This is the last part of this little story arc, set the night after the last chapter.
It was getting dark. Danny sat on the edge of his bed and waited. He was pretty sure that his parents would be up soon. For once they'd been getting along; dinner had been noticeably full of smiles and civility; and he'd been planning on telling them about Rusty, asking them for help while the going was good. Because there was a small part of him – a tiny, tiny part that he despised – that still thought that maybe, just maybe, if he could make them listen and if they actually wanted to, his parents could fix everything. Then the phone had rang. Principal Mallie. And he could just imagine what she was telling them. His mom had taken the call and she'd just looked at him while she was talking, and he'd watched the anger and disappointment blossom on her face. Afterwards he'd been sent upstairs while she talked to his dad.
The door opened and his parents walked in. He kind of wished they'd knock. Just for politeness.
"Daniel. That was your principal on the phone," his mom began. As if he didn't know that.
"Uh huh?" He kept his voice light and curious. Innocent, even. Which, really, he was this time.
She frowned. "Don't say that. It's vulgar."
He smiled apologetically and kept his mouth shut.
"It's about your friend," his dad interrupted. "The one you brought home the other day. Robert Ryan."
And honestly, he knew that too. "What about him?" he asked, in the same innocent tone.
"Apparently you told your teacher that he was . . . " his dad trailed off awkwardly and glanced at his mom.
"That his parents are too strict with him," she said and she seemed uncomfortable.
Danny took a deep breath. "No. I told her that Rusty's dad hurts him."
They exchanged a long look.
"Really hurts him," Danny added. "He gave him that black eye."
His dad sighed. "I'm sorry, Danny." And he really did sound regretful. "Your friend was lying to you."
"No he wasn't," Danny said simply.
"Yes he was," his mom said sharply.
"No. He wasn't." Danny repeated.
"Look. We're not going to argue with you like this." He heard the frustration in his dad's voice and kept his face blank. "He confessed. Apparently he wanted you to feel sorry for him, so he made it all up."
The very last thing that Rusty ever wanted was for Danny to feel sorry for him. He knew that as surely as he knew his own name. But he didn't think his parents would understand. He looked straight at his mom. "When we left him with his dad on Friday night, his dad beat him up. It was probably happening while we were walking down the stairs."
She looked back at him. "He was lying, Daniel. He was taking advantage of you. And this is why you shouldn't spend time with that kind of person."
"He was taking advantage of me?" Danny asked incredulously. Because that was close to being the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.
"You're young, Danny," his dad said with a sad smile. "Naïve. You'll learn not to fall for every chancer with a hard luck story."
"He's seven and he's got more bruises than skin! He never wanted to tell me, I made him! He lied to Principal Mallie, not to me!" The words fell out of him before he had any time to consider.
"Why would he lie, Daniel?" His mom pounced softly. "If he was telling the truth, why wouldn't he want help? Why wouldn't he tell someone himself? Why just you?"
And Danny had to pause. "He thinks he deserves it?" He could hear the uncertainty in his own voice, because he honestly didn't understand that part.
She smiled triumphantly. "Really?" she asked sceptically. "Why?"
Danny didn't have an answer. He knew what was real and what was true, but he couldn't even begin to explain why. "We have to help him," he said simply, and his voice was trembling, and really he was begging and he already knew it was all for nothing. "Please."
His mom shook her head. His dad looked away for a long moment. "Danny. You need to understand." He paused, awkwardly. "Maybe there are things in your friend's life that disturb you. Your mom told me about his home, and I'm sorry you had to see that. But you need to understand that you're very lucky. You've got everything you could want. Not everyone's that fortunate."
He wondered if either of them had any idea what he wanted.
"And you should be grateful," his mom cut in sharply. "I work hard to provide you with all this – "
" – We work hard," his dad interrupted frowning.
"We work hard," she conceded, without missing a beat, "And the least you could do is be properly thankful and not constantly show us up in front of everyone."
He stared at the floor, his soul burning and didn't tell them that he'd never asked for what they gave him. He'd asked them to believe him. He'd asked them to help Rusty. And they'd said no.
