I had been married to the love of my life, Eddie, for the past nineteen years. Throughout those eighteen years, we had been through many challenges and joys, ups and downs, and disappointments. We were currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark in our own house on the outskirts of town. This house allowed us to live a somewhat normal life and allowed us to raise our three children in the privacy of our own home. We had three beautiful children- Christian (17), Aria (15), and our adopted daughter, Nayla (13), from Tanzania. We adopted her from Tanzania after Eddie and I went on a trip there so that I could provide the children in the orphanage with medical care. Soon after we returned, we couldn't get Nayla out of our mind, who was four and a half years old at the time. After discussing it with Eddie and the children, we decided to go back to Tanzania and start the adoption process. Ironically, on her fifth birthday, the adoption became official, and we were her legal parents. Adopting Nayla made us the first interracial Danish royal family. She made us very proud, and Eddie changed the law that stated only biological children could inherit the throne. As a result, Nayla was third to the Danish throne since she was the youngest of our three children.

In Denmark, I continued to practice medicine. Currently, I was working in a small private hospital on the outskirts of Denmark. Being a doctor in a hospital can be stressful, but so was raising three teenagers. Currently, I just finished a fifteen hour shift at the hospital and was on my way to have a meeting with Christian's English teacher who wanted to speak with me.

"Come on in," Christian's English teacher said after I gently knocked on her classroom door.

I closed the door behind me and sat down in the chair in front of her desk.

"Thank you for coming," she said.

"Thank you for having me," I replied.

"I wanted to have a meeting with you to discuss a few concerns about Christian. First, I have noticed a dramatic decline in his grade," she said showing me his recent English paper, which he received an F on.

I took the paper and began looking through it. It looked like something that he can written in about twenty minutes before class. There was no thesis, the sentence structure was horrible, and he had several misspellings and gramatical errors.

"The assignment was to write a five page creative ending to Catcher in the Rye. I wanted the students to write about what they thought happened after the end of the book. He gave me barely three pages and based off of what he wrote, I don't think he read the book as assigned," she told me as I handed the assignment back to her.

"Did he participate in the class discussions or turn in the homework?" I asked her.

"That was the other concern I was going to bring up to you. He hasn't been participating in class or turning in any of his HW. He usually sits in the back of the room writing on his laptop or talking to his fellow classmates. I assumed he was taking notes on his laptop but obviously not," she explained to me.

"I am so sorry about his rude and disrespectful behavior in your classroom. Please be assured that this will be addressed. It is not acceptable behavior, and he knows better," I told his English teacher. "I haven't been checking his grades online weekly like I used to. What's his overall avergage in your class?" I asked her.

"He currently has a 45 average," she told me, pulling out his grade report.

"A 45!?" I exclaimed.

"He's been failing his grammar tests and vocabulary tests. When I speak to him about it, he tells me that he has always struggled with the English language," she told me.

I was shocked by this statement. Christian had always excelled at English because we spoke it at home!

"I cannot believe he said that to you. We speak English at home one day, Danish another day…it's a way for them to maintain the English language. Even so, I feel we mostly speak English at home. I am so sorry Mrs. Herdack for his behavior, for his lack of effort and for him lying to you. I can assure you that his father and I are going to have a long conversation with him. He's going to complete his missing homework assignments, he's going to re-do his paper, he's going to read Catcher in the Rye, and he's defintely going to write you an appology letter," I told her firmly.

"I appreciate that but he can't get credit for the missing work or the failing grades," Mrs. Herdack told me.

"That's okay. He needs to learn that he has to do the work, and he needs to work hard in life to be successful. His education is the key to his future," I said getting angry. "Sorry, I'm not mad at you. I am just enfuriated with my son," I said calming down.

"I appreciate your support," she told me standing up. She shook me hand and began to walk me to the door.

"If the behavior doesn't improve or if he still isn't turning in his assignments, please let me know," I said as I was leaving the room. "I'll also check his grades daily."

"Thank you Mrs. Morgan-Williams. Please contact me with any concerns as well," Mrs. Herdack told me.

"I will. Thank you for your time and for bringing this to my attention," I said leaving the classroom.

When I started the car, I immediately called Eddie on the bluetooth speaker. I was extremely furious at Christian. What did he think? He was too cool for school now!?

"Hello?" Eddie said answering the phone.

"Hey…so I just left the meeting with Christian's English teacher," I said putting the car into drive.

"And what did she say?" he asked me.

"Did you know what our son is failing English III honors? His average is a 45!" I exclaimed.

"Really?" Eddie replied. He sounded pretty surprised too. "What did he do?"

