It's Definitely Not All Mary Poppins

As For the Child, I Shall Take Charge of Them Myself! (2)

Pressing his back against the wall, he sank to the glimmering linoleum floor in a breathless, ashamed mess. He covered his face, wishing he could go back in time and curb himself. So desperately did he want a cigarette.

"Matt?" Lilly whispered, shuffling out of the classroom and closing the door gently behind her. She kneeled in front of him and stared. "Are you okay?"

Matthew shook his head. "Honestly...no."

She sat cross-legged in front of him.

He scoffed. "Sorry," he muttered. "For that. For swearing in front of you. It...I just remember, so vividly, being in school and hearing what they were saying. For so long, and it killed me. And I..." Matthew sat forward. "Lilly, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

Lilly said nothing.

"I should've asked you this a long time ago, but I – maybe I didn't know I could ask this, but do you even want to go to this school?"

Still Lilly remained silent.

"I don't care what your dad says, and – I mean, I do, because he's kind of paying for you and Eli to come here, but I'm going to ask Eli, too. Do you really want to spend the next, like, nine years here?"

She drew in a breath and considered the question for a moment. "...I like the building," she started, words soft and careful, "but the rules are annoying."

Matthew sighed. "You'll never get away from them, unfortunately."

"I know you don't like coming in every week." Lilly shuffled to a spot right next to Matthew. "Eli tells me you don't like it for him, either. But it's school. It can't all be bad, right?"

He bit his tongue. He wasn't sure how intense Brookfell got.

"My friends are here," she said. "Yeah, some of the teachers are butts, but..." Lilly trailed off. She tapped her hands against her outstretched legs, saying nothing. "I don't know, Matt. It's...yeah. Hard."

Matthew bobbed his head. "I know." He stood, brushing down his pants despite how clean the hallway was. "Just think about it, okay? If you didn't have to stay here, and had the option to move, where would you go?"

Lilly got to her feet, staring. She nodded and watched Matthew dart back into Mrs. O'Reilly's classroom to grab every piece of writing from her teachers that week.

He offered it to her. "Hold that? I'm going to get your cousin."

She nodded, tucking them in her arms carefully. "I'll come with."

Drawing in a slow breath, Matthew nodded. Something told him not to argue with her. "Let's go. I don't want to stay here any longer than I need to, you know."

"Honestly, Mr. Robinson, we do not know what to do with him," Ms. Parrish sighed, leaning against Mrs. Jefferson's blackboard. "We've had outbursts like this before, but his behavior is growing worrisome."

Matthew couldn't help the sadness growing inside him, aching and pleading and suffocating. He forgot how exhausting this was every week, and wished he could forget again. Yet, sucking air between his teeth, he couldn't help the agitation in his stomach as Elliot sat less than a foot away, alongside two other classmates, all covered in light bruises. "Why are they here?" he asked, his tone giving himself away.

Mrs. Jefferson cocked a brow, a concerned look in her eyes. "I'm surprised, Mr. Robinson. That's, generally, not the kind of reaction we expect from caretakers after hearing their ward started a fight."

"What happened, then?"

"Does it matter?" she followed up. "Physical violence like that should not be tolerated, by anyone."

"That's not what I asked," Matthew sighed, wiping his brow. "What happened, specifically? What was the chain of events that led to the fight?"

Ms. Parrish and Mrs. Jefferson shared a glance. "Admittedly, I had stepped away to speak to Mrs. Campbell, since Elliot had an episode in her class today, too."

Matthew turned in his chair to Elliot. "What happened?"

Eli shrugged. He kept his eyes away, curling in his chair.

Sighing, Matthew turned back to the teachers. "So you don't know what happened?"

"Well – Mr. Yang and Mr. Clifford had always been...difficult together," explained Ms. Parrish, the look of discomfort and hesitation on her face. "Teachers generally know to keep them apart because they...don't...mesh well."

Matthew's eyes narrowed. "And you didn't think to tell me, Ms. Culpepper – "

"Witch," Eli muttered under his breath.

" – shush, you. You didn't think to tell me, Ms. Culpepper, or his uncle this? At all?"