Title: You Can't Tell Dad
Summary: 6/24. Avalon Tracy Series. You expect to know everything about your family. To know their secrets, even the ones they want to keep from you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds in any way or capacity, anything recognizable belongs to the rightful owners.
A/N: NO FLAMES! Not accepted.
AGES: Scott - 20; John - 18; Virgil and Ava - 16; Gordon – 13; Alan - 11
She may have a trust fund of sorts, money her father put away for her, but Avalon Tracy needed money now. They were not supposed to touch their trust funds until they were 21 and Scott was just weeks away from getting his hands on his.
Avalon looked around the room at the all the others and instantly felt self-conscious, she was at least six inches shorter than the tallest girl there and she wasn't as skinny as that blonde in the corner. But she was reasonably fit and had a good figure.
She knew that this photographer was world famous for his classy and tasteful nude photos. Avalon was just very lucky they weren't doing nudes today, at least she hoped. No today was for an underwear label. Hopefully her's wouldn't get posted anywhere the last thing she needed was for Alan or Gordon to do their weekly 'let's search our names' and have her pictures come up. So far the only thing that came up when they searched her name was her Facebook account and the news of her expulsion from Rotelle Academy when she was 15. That was how her father found out. She was grounded for 6 weeks. Not to go anywhere!
They were all called in one by one to state their name, age and then have their photos taken. Then she was called in.
"Name?"
"Avalon…Evans." She'd get in so much trouble if they found out who she was really.
"Avalon, age?"
"18." She lied again. Why was she doing this?
"Ok, stand over there and let's take some photos." She moved over to where she had to remove the robe they'd given her for a photos. Most of the other girls had been sent out and they looked upset.
"Let's hope we don't have to air brush these ones." The photographer said quietly to his colleague. So that was why. Ava straightened her shoulders and let the robe drop, she could tell immediately that they liked what they saw. She had her good figure and she was toned, tanned and smooth. Her skin had hardly any imperfections. The photographer set to work different angles and Ava continued to throw different poses.
"Anything else?" She asked when the camera finally stopped flashing.
"No, that's all thanks Avalon." She nodded picked up the robe and put it around her shoulders and left the room. She held her head high and more girls waited their turn. She received the money for her photos and then made her way to the change room to change back into her street clothes.
"600 bucks for 6 photos? We should get more for it! Hey, how'd many you'd get Taylor Swift?" The girls had nicknamed her 'Taylor Swift' because she had exaggerated her slight country twang from living in Kansas.
"Oh, 400 dollars." She said, down playing how much she actually got. She'd had 40 photos taken at 100 a photo that took her total to 4,000 dollars. She was basically getting rich fast. She just hoped none of her brothers found out. Especially Scott.
Scott was doing an essay for his college class when one of his classmates slapped a magazine down in front of him.
"That's your sister isn't it, Tracy?" Scott looked down at the Ad in front of him. It was for a women's underwear company and sure enough looking over her shoulder at him was the face of his little sister. Who, at 16, shouldn't be able to model for them!
"Uh, no that's not my sister. Must be someone who looks like her." Scott said, trying to convince himself as much as the boys who stood around him. Freaking out he took note of the magazine and the underwear label. He made a mental note to look it up on the internet in his dorm later that night. He noted the name used as well. Avalon Evans, so you don't want to be found out baby sister? Well busted. Scott vowed to speak to her first. He deserved to be told the whole story before he told his father.
Scott opened his web browser and typed into an image search Avalon Evans Aerie Underwear. Immediately photos upon photos came up. How many did she have taken? He saw other girls also come up but the ones he honed into were the ones of his sister. How could she do this? Why did she do this? Did she not understand that she didn't need to all she had to do was get a job, any job but this one! Any job she could get was better than this! Selling her body did not constitute as a job! It was basically prostitution. Scott felt sick. He just didn't understand why she felt she needed to do this.
He stared at the pictures of his sister. She shouldn't be doing this! He dialled her on his laptop to video call.
"Hey Scooter!" She said usually cheery, the smile she gave as happy.
"Hi, Av. We need to talk." He said.
"Uh oh. What has Virgil done now?" She joked.
"Not Virgil, Ava. Does Aerie Underwear ring a bell?" She blanched and stared at him for a long moment.
"How did you find out?" She hissed.
"Some of them ended up in a magazine and my mates found them. Though Avalon Evans? Clever. Mom's maiden name. I'm impressed Ava. You've really out done yourself. Why would you do that?" Scott demanded.
"I don't have to explain myself to you!" She snapped.
"Yeah you do. Because I'm calling Dad after this." Scott said, sharing a self-satisfied smirk with himself.
"No! Scott! You can't tell Dad! He'll ground me for, like, ever! You remember when I got expelled from Rotelle! I was grounded for six weeks!" Ava whined, even her puppy eyes made an appearance.
"Yeah and if it were up to me you'd be grounded for the rest of your natural life!" He growled.
"Scott, please. I needed some money fast and this was a chance to earn it myself! I've only used a little bit of it, I put the rest in the bank. I needed some new school stuff. I didn't want to have to ask Dad. Because he'd just yell at me again. Ever since Mom died he's been angry all the time. And he yells at me all the time. If I had asked for some money for school stuff he'd had asked why and I would have had to tell him that…" Ava trailed off and Scott spotted her frown.
"That what Ava?" He prompted.
"That I'm not happy here and I'm being bullied every day and the girls here steal my stuff. I've had to replace my laptop five times already and one time was because they took it and tossed it out my dorm room window." She said sounding like a child who was being scolded.
"Why are you telling me this?" Scott asked, horrified.
