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Jack looked up from his book at Evan knocking on his open door, he set it aside and motioned for him to come in.
“What’s up?”
Jack could see he had something behind his back but he was sure Evan was just getting himself ready to come out with it when he felt prepared to. He could respect that the kid was getting bolder about knowing he could talk to Jack, but he also knew it would still take some time to wipe out the idea that no one was interested in what he had to say that his parents had managed to instil in him.
“Am I bothering you?”
“Never, come sit down, I left my leg in the living room don’t make me wheel over to you.”
Evan laughed nervously and perched on the side of his bed. Papers coming out from behind his back to be held in his lap.
“My teacher needs you to sign this, it’s for parent teacher meetings, but I don’t know when you’re working.”
He handed one of the sheets of paper across, it was a couple of weeks away but they could work it out between him Robby and Dana about who could be around for that. That wasn’t an issue.
“When do they need it back, kid?”
“End of the week?”
“Okay no problem, I’ll get Robby to check the schedule and then I’ll confirm that one of us will be there for it. Anything else on your mind?”
He was scrunching the sides of the second piece of paper between his hands nervously. He didn’t say anything for this one before he just handed it over to be looked at.
Jack sped read over the words before looking back up at his nervous kid. His nervous kid who had seemingly enjoyed the ice skating experience so much that he had either inquired or just happened to find out about a hockey camp for kids age 9-13 so he had found it at a great age, that if he liked it enough he could go back a couple of times before he aged out.
“You want to do this?”
Evan shrugged, Jack shuffled up the bed to him.
“I think you do, and you can want to do things, Evan. I want to help you to do the things you want to do. I looked into some hockey schools and lessons when we were at the rink but you never asked about it again so I kept it to myself. How do you feel about us looking into this camp and some others, and finding the one that suits you best?”
Evan blinked at him, tears wet at the corner of his eyes, “oh Ev, come here kid.”
Jack had no qualms about reaching forwards and crushing the kid to his chest as he shook with little sobs, hands grasping at the back of his shirt and holding on tight.
When he’d calmed down a bit, light hiccups interrupting him, “I’d like to try hockey, Jack.”
Jack smiled at him, wiping the tears off of his face, “we’ll do some research tomorrow, okay?”
Robby felt strange in his best shirt and nicest pair of jeans. He hadn’t worn smart clothes in such a long time, between his scrubs and his comfy casual out of work clothes he didn’t need to. He wanted to make a good impression to Evan’s teachers. Even if Jack had laughed at him when he’d dropped the kid off at his apartment before work.
Evan had looked over him, a quirk of a smile to his lips that didn’t say much to Robby for what he was thinking but he didn’t say anything.
They were just across the road from the intimidating building that was his school when he had to stop himself flinching as Evan’s hand snuck into his for reassurance. Robby squeezed his hand, leaning down some to whisper at the kid, “this is your middle school?”
“Mixed middle and high school.”
“Scary,” Robby swung the kids hand back and forth a bit, “you must be one brave kid to come here every day.”
Evan squeezed his hand again, “we can be brave together.”
Robby’s heart soared for this little boy of Jack’s.
He was glad the kid knew where he was going, tugging along at Robby to keep him close, but also the six foot figure he dragged behind him kept the sea of people parted like the Red Sea.
The kid was determined and it was a new side to see, it wasn’t a bad one. He knew Jack said he didn’t seem to be making friends very well here and was hoping that hockey school would be the turning point on his kids socialisation.
Evan nudged his shoulder into Robby’s arm, before pointing at their names on the door, they were ten minutes early but that was better than being late. He perched awkwardly on a too small chair next to the door, looking so comical that Evan couldn’t help his giggling as he sat down beside him.
The kid seemed to get more and more nervous the closer it got to their allotted time and Robby figured he had one chance to get the nerves out. Nudged the kid to get his attention and fished his phone out of his pocket, “you’ve got to send a picture of me on this chair to your dad.”
Evan paused, panic seeming to sky rocket as he took the phone as Robby realised what he’d said, the nerves were hitting him now, “uh, Jack?”
Evan got a quick picture but Robby was sure his facial expression in it would give away a lot. He sat down next to him and tucked in close. A different level of panic settling deep in the boy.
Robby whispered down at him knowing he’d really put his foot into it this time, “I didn’t mean to cause any problems. To me you’re Jack’s kid. I didn’t mean to bring anything up.”
“He’s better than my dad. Anyone is better than them. I just-”
The teacher came out and beckoned them in before Evan had the chance to finish his thought. Robby felt a bit out of sorts now as well.
