This is my novel for NaNoWriMo 2009. Innocence Back is the story of Father Connor O'Donovan, a teacher at Trinity High School, whose life is torn apart when it turns out a fellow priest was abusing students. O'Donovan is going to have to battle with his own personal demons while assisting Tommy Flynn, a sophomore who was friends with one of the victims, deal wih the rest of the year. Please read and review. If I finish, I will probably try to get this published!

Thanks!

Everything changed at the beginning of second period on a Thursday morning in the last week of November. A boy was missing from Algebra Two.

Father O’Donovan did not notice Max Larkin was missing at first. Two desks were empty. His second period class had twenty-five students, and there were twenty-five desks in the classroom. None of the boys noticed either, as they got out their homework and started putting problems up on the white board.

It was only when Eric Cain came in fifteen minutes late, with wet hair and a late slip, did O’Donovan really notice the absence of Max Larkin. At first, it did not sink in, the empty desk in the front corner, twenty-four boys instead of twenty-five. There had not been a call or email from the attendance office.

“I’m going to give you fifteen minutes to do this worksheet in your groups. Any questions?”

A boy in the back raised his hand. “Father, Max isn’t here.”

O’Donovan looked up and finally noticed the empty desk. The boys, midway through rearranging the classroom into tables of five, stopped and started to talk amongst them.

“You see Max today, bro?”

“Yeah. Think I saw him on the bus.”

“He was at swim practice last night.”

“Maybe he’s sick or something, man.”

O’Donovan listened to the boys’ conversation as they finished rearranging the classroom. Most of them were more interested in the conversation than starting their worksheets.

“Who knows where Max might be? One at a time, boys, one at a time. Robert, go on.”

Robbie, a gawky boy with the same haircut that Matt Damon had in Good Will Hunting, blushed and stopped talking to his neighbor.

“Um. Uh. He was on the bus this morning I think. And he was at school yesterday. I dunno. You could talk to his friends, or something.”

“Thank you, Robert. Now, start your worksheets. Any questions? Good.” O’Donovan sat back down at his desk and started grading problem sets from one of his other class periods, occasionally looking up when the sophomores stopped focusing on their worksheets and started to talk about girls and the upcoming dance. When they saw the half smile on their teacher’s face, they’d get back to work pretty quickly.

“Father, is this gonna be on the test? I don’t get it.” O’Donovan got up from behind his desk and went over to Will Johnson. Will was a born troublemaker.

“Do any of you understand the unit circle?”

“I do”. Devon Michaels, a serious black boy spoke up.

“So why don’t you teach it to Will?”

“I do. He just doesn’t get it and keeps goofing off with Tim.” Devon glowered at the two boys sitting next to each other.

“No I don’t. You just suck at explaining stuff!” O’Donovan sighed. Both boys were equally stubborn and hated each other.

“You have five minutes until class ends. Try to figure it out. For the rest of you, the worksheet is going to be homework if you don’t finish it. Don’t hate me. We’ll go over it tomorrow. Now, go to break.” The boys started to pack up, laughing and joking, and O’Donovan smiled.

Period three was a free period for O’Donovan, so he opted to make the most of it by going down to the front office to get a quiet place to finish his work. A couple of the boys nodded at him and one or two of the older ones stopped to say hello.

“Father, Father!” O’Donovan stopped and turned around. A boy in his honors Algebra class, Nick Fisher, stood behind him.

“Yes, Nick? Did you like the bonus problems?”

“Yeah. They were cool. Can we watch A Beautiful Mind in class? Please?”

“Why on earth would we watch A Beautiful Mind?”

“It’s about math and we have two extra class periods because we’re ahead. Come on, Father. Please?”

“No.” O’Donovan had to fight laughter as the student looked up at him. He then realized Nick was being serious.

“Why not?”

“Because, today we are going to start learning about finding the area underneath a curve and that’s going to take the entire class period. Well watch it after the semester final.” Nick sighed, but nodded, and ran off when he saw his friends.

O’Donovan settled down in the teacher’s lounge in the front office, with a pile of papers and a thermos of tea in front of him. There were only two other brothers, and they nodded in greeting. O’Donovan half bowed his head in return and started to look over problem sets. He always marveled at how smart Trinity boys were, and how for most problem sets, he could just write a check on the front and little else, aside from an occasional indication of error. It was an easy job, easier than teaching at a public school would have been. The two other brothers were in silent conversation over sodas. O’Donovan ignored them as he started to record one class’s grades. It was only when one of the brothers turned in his chair to look at O’Donovan, before returning back to his conversation, did he get interested. Slowly, as not to draw attention to himself, O’Donovan rose, stretched and walked by the brothers’ table.

“What are you talking about?” Brother Damon, barely out of seminary, blushed and looked at his lap, but Brother Peck had no such qualms.

“Hello, Father O’Donovan. We were just talking about the school.”

“What about the school?” O’Donovan sat down in the third chair at the table. Brother Damon did not meet his eyes, as if he had been caught masturbating or smoking.

“Brother Thomas. He hasn’t been here for nearly three days. Brother Damon has been taking on his classes, you know.”

“Oh.” O’Donovan did not really care about Brother Thomas. The two of them rarely interacted.

“It’s probably nothing. He’s just sick or something, I’m sure.” Brother Damon spoke far too quickly and his face was even more flushed. He started to play with the skirt of his cassock.

“I heard he got fired.”

“Really?”