"Because he doesn't believe me, Scott!" Ava snapped, "He never has! He trusts you and John, but never the rest of us. That's why I'm telling you. Because Dad will believe you." Scott let his jaw drop.
"Can you tell me everything?" He said quietly. He had to know exactly what was going on.
"Well, these girls there's four of them. They are jealous of me I think but I also think they are trying to get me riled up because they have all heard of why I'm at Clarendon Institute now. Because I got expelled for fighting." Ava said, "I've tried telling them they're wrong but they just laugh at me. On my first day here I got shoved into the fountain. Fully clothed and all, straight into the fountain I spent a whole day drying out my books. I had to buy all new school supplies. I'm just lucky my text books were ok. My roommate is sleeping with the entire school so I can't even have quiet time there. I don't need to hear another 'oh god' or the screams ever again!" Ava sighed.
"Anything else?" Scott asked.
"They call me names." She groaned.
"Like what?" He asked.
"Like 'Princess' and 'Daddy's girl'." She confessed.
"But you are those things." Scott pointed out.
"At home Scott! Not at school! I wish that Dad had sent Virgil and me to a co-ed school." Ava whined.
"Virgil is in a co-ed school. But Dad sent you to Rotelle and Virgil to Pioneer to be separate from each other." Scott reminded her.
"He sent me to an INSTITUTE!" Ava snapped, "Rotelle Academy was fine but here! Clarendon Institute is just horrible…I want go home." She whimpered.
"I'll call Dad…and I'm going to have to tell him." Scott said.
"Don't tell him about the shoot please." She pleaded.
"Hang on…you said you couldn't go to your dorm…where are you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh…uh…nowhere." She offered.
"Avalon Lucille…" He started, using his commander voice.
"Ok! Ok! I'm staying in the only empty dorm room. The Dean lets us use it if we have to. She has no idea that I've been sleeping here for weeks." Ava confessed. Scott sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"Look, Ava, I'll talk to Dad about letting you change schools again. Maybe he'll be able to find another school that wants to take you. You only ended up at Clarendon because they were willing to give you a chance. No one else would." Scott said.
Jeff was disappointed that he had to hear about this from Scott but he agreed to look into it. Maybe he could pay one of the schools enough to take her on. He couldn't let her get picked on or for her to lose sleep anymore.
"I'll look into it Scott. Now tell me. Have you seen these before?" Jeff held up a magazine. Busted, Ava. He thought when he saw the same photos he'd seen that afternoon.
"No, Dad can't say I have." Scott said.
"You're lying." Jeff said.
"Yes Dad. I am." Scott sighed, unable to lie to that tone.
"Please tell me that's not Ava. Scott, tell me it's not your sister." Jeff demanded.
Scott sighed again defeated, "I can't tell you that Dad." Jeff looked hurt. Not by Scott but by Ava.
"Why would she do this?" Jeff asked.
"She needs to buy things and she can't access her trust fund yet and she doesn't want to ask you for money because – and I quote – 'he'd just yell at me again.' Ever since Mom died, you've done nothing but yell at her Dad." Scott offered, "She's miserable. And she does this to get money that will not get questioned because she's putting up with bullies. Girls that call her names, they threw her in a fountain on her first day!" Jeff was surprised. It showed on his face.
"Why did she tell you all of this?" Jeff asked
"Because she thought you'd listen to me. Dad, I can't tell you how to raise Ava. But maybe seeing if Virgil would like to have her with him. Try Pioneer. They might take her on." Scott said.
"I asked them first." Jeff said, defeated.
"Tell them how much you're willing to pay." Scott said with a cheeky smirk at his face. Jeff rolled his eyes, his son's all had this way of looking cheeky but endearing all the same.
"I'll talk to them again. But I make no promises." He said, Scott grinned but agreed. He then sent an IM to Ava telling her that their father was going to try and move her to another school.
Six months later
"Wait, so you're moving schools because you were bullied?" Virgil asked as the twins sat in the back of Tracy One going home for the summer to the Island. Avalon nodded.
"Yeah. And because Scott wasn't happy about an extracurricular I indulged in once." Virgil cocked an eyebrow. "Let me put it to you like this, Grandma would be horrified. She'd smack me from here till my 21st birthday with the wooden spoon and if Al and Gordy ever found them…I want to know what they were doing with a Vogue magazine." Avalon said.
"It wasn't Vogue and you know it." Scott's voice came from the front of the plane.
"They were in Vogue! And you told me that the ad was the same!"
"Wait…ad? For what?" Virgil asked, frowning.
"Aerie Underwear." Avalon said quietly.
Virgil heard her, "WHAT?!"
"I had some photos taken and that was that. I didn't know they'd use them!" Avalon defended.
"Ava, when you have photos like that taken, and you look like you do – I have friends – they will use them." Virgil said.
"Yeah thanks…I think." Ava replied.
"I told you, I have friends. And I hear what they say about you. We're 16 – they talk about how you're the hottest thing on two legs, sex-on-a-stick, I think one has even said – and I quote – 'I'd like to have her pins wrapped around me while she screams my name'. It makes me feel ill just to repeat it." Virgil said. Ava grinned, she knew she was noticed by boys. She wasn't stupid and she wasn't blind, Virgil had some good looking friends.
"I know what your friends think. I'm not stupid, Virge. I'm flattered that they look at me a see a piece of ass that they can use to fuel their wet dreams. Doesn't bother me." Avalon said, Virgil went green.
"Urgh that was not what I needed to hear. That was an over share." Virgil said, looking sick. Ava laughed, she had made this sufficiently awkward and the rest of the plane ride to the Island was quiet except for Virgil and Ava tapping away on their phones or laptops.