After they left, he lay back on the bed and wondered if he was wrong. He saw Rusty walking around in pain and he wanted it to stop. But no-one else seemed to see what he saw – his parents, the teachers, Rusty himself. Maybe as far as the world was concerned it really wasn't a problem. Just part of life. Not a big deal; that was what Rusty had said. It's normal. Sometimes children need to be hurt to teach them a lesson.
He realised with surprise that there were tears in his eyes.
The sound of laughter woke Rusty up. He hadn't meant to fall asleep; he'd been reading the book Danny had leant him, waiting for his parents to get in. He crept closer to his bedroom door and leaned his ear against it. Giggling and glasses clinking. Sounded like they were drunk and in a happy mood. Normally he avoided them at times like this, because they'd be kissing and doing other things that made him uncomfortable. But he wasn't convinced that they weren't suddenly going to hear from Principal Mallie, and he needed to protect himself and make sure that they would tell the same story. And of course he'd be in trouble, and Dad would probably be angry, but he had broken the rules, so he kind of had it coming.
Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open. They broke apart and turned to stare at him in surprise. "I need to talk to you," he said quietly.
"Mommy and Daddy are busy right now. Come back later," his mom slurred. She lurched slightly towards him, waving her hand at his head. He didn't know if she was trying to slap him or pet him, but at any rate he stepped back warily.
"I was sent to the Principal today," he continued, satisfied that they were both just about capable of listening to him.
"What did you do now, you little shit?" His dad's voice was quiet in a way that sent a chill running down his spine and had him desperately trying to measure the distance to the front door. Not doable; they were in the way.
"She was asking about the bruises. I didn't tell anyone, I promise." And that was a lie, he supposed, but he didn't want to get Danny in trouble. No matter what, he couldn't do that.
Quicker than he would have thought possible, Dad stepped forwards and grabbed his hair and pulled him up, forcing him to stand on the very tips of his feet. He didn't cry out. Didn't struggle. Didn't whine. And he certainly didn't let any of the tears that gathered in his eyes fall. He could be good, if he tried. But still, for a few moments the pain was all there was and he wondered if it was possible for hair to bleed.
Dimly he heard his parents' bedroom door close. His mom must have got bored or upset or something and left the room. She did that a lot. Sometimes he thought that maybe she was scared of blood, like the girls in his class who screamed every time Toby Farr got a nosebleed.
His Dad bent down, breathing in his face. "What did you tell her?"
"I said some big kids beat me up and threw me down the stairs," he managed to say, but he could hear the weakness in his own voice. The pain.
He was hauled just a little higher, and the pain was just a little worse and his feet scrabbled at the floor, trying to get a grip. "Stupid brat, they'll want to know who."
"Said I didn't see." His voice was shaking. "They don't know anything."
"They'd better not. Else they'll take you away. They'll take you away and lock you up and you'll never see sunlight again. They'll feed you on old kitchen scraps, when they happen to remember, and every time you fuck up – and you will fuck up, won't you, you useless bastard? Every time you fuck up they'll beat you senseless. No-one else would go soft on you, like I do." The threat was no less terrifying for being so often repeated. "Is that what you want?"
"No, Dad," he shook his head. It hurt.
"So what do you say?" his dad demanded.
"Thank you," he whispered. He hated this part. Because he understood that he was bad, he understood that, mostly, it was all his fault, but he wasn't thankful and he never would be.
"That's right. Ungrateful shit." He let go of Rusty's hair unexpectedly and Rusty fell to the floor in a painful heap.
He was on his feet almost immediately, before his dad had time to kick him more than once. He held himself still, waiting, looking his dad straight in the eye, and after an endless moment, his dad gave a vaguely approving grunt and headed to the bedroom.
Sagging with relief, Rusty grinned and headed to the kitchen. He'd get a glass of milk and some cereal or something and go back to his book. Because really, that could have gone a whole lot worse.
Danny had been looking forward to the last hour of the day. Because Rusty might have been able to dodge him before school and at morning break and at lunch, but it would be just a little bit difficult for him to hide during the hour of reading practice they shared. And he wanted the opportunity to talk - to try and put things right – because for the past week the world had suddenly seemed so much brighter and so much more interesting. He liked being with Rusty' it made him feel like he was more than he had been. And maybe he was the only one who felt that way, but somehow he doubted it. They weren't going to end like this. Not before they'd begun. He wasn't going to let them.