“Yes. There’s going to be an assembly today. Father Bryant sent out an email about it this morning.”

“What could he have been fired for? Brother Thomas is a good man.” Brother Peck barked out a laugh.

“I heard he got more than a little friendly with some of his English students, but I should not be spreading rumors.” Brother Damon went even more red than before, if such a thing was possible.

“You should not gossip, Brother Peck.” Peck glared at O’Donovan.

“We’ll see who’s right, won’t we?” O’Donovan shrugged and got up. Peck had a quick temper and often looked for a debate about anything.

“See you in the assembly.” Brother Damon nodded, but Peck ignored him, going back to his companion and the gossip.

O’Donovan stood in the copying room. He had intended to make copies of a worksheet for his classes, but the machine had jammed up and he was waiting for it to do a trial run. The man drummed his fingers against the wall as he watched the office. It was, as usual, boring and empty, except for the long-suffering school secretary, Janet. She was on the phone with a parent while doing something on the computer and looked bored. O’Donovan sighed as the machine started to make his copies. He had ten minutes until his next class started. At last, the fifty copies were made and O’Donovan split them into two neat piles, one for each class. As he was turning to leave, he saw three boys and Father Bryant leave the principal’s office.

One of the boys was Max Larkin and he was crying. The other two were a senior named Luke, and a freshman O’Donovan did not know. All three boys were wearing their backpacks, and the freshman was crying as well. Luke was looking at the floor, an angry scowl on his face. Father Bryant followed the three boys, patting the freshman on the shoulder. He looked up and saw O’Donovan, and his face darkened a little. Max saw his teacher and wiped his face off. The freshman boy started to cry even harder, body shaking with silent sobs. Luke put an arm around the freshman protectively and O’Donovan saw that the two of them were brothers.

“Hello, Father Bryant. Hello, Max, Luke.” Max nodded and mumbled a soft hello, unable to meet the man’s eyes.

“Father O’Donovan, do you mind? This isn’t the best time.”

“I’m sorry, Father Bryant. What’s going on?” O’Donovan did not back down.

“Father O’Donovan, I’m busy. Go make sure the boys get to the assembly in a timely manner, will you?”

“I thought it was after lunch.”

“Excuse me?”

“I thought the assembly was after lunch, Father Bryant.” Father Bryant shook his head as if O’Donovan had something stupid.

‘No. It’s starting in five minutes. Go get the boys to the chapel, will you?”

“Yes, Father.” O’Donovan left the office, feeling like a fool. He swung by the teachers’ lounge to drop his copies off, before joining the throng of boys and monks headed towards the chapel.

O’Donovan sat down at the end of one of the sophomore pews. A few boys climbed over him to join their friends. Three boys had their heads bowed in the center of the pew, looking at something the middle boy held. O’Donovan shook his head. Cell phones were not allowed in the chapel, but most boys ignored that the rule and brought theirs’ anyway. He leaned over and taped one of the boys’ on his shoulder. All three jumped and looked guilty.

“Put the phone away, please.” It was Nick Fisher, Rory Martin, and Tommy Flynn. They were good kids, for the most part, if trouble makers.

“It’s not a phone, Father.” Tommy, the boy in the middle, blushed a little and looked down at his shoes. However, he still had a rebellious grin on his lips.

“Than what is it, Thomas?” O’Donovan silently prayed it was not something horrible, like a porn. Brother Lee told many stories of confiscating porn magazines in chapel that had strange, fresh, stains on them. Much to his relief, Tommy held up a mostly completed Rubik’s cube.

“It’s a Rubik’s cube, Father. Can I finish it?”

“Do you have to?” Tommy quickly flicked a few pieces into place, scowled for a second, and twisted two rows, showing a finished cube with a proud smile.

“Yes. I do.”

“Good. And now put that away. And Thomas, if I see that out in an assembly again, I’ll confiscate it.”

“I’ll buy a new one.”

“Just put it away, Tommy.” Rory nudged his friend in the ribs and Tommy gave a good-natured laugh and put the Rubik’s cube into the pocket of his blazer.

“Now, be quiet boys.” The boys settled down, just as Father Bryant went up to the front of the chapel.

“Good morning, boys.” He waited for a response, but there was none. There was little lost love between the students of Trinity High and their principal. He continued on, as if nothing had happened. “I have some very bad news. Our very own Brother Thomas resigned from his position as English teacher, due to personal reasons. Brother Damon and Brother Lee will take over his classes. Let us have a moment of prayer for Brother Thomas.”

Five hundred boys bowed their heads in near unison and prayed, or at least faked praying. Father O’Donovan bowed his head as well, but did not pray or think about Brother Thomas. Instead, he thought about what had happened earlier that day, in the office. Those three boys must have gotten in trouble for something, he decided.

“Thank you boys. Assembly dismissed. Get on to your next classes.”

“Do you guys know why Brother Thomas resigned so fast?” O’Donovan walked behind Nick, Rory, and Tommy.

“I don’t know.” Tommy shrugged and picked up his backpack, flinging it lazily onto a shoulder.

“I heard it’s because he…” Nick trailed off. The other two boys understood what he meant and shuddered. O’Donovan cleared his throat loudly, which mad them jump and look very guilty.

“I do not think the three of you should be talking about teachers. Alright?” The three boys nodded, guilty, and hurried up.

“Hey, have any of you seen Max? I don’t think he’s here today.” Tommy’s question was soon lost among the other boys’ chatter.