Author's Note: I'm sorry that this update took so long.
I wanted to update this much sooner but unfortunately life got in the way.
I've been forced to use all my writing inspo for my uni course,which is pretty boring at the moment.
My brother also had a baby, which sadly for many reasons isn't directly a positive thing for me.
My best friend more or less abandoned me and my mental health has been at an all time low, my depression has made me sleep for 15-18 hours a day or to have completely insomniac nights.

Warning, I did both write and edit this chapter while I was severly sleep deprived so I do apologize if there are more errors than usual or if the "quality" is lower than usual.

As always, thank you for reading :)

CHAPTER 37

Neal squeezed Peter's hand tightly as they walked into the principal's office where the principal and Mrs. Fisher was waiting for them.
He was anxious over the meeting and he had even refused to leave the house that morning, not budging until the adults had bribed him with a visit to an art museum of his choice and a big bowl of ice cream.
Peter squeezed his hand back, in an attempt to comfort him.

"Hello, Neal."

Mrs. Fisher greeted and he smiled at her before mumbling a quick "hi" back.

"I'm guessing that you were very brave at the hospital yesterday."

She said as she noticed his cast and he nodded his head, he had been told by both the Burkes' and the hospital staff that he had been very, very brave.
Neal sat down on the chair in between Peter an Elizabeth before carefully glancing over at the principal who were smiling at them.
At first the principal spoke to the adults and Neal more or less zoned out, not noticing when everyone stopped talking.
Peter gently nudged him and he saw everyone looking at him, which caused his cheeks to turn into a pink colour.

"Neal, Elizabeth has already told me a bit of what has happened but I want you to tell me, in your own words, about everything, okay?"

The principal told him and despite her kind voice and friendly smile, he found himself hesitating.
He looked up at Peter and Elizabeth, both of them nodding encouragingly at him.

"It's okay, sweetie."

Neal took a deep breath as he reminded himself that if he didn't talk then this might not get resolved and Curtis could hurt him again or he could hurt Sara.
He started out by stumbling over his words but after taking another deep breath, the words just started to pour out of him just like when he had told the Burkes the story yesterday.
The principal's face went from friendly to a mixture between angry and concerned, and when Neal was finished talking she seemed unable to find her words.
The lack of response only added to Neal's anxiousness and he started to regret opening up.
Despite the fact that the adults had reassured him that the principal couldn't kick him out of school, he started to fear that she would do it anyway.

"A-are you gonna throw me out of school?"

Neal asked nervously and his words seemed to help the principal find hers.

"No, of course not."
"You threw Caleb out when he talked."

The principal looked confuse by his words and seemed to have trouble remembering who this Caleb was.
Mrs. Fisher, however seemed to remember him.

"Honey, Caleb just moved away when his dad got a new job. I think Curtis was just using Caleb to try to scare you."
Neal had to admit that it was smart of Curtis to use Caleb moving to his advantage but at the same time he felt stupid for just not asking an adult about what had happened to Caleb instead of trusting what Jacob said.

When they walked out of the principal's office, Neal saw Sara sitting outside with her mom.
The little girl was talking nonstop about something but stopped in the middle of a sentence when she spotted her friend.

"Neal!"

She called out as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him.
If it hadn't been for Peter's quick reflexes then Sara would have thrown herself at Neal and would have definitely bumped his injured wrist and caused him pain.

"You have to be careful."

Peter told her before he let go of her and the girl's cheeks turned red.

"Sorry."

She said before hugging Neal in a way more careful manner.

"Sara, I'm ready to talk to you now."

The principal said behind him and Sara hugged him a little tighter before she and her mother walked into the principal's office and closed the door behind them.

"The meeting wasn't so bad, huh?"

Peter asked and Neal shook his head, realizing that he had been scared for no reason.
The adults then followed him back to his classroom where the rest of the students were in the middle of a class with a substitute teacher, since Mrs. Fisher was in the principal's office.
Elizabeth fussed over him, asking him several times if he was okay with going back to class right now and after saying yes for the 100th time she finally let him go and he could walk into the classroom and join his classmates.

The rest of the day was good and Neal guessed that it was because Curtis was nowhere to be seen.
When the bully wasn't around the other kids appeared to be slightly happier, they were more relaxed, friendlier and they laughed a little louder.
In class the other kids were happy to help him write things since it was his right wrist that was in a cast and prevented him from writing more than a few words himself and when it was time for lunch, he didn't have to carry anything himself.
It didn't take long before every one of his classmates had signed his cast and he smiled every time he looked down at it.
Curtis didn't show up until the end of the day and when he did show up it was with the principal in tow.
The bully was forced to apologize to every single one of his classmates and it was hard for Neal to hold back a smile.
After the apology the principal announced that she had decided, both as a parent and as a principal, that the best thing to do was to transfer Curtis to another school.
The realization that they would never have to fear Curtis again filled Neal with joy and as soon as Curtis and his mother had left the room, he hugged Sara who was just as happy and relieved as him.
The other students seemed just as happy as them, and they all thanked Neal and Sara for being brave enough to tell the truth.
It wasn't until that moment that he realized that the other students had been just as scared and miserable as him and now that the bully was gone he hoped that they could all be happier again.

If a better, happier school environment hadn't been a good reward for him daring to speak up, the visit to the museum definitely was.
There was so much art to look at and it took him less than three seconds to break his promise to not run around.
He could hear Peter groaning behind him, asking Elizabeth if she was sure that they shouldn't put a leash on him.
Neal giggled at Peter's words but slowed down, he didn't want to tire the adults too much, he had already spent the entire ride here telling them about every single name on his cast and talked about what had happened today.
He came to a halt in front of a painting that managed to captivate him and when the adults caught up to him, he pointed at it eagerly.

"One day I'm gonna paint just like that!"
"As long as it's not a forgery, then I would have to arrest you."

Peter answered jokingly and Neal turned around, with a smug look on his face.

"You wouldn't be able to catch me, old man."

He said before he walked away with a giggling Elizabeth in tow, while Peter was left shocked by his words.
They spent the entire afternoon in the museum, Neal wanting to see every single piece of art that they had, and when they finally made it home, they were all exhausted.
The adults were too tired to cook so they ended up ordering a pizza and after eating their dinner, Neal got his promised big bowl of ice cream and just like last night, they all ended up on the couch together, watching a movie.

"You should bribe me more often."

Neal told the adults as he put his empty bowl on the table and they both laughed.
He looked at the adults and even if his bribes had been awesome, it was nothing compared to what he had learned today.
Neal had learned that not all adults were bad and no matter how bad or the situation was, he could trust Peter and Elizabeth.