AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to everyone still continuing to read and support this story!


It's now the next morning and Kyle wakes up and decides to lie in bed for a bit longer. He gets that his bullies have been expelled but he still doesn't want to go. What if other kids knew? What if they were talking about him? It all just brought back doubts he'd had many years ago.

Just then Brax walks in and Kyle immediately pulls the covers over his head.

Brax ignores him momentarily and nudges Casey away before turning to Kyle and pulling his sheets down.

"Time to get up, little man," he says, causing Kyle to shake his head.

"I don't want to go to school today; what if kids are talking about me?" Kyle asks, "I can't have people laughing at me."

"It'll all be okay Ky. Look, Bianca will look after you and the bullies won't be there. Now get up," Brax says, causing Kyle to roll over on to his stomach and pretend to snore.

Brax rolls his eyes but can't help but smile.

"Come on little man, nothing is going to happen."

Brax leans down and runs his hand through Kyle's hair.

"Fine," Kyle mumbles and pushes himself up.

As soon as he's on his feet Brax runs his hands through his hair.

"You're a good kid Ky and I'm so proud of you always facing your demons," Brax says, causing Kyle to drop his head.

"Thanks Brax," Kyle sighs miserably.

He's normally thrilled when Brax praises him but honestly all he wants to do now is hide.

"You know Brax, if Kyle wants to stay home then I think he should. I'll even stay with him so he's got company," Casey says with a cheeky smile, hoping to get the day off.

"No Casey, get up," Brax orders, as he ruffles up his hair.

Casey rolls out of bed and looks at Kyle who has just finished putting on his jeans.

"You okay man?" he asks, causing Kyle to shrug his shoulders.

"I guess; still not looking forward to going to school," Kyle replies as he buttons up his school shirt.

"What if kids know what happened?" he asks and looks sadly down at his tie.

"Then they will find out that your bullies are psychopaths," Casey reassures.

"I'm already the biggest nerd in our year, the last thing that I need is for them to talk about how I'm a pathetic bullied nerd," Kyle mumbles as he ties up his tie.

"Well if anyone gives you any hassles, then I'll make sure that they back off," Casey threatens as he ruffles up his brother's hair.

"Cheers Case," Kyle smiles and runs his hand through his hair to fix it.

"I think Liam's itching to get revenge on anyone who picks on you," Casey points out, laughing lightly.

Kyle laughs as well.

"I know, I just hope he doesn't as I don't want him to get in any trouble," Kyle says as he picks up his bag and walks out of the bedroom.

Casey sighs; his brother is too nice for his own good.

He quickly gets changed himself before walking out to have some breakfast.


Kyle and Casey are quietly sitting down at the table eating their breakfast; Casey is as usual scoffing his down, while Kyle is slowly picking at his, when Heath walks in.

"Hey Case, hey little man!" Heath greets, as he walks behind Kyle and ruffles his hair.

"Hey Heath," Kyle mumbles in reply and fixes his hair yet again that morning.

"You all good, Ky?" Heath asks his little brother as he's looking a little miserable and Heath notices Kyle has barely touched his cereal that is now a floating, soggy mess in milk.

"Brax is making him go to school, but he doesn't want to as he's afraid that kids will laugh at him," Casey explains, leading his older brother to look at him.

"Casey, don't tell him that!" Kyle says embarrassed and lowers his head.

"That true Ky?" Heath asks, while Kyle shrugs his shoulders.

Heath grabs him by the shoulders and makes him look at him.

"Kyle, is there something I can do?" Heath asks and Kyle shakes his head.

"No, it's okay. I've got to go. It's the responsible thing to do," Kyle mumbles.

"Do you want me to have a word to Brax?" Heath asks, "See if the big fella will let you have the day off?"

Kyle shakes his head.

"He already said no," Kyle mumbles and takes a spoonful of his soggy cereal.

Heath frowns and turns away briefly.

Kyle gets up from the table and Casey glances at Kyle's still half bowl of cereal.

"I've got to go finish getting ready for the day," Kyle sighs and slumps off to the bathroom after pouring his remaining food down the sink.

"Dude! You still had half a bowl!" Casey exclaims, causing Heath to turn around and Kyle's eyes to go wide.

Heath stares at Kyle.

"Did you not finish your breakfast?" he asks.

