Chapter 455 - Fight It Out (1/2)

There were grumpy looks all around for the Atkins family and me...the other adults only held pity and sympathy.

”I have a suggestion.” Mr. Perkins spoke up. ”A legal suggestion.” He glanced at Mr. Duncan. ”It may be troublesome to you, Doug. I hope you don't mind.”

”What kind of suggestion?” Mrs. Atkins asked, looking hopeful.

”We can file an injunction to stop the removal.” He threw out. ”It's a lot of paperwork and a costly fee, but it would put a pause on this for now. And at the very least, it would take us to a judge to decide if Jake has to leave or not.”

Mr. Duncan stood up abruptly. ”I'm not here. I didn't hear about this. I know nothing. I'm just going to get back to work.” He headed for the door.

”I'll walk you out.” Mr. Atkins stood up and went with him. ”Thanks for coming, Doug. You do everything you can and we appreciate it.” They left for the door.

”Why is he leaving so suddenly?” Kyle asked.

”Yea, shouldn't he be helping us come up with a plan?” Dave asked.

Mrs. Atkins gave a tight smile. ”Don't blame him, he has a job to do.

”It's not wise to have him present.” Mr. Perkins said. ”He has a job with the state so he has to act on their decisions.”

Mr. Atkins came back in the room. ”So Mr. Duncan knows that the injunction is our best bet?”

”Precisely.” Mr. Perkins nodded. ”I don't see any reason for the state to take him out of your care when this is an environment that he's thriving in.” He looked at Dr. Moore. ”You would say that he's thriving, correct?”

Dr. Moore nodded in all seriousness. ”Jake has shown tremendous improvement. In fact, I could make the argument that it's detrimental for him to be taken away when they don't even have a set plan laid out for Jake to see.”

”Great.” Mr. Perkins lifted his briefcase from the ground and put it on the table. He grabbed a notepad and started to write some things down. ”I'm assuming you're all good with this arrangement?”

”Yes! Of course!” Mrs. Atkins nodded.

”The sooner, the better.” Mr. Atkins stressed. ”There isn't a set plan just yet on when they want to take him. They haven't found a new home to put him in.”

A new home? I would be placed with a new family?

”Even better!” Mr. Perkins exclaimed. ”This would work in our favor if we file this injunction before they have it figured out.” He took some notes.

”I don't really understand why they want to take him anyways...” Noah huffed. ”It's not like we're bad people.”

”They think we have bad intentions.” Zeke spoke up. ”Conflict of interest. We're adopting him so we're biased.” He glanced at Coach. ”It's why Coach came.”

”What?” I blurted out. I just thought he was here for moral support.

Coach ran a hand through his hair. ”Some of the CIF participants reached out to the committee. We might play with an ineligible player after all.”

”How?!” Noah asked.

”Jake has been with us all season!” Dave said.

Coach sighed. ”But everyone knows about him and his brother. If his brother, or even his uncle, get custody of him, he would no longer be in our district. He would be transferring schools.”

”They don't want me though.” I said, feeling the sting. ”I don't get why all of this is happening at all. I want to stay here. I want to play baseball.”

”We want you too, Jake.” Noah clung onto me.

”One step at a time, Jake.” Mr. Atkins said. ”For now, we'll let Mr. Perkins take the lead.”