"Have a seat, Neal."
"Please Janice. Do we really need to do this today? Jerry asked me if I'd like to go with him to train with his team and faced with either that, or the prospect of spending an hour with you discussing my feelings, I'd say he made me a pretty dazzling offer."
"Well, I guess if it's alright with your dad outside, he could drive you to training now and bring you back after. I have plenty of paper work I could sort through while you're gone. Do you want to go out and ask?"
Neal glared at the doctor for a moment before slamming his fist down on the back of the couch. "No! I don't want to do either so I certainly don't want to do both!" The teenager took a deep breath and tried hard to rein in his sudden outburst. "Thank you anyway Janice, it was kind of you to offer."
"No problem, Neal. Now please, come and have a seat."
Neal walked around the couch and plopped himself on the floor between the window and the doctor's chair. "What do you want me to tell you today, Janice?" the boy groaned while stretching his body out across the carpet.
"What does Jerry think of Kate?"
"He thinks she's great."
-W-C-
"I don't like Kate."
"Why not?" Neal tossed the baseball back to his friend.
"I just got a bad feeling."
"How? You've never met her."
"Don't need to. I know enough." Jerry threw the ball back in a gentle arc so Neal had to get under it to make the catch.
"So what are you, psychic?" Neal tossed the ball back once again, putting a bit of unnecessary force behind the throw.
"No, man. I'm just not stupid." The friend threw it low, so Neal had to make a dive to stop it getting past.
"What would you know? You haven't even lived." This time, Neal chucked the ball with all his might and Jerry felt the sting through the glove.
Jerry pitched the ball back with even greater force and Neal dropped his glove out of reaction to the pain he felt in his palm. Jerry also dropped his glove to the ground and stepped closer to Neal. "What I know Neal is that she's trouble. She got you involved in some pretty serious stuff. She should know better at her age. She's in detention and now she's going to use you to do something that's beyond stupid!"
"Jerry. I may be stupid but at least I can think for myself. I'm not some pathetic shell of a person, living my life in a bubble because I'm scared shitless that I'm going to make Mommy and Daddy cranky."
Jerry didn't bother with a verbal retort. He just slammed his fist straight into Neal's face. Neal was knocked onto his back and rolled about on the lawn in a mixture of pain and daze. He held a hand over his eye and his head hurt so bad he didn't register the arrival of Jerry's parents to the scene of the crime.
David helped Neal to his feet and gently guided him into the house. Sally held onto his arm, just in case. Jerry followed dejectedly behind the first-aid team.
Sally grabbed some ice from the freezer and wrapped it in a tea towel. David had Neal lying on the couch by the time she arrived with the icepack. As soon as Neal was sorted they turned on their son. "What on earth, Jeremy? What happened?"
Jerry had lost all his anger and was standing miserably alone, feeling quite ashamed of himself. He tried lifting his shoulders.
"Don't you dare shrug your shoulders at me young man!" Sally warned.
"Yes ma'am. We had an argument. I guess I lost my temper. I hit him."
"Did he hit you?"
"No sir." Jerry walked over to the couch, reached down and touched his friend's hand. "I'm real sorry, man."
"Is okaay."
"Jeremy, you can go to your room while we sort out this mess."
"Yes ma'am." Jerry headed swiftly up the stairs and left his friend in the capable hands of his parents.
"Neal. Are you starting to feel a little better? Can you see everything okay?"
"Yes, Mrs Watson. I'm good thankyou."
"Alright Neal. I'll take you home. " David gently lifted the boy into a sitting position.
"I'll be fine, thanks anyway Agent Watson. I've got my bike out front."
"I don't think so, buddy. Let's go." He helped Neal up and together they walked to the car.
Neal pulled the icepack away from his face deciding that the skin was sufficiently numb enough. He looked out the car window. Almost home. What was his mom going to say? "Agent Watson. Can I ask a favour?"
"Depends. You just asked me to allow you to ride home so I don't know how rational you are at the moment."
"Point taken. I just wanted to tell you my side of the story before you got back home to Jerry."
"Okay Neal. What's your side?"
"I was to blame for the fight."
"As far as I knew Neal, you didn't even throw a punch. It wasn't much of a fight on your end."
Neal sighed. "I provoked Jerry. He was trying to tell me something as a friend and I took offence to it. I don't know why but I did and so I said some pretty nasty things to him about …stuff that was uncalled for."
"Be that as it may, Jerry knows better than to punch someone, in the face no less. You're going to have a terrible shiner in the morning, young man."
"Not all bad Agent Watson. It may be something I can use to impress the girls in my art class tomorrow."
"Neal, my boy, you're going to be in so much pain you're going to care less what the girls think."
"I hope you're wrong, but in any case, Jerry's a good friend and I know he hit me, but can we please just leave it at that. I'd like a chance to apologize and make things right. Let us sort it out, Agent Watson?"
"Well see."
-W-C-
"So Jerry thought it was a bad idea?"
"What about that surprises you Janice? Of everything I've ever told you about Jerry, have I ever given you any indication that he may even remotely support something so…"
"Illegal?"
"I was going to say thrilling… exciting…challenging."
"Neal, I need you to come and sit down please."
"I am sitting Janice."
"Sitting where I can see you." Neal was on the opposite side of the couch, sitting with his back to the furniture.
"Fine. Neal jumped up and sat on the head of the couch with his feet on the cushions. Clearly the boy was trying to get Janice to lose her temper, something of course she would never play into.
"And you and Jerry were okay after the fight?"
"Wasn't much of a fight Janice. I pissed him off, he slogged me in the face."
"Was Agent Watson correct? Did the pain override any pleasure you may have felt at feeling like a 'tough guy' with a black eye."
"Mostly I just got sympathy. You know, 'Aww, you poor little pumpkin, what happened to your sweet little face.' For sure it hurt but I've felt worse." Neal subconsciously rubbed at the plaster on his wrist.
"How did you break your wrist, Neal?"
"Silly story really. I'm a bit embarrassed. Can I just skip this question?"
"No."
"Alright, if you're going to have a hissy fit I'll tell you." Janice nodded professionally and Neal smiled back. "I fell off my bike, Janice. Kate and I were playing around in the park and I was showing off doing jumps and I misjudged the landing. Clear went flying over the handle bars and landed on the concrete."
"What did Kate do?"
"She, ah, let's see, yeah that's right. She had her car there and she drove me to emergency. While I was getting my arm x-rayed she called Mom and then she split because she knew Mom wouldn't be too happy to see her."
"Did you mind Kate leaving without saying goodbye?"
"No, that's not what I said Janice. Listen carefully. Kate left while I was getting the x-rays. She told me before I went in that she would call Mom and then head off before she arrived. She gave me a kiss for luck and then said she would call later to check out how I was doing. Kate would never leave without saying goodbye."
"Okay, Neal."
"Write that down please, Janice." Neal pointed to the closed notebook on the doctor's lap. "That way you won't make that slip up again."
"Okay, Neal. Writing it down." Janice made a quick note in her book. "What did your other friends think of your plan to help Kate?"
"I take it you mean Mozzie?"
"Yes. Isn't he the one who helped you out with your plan to 'rescue' Kate?"
"He's the only one who understands."