The day dragged on so slowly that at one point Lucas thought it would never end. Revision made him both tired and cranky without having to also worry about his actions being found out by the troops at home. Lucas took his time packing his bag and saying goodbye to his friends by the lockers, so that by the time he retrieved Sam, the little guy was the last one in the classroom.

Miss Carmichael had heard through the teacher grapevine about Lucas' morning problems and having had a special place in her heart for these boys wanted to make sure he was alright.

"You alright Luc?" she asked as he knocked on the classroom door.

"Ya, I'm fine Miss Carmichael" smiling both to show her he was ok and because it felt good that someone cared enough to ask how he was doing.

Sam gathered his belongings and happily headed out the door with his brother. They walked slowly through the streets on the way home. The radiant sunshine was such a contrast to how Lucas was feeling. As they approached the park Sam began to beg to go play for a few minutes. Not actually wanting to go home Lucas decided it was a good stall. "Sure Sam… but only for a few minutes" Luc responded. Sam threw his backpack on the ground as he ran towards the climber. He swung from rung to rung happy and oblivious that there was something to be worried about. Lucas envied his younger brother's lack of unease.

Lucas was sitting texting with friends for several minutes before Kayla's text dinged through. Lucas quickly called her to tell her where they were and that he was very sorry for forgetting to let her know. He said Sam was so excited about the park, notifying her of there later arrival had slipped his mind. He added the sunshine and whole day of studying to the list of excuses. Kayla happy that the boys were safe, laughed at Lucas' overzealous apology. "No problem Luc, I just wanted to make sure all was well" she answered before hanging up.

When Lucas' friends were all pulled away from their electronic devices he was left to his own thoughts and anxieties. He tried playing on the swings with his brother but nothing seemed to keep his mind off his guilt. He wasn't actually guilty about his actions at school. Mr. Harper had swiftly dealt with that. Lucas was worried that he had spent the weekend 'play acting' the doting big brother, his deception of how well the dance had gone and the accumulation over the semester of the 10 demerits without coming clean to either of his parents. Now, hindsight being 20/20 he understood that telling them about his slowly increasing demerits. If they knew that he was making tiny mistakes all along they would be sympathetic to his plight and be understanding if he reached the dreaded number of ten. However instead he had hid these misdemeanors, he had played the perfect child in hopes of leading them away from his errors.

As his emotions spiraled out of control Lucas' eyes filled with tears, feeling very sorry for himself. Sam who often wouldn't notice others or understand their feelings noticed his sibling's face. Sam curious about why Luc was upset stood in front of Luc's now still swing. "Why you crying?" Sam asked. "I'm not crying" Lucas spit out with disgust. "Ya, you are?" Sam said not understanding. Sam stared into Lucas' face trying very hard to figure out what was going on. "Did you get hurt?" the smaller one asked only getting a shake of a head as an answer. "Did someone die?" again only a shake of the head as an answer. "Did you get into trouble?" Sam asked coming to the end of the list of reasons he understood someone would cry about. When he got no answer he wasn't sure exactly what that meant so he asked again "Did you get into trouble?"

"Shut up Sam, you don't know anything" Lucas yelled jumping down off the swing and grabbing his bag as he headed towards the sidewalk. "Get your backpack we need to go" Lucas called back over his shoulder.

"What did ya do?" Sam asked, Luc ignoring his questions and walking too fast for Sam to walk comfortably. "What did I do?" Sam asked knowing he was now suffering the brunt of Lucas' unhappiness. "Shut up would you!" he said again not looking back to see where Sam was. Although Sam would normally be angry with Lucas and wrestle him to the ground because of the yelling, he didn't. The day had been long for him as well and although he didn't consciously worry about the arrival of the parent folk home it played on his emotions. So instead of attacking Luc he burst into tears and dropped to his knees in the middle of the sidewalk. Lucas stopped sighed exaggeratedly his shoulders dropping and his head flung backwards. Looking up at the sky he spat out "Jesus Christ" through clenched teeth. He turned around and headed back to Sam's crumpled form.

"Sam, stand up" Lucas said reigning in his tone enough to not sound angry. Luc held out his hand to Sam in hopes that the kid would take it and come along with him with no more effort. But instead Sam stayed put. Luc crouched down so he was closer to Sam's face. "Sam I've had a really bad day, I really don't have the patience to deal with 'this' right now. Can you please just come with me?" Luc's voice quieter and calmer this time.

"No" Sam stated.

"No?"

"No. I don't want to go home right now" Sam answered. Luc had the same feeling but experience had told him that disappearing was a really bad idea and so began to explain. "Sam. We need to go home. Kayla is expecting us very soon and she has probably gotten a snack all ready for us. Not going home is not an option, that just gets you into more trouble. I understand what kind of a day you had, I know you don't want to deal with tonight" he said out loud but to himself he continued 'because neither do I'. "But no matter what you want or don't want you are already in this situation and you can't change that now. The best thing to do is come with me, we'll go home and if you just keep your mouth shut and only answer questions you are asked, remember to be polite and say how sorry you are and that you won't do it again, then everything will be the best it can be. Do you understand?" Luc's patience once again at its end.

Sam shifted his weight enough for Luc to understand he would come with him, so he too moved and together they started for home.