Sissy." He croaked, his eyes widening at the realization that he'd spoken a full word without his voice giving out halfway through.

Claire smiled, reaching up to touch his neck. "Try again."

"He's a sissy." His voice grated like stone on stone, but he'd finally spoken a full sentence.

Clarissa rolled her eyes, turning into Principal Anderson's office after Toby and his parents had taken a seat. "Don't push it."

Thomas took his seat, watching as John kissed Claire on the cheek before letting her go to her first class.

Principal Anderson leaned on his desk, noticing that Clarissa kept John as far from Toby and his folks as she could. "Mr. and Mrs. Standish, I'd like you to meet the Abby's."

Mr. Abby curled his lip at John's foster parents, sticking his nose up as Thomas held his hand out in greeting. "You really expect Tobias to be in the same room with this riffraff? The boy is obviously supposed to be in a mental institution, or a rehab center." He waved at John as he spoke, pointing out the fading signs of his brush with meth. "Look at him. He's demented."

Clarissa stood, feeling John's hands around her waist as he held her back. "Now, you listen here. My daughter was sexually assaulted by your son. Johnny was only protecting her." She gave his hands a sharp tap, letting him know she wanted to be let go. "Johnathan, is a perfectly fine boy. And if you ask me, it's your son who needs to be in the mental institution." She snatched John's notebook from his backpack, flipping to the page that Claire had found listing all the things that had happened to him. "John has written down, each and every thing that Toby has done to the Breakfast Club since they started here." She slammed it down on the desk, showing what John had written.

Mr. Abby took rolled his eyes. "The boy could have been high when he wrote that. Besides, we're here to see that justice is served. Tobias is the one with a broken nose here, and it's that little rat that broke it. Now I think it only fair that Tobias be let off from his detention on Saturday."

Thomas held Clarissa back as she lunged at the man. "Cinnamon Bear, stop. John can't take another parent in jail, especially you."

She shoved him off of her, pointing her finger in the Abby's faces. "John may have done some bad things in his life. But at least he's owning up to it. He's willing to pay for what he did by going to detention, when he could be going to the beach with the rest of us on Saturday. And he didn't come crawling to us to bail him out of it." She remembered John crawling into bed with them last night, listening to his quiet cries for some form of high that she still didn't know the name of. "He may only be Seventeen, but he's twice the man that you two will ever be." She marched from the room, her heels clicking as she rushed from the school.

John looked at Thomas, standing and taking off down the hallway after her. "Mom!" His voice was barely loud enough for her to hear, but he didn't need to be too loud as she stopped when she heard his steps behind her. "Don't."

She shook her head, accepting John's hug as he offered it to her. "I just don't understand why they can't see it."

John sighed, knowing how exhausting it was to live with the judgements and accusations. He hated that he'd brought this burden on his family, wishing that he could just wipe the slate clean. "They won't." He remembered being told he was stupid his whole life, and eventually starting to believe the lies that he was fed. "Ever."

Clarissa took Thomas's hand as he walked up to them, patting John's chest as her husband started to pull her away. "Don't listen to them."

John nodded, turning to go to his Spanish class as he made the sign for "I won't."