John was busy loading boxes onto a pallet with Dean, and telling him how the hunt had gone last night, when their manager waved at them from across the warehouse floor and yelled, "John! Phone!"
It was unusual for John to get any calls during work, because the warehouse frowned on it. He looked to Dean to see if he knew who it was, but Dean just shrugged. John left Dean to finish the pallet and headed towards the office. When he got close his manager leaned in and said, "It's your kid's school."
John's heart rate went up, and he picked up his step as he went to the office. He picked up and said, "John Winchester speaking."
A voice on the other end said, "Hello Mr. Winchester, this is Principal Bellings, and I'm calling from Lincoln High School. Your son Sam is a student here."
"Yes. What happened?"
"I'm afraid we caught Sam cheating on a test today."
John breathed in a sigh of relief, knowing Sam wasn't hurt. Then he shook his head and said, "There must be some mistake. Sam doesn't cheat. He loves school."
"I wish it was a mistake, but Sam has admitted to it. You can see the evidence for yourself when you come to pick him up. Sam is suspended for three days."
Still thinking there must be some kind of explanation to this John said, "I'll be there as soon as I can."
He went to find his manager and let him know he would need the rest of the day off. Next he found Dean and said, "That was Sam's school. They say he was cheating on a test. Can you believe that? SAM cheating?"
Dean's eyebrows lifted in surprise, although he wasn't surprised about Sam cheating but rather getting caught doing so. His next thoughts