"...you have no plans for me..."

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Dave was melting. He was wearing his usual long sleeve under short sleeve and pants ensemble in yet another scorching Texas heat wave. Today though, he was laying face up in the sun on the roof of his apartment complex, a little beat up from his most recent roof top strife with Bro, a couple scratches on his cheek and a bruise beginning to form on his collar bone along with other minor wounds covered up by his layers of clothes. Bro had managed to push Dave down when Dave froze up at the sight of that creepy puppet and he refused to get up. Yes, Dave was sweating like fucking crazy and he knew that he'd probably end up looking as red as a damn tomato but he didn't care. All he cared about right now was how relaxed he was.

His recent stress of his sexuality crisis had just blown over and Dave was back to normal. Or so he hoped. In all honesty, the albino boy just decided to ignore the problem completely and hopefully it'd solve itself. So far so good. Back to his chillaxing time on the roof though.

Yes the blazing hot Texan sun sure was relaxing. Dave was just laying there without a care in the world. Crows were flying around and landing beside him, allowing Dave to extend a finger so they could perch there. Nothing was more relaxing than spending a nice Wednesday morning on a burning roof basking in the sun. Of course Dave didn't think that three hours later when he walked back in to find that his skin color now matched his eye color. Oh fuck no. He wasn't going to walk around like this, Bro would never let him live this down. The albino boy hopped onto his computer and like many students today, searched the Internet for answers. About five minutes later, Dave was trying hard to keep his stoic expression perfect while he scrambled around to find his makeshift wallet. Once he found it, he headed out the apartment and back into the world.

The red faced boy strode calmly down the side walk to the merest drug store, hoping that he would have enough money for that one product he needed and hoping that this little rinky-dink Walgreens had it. Thankfully the store did carry the product he needed. Dave grabbed any random bottle of Aloe Vera sunburn cream and quickly walked to the counter, putting the product down and pulling out his little wallet to hand over his money.

Dave walked out the store, the Walgreens bag swinging idly by his side, and made the trip back to his house. This time though, Dave walked slower. He wanted to take in the day, to actually have a moment where he could slow down and enjoy being outside. The Strider's shaded eyes took everything hungrily from the trees to the grass to the people walking their dogs. It was all so nice. So magical. It was all so peaceful-

"Hey!" A gruff voice pulled Dave out of his little nature lull and he turned to see a buff looking man leaning against a wire fence. Dave instantly prepared for a sword fight before realizing that A ) he didn't have his katana and B ) the guy was on the other side of the fence. "Aren't you supposed to be in here?" Dave blinked.

"Dunno. Probably not though since I'm out here." He mentally kicked himself. Dave knew he should never be a smart mouth to someone bigger than he. He learned that the hard way with Bro.

"Real funny. Here I'll open up the gate for you and you can head back to class." The man walked a few feet and pulled out a ring of keys to open up a locked gate. Dave didn't know what to do. What the hell was he supposed to do in this situation? There was a mysterious man telling him to go somewhere that he had no idea what it was and his instincts told him to fight whoever this guy was. Bro never prepared him for this. "Alright it's open, get in." Dave slowly walked in, clutched the little plastic bag in his hand. He was scared. "What's your class number?" Dave blinked and shrugged. "Okay, what's your grade level." Another shrug. "Jesus, okay how old are you." This Dave could answer.

"Ten." The man sighed and put a giant hand on Dave's shoulder, he tensed up almost immediately but didn't say anything. This was scary and Dave was terrified. He had no clue what the hell was going on but he hoped that this wouldn't end in a fight, he was still a little beat up from his strife. The man led him down the hall, past a series of doors, until he finally came to one door and pushed it open.

Instantly, thirty-two heads shot up to look at Dave and the man. This room was filled with children, each sitting at their own desk with a paper in front of them and a pencil in hand. A friendly looking woman was walking around and upon noticing Dave she walked over with a friendly smile. Okay, what the fuck was going on.

"Is this one yours Alicia?" The man asked the woman who simply looked Dave over, frowned, and shook her head.

"No, I've never seen him here before. Maybe he's new?" The woman kneeled down and smiled warmly at Dave. "Hello, what's your name?" Dave considered not telling her, but then again what could be the worse that would happen?

"Dave Strider." The woman frowned again but quickly changed it back to a smile.

"Well hello Dave, I'm Mrs. Aurelius but you can call me Mrs. A. Are you new here?"

"Here where? I don't even know where the fuck I am." The woman's eyes widened slightly and the rest of the children reacted in shock, some gasping some giggling.

"Well Dave, you're here at school. And here at school we don't use grownup words like that one you just said." Dave didn't know what was so bad about it. All he said was fuck, no harm done. Mrs. Aurelius stood back up and mumbled something to the man that still had his hand on Dave's shoulder. When she finished, the man let go of Dave and his hand was replaced with the woman's. "We're going to go on a little trip alright Dave?" Dave shrugged and the woman led Dave out the room and down the hall.

The two walked in silence for a while, Dave was confused beyond doubt. He had no idea what was going on or where he was going and he had no idea if he was going to get home before Bro. All Dave knew was that he was somewhere where adults stored children that apparently couldn't say a 'grownup' word like fuck.

"Is your lunch in that bag?" Mrs. A asked Dave and Dave shook his head, not bothering to explain what actually was inside his little Walgreens bag. After another moment of walking, the two of them entered yet another room. Mrs. A gently pushed Dave inside and led him to a row of chairs pushed up in a line against the wall before speaking to a man sitting at a desk. The albino boy sighed and sat down, watching the two speak before the man left. Mrs. A turned around and sat besides Dave.

"Where did you get that bruise?" Oh. Dave almost forgot he had that. Almost instantly Dave's hand went up to gently touch the forming bruise. The boy explained about his rooftop sword fight with Bro and how he had frozen up in terror at the sight of a creepy puppet. The lady sitting besides him frowned and her mind was already beginning to form a plan of action for this. Of course she would only be allowed to carry it out if Dave were an actual student, and so far it didn't seem so.

Another woman walked in, along with the man that left earlier, and Mrs. A instantly stood up and scurried over. The two whispered and the new woman said something to the man who instantly began typing on his computer. This was all so confusing. What was going on? Dave didn't know. What would happen next? Another thing Dave didn't know.

Dave looked over at the man who seemed to be scrolling through something. The man shook his head and suddenly all three of them turned to look at Dave then looked back at one another. Mrs. A seemed was whisper yelling at the other woman, just loud enough for Dave to hear.

"...sword fighting. He said sword fighting! And his 'Bro' pushed him down when he got scared. If that doesn't scream child abuse I don't know what does." Child abuse. That was something Dave would have to look up later. "And the boy doesn't even go to any school in our district. There are no records of him being enrolled anywhere! What kind of a parent does that to a poor child?" School. Something else Dave would search up. The boy stood up and tugged at the sleeve of Mrs. A who instantly looked down at him.

"Is this going to take much longer? I gotta get home before Bro does. If he gets back and I ain't there than I'm gonna have hell to pay." The two women looked at each other, the woman who's name Dave didn't know shook his head at Mrs. A and Mrs. A looked at her pleadingly.

"Alicia, you know the rules. As much as we'd like to interfere here we can't. This child isn't under our legal protection. I'm sorry and I wish it could be different. Take him back outside so he can get home." Mrs. A sighed and nodded slowly before setting a hand on Dave's shoulder before leading him back outside. 

Dave was still beyond confused. His confusion only grew when Mrs. A hugged him tightly and told him to be safe before gently pushing him outside the gate he entered through and closing it. As Dave walked away, he swore he heard her sobbing gently.