And so he leaned back in his chair and projected an air of relaxed calm while he waited for Rusty. He even managed to keep up the act as five minutes went by, then ten, and he began to feel just a little bit desperate inside. Rusty finally appeared, fifteen minutes late and escorted by Mrs Richards. He looked wary and trapped and though there were no new injuries that Danny could see he was clearly moving more stiffly than he had been before, as though he was compensating for pain that Danny could only guess at. And this was how life was supposed to be? He didn't even know how he was supposed to accept that.
Mrs Richards was glaring down at Rusty. "Now. What do you say to Daniel?" she asked sharply. Danny gritted his teeth and managed to keep his mouth shut.
Rusty stared down at the floor. "Sorry for wasting your time, Danny." he said very quietly and Danny could hear the humiliation and he hated it.
"That's right." Mrs Richards nodded approvingly and turned to look at Danny. "I am sorry that you had to wait, Daniel. Someone," And her voice turned arch and knowing, "Someone didn't want to come to his reading lesson."
Danny smiled at her. "That's perfectly all right, Mrs Richards. We'll be fine now." Go away and leave us alone, he screamed mentally and Rusty looked up at him sharply.
She stood, hovering over the pair of them for a couple of moments before she made a clucking noise with her tongue and shook her head. "I'd better not have any more nonsense out of you for the rest of the afternoon, do you understand, Robert?"
Rusty nodded obediently and that seemed to satisfy her as she walked off to listen in to one of the other pairs.
There was a brief but awkward moment of silence.
Danny sighed. "Why don't you sit down?" he suggested.
Rusty did so and looked at him sharply. "I'm not really sorry."
"I wouldn't want you to be." Danny answered immediately. Rusty still looked wary and with a start, Danny realised that he couldn't force Rusty into anything. "We don't have to talk," he said, reluctantly. "We can just - "
Rusty was already nodding. " – pretend that we aren't – "
" – Yes." Danny agreed, and it hurt him. "Get your reading book out," he advised. They didn't want to attract anymore attention.
With a grimace, Rusty pulled out the book. 'Timmy Saves the Day'. It had a picture of a tiger wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket on the front.
Danny frowned at it. "You know what I don't get?"
"Why the tiger looks like the Fonz?" Rusty suggested.
"No." Danny shook his head, then looked closer at the book. "Though now you come to mention it . . . " There was a certain resemblance. "I don't get why these books are always about animals."
"Kids like animals." Rusty shrugged.
"Really." Danny considered this for a moment. "Huh."
"I don't get why they're never wearing pants." Rusty commented. Danny caught his eye and laughed, and immediately Rusty looked down at the book and flipped it to the first page. Right. Nothing was ever going to be that easy.
Mrs Richards drifted closer and Rusty immediately started reading, theatrically stumbling over random words until Danny's quiet voice gave him the answer. Such a stupid game they were playing and Rusty refused to look at him for the rest of the time.
It wasn't until the bell rang and Rusty was stuffing the book back in his bag as quickly as possible that Danny managed to bring himself to quietly say "I had to try."
For a moment it looked as though Rusty was going to say something. Just for a moment. And then he turned and ran out the door.
Rusty had never actually had a detention before. Not a proper one. From time to time he'd been kept in over break or lunch, but that had mostly been attempts to help him with his reading problems, or to try and trick him into admitting the truth about how he'd got hurt. This was a new experience, and it wasn't one he was particularly looking forward to.
He was still breathing hard from running away from Danny when he settled into his seat at the back of the classroom. It had been as difficult as he'd thought. He'd known perfectly well that the moment he looked at Danny he'd lose. (Or win.) It wasn't even a case of immediately forgiving him, the moment they'd been together it had been like there was nothing that could ever need forgiven. And he just didn't know how to cope with that, so he'd pretended and he knew that he'd hurt Danny. He wasn't supposed to need people. People weren't supposed to need him. People weren't supposed to see him. And try as he might, he couldn't figure out what Danny was getting out of this.
Someone sat down at the next desk and he didn't need to look round. He already knew who it was.
"What'd you do?" he asked Danny.
"This and that. Talking in class, not handing in homework, turning my worksheet into a paper crane, telling Freddy he doesn't have the brains of a dead caterpillar."