"She showed me his most recent assignment. He didn't even complete it! He was supposed to write a five page creative piece about how Catcher in the Rye ended after the book, and he barely turned in three pages. You should have seen it; it was full of gramatical errors, structure errors, misspellings, his sentences didn't make sense, and his teacher said he didn't even read the book! He hasn't been doing his HW, participating in class, failing the grammar and vocabulary tests, AND he talks during class or just types on his computer. Can you believe it!?" I exclaimed.

"This is unbelievable. How do you think we should handle this?" Eddie asked me.

"I want him to complete all of those missing HW assignments. He needs to re-do his paper. I think we should take away his school computer from him since he obviously isn't using it for taking notes in class. He also needs to write an appology letter to Mrs. Herdack. A letter of at least two pages where he explains why his actions are unacceptable. I'm also thinking that we shouldn't let him audition for the spring play if he can't get his grades up in time," I replied.

"I agree with you 100 percent. I also think we should take away his TV or cell phone until he gets his grades up," Eddie told me.

"I'm thinking his cell phone. It will hurt him more than the TV," I said.

"True. Okay so for how long does he lose his cell phone?" Eddie asked me. "3 weeks?" he suggested.

"3 weeks and if his grades aren't up, we'll keep it another 3 weeks. Basically, we'll re-evaluate the situation every three weeks to see if he is bringing up his grades," I said. "What do you think?"

"That's a good idea. What are we going to do with him?" Eddie asked me, frustrated.

"I'm all for sending him off to my parents for the summer. A summer working on the farm will have him changed in no time," I said.

"I'd rather not have to do that," he told me.

"We can use it as a threat though. He knows we'll come through on our threats," I replied.

"That's true," Eddie sighed heavily.

I came home and saw Eddie had made dinner and put it in the oven. We were having lasagna with garlic bread. As I came through the door, Eddie came out of the kitchen, wiping his hand on a towel.

"Give me a moment," I said to him as I ran to the bathroom to freshen and to try to calm down. Where did we go wrong with Christian. I came downstairs, asked Nayla and Aria to watch the oven, and we went upstairs to Christian's room. He was on his bed listening to music on his phone.

"Christian," I said sternly, opening the door.

"Geez, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Christian said with an attitude.

"Watch the attitude," Eddie said firmly.

"After work today, I had a nice meeting with Mrs. Herdack, and I found out that my son is failing English class. I couldn't understand that because we speak mostly in English at home. Surely, she had you mixed up with another student, but there is no mistake. You have a 47 average in English III," I scolded.

"Mrs. Herdack is crazy! She doesn't speak English correctly," Christian said. "And she doesn't like me for no reason," he said sitting up.

"I'm not finished yet. I just had a nice conversation with her. Her English is perfect. She told me that you haven't been doing your homework, you don't participate in class, and you sit in the back either talking or typing on your computer. You have been flunking the vocabulary and grammar tests. On your most recent essay, you barely wrote 3 pages instead of 5. Your grammar, sentence structure and spelling was atrocious. You didn't even read Catcher in the Rye. We raised you better than this. We are extremely disappointed in your behavior," I told him.

"Your mother and I have decided to take away your phone for three weeks," Eddie said.

"Three weeks!" Christian exclaimed.

"Do you pay for your phone?" Eddie asked not waiting for Christian to answer him. "After three weeks, if your grades are up, we will give you your phone back. If not, we we'll keep it indefintely until your grades are up."

"That's totally unfair! You can't do that!" Christian exclaimed.

"Oh yes, we can. Keep on talking back and it will be no TV too," I replied. "In addition, you are to complete ALL of the missing homework assignments, re-write your essay, and write Mrs. Herdack a two page apology note explaining why your actions are disrespectul and how you are going to change both academically and your behavior in class. You have to turn in everything to me before you can turn it into her,"' I replied firmly.

"Are you kidding!? Do you know how long it's going to take me to do all of those assignments!?" Christian exclaimed.

"Then I suggest you get started tonight," I replied taking his phone from him and giving it to Eddie.

"And if your behavior doesn't change and if your grades don't change, then you won't be allowed to audition for the spring play," Eddie said.

"What!? Are you trying to ruin my life?" Christian exclaimed.

"And if you still refuse to cooperate, then I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa would like having some extra help on the farm," Eddie told Christian.

"You would make me spend the entire summer on the farm!?" Christian exclaimed.

"Yes and possibly next school-year. Immersion in an American school so you can finally get your English grade up," I told him.

"Please no!" Christian exclaimed.

"The choice is yours. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Get those grades up and change your attitude in class. One other thing, no more computer at school. If you have an activity to complete at school, check out an i-pad in the computer lab," Eddie told Christian.

Eddie and I left Christian's room and went down the stairs. We saw that Aria and Nayla had already set the table. I just looked at Eddie and gave him the look that said "what are we going to do with him?"

Little did we know this was just the beginning of our problems.

Thank you for reading! Please leave me a comment or a message if you like the idea of a story about Paige and Eddie's three rebellious teenagers!