"I just wasn't feeling hungry," Kyle stutters.

Heath frowns.

"You know breakfast is important, Bubs. Gives you energy for the day," Heath reminds, firmly.

Kyle's face flushes.

"I…I know, but I honestly wasn't hungry. I guess I'm just nervous about going to school," Kyle lies.

"As long as that's all it is. You're too small to go around skipping meals," Heath states.

Kyle nods and walks off to the bathroom.

Casey takes his bowl to the sink and dumps it.

As he is about to leave, Heath turns to Casey and calls to him.

"Oi, Case: I know that we aren't getting along at the moment, but can you do me a favour and look after Kyle?"

Casey glares at his brother.

"I always do, but I'm surprised you care all of a sudden," he huffs and tries to walk towards his room but is pulled back by Heath.

"What was that?" Heath says glaring down at Casey.

"Oi! Get off him Heath!" Brax yells out and Heath immediately lets Casey go.

"You need to cut the kid some slack!"

"Like you can talk! You're forcing Kyle to go to school when he's afraid that kids will laugh at him!" Heath argues.

Casey, now that he's been let go, runs off to the hall where he bumps into Kyle causing Kyle to fall down.

Casey helps him up and they both stand in the hallway listening to their brothers.

"Kyle needs to go back to school or else he'll never want to go," Brax argues back as Heath huffs.

"Just give the kid a day! He loves school, he'll want to go back," Heath protests.

Kyle looks at Casey and sighs; he hates it when Brax and Heath fight.

"If he loves it so much, he can go back today," Brax states.

"Fine! You know what, whatever! If the kid gets bullied at school today, I'm blaming you!" Heath huffs and walks out, slamming the door behind him.

"Boys!" Brax calls as he knows that they will be listening.

They both walk around the corner with Kyle standing shyly behind Casey.

"You ready?" he asks.

Kyle nods and Casey shakes his head.

"No, I just need to clean my teeth," Casey informs.

"Well hurry up!" Brax orders.

Casey runs off to the bathroom and Brax calls Kyle over.

He then runs his hand through Kyle's hair and rests his hand on Kyle's neck.

"Look, I'm sorry that I'm sending you to school today but I think it's the best," Brax says, causing Kyle to nod.

"I get it," Kyle mumbles and plays with the strap on his bag. He then sees Casey walk back in.

"Can we just go?" he mumbles and looks up at Brax who nods.

"Let's go, and Kyle, you can sit in the front," Brax announces and ruffles both his brother's hair before walking to the kitchen and handing the boys some money.

"Here you can buy your lunch today," he says, handing a twenty dollar note to each of his brothers.

"No way: twenty dollars!" Casey exclaims with a smile, making Brax smirk at his little brother.

"Here: I'll hold on to yours and keep it safe," Casey suggests, as he takes both the twenty dollar notes.

Kyle doesn't react as Casey often spends his money on any extra things that he wants but can't afford.

"Casey, make sure Kyle gets every bit of that twenty dollar note!" Brax warns and frowns at his brother.

"Relax Brax, I'm just keeping it safe. With Kyle's luck he would get it all taken off him by bullies. This will keep it safe," Casey states, shrugging.

Brax sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

"Alright let's go," Brax informs and all three walk out the door.

Kyle quickly knocks on the door to Heath's flat.

Heath opens the door in a huff.

"What!…..Oh Ky," he says as he sees his little brother on the other side of the door.

"Have a good day, Heath," Kyle says, causing Heath to pull him into a hug.

"You too little man and you let Bianca know if kids bother you, she may be mad at me but she'll be there for you," Heath says.

"Okay. I've got to go," Kyle says and walks towards Brax's Ute and gets in.

Brax starts to drive towards the boys school.

As they arrive at school Brax turns to the boys.

"Okay boys, see you when I get home from work." Brax says.

"Sounds good Brax," Kyle says.

"See ya!" Casey calls.


Kyle and Casey walk up to their friends.

"Kyle! You okay man?" Romeo asks as the boys reach them.

"Yeah, I'm good," Kyle answers quickly but looks down at his feet as he doesn't want to look at his friends.

"He didn't want to come today, he's afraid that kids know that Wesley and Grant gave him a swirly," Casey says to their friends, causing Kyle to look up at him.

