The day passed much less eventfully than it had started, classes pretty much a blur due to overwhelming exhaustion, and he arrived home without really registering the trip. Another reason he was so distracted was the offending slip of paper in his bag.

What the heck am I supposed to do with this thing? He pondered as he pulled it out and dropped it on his desk. It helped that his parents hadn’t been home when he arrived, though it was weird that his mum was out at this time of day. Weird seems to be the new normal though, he conceded, flopping onto the bed. I suppose I know what I’m SUPPOSED to do, which is give it to Mum or Dad. The problem is, they’ll just go mental again.

Peter stared at the ceiling, bone tired but unwilling to sleep. He knew that he should get up and do something, that laying on the bed spaced out was a bad look when his Mum did get home but he couldn’t bring himself to move.

In the end, he brought up a messaging app and fired off a short note to Pham to let her know he wouldn’t be online until later that night. He hadn’t managed to catch up with her at school, though he was not entirely sure that was as accidental as it appeared on the surface. It partly felt like she had been avoiding him, though after being evicted from Mr Luck’s class he wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to be associated with him.

It wasn’t all bad though, since attracting as much attention as he had meant that Bully’s minions had given him a wide berth too. They were like cockroaches that scatter when the light comes on. Peter smiled at the errant thought of a cockroach with Bully’s head on it getting stepped on by a huge boot.

The rattle of keys in the door snapped Peter out of his reviere, adrenaline spiking and sending him rolling up off the bed and into action tidying his room. “Mum, is that you?” he called, trying to sound proactive.

“No,” came his father’s voice from the kitchen. “Petey, is that you?”

Poking his head around the corner into the kitchen as his heart slowed to a more normal rate, Peter stared confusedly at his Dad sitting at the kitchen table. “Dad? Why are you home at four thirty in the afternoon?”

His Dad looked up from the coffee cup he’d been staring at vacantly and smiled. “There’s my boy. I decided to clock off early today. It’s been a bit too hectic at work recently so when I saw a chance to take an early mark, you can bet I wanted to get home to my family. Where’s your mother? Did she pop out for something?”

Leaning on the doorway for support as his legs turned jellyish, Peter shrugged. “She wasn’t home when I got here. It’s weird. Everything’s been…” a lump formed in his throat, making it hard to talk. “Everything's been weird. I just…”

Peter’s Dad patted the seat beside him. “Come on champ. Have a seat. You look like you need to let it all out. What’s up?”

Peter dropped bonelessly into the suggested chair. “I got in trouble today,” he confessed. “There’s a letter on my desk in my room I’m supposed to get you or mum to sign because I fell asleep in class.”

“You fell asleep in class?” his Dad asked in a gentle voice. “Are you ok? Is your arm keeping you up?”

Peter shrugged again and flopped his arms up onto the tabletop. “Like, a bit?” He rubbed the line along where he’d been cut. “But you didn’t come home last night and Mum yelled at me and I dropped food on the living room floor and I don’t knooow.” Peter’s eyes squeezed shut and tears began leaking out the sides as his breathing became shaky. “I know you and Mum are having some troubles and I didn’t want to make it worse but I can’t seem to stop.”

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“Champ, you need to stop thinking like that. You’re not making things worse here, in fact,” his Dad stood, left and returned swiftly, holding the sheet of paper from Peter’s desk, “is this it? Let’s get that sorted for you.” He pulled out a rather nice looking pen that Peter had never seen before and signed the page with a flourish.

“That’s a sweet pen,” Peter noted as relief flooded through his system. His father hadn’t even read what was written there, just signed it and held it out. “I’ve never seen it before, where’d you score it?”

“Uh,”’ his Dad looked hunted for a brief second, “it’s a gift from a client. He loved what I’ve, what we’ve done for him, that is. It doesn’t matter.” Instead of putting it back in his shirt pocket, he slipped it into his trouser pocket, deep. “What matters is that whatever is going in between your mother and myself is absolutely not your fault. We are adults and adults disagree sometimes. I’m working very hard so that we can pay off our loans and get our house back, as is your mum. That means we’re both under a lot of stress and we don’t get to spend time together like we used to. For your mum, she seems to think that the time I spend at work isn’t actually at work because sometimes I get tied up in things and can’t get away to answer calls. Or like last night when I had to pull an all nighter to get the code compiled for today’s presentation.” His Dad heaved a sigh. “Look, I’m sure this will all blow over soon. I’ll talk to your mother and if you do well on your exams and I can get the time off, we’ll all go to one of the theme parks for the weekend. How does that sound?”

Hope warred with caution in the back of Peter’s mind. He knew he had barely studied for the exams, but before everything had started going screwy he’d had a fair grasp of the fundamentals. “Which park, Dad? Disney World? Warner Brothers?”

His Dad clapped him on the shoulder. “That depends on how well you do. Straight A’s? Disney it is. Straight C’s? You’ll be lucky if you get to Chuck E Cheese. Deal?”

Plastering a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes, Peter replied. “Deal.” I am so screwed.

At that moment to front door of the apartment swung open to reveal his mother with several grocery bags. Both males jumped up to help, Peter stashing the letter in his pocket before she could see. The kitchen erupted in a whirlwind of activity as all the items were put away and cups of tea made.

“Well, that was a successful day,” his mother announced happily. “Who wants to go out for dinner? My treat!”

“Sounds great honey. Whaddaya say, Champ? Where do you want to eat?” his Dad burbled happily.

“Chuck E Cheese?” Peter replied playfully.

“Watch it…” his Dad warned, to his mother’s confusion. Seeing her face, he explained it was just a joke he and Peter had been sharing before she came home.

Peter tugged on his mother’s sleeve excitedly. “What about the restaurant next to the book place we went to the other day, Mum? The one where you had that meeting with that lady and I got a new book? What was its name?”

Now it was his mother’s turn to look hunted as his father looked confused. Gathering herself she waved away the suggestion. “I’m feeling like Thai tonight. How about that little place near the river?”

“Aww yeah, I’m having massaman beef.” Peter jiggled excitedly.

His Dad shrugged. “I guess we’re having Thai. Let’s go, but remember, it’s a school night. We can’t be out too late for Peter’s sake.”

“You don’t have to work tonight?” his mother inquired innocently.

“Nope, I was actually looking forward to an early bed tonight. How about you dear?” he asked with a hint of a weird tone in his voice as he opened the door.

Whatever, Peter thought, shrugging it off. He hadn’t had Thai in forever and was looking forward to his curry and getting home in time to log on and see his friends and still getting a decent night's sleep. Cake, and eat it too. Woo!

The letter in his pocket and its implications were completely forgotten.