"To be fair, I think he does have the brains of a dead caterpillar," Rusty pointed out.
Danny laughed. "How about you? What did you do?"
"Lied to you," he said simply.
There was a pause. "Ironic," Danny commented.
Mr Green swept into the room and they both shut up and succeeded in looking attentive while he handed out pencil and paper and wrote "I will show respect for my teachers, my peers and myself whilst in the school setting" on the blackboard.
"You will copy that out for the entire hour. And if I hear any talking there will be trouble," he said, looking round the classroom. Most of the kids looked resigned.
Rusty waited until Mr Green had settled himself at the teacher's desk with a pile of marking. Then, without really stopping to consider it, he scribbled "Why?" on a sheet of paper and passed it over to Danny.
He didn't look round. But he could feel Danny looking at him for a long time. Finally the paper was passed back to him. "Because it's wrong."
The words stared up at him, there in black and white, and he wondered how Danny could make it sound so simple. "It's not that bad," he whispered.
Danny stared at him. "I saw you on Saturday, remember?" He did remember, and more than that he remembered the look in Danny's eyes. The pain and the anger that he'd instinctively understood would never ever be aimed at him. It had hurt.
"I'm almost better now," he pointed out. "The bruises are nearly all gone." At any rate they were fading nicely.
"And you've got some new ones, haven't you?" Danny whispered savagely, and Rusty wondered how he could possibly know.
He sighed. "It was just because – "
" – Because I told, right?" Danny interrupted.
"Yes," he admitted.
"I'm sorry," Danny said, very, very quietly.
Rusty blinked. "Why?" he asked again.
"I don't want you hurt." Danny's voice was soft and intense and he plainly meant every word.
"It's my own fault," Rusty reassured him. "I never learn my lesson."
He watched, fascinated as Danny gripped the edge of the desk so tight his knuckles whitened. "No. It's not your fault. I'll never believe that there's anything you could do that would make this right."
"It's just the way the world works," he explained wearily. Nothing was going to change, no matter what Danny said or did.
"Yes," Danny agreed, to his surprise. Then he turned round and smiled straight at Rusty. "And I don't want any part of it," he said out loud and every head in the classroom turned to stare at them.
Even as Mr Green started yelling at them, Rusty continued to stare at Danny. Because just for a moment he thought that maybe his friend could change their world.
They walked out of detention together. Danny wasn't exactly sure how, but somehow everything seemed to be sorted. Except, even at the risk of ruining everything, he had to make one thing clear. "I'm not going to stop trying to make them listen," he told Rusty seriously.
Rusty nodded and looked unsurprised. "I wasn't expecting you to." He sounded amused.
"You don't think – " he started and Rusty agreed.
" – No-one cares, Danny." Rusty smiled at him.
And of course Danny wanted to be able to argue, but honestly so far it seemed as though Rusty was right. "Doesn't make it right," he said quietly and watched the look of puzzlement on Rusty's face. "It's not right," he repeated, emphatically.
Rusty shrugged but didn't seem in the mood to argue. They walked in contented silence to the school gate where a small crowd was gathered. Danny recognised several of the boys from his class and sighed. Somehow, he didn't think that this was going to be fun.
"With the baby again, Danny?" Freddy pushed his way to the front.
Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What do you want, Freddy?" he asked.
Freddy ignored him. "You know, I thought you were cool. But you're just stuck up, and I'm going to teach you a lesson."
Right. This. Nothing he hadn't dealt with before, and it wasn't like his parents weren't used to getting complaints about him fighting, even if he really didn't see the point of it. He dropped his bag on the edge of the circle that had quickly formed, and with a stern glance, told Rusty to keep out of it. The incredulous look that he received back wasn't exactly reassuring, but he turned back to Freddy. "OK. Let's get this over with."
Freddy looked a little startled but immediately put up his fists and started dancing around a little. The crowd started to cheer. Danny just looked at him.
"What's the matter, Danny? Scared?" Freddy taunted.
This time Danny did roll his eyes. "I said get it over with," he answered and when Freddy lunged forwards, swinging wildly, he grinned. Except that quickly stopped when out of nowhere – really, Danny hadn't even seen him – Rusty stepped forwards and in front of him and the punch that was vaguely aimed at Danny's chest caught the side of Rusty's head.
