Thanks so much for all the reviews! They really helped with this chapter. And OMG the season finale was so good! I can't wait until it returns.
Neal usually liked school. It provided the normalness he sometimes needed to stay sane. For at least 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, he could pretend to be an average person, not the amazing person he really was.
Neal didn't like this school. The FBI had told the school that Neal was a felon, so not matter how much Neal tried to charm his teachers, they treated him like the scum of the earth.
The students didn't know though, so that made it bearable. By the end of the first day, he had at least half of the sophomore girl's numbers, and at least five guys. But that didn't make up for all the teachers looking at him with disgust and conveniently not noticing his hand during class.
But when Peter picked him up later and asked him how his day was, Neal couldn't look the suit in the eye as he said, "It was great. Do we have a case today?"
Peter didn't really notice Neal not looking him in the eye as they walked the two blocks to the office from the school. "Just a minor one. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to do your homework at the office."
Neal groaned and trudged alongside Peter the rest of the way in silence. The one thing he didn't like about school: homework. It wasn't enough that they tortured them for 7 hours, each class added at least an extra 30 minutes of homework to an already long day.
"So how was school kid?" Jones asked when Neal sat down in the conference room at the office.
"I went in with an empty backpack, two pairs shoes, two pairs of pants, two shirts, one vest, one hat and a phone with three contacts." Neal smiled. "I left with three huge ass textbooks, four notebooks, a paper due in two days, one pair of shoes, one pair of pants, one shirt, one vest, and a phone with over one hundred contacts. You do the math."
"So some good some bad." Jones said with a chuckle. Then he thought for a moment. "So what happened to the hat?"
"One of my many fan girls stole it." Neal said with a smirk. Jones chuckled but Peter looked at him.
"How can you lose half the clothes we sent you with?" Peter asked, looking at the teenage con disbelieving.
"Relax. I always keep extra clothes at school in case of emergencies." Neal said with a chuckle. "So what's this case about?"
WCWCWCWCWCWCWCWC
"Prison is starting to sound more appealing." Neal muttered that night at the Burke's kitchen table as he starred at his homework. It wasn't that he didn't get it; his head was just full of a million different things.
"They still have school in prison, so I would say that this is better." Peter sat across from him, doing his own work. The only difference is that Peter's work seemed more interesting to Neal than a detailed summery of the meaning of Robert Frost's poem, Whose Woods These Are.
"Yes, but in there I'm just shoved into a room with a bunch of idiots. The honors classes you enrolled me in actually make me work." Neal said, setting his pencil down. He needed a conversation now, or he was going to go outside and get lost in some woods of New York's.
"Well, you said you were smarter than the teachers, we just gave you a chance to prove it." Peter said without looking up.
"I am, but the thing about poetry is that it has different meaning to everybody. Schools take one generic meaning and force it upon students, not letting them think for themselves." Neal said. "So if my opinion is different than the teachers, then it's considered wrong."
Now Peter looked up at the kid. His dark hair was a mess and his blue eyes showed serious tension. "Not if you argue your point correctly enough. The teachers have to listen if a student has certain reasons about something, right?"
"Sure, that is if you're not a felon." Neal muttered darkly into his homework.
"What was that?" Peter asked.
"I said sure." Neal repeated louder, then went back to doing his homework silently.