"Casey: don't say that! People will hear you!" Kyle grumbles in a panic, looking around in fear that someone has heard his little brother.

"Relax Kyle! If anyone gives you any hassles, we'll sort them out!" Casey clarifies.

"I'd rather people not give me any grief," Kyle huffs.

He looks at the time and looks back at his friends.

"Anyway I'm going to class," he says.

"You're going to be early!" Casey says, unable to understand why his brother likes to be early for class.

"I just want to be prepared for class. I'll see you at break."

"I'll meet you at the canteen and we can buy our snacks together. We can get so much with our twenty dollars!" Casey says happily, and smiles at Kyle.

Kyle gives a nod, still not sure he really wanted to eat much anyway.

Kyle slowly makes his way to Math class and plummets into his seat and pulls out his textbook and opens it to the part they are working on,

Just then Zeke, Haley and Damien walk in.

"Hey loser! We heard that you got a swirly yesterday," Zeke teases as he places his hands on Kyle's desk and leans down causing Kyle to cower in his seat.

"How'd you find out?" Kyle whispers, now extremely nervous that others know.

"Heard it through the grapevine. Who knows soon you may be the talk of the school. Hope you liked it as you may be getting a lot more," Haley laughs and grabs Kyle's water bottle and squeezes it so water sprays on Kyle's face.

The three bullies laugh.

Sighing sadly, Kyle wipes the water off his face with his sleeve.

"Seriously, how much of a pathetic loser can you be?" Damien sneers and pulls Kyle's books off his desk.

Just then Mrs. Marks walks in.

"Hello, how are we all doing?" she asks the students.

"We're good thank you Mrs. Marks, and you?" Zeke asks politely as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"I'm very good thank you Zeke," Mrs Marks replies with a smile.

Just then Zeke picks up Kyle's book and places it on his desk.

"Here you go, Kyle. You must have accidentally knocked these off your desk." Zeke smiles and the three bullies walk to their seats.

Kyle sighs heavily and once again opens his book to get ready for class. He then pulls out his spare book and starts to practice examples provided in the book.

After Math, Kyle pushes himself up and starts to make his way to Science.

"Hey, where are you going so fast loser?" Zeke laughs as the three bullies catch up with Kyle.

"Just leave me alone!" Kyle moans and tries to walk quicker to get away from them.

"Hey, why are you being so mean? It hurts us Kylie!" Haley laughs and pulls Kyle back by the bag and shoves him against the lockers.

"Yeah! You're a bit of a jerk aren't you," Damien sneers as he whacks Kyle around the head.

"You know what boys, I'm kinda in the mood for a muffin but I have no money. Maybe this loser should give us some since he was so rude," Haley says laughing.

Zeke and Damien nod in agreement.

"Totally agree Haley. Pay up shrimp!" Zeke hisses.

Kyle drops his head, however he's very glad that Casey has his lunch money.

"I don't have any money," Kyle protests, "We've got to get to class!"

He tries to walk away but is shoved back into the lockers by Damien.

"Not yet Pinky! Pay up!" he threatens.

"I don't have any money," Kyle whispers again, sadly wishing that he had the confidence to stand up for himself.

"Oh yeah! Let's see," Zeke hisses and whips Kyle's backpack off.

He then tips it upside down and picks up his fallen wallet.

However he sees that the only things in there are his student ID and a piece of paper with his number on it as well as Brax's number as an emergency contact.

"This losers got nothing; not even an Arcade card. What a dork!" Zeke laughs and throws the wallet back at Kyle, hitting him in the face.

"Let's go," Zeke says and shoves Kyle against the lockers one more time.

Kyle quickly picks up all his belongings and stuffs them in his bag before walking quickly to get to class.

He walks into the class and quickly sits down next to Dex.

"Sorry I'm late Mr. Lambert," Kyle breathes heavily.

"No worries Kyle, we've just finished the roll but Dex assured me you were here so I marked you as present," Mr. Lambert informs, causing Kyle to turn to his best friend and smile, before turning back to Mr. Lambert."

"Thank you sir," he says and then turns back to Dex, "Thanks man."

"You want to tell me why you're late?" Dex asks his best friend.

"Later," Kyle replies and then the two of them face the front and listen to Mr. Lambert as he begins his class.