There was silence. Freddy dropped his fists and took a step back. Rusty stumbled but didn't fall. Danny turned to look at him. There were several things he wanted to say, most of them some variation of the word 'idiot'. Instead he just stared for a long moment, until Rusty stood up straight and gave a half smile.
Danny shrugged and shook his head, and turned back to Freddy with a wide grin.
Freddy took another step backwards. "I didn't see him. It's not my fault."
Danny nodded thoughtfully. Then he drew back his fist and punched Freddy as hard as he could.
Clutching his nose, blood trickling out from between his fingers, Freddy staggered back. "I'm telling!" he said loudly, sounding on the brink of tears.
"That wouldn't be a good idea," Rusty said casually.
"In fact it would be a very bad idea," Danny agreed.
"I mean, fighting is still against the school rules, isn't it?" Rusty asked Danny.
"Definitely," Danny answered. "And teachers always get everyone involved in trouble, not just the winner."
"Not to mention he hit me – " Rusty added.
Danny nodded. " – And you're only a little kid – " he said sarcastically. Might as well take advantage of what they had.
" – Exactly." Rusty grinned.
"They call that bullying, normally," Danny smiled. Freddy looked pale. "Leave us alone," Danny told him sweetly and the boy scrambled away.
Rusty looked slightly surprised. "Well."
"Yeah," Danny agreed. They'd need to wait to see if that would be the end of it. Sooner or later people would get the point. They were together now and nothing was going to stop them.
Rusty faced his parents. His dad was brandishing a letter from the school, informing them that he'd lied to a fellow student about his home life. "I didn't tell. He guessed," he told them.
"First you bring that boy here, then you lie to him about us?" his dad snarled. "You stay away from him, you hear me, you little shit?"
He closed his eyes. "No."
The fist that slammed into his face almost knocked him over. But he'd been prepared for it, and he managed to keep his balance. "You do as I say."
And maybe it was bad, and maybe it was stupid, but he wasn't going to give up Danny. Not for anything. "I won't tell him anything," he said. His voice steady and he was surprised to realise that he was lying. "But he's my friend."
"Why would anyone want to be friends with a stupid bastard like you?" his dad asked, almost pleasantly
Rusty grinned. "No idea," he admitted, and wasn't at all surprised when fresh pain blossomed on his ear. He hadn't even seen that one coming. "But he is," he managed to say.
His dad stared at him, obviously puzzled. "Just leave him, Robert," his mom mumbled and to his surprise his dad did back off.
"Don't let me catch him around here. And if I even think that you've been telling lies again . . . " He left the threat dangling.
Rusty nodded. "I'll be good. I promise."
Danny faced his parents. "But I like it there," he told them. This was the earliest they'd ever started talking about taking him out of a school. And he wasn't going to stand for it.
His mother sighed. "You're falling under all sorts of bad influences. I think a fresh start – "
" – No," he interrupted. "Not going to happen."
She frowned. "You'll do what you're told."
Quickly Danny made a decision. "Look. I like it here. I'm making friends. I'm going to do better."
"What do you mean?" His dad sounded curious. Well, they'd never heard this before.
He looked them straight in the eyes and concentrated on sounding sincere. Because this was important. "I'm going to start working hard. I'm going to get good grades. Stop getting in trouble. No more fights. No more insolence." He bit his lip. "No more embarrassing you. If you let me stay." It was a good deal. He could put up with a lot, in order to stay. Putting on an act; it would be easy. And he'd get to stay with Rusty.
His parents exchanged a long look. "Well, perhaps a few more months and we'll see," his dad offered. His mom looked sceptical. Well, he'd show her.
He nodded. "I'll be good. I promise."
Danny was sitting on the edge of the fountain when Rusty arrived. They looked at each other for a long moment, reading pain and misery and determination and for a second the future stretched out in front of them, clear as anything.
"Ready to have some fun?"
"Always."
A shared grin, a shared thought, a shared plan and the world had never been so full of wonder. They could glimpse a far brighter life and it was worth any sacrifice.
And that's the end of that. Hope you liked it. Next chapter I'll be back to writing out of chronological order.