Author's Note: Yay I managed to actually get an update out in a week like I hoped :D

For those of you who wants to know I have a cat now, he's a longhaired white cat with the greenest eyes I've ever seen and his name is Tellus.
He is not a fan of my fics though because he always tries to stop me from writing them :P

CHAPTER 34

It was almost impossible for Neal to keep quiet about why he had pushed Curtis Hagen, partly because he wanted to avoid punishment, partly because he wanted justice but mostly because he didn't want Peter and Elizabeth to think that he was a bad kid who was being mean to other kids.
The only thing that stopped him from telling them everything was the knowledge that they could think he was lying which could possibly land him in even more trouble and even if they did believe him, he would be alone while the rest of the class, out of fear, would side with the bully.
So instead of spilling the beans he told them that he had pushed the bully for no reason at all.
He didn't argue with them when he was sent to time-out, he just accepted it and spent the time trying to come up with a way to solve this problem on his own.
Eventually he gave up, realizing that the only option, that didn't create a lot of extra trouble, was to just accept Curtis Hagen as his superior and hope that the bully would move on to some other poor kid soon, but that wasn't something that Neal was actually willing to do.
He didn't want to solve this problem for his own sake, he wanted to help his classmates too and give them a better, safer school environment as well.

The next morning he didn't protest when it was time for him to go to school, he had learned the day before that his protests had no effect whatsoever and besides he felt like he had caused the adults enough trouble.
Even if he didn't protest, he really didn't want to spend another day in school, especially since he feared that Curtis would be out for revenge.
Once in school, he stayed close to the other students, hoping that safety in numbers would save him but at the end of the day he realized that the bully hadn't even tried to approach him, he had barely even looked his way and Neal was completely dumbfounded.
Had he really managed to scare the bully?
That thought put a smile on his face and he felt powerful because he had managed to stand up against his tormentor.
When Elizabeth picked him up and asked him how his day had been, he could tell her that it had been okay and really mean it.
The powerful feeling he felt didn't last long though because just the day after that Neal realized why Curtis had been staying away from him and it wasn't because he was scared of Neal, no it was because Mrs. Fisher was keeping an extra eye on both him and Curtis.
The powerful feeling disappeared when he understood that he was living on borrowed time and as soon as Mrs. Fisher would stop monitoring them so closely or as soon as they were out of the adults' sight, Curtis would execute his revenge, Neal was sure of it.
Not knowing what else to do, Neal decided to enjoy his borrowed time and never stray too far away from any adult.
The rest of the week Curtis stayed away from him and with the target temporarily off his back he had the chance to actually make some friends and he got especially close to a girl named Sara.
He was even invited over to her house on Friday afternoon, much to Elizabeth and Peter's delight since they had been worried that Neal wouldn't make any friends.
It was probably the better school environment and his friendship with Sara that made it easy for him to ignore the fact that the Burkes had started to have a lot of whispered, secret conversations.
Before he would have been really worried but now he found it easy to accept that they were having secret, adult conversations behind his back.

The weekend went by quickly, they spent most of their Saturday at the hospital, visiting Mozzie who was getting stronger and stronger for each day that passed and on Sunday they had brunch at June's house which gave the Burkes the opportunity to get to know June better while Satchmo and Bugsy met, immediately becoming best friends.
Then Monday came and as Neal got dressed, he realized that he was truly looking forward to going to school.
He left the guest room that he now considered his and walked towards the adults' bedroom but came to a halt when he heard Peter talking on the phone in a hushed voice.
Neal knew that he shouldn't be eavesdropping but his curiosity got the best of him and he walked towards the door, careful not to make any sound that would give him away.
At first the conversation didn't seem too interesting, Peter was reassuring someone that he and Elizabeth was sure that they wanted something, but then he completely froze as it was made clear that the person he was talking to was Neal's social worker.
The boy could only come up with one explanation to the hushed conversation; Peter had been reassuring her that they were sure that they wanted to get rid off him.
What other reason would he have to be talking to the social worker?
The realization hurt, it hurt way more than he would have ever thought because they had promised him again and again that they weren't going to do this.
Had they been tricking him all along or had they suddenly just changed their minds?
The second option seemed more likely because their words had seemed so genuine.
What if it was because he had pushed Curtis and ran away?
Was it because they realized that he wasn't really a good kid?

