The Unlikely Daddy

• 11 •

"Come on, we're late to Mr Tyler's class" Logan said, smiling at Alfie as he washed his hands.

"Thank you" Alfie whispered.

"What for?" Logan asked.

"For taking me to the bathroom" Alfie smiled.

"I know you find it hard, so it's okay that you need my help sometimes" Logan said, opening the bathroom door and gesturing for Alfie to leave.

Both boys then quickly walked themselves to Mr Tyler's maths class. When they walked in, all of the class turned to stare at the tardy boys.

"Go ahead and start working on the first problem" Mr Tyler told the class before turning to look at Alfie and Logan, visibly unimpressed.

"Where have you been?" Me Tyler asked.

Logan knew that Mr Tyler would understand if he explained that Alfie had been at the bathroom, but he didn't think it was for him to disclose that.

"Neither of you are going to tell me?" Mr Tyler pressed as his question remained unanswered.

"Sorry" Alfie weakly said.

"Well if you're not going to tell me, I'll let you think about it at lunchtime. Go and sit down" Mr Tyler raised his eyebrows.

Both boys did as they were told and took their seats near the back of the class.

The remainder of the lesson passed by quickly, and soon the rest of the class were packing up their books to head off for their lunch.

Obediently, Alfie and Logan stayed sitting, waiting for Mr Tyler's lecture to begin.

"Do you think it's respectful to waste my time?" Mr Tyler asked once the rest of the class was empty.

Alfie and Logan shook their heads.

"I didn't think so" Mr Tyler said.

"Now, I'm going to ask one more time. Where were you that was more important than being in my lesson?" Mr Tyler questioned.

Logan looked at Alfie, begging him to say something. He knew Alfie would be embarrassed if he admitted they were at the bathroom, so hoped Alfie would have the courage to do it himself.

"Is there something you'd like to say, Logan?" Mr Tyler asked, noticing him staring at Alfie.

"We were..." Logan began before stopping himself.

"Yes?" Mr Tyler pushed.

"We were in the nurses office" Logan said.

"So, if I go and ask the nurse if you both came to see her then she'll be able to confirm you were there?" Mr Tyler knew Logan was lying.

"No, well, yes, but, no" Logan panicked.

"Logan" Mr Tyler spoke sternly, getting frustrated with the boys.

"We just lost track of time" Logan sighed.

"It's not good enough" Mr Tyler said, handing both boys a maths quiz.

"You're going to sit here and finish this quiz that the rest of the class took while you were skipping my class" Mr Tyler huffed, before returning to his desk.

Alfie looked at Logan and mouthed 'I'm sorry' sadly. He knew that if he'd just been honest with Mr Tyler they wouldn't have been in so much trouble, but he couldn't bring himself to.

The boys worked in their maths quiz for a further 35 minutes before Mr Tyler stood up and collected the papers.

"Don't let it happen again" Mr Tyler said, pointing at the classroom door. "And don't let yourself be late to your afternoon classes. I'll be checking with Mr Dylan that you've mad it to gym on time" he continued.