Page 8 of Kingston
The morning of school starting was fast approaching.It had him counting down the hours before he was to go.The arrangements had been made for Kings to take him and for one of his brothers to pick him up on the way home.Skye had a bodyguard as well.It was all because they didn’t know from day to day what was going to happen with the three people who had chased them forever, with one of them wanting them both dead.
Since the morning of his first class dawned with rain in the forecast, he knew they were going to cancel classes for the day.But as soon as he arrived, they told him that since you could never predict when you were going to have to have something to do with the outdoors, then you would learn more on the rainy days that came to them.Setting out for the first experience of the day, Trevor had to keep telling himself to calm down and to watch what he was doing.He just knew that he was either going to set fire to his sleeping bag or cut his fingers off when trying to open his knife.
He did learn a great deal on the first day.He learned that he was a good deal smarter than he thought he was, and he was a good deal dumber than he thought, too.Learning was fun for him, but he did have to curb his enthusiasm a great deal and not get anyone hurt who was learning, too.He couldn’t do it all, though there were things that came to him like second nature.He just needed to sort the differences and make himself a better survivalist.
On his way home with Brenin, they talked about his day.If he were honest with the older dragon, he would have told him all he wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and go to bed.He was that worn out.As soon as he was back at the house, he did take a hot shower but waited up for Kings and Skye to make it home.He was beginning to see the need for him to get into better shape, as he’d not been like he’d thought he was.
By the time dinner was over, he was ready for bed.There was no way that he was going to make it for the rest of the week if he didn’t get to bed and soon.Dragging his butt up to bed, all he could think about was how he’d thought he was going to come right home and have some fun telling Skye and Kings what he’d done that day.As it was, all he could do was grunt and groan about his day.Kings was the one who had made sure he got to bed after brushing his teeth.
Not only did he have a hard time getting up the next morning, but he seriously considered skipping school to spend the day in the hot tub that had been delivered.But he knew that he had to be serious about this, or he might as well need to know how to survive and not be able to do it.Starting the weekend, he was going to make himself get on the treadmill and walk at least a mile a day until he could get his energy up and be able to go five like he did the first day he’d been in school.He didn’t whine that first day, but boy oh boy did he want to.
Today was just classroom stuff, and he was glad that he hadn’t skipped out on learning.He was sore, and it made him feel good, too, that the other two guys in his nerdy class weren’t in any better shape than he was.Getting himself in shape might take him a while, but luckily for him, Kings had a gym in the house that he was free to use.Otherwise, he’d have to run in the open like Travis and Burt did when they wanted to work out.He didn’t want people to see him when he was starting out working out because they’d make fun of him.He was sure about that.
~*~
“I thought for sure he was going to quit that first day.He’s come a long way in getting himself in shape for these trips.I was going to cut them some slack to make sure that they weren’t too sore, but Haley, my wife, said that they have to learn, and cutting them some slack would only make it take longer for them to get into better shape.”Kings was so happy to hear that he wasn’t getting special treatment while in the pack school.He was proud of Trevor for his working it out, but he was more so when he heard that he was encouraging the other two to get into shape, too.“If he were to get himself in a situation where he needed to depend on his wits, I think that he’d come out all right.He might slip up a little, but he’d get there in the end.And his skill at finding food when they need it was better thananyone I’ve ever seen.He’s a good boy and working out much better than I thought he would after that first day.”
“He gives us more than grunts when we ask him something now.Just the other morning, he spoke to us like he used to.I’ve been so impressed with his workout program that I’ve started using it myself.He’s been doing a good job with that, too.”JJ said he should be proud of the young man.“Oh, I am.More than I think you could guess.He’s come a long way, like you said, but it’s been hard on him.But he’s never given up.Which goes to show you what sort of man he’ll be, I think.”
They talked about his grades and how well he was doing in his math and other subjects.He’d been excelling in his English class and had begun helping the others in the class who were struggling.That made him proud, too.In the short four months that he’d been going to the pack school room for classes, he’d come a long way.
“What do you know about the others who were wanting to get at him?The Connors were set to go on trial soon, weren’t they?”He told him that they were going to the pre-trial in the morning, as a matter of fact.“I’m hoping that you get some closure on this stuff.I mean, they’ve admitted to murdering his parents.What more do you think they’re going to need to get them out of jail and into prison where they belong?”
“I couldn’t tell you.I was an attorney at one time, but it’s been too long for me to have to depend on my memory on how that would work for them.I do know that Waggoner is having fits about being in jail while Skye isn’t.He seems to think that he can make up a big story about her kidnapping Trevor from the Conners and that will somehow lessen his time in jail.”Kings laughed.“So far, all he’s done is piss off every officer in the jailhouse with his bad mouthing about Skye.It helps that she goes by there once a day to bring them muffins for having to put up with Waggoner.She doesn’t ask about the trial or anything, just wishes them a better day because they have to watch over the idiot.That’s what she calls him, too.The idiot.Good name for him, too, if you ask me.”
They talked about the upcoming school year for the human children and how it was going so far.He told JJ about the backpacks that were there for them and who would be getting them before he was called away.Kings made his way back home, whistling to himself and being proud of Trevor for what he was accomplishing in the classes he was taking.He couldn’t wait to tell Skye.
He’d been thinking a great deal about Skye and her living in the house with him and Trevor.She wasn’t just sleeping there but had been observed at running the vacuum too.Yesterday, he’d made dinner for them as it was the cook’s night off, and she insisted that she and Trevor clean up.It was a good way for the two of them to talk, too, her and Trevor.
They were getting along well.He didn’t talk to her about going to the next level in their relationship, nor did she.He wanted to in the worst sort of way; every time he saw her dressed in her working clothes of a skirt and blouse, he wanted to see how far he could get with her before she told him no.And while he was sure she’d tell him that, every part of his body and mind wanted her to jump his bones and make love for three straight nights or until one of them died.He was more than willing to die for the cause; he just needed her to be a willing partner in it.
Tonight they were going to grill out, and he was looking forward to that more than he had anything they’d been having the last few nights.Steak and baked potatoes with a side of mushrooms and onions.His favorite meal.
It took him most of the morning after taking Trevor to school to get the paperwork gone over for the new buildings they were having put in.They were also going to go over the school with someone to tell them if it would be cheaper to bring it up to code again or just build new.He was all for building new because there wasn’t as much back and forth to get it done.Just demo the old building and put in the new one.Done and done, he thought.
It was about noon when Cassian showed up with the blueprints for the new administrative building that was going in for the schools.They’d been working from an old gas station for years, and they were sorely outgrowing it.He looked them over and approved them, but since his brother didn’t leave right away, he figured that he had something to say about them.Waiting on Cassian wasn’t quickwork.He had to have everything perfect in his head before he’d utter a single word about what was bothering him.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”Kings leaned back in his chair and waited for him to continue.“I’m sick of doing things for the town, and they never even say thanks anymore.They used to.When we started out helping them with projects, they were always thanking us.But now it’s like they’ve decided that they don’t need to tell us anymore.And I, for one, would like to hear it once in a while.”Kings asked him who hadn’t said it to him today.“The mayor.She’s doing a good job but when I went by there with the specs on the new admin building, at first she acted like she had better things to do than to speak to me then she rushed me through a meeting, one that I had set up to talk to her about and then shoved me out the door and onto the sidewalk like I was a pest or something.”
“Do you know what today is?”He said it was Wednesday.“Other than that, what started up today?Something to do with kids.And I think if I remember correctly, her firstborn has started today.”
“You mean the start of school.I didn’t know she had kids.”Kings told him that she had four, but only the oldest was starting school today.“So I should have known that and cut her some slack about my meeting.”
“I’d say she’s pretty distracted, being a single mom and her oldest is starting school today, so she more than likely had to miss a meeting with you.Or someone else who had an early appointment with her today.”He said his meeting was at nine-thirty.“About the time the bus would have picked up her son.It couldn’t have been easy for her to leave him with the neighbors while she had to run to work.”
“How the hell did you know so much about the mayor and her offspring?”He told him.“Oh.I didn’t know that she had called you instead of me when she was wanting to apologize to me about this morning.She could have explained about her son, and I would have changed my time.”
“She is a professional and didn’t want to seem less so to us about her crying about how she’d treated you this morning.”Cassian asked if he should call her back.“I wouldn’t have cared if she had just explained to me what was going on.Hell, I’m hoping that someday I have that exact same problem.You did it, too, didn’t you?Had to take Trevor to school.”
“I did, and since he’s older, if I had broken down like I almost did, I don’t think that he would have ever forgiven me.On the way home, I was a blithering idiot.I’m just happy that I didn’t have a meeting with anyone, or I might not have been as nice as she seemed to be when I had a kid to go to school.It’s hard.Harder than anything that I’ve done with him so far, and he’s a kid, not a little boy.”
“I’m going to call her and explain about how she should have told me.I really would have been all right with her changing the appointment time, no problem.”While his brother made his call, Kings got the blueprint approved and signed off on, and sent it to the architect to start on it as soon as possible.Now, if everything else were so easy to get taken care of.Cassian came back to his office with a watery smile on his face.“I shouldn’t have been upset.I’m going to make sure from now on that I have it on my calendar when school starts so that I can avoid such calls in the future.That was difficult to talk to her without joining her in her tears.I’m a sap.”
“Nah, you’re just a man with a big heart.”They talked a bit more about the major projects coming up and decided they were going to do some groundwork before going ahead with the inspection of the schools.They, at this point, had no idea what sort of things needed to be updated or upgraded, and didn’t want to confuse the terms.“Upgraded would be all the computer systems and the things that the teachers use for teaching.Updating would mean that the entire school, including the grounds and the things that keep the building from falling down on their heads.We need to figure out what needs to be done and what can be put off for a few more years.”
“I’m all for that.”They did talk about the new influx of teachers who were coming in to teach this year.At the end of the last year, they had three teachers retire, and two of them went off for an extended maternity leave.Since the school system was so up-to-date and well-maintained, it wasn’t difficult to get teachers to come here for the kids.“Also, we need to make sure that they’ll have background checks made on all of them.We don’t want what happened at the other school district to happen here.Weneed those checks.”
The football coach had a felony against him and was to be prevented from teaching at any school.Also, one of the teachers in another district had trouble with the law about their babysitter.The woman had been dating the underage young man since he started working for her.It was a huge scandal that cost the district a huge fine for not doing proper checks on the people who worked for them.
