Evan left Connor with some lame excuse about going to say thank you to his mom. He quickly changed his clothes in the bathroom, then hurried to the kitchen where he heard Cynthia humming away.
"Oh, Evan, what are--"
"There's no time." Evan glanced at the doorway. "I have to tell you something but Connor can't know."
"Is everything all right?"
Evan shook his head and launched into the abridged version of what Connor told him this morning. He left out about the part with Ferbs car, because he wasn't sure if Connor would want his mom knowing about that, but at least now she knew enough. The more Evan spoke, the sadder Cynthia looked.
Once he finished his tale, she was silent for a minute. During that minute, Evan panicked. He hadn't been thinking of anything except trying to keep Connor safe, but what if Cynthia hated him for what Connor was doing to protect him? It was all Evan's fault anyway. She should be upset with him. But what if she didn't go along with his plan? Then what would he do? Was he going to be fired?
"Oh, Evan, I'm so sorry, honey," She wrapped him in a hug before letting go. "You did the right thing by telling me. I know that you're probably thinking I'm upset with you, but I'm not. This isn't anyone's fault except that terrible boys, okay?"
Evan nodded, not because he believed it, but because time was important.
Cynthia rolled her eyes fondly at him.
"We'll talk about that later. First, we need to figure out what to do. Where are they meeting?"
"I'm not sure, some park, I think."
"Can we just tell him that I know about this and maybe he won't go?"
"No!" Evan blurted out. "No, he was adamant that I didn't tell anyone. Oh, but I just didn't know what to do. I had to. He's going to hate me, how will he trust me..." Evan whispered to himself. What has he done?
"Evan, no. Don't think about that, okay? Once this is over, you and Connor can talk it out, right? He'll understand. He's a good kid."
"You...you're right." Evan took a deep breath. "He said he's going to drop me off at my house, then head on over to where Ferb is."
"Okay, so what if you go on with him, let him drop you off, and then I'll follow him to your house to get you. We'll head to the park and I'll call the police on the way there, and they'll be there before things turn ugly."
Evan couldn't help himself. He grinned at Cynthia's plan.
"You're not going to try to keep me home?"
Cynthia smiled.
"Would I really be able to?"
Evan just laughed.
They planned a couple minor details, stopping when Connor appeared, asking if Evan was ready. He nodded and they got into his car and drove to Evans house, staying silent the whole way. He was trying to find a way to convince Connor to not go.
"I know this probably won't help, but I'm going to ask one more time that you come inside with me and we can figure something out. There's no need to do this."
Connor just shook his head.
"I can't." he rasped. Evan felt terrible that this was what he was dealing with. He shouldn't have to.
"Okay. Well...I love you." Evan said, giving Connor a quick kiss before heading inside his house.
He was instantly greeted by his mother.
"Oh, Evan. You're home!" She exclaimed.
He nodded.
"Yeah." Things were still tense between them. He saw her eyes sadden at his one word response.
"Evan, I'm sorry. I don't know what you want me to do."
Evan shrugged.
"I don't know, mom. I just...I was really hurt when you said those things to me." Heidi looked hopeful at the fact that Evan was at least talking to him. This was the most they've said to each other since that day. "It made me feel unimportant and like I can't do anything right."
"I never meant to make you feel like that. I didn't realize how strong you've become."
Evan nodded.
"Yeah. I have." He frowned.
"I guess I've just been to busy working and at class to notice you've grown up, huh?" Heidi smiled sadly.
Evan shrugged, staring at the ground, not wanting to admit she was right.
"I want to fix it, Evan. I want to do right by you. I love you more than anything in this world, and it kills me to know that you're mad at me."
Evan shook his head.
"I'm not mad anymore mom. I forgive you. I'd like it if we can try to make things go back to normal?" He smiled hopefully, finally looking at her.
"No." Evan opened his mouth to question her but she smiled. "I want things to be better. I'm going to try to work a little less and manage my time better that way I can see you more often. I don't know anything about you it seems, but I pretended to. I'd like to get to know the real you."
Evan grinned.
"I'd like that."
He moved close to his mom and opened his arms, giving her a quick hug that was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Oh well let's start with learning things about me." Evan backed away from her sheepishly. "Uhm, well I have a boyfriend and that's his mom, we have to go save his life before he gets beaten to death in the park by the school bully." Evan flashed her a smile. "See you for dinner?"
"Evan Benjamin Hansen!" She bellowed after him, but he was already at the door, pushing Cynthia back and running to the car.
"We gotta go, Connor's in danger."
"Was that your--"
"No, it was the tv. Come on, we gotta go."
Cynthia gave him a look but started the car anyway, knowing that he was right. The faster they got to the park, the faster they could make sure Connor wasn't hurt too bad.
Cynthia broke probably every traffic law possible while being safe. If there were no cars coming at a red light, she zoomed through it. If the way was clear, stop signs became "go faster" signs. Evan looked at her in concern, but she just shrugged.
"If I call the cops, who knows how long it'll take them to get to the park. If they're chasing me, they'll be right on my tail."
Evan nodded, impressed. That was a pretty good idea. Kinda. In a way. It was also incredibly dangerous [don't try this at home kids; author does not condone breaking traffic laws]
Unfortunately, they passed no cops, so while Evan threw open the door as soon as they pulled into a parking spot, Cynthia pulled out her phone.
"Evan wait!"
Evan ducked down, only his head inside the car.
"We need to wait for the police. We can't just go barging in there. You've told me how dangerous this boy can be, please don't be a hero and put yourself in harms way. Wait for the cops."
Evan shook his head.
"I have to go help Connor. He did this because of me. I owe it to him."
"You don't owe it to him to get yourself beat up, Evan. You get help, that's how you make it up to him. Getting yourself hurt won't do anything."
"I have to." He quickly shut the door, blocking out any other protests from Cynthia. He ran towards the woods where he figured they'd be.
He heard Cynthia behind him, but he picked up the pace. Soon, she fell behind him.
He heard commotion to his left and slowed down.
"Evan stop!" Cynthia yelled. She wasn't close enough to reach him, and he continued. He entered the clearing and everyone turned to look at him. He zeroed in on Connor, who was tied to a tree, blood pouring down his face.
"Evan Hansen." Ferb turned around to greet him. "How nice of you to join your boyfriend, he's getting tired. It must be your turn."
***
Hello! I'm so sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I've been so busy this week but I wanted to have something for you. I have such good ideas for how to end this, I just need the time to write it down... I start school in two weeks so, I'm gonna be busy but I'm going to do my best to keep updating.
Anyway, I hope you guys had a good week, thank you for all your votes and comments on past chapters. Totally makes my day 😁
~hamilfan123987