He heaved himself off of the little chair, delighted at the small giggles that erupted from Evan but saddened that they weren’t as outright as before.
He shook his teachers hand as they walked in, closing the door behind them, “Dr Robinavitch, you can call me Robby.”
“Miss Todd, Evan’s homeroom teacher.”
They sat down, and Robby nudged Evan with a smile before this was to begin. Evan still seemed nervous, knee bouncing in the chair beside him.
“Uh, Robby, you are not Evan’s guardian.”
Robby shook his head, anxious about the way his palms were sweating up against his jeans.
“My best friend Jack Abbot is Ev’s guardian, but he’s on shift tonight. We’re both doctors. I am an emergency contact for Ev though.”
Miss Todd frowned at that and wrote something down in her book, Evan fidgeted where he was sat. Robby wasn’t sure what to make of it all.
“He’s basically my uncle Miss Todd.” Evan jumped in quickly, just as nervous as the sweat on Robby’s palms told him he was, Miss Todd shot him an uncomfortable look and Evan returned to keeping his head down.
“That was something I wanted to talk to Evan’s guardian about, he is in the habit of speaking when not spoken to, and that can be quite the disruption in class.”
Robby frowned, peering over at the kid who had just tried to save him from something he didn’t understand, a kid who was quiet and shy for most of what Robby knew of him. Being a disruption felt widely out of character for him.
Miss Todd cleared her throat bringing their attention back to her, “I have his report card for his subjects, his teachers tell me he’s timely with his homework but he does not participate in classes. He’s joined no extracurricular and he does not interact with his peers. I would have liked Mr Abbot to be here to discuss this.”
Robby wasn’t keen on the way she seemed resistant to help Evan, it was more like she wanted to shame him for how his life was, and that didn’t seem like good behaviour from a teacher that was supposed to be shaping the kids.
“It’s Dr Abbot, but he’d prefer Jack. You can discuss this with me, I’ll see Jack when he gets off shift in the morning. We’ve been working on finding out what interests Evan outside of school. What is your awareness of bullies at this school.”
She bristled some at that, clearly not interested in this being turned back at her, but he’d discussed Evan being uncomfortable at this school with Jack. Especially after that first instance of Evan ‘tripping’ face first into a wall. They’d been supportive of him working through it on his own until he wanted to discuss it, but this seemed like the perfect time to ask someone of authority what they thought of it.
“We do not accept bullying at this school. It has not come to my awareness that Evan is being bullied. Are you being bullied Evan?”
Evan jumped at finally being addressed, having basically sat through slander after being sent quiet with a look for justifying why Robby was at his parent teacher meeting.
“N-no, I don’t think so.”
She looked back at Robby as if that was enough proof that everything was okay here.
Robby crossed his arms, pressing his knee into Evan’s bouncing leg to prove he was still there for him, “what do you know of an incident at the beginning of Evan’s time at this school, with Evan ending up hitting his face against a wall. He had a big bruise on his face for about two weeks.”
Evan shrank down some in his chair, Robby didn’t stop pressing his knee against Evan’s.
Miss Todd shook her head, “we were told he tripped.”
“You didn’t question it? Or his torn backpack?”
“Shouldn’t we have addressed this at the time, there is nothing to be done about it now.”
“Evidently nothing was done about it then either.”
They were staring at each other, the tension in the air not breaking. Evan’s leg was bouncing viciously now, starting to vibrate some of the objects on her desk. Robby leaned forwards and pressed his hand on his leg, apologising lightly under his breath.
He took a deep breath and looked down at the paperwork in his lap, “what should we be doing with Evan outside of school to get his grades better?”
She seemed pleased for a reason Robby didn’t know, but he was beginning to dislike this woman.
“I prepared this packet, with notes from his teachers about improving his grades. Participation is not a marked grade in middle school, but it will be marked upon in high school, Evan should be working on speaking with his peers, joining some extra curriculars I’ve included the program for what we offer here. Do you have friends outside of school, Evan?”
Evan’s eyes snapped up when he realised he was finally being addressed, “Yes, Miss Todd.”
“Remember, I expect your worksheet back first thing Monday. I can’t extend the deadline any longer.”
The sweetened tone she used to speak to Evan was filed away in the back of Robby’s brain for later. He did not like this woman.
He took the packet of information she was handing over as she remained seated at her desk. Robby reached for Evan’s hand and tugged him out of the room without saying goodbye, he knew that might come back to bite Evan later but he just wanted the kid out of that room as soon as possible.
Evan’s legs were like lead as they walked out of the room and back into the sea of parents and students, he was dragging behind him so much so that Robby scooped the kid up into his arms so he could move as quickly as he wanted to. Evan tucked his face into his neck as Robby was determined to get them as far away from that hell hole as fast as he physically could.