"Ready for breakfast, bud?"

Neal jumped, having been too lost in his thoughts to notice that Peter had finished his phone call.

"You okay, Neal?"

Peter then asked when didn't receive any answer from the kid.

"Yeah, I'm just tired."
"Well let's go get some food in you."

Neal had hoped that he would at least have a good day in school but that hope died when he walked into the classroom and saw Sara.
She was crying and he could understand why when he saw that the new dress that her grandma had made for her, the one that she had proudly showed him when he was over at her house, had a big mud stain on it.
Mrs. Fisher was desperately trying to get the stain off but with no luck.

"What happened?"

Neal asked her and even if Sara didn't say anything, her angry look directed at Curtis Hagen told him all that he needed to know.
He spent most of the class glaring at Curtis who kept grinning at him, and Neal couldn't help but to believe that the bully had gone after Sara because of him.
As the class ended he planned on confronting the kid and make sure that he stayed away from Sara but his plans were foiled by Mrs. Fisher who asked him to stay behind.
At first he feared that he would get the blame for Sara's ruined dress, even if he hadn't even been in school when it had happened, but luckily she just wanted to an update on how he felt about school since it had been a week since he started.
Neal gave her a convincing smile and told her that everything was just great.
Mrs. Fisher believed his lies and let him join the other kids outside.
He looked around the playground, trying to spot Curtis or Sara but they were nowhere to be seen.
Neal got a bad feeling about this and he knew that they were most likely over by the jungle gym, a place that Neal wanted to avoid.
The jungle gym was a big blind spot for the teachers, not only because it was located at the edge of the playground but the two huge trees shadowing the jungle gym was obstructing their view.
Neal walked over to it and as he had expected he saw Sara, Curtis and Curtis' friends.
Sara was sitting in the net, trapped by Curtis and one of his friends since they were sitting on either side, making it impossible for Sara to get out of the net without jumping down or pass Curtis or his friend.

"Come here, sweetheart."

Curtis called while Sara gave him a disgusted look.
Neal was watching them, knowing that if he announced his presence it meant that Curtis could use this blind spot to get his revenge and Neal definitely didn't want that to happen but his friend was caught in between and if Neal didn't protect his friend then what kind of friend was he?

"Leave her alone!"

Neal demanded and Curtis turned to him, flashing him a huge grin before starting to climb out on the net, closing in on Sara.
He couldn't let Curtis be mean to Sara so he climbed up the ladder and without even thinking he followed Curtis out on the net and pushed the boy, causing him to fall forward on the net.
Everything after he did that happened so fast, one second he was on his way over to the ladder and in the next a hard shove in the back sent him falling to the ground.
He heard a loud gasp and suddenly Sara was there, crouching next to him.

"Neal, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."

He answered before trying to get up but as he put weight on his right arm, he felt an incredible pain and he yelled out in agony.

"Go get a teacher!"

Sara told Curtis and his friends but apparently no one moved because she had to repeat herself.
With the help of Sara, he sat up and cradled the aching arm to his chest.
Curtis soon returned with Mrs. Fisher in tow and the teacher gently grabbed his arm and examined it.

"Neal, I'm going to take you to the school nurse, okay?"
Neal nodded before Mrs. Fisher helped him up and led him inside the building.

He didn't really listen to what the school nurse said, aside from the part where she told them that she believed that his wrist was broken, because he was still in shock.
That shock lasted until he saw Elizabeth rushing inside the nurse's office and he burst into tears as Elizabeth put her arms around him, careful not to hurt him.
In that moment he didn't think about the phone call he had overheard, he just pressed his face his face against Elizabeth's chest and inhaled the comforting scent belonging to the closest thing he had to a mother.