Fighting Family

19

Axel's POV

School had not been the relief I was hoping it would be. Weylyn seemed to be fine. Whatever happened the night before with him and Callum's husbands seemed to snap him out of the funk he had been in after his session with Andrew but by the time we got to school the next day, everyone had heard the story of the new kid who had an absolute meltdown on the first day.

The whispers in the hall seemed to be twisted into rumors that I had been on drugs and the teacher tried to take them away from me. People watched me closely with side-eyed glances like I was about to attack them randomly the second they stopped looking. Weylyn had been spared from most of it but since he only ever hung out with me, I knew his chances of making friends were slim to none now.

Still, I hadn't cared too much. People who weren't Wey weren't really my kind of people.

English had sucked. The teacher stared at me like I was a criminal the entire time with a harsh glare on her face while also making sure to stand as far away from as possible. If it wasn't it wasn't such a prick thing to do I would have had trouble hiding my laugh.

"How was school," Callum asked the second I opened the door at pick-up.

"Well, I managed to not throw any more books at the teachers so I'd say it went pretty well." Callum shook his head and sighed as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Considering that is literally the bare minimum, I'm not going to praise you for that."

"Oh but Callum, how will I go on with my life knowing I don't have your approval," I whined with a pout. Callum tried to look pissed off but the small smile gracing his lips was enough to give him away.

"And how was your day Wey?"

"Fine," was the only answer he gave with a small shrug.

"I'll take it," Callum sighed. "We're going to the shop for a few hours. You can either go in the office or hang out in the cafe but I want all of your homework done by the time we have to leave." I groaned in protest but Callum didn't seem to care.

"Why can't we just go back to your house and do it there?"

"Other than the fact that no one is there today, I don't have time to drop you off there. The coffee side of the shop is closed right now and we usually get an after-school rush that I'd rather not miss."

I tried to push it down but I could still feel guilt pooling in my chest at that.

"I don't see why you won't just let us walk home," I sighed as I looked out the window.

"Oh great, we're having this conversation again," Callum sighed.

"It's clearly an inconvenience for you to leave work and pick us up. If we could walk you wouldn't have to worry about closing for ten minutes and then trying to beat traffic before you miss the rush. I just don't seem worth it. If you don't want us staying at your house alone then we could just walk here."

"I don't like the idea of you walking around after school in a place you don't know."

"So you don't trust us," I said with a glare he couldn't even see.

"I don't trust the random assholes on the street," Callum said sternly. I looked for these so-called assholes littering the street but only found smiling teens and friendly shop owners sweeping their patios or tending to their flower boxes.

"Yeah, you really picked a horrible, crime-filled neighborhood to set your business in," I scoffed.

"It's only for a few months," Callum sighed. "Give all of us time to get our schedules used to this and we'll be fine. Jax was supposed to pick you up today but he had an appointment that was made months ago and couldn't cancel." I hummed but didn't overly believe him.