When they were sat back on the bus towards Robby’s apartment and Evan was calmer playing with the older mans fingers he determined now was a good time to speak to the kid.
“Is she like that a lot, kid?”
He shrugged, Robby frowned not happy with any of what had just gone down. He looked up from the kid to see whereabouts the bus was, before signalling the bus to come to the next stop, he gathered the kid back into his arms. Evan looked alarmed, “what’s happening?”
“Detour kid, we need a specialist.”
Evan buried his face in Robby’s neck again, Robby was determined to get more food in this kid soon, he was still too little.
Lena at central looked up at them, a little bit concerned at who was just striding through the doors until she matched Robby’s face with their usual day attending ignoring his choice of clothes and the kid in his arms. She directed him to the staff lounge and promised she’d have Jack to them as soon as he was finished with his patient.
Evan seemed to resist detaching from around Robby’s neck, so he lowered the both of them down to the couch and continued to hold him until Jack got there.
He rubbed his hands up and down the kids back, unsure what was running through his head and hoping he wasn’t the reason it was worse.
Jack tried not to look anxious as he came into the staff room, stopping short at the way his kid was koala beared onto Robby who looked grim in the face and worried.
“What happened?”
Evan clambered off of Robby to reach for Jack as he kneeled down for it, latching on to the smaller lithe man who was vibrating with worried energy.
Robby, feeling marginally colder now that the kid had detached, leaned forwards on his knees.
“You should have a meeting with his actual teachers, but if they’re anything like his homeroom teacher in terms of student care we should find him a different school.”
Evan stiffened up in Jack’s arms and he gripped him tighter.
“Ev, hey kid, come on now. You need to participate in this if you want us to help?”
Evan grumbled a little bit, unsure of where to go once he had detached from Jack. Jack settled him down on the couch next to Robby as Jack pulled a chair forwards to face them.
Evan shook his head and shrugged. Jack turned to Robby, “what happened?”
“She wasn’t pleased I was there instead of you. She wasn’t pleased that you weren’t there. She called Evan a distraction, which I never really understood what she meant but she either wants him to interact with his peers or she wants him quiet. I asked if she knew anything about bullying and she basically admitted that there are bullies but because Evan hasn’t escalated to anyone she wasn’t willing to discuss it. She gave me a packet of stuff to help his grades, and extracurriculars she thinks would help him make friends. She gave me a bad feeling, I didn’t like her.”
Jack sighed and drew his hands across his face.
Robby turned to Evan and poked him in the side, “and you little man, were sitting there like you’ve heard all of that before and were used to the interrogation.”
Jack leaned forwards and placed his hands on Evan’s knees, “is it bad at school, kid?”
He shrugged, sniffled and then nodded.
“Miss Todd doesn’t like me. She made us do a family tree project that I started and she’s made me take it away with me, that’s the worksheet due on Monday. I have to use my actual family so we can do ancestry records, but she refused to listen to me when I put Jack and Dana and Robby, and Dana’s family on my branches. She said it didn’t make sense. That if I wasn’t actually adopted I couldn’t choose my family. That it was for a research project, but I don’t want to research their ancestry. But I don’t know anything about your families or how to spell Robby’s name, and she said I was wrong. And then the kids in my class told other kids that I don’t have parents and now they have more reasons to not talk to me.”
Evan was beside himself with tears as Robby crushed him into his side and tried to comfort him as best he could, as the adults tried not to scream out at the world that always tried to screw this kid over.
Jack drew in a pained breath, “how come you didn’t tell us any of this, kid?”
Evan sniffled, and burrowed closer into Robby’s side, “I thought they would get past it. It was hard at home first but they got past it. I thought they would get past it.”
Robby reached over and snagged him a box of tissues so he could dry his face and wipe his nose.
Jack nodded, “we’ll work something out, I’ll call the principal but you’re not going to school the rest of the week. We’ll find you a different school. If anything upsets you, you need to tell us. We’re on your side kid.”
Evan leapt forwards again, arms around his neck, “thanks dad.”
Jack stiffened up but quickly relaxed into it, kissing the side of his head and holding him tight. Robby was observing them with wet eyes.
There was a knock on the door after some time, the three of them a bit more composed, Evan back in Robby’s arms and Jack ready to get back to work. They’d agreed that Evan would stay at Robby’s tonight and Jack would come join them after his shift. They could work out the school arrangement in the morning, but they were all in agreement that Evan would not stay there and that wherever he ended up next, Jack would be getting in there first to nip any of that in the bud.