" ... suspended for a semester."

Pete felt his legs collapse from under him, Ryan was quick to hold him up. Their headmistress asked for Pete alone but Ryan didn't think Pete could last a minute in the office without fainting. Ryan looked at his friend and back at the headmistress. "Why is his punishment so bad? It's not like he did anything against the school rules."

"Suspended!" Pete gasped, the two looked at his delayed verbal reaction before looking back at one another.

"Peter did something that we don't have an exact punishment for because it's never been done before. This placement exam was supposed to see how well our students can defend themselves from what they've learned here. Peter defended himself in a way that none of the teachers recognized as in the curriculum."

Ryan rolled his eyes over at Pete, "So, he's just an overachiever. Don't you want your students to go above and beyond?"

"Not when they're being experimental and risking their own lives. For this semester, we will be taking Peter's books and sending him home where he can hopefully attend regular school."

Ryan had to readjust his hold on Pete since he suddenly felt his friend slump down more to the ground. The headmistress looked at Pete with a bit of pity but quickly dismissed it. "I'll call his parents now and we'll have a teacher escort him home." Ryan frowned. He looked down at Pete where a scared expression was frozen on his face. "Ryan, please take your friend to the nurse and help him pack up."

Ryan nodded and dragged Pete's now limp body out of the office. Once he closed the office door he sat down on the floor next to where Pete was now sitting silent. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Pete stared out into the space in front of him. "Suspended." He said, disbelief in his voice.

"Only for a semester." Ryan pointed out. Obviously that wasn't what Pete wanted to hear but it was better than being expelled.

"Regular school." Pete's eyes widened, he pulled his knees close to his chest. "I don't think I'm going to last a week. And when I get back, I'll be a semester behind and can you imagine me getting a tutor? I'm the one who tutors everyone."

"Pete," Ryan said, "You're going to be fine. "You went to regular school till you were in eighth grade. Some of our classmates don't even know that non magic is a common thing outside people like us."

"So I've missed three years of regular school. I'm going to be three years behind there!"

"You really need to shut up. You're the smartest person I know," Ryan said, "I'm sure that you are already academically ahead of all the students there. Oh, and you can see your old friends as well."

Pete groaned, "But none of my old friends are like you, Ryan. And I only talk to them during the summer and that's a rat occurrence."

"Everything will be okay. Just wait."

***

Mikey unlocked his front door and walked into the hall quietly. Why was he so scared to see his own brother? It's his brother! No matter what his thoughts told him, Mikey couldn't help but feel a bit of fear.

He didn't see any sign that anyone was home so he just decided to run upstairs and get his homework over with. School had only just started many weeks before. It was this point in the year where all the school work began to build up and get a little too overwhelming.

Mikey sat at his desk and got out his math book. He took out a piece of notebook paper and started copying down the problems. It doesn't sound like a difficult task but for Mikey, every number he wrote down, he felt a wave of drowsiness fill him. He looked up out his window and noticed that it was still day time. He couldn't have been sitting there long. The heaviness of his eyelids pulled his head down onto the desk where he slept for the remainder of the afternoon.

Gerard later walked upstairs when his parents came home. He passed by his younger brother's room to see him pass out on his homework. "You're going to need to help him with this, okay?" He turned around and saw his mom looking at the younger of her sons.

"Why me? I'm not the one who cursed the family." He whispered, a tang of bitterness in his voice.

"Gerard." His dad appeared between the two.

Gerard sighed, "What do I do? Hold his hair back as he's puking into the toilet? Just because this happened to me, doesn't mean that I know how to deal with it. I'm still struggling with this." He waved his hand over his face. "Mikey is going to hate his life when he finds out. When he finds out what he's going to do to people."

"And you won't tell him until the time is right." His mother confirmed with him, knowing that Gerard wasn't happy with it.

Gerard rolled his eyes, "I'm sure he's going to notice when his lucky charms start tasting like dirt." His parents walked back down to the kitchen, leaving Gerard to watch Mikey. Alone in his thoughts and worries.

***

Everything had moved so fast for Pete. It seemed at one moment he was sitting on his bed, watching all of his belongings getting thrown into his bags and then he was standing in front of his house. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, his teacher smiled down at him. He always seemed to make Pete smile, which was why he was his favorite. From the unprofessional look of messy hair and an uneven red tie to cursing in class as if it didn't bother him that he could get in trouble.

"You're going to be okay, kid."

"Mr. Armstrong, I don't know what I did wrong. I defended myself from the monster. Isn't that what they asked for?" Pete questioned. Maybe trying to stall the moment that he has to walk inside and face his parents.

"You didn't do anything wrong," the teacher reassured. "My boss is just an asshole. You just surprised them. You started off the exam normally like all the other students but once you got to the potions table..."

"I know, I messed up. I just didn't want to do what everyone else was doing, you know?"

Mr. Armstrong chuckled, "Well seeing as no one else got suspended, I'd say you succeeded." Pete turned towards his house. Maybe if he runs fast enough, his parents won't see him. "Hey, and Peter? Headmistress said that you're not allowed to be studying magic while you're suspended but I..." He revealed a book in his hand. "That spell you were trying to cast? You missed the proper ingredients. Of course that kind of magic is experimental."

"Mr. Armstrong?"

"This assignment is due when you get back next semester. I want you to correct the spell. Find out what you messed up and we'll see if it works when you get back." He handed Pete the book and watched the smile on his face grow a bit.

"Thank you," Pete said, "Thank you so much."

_\|/_

So how y'all liking this so far? 

Also, I need a cute cover for this cause the current one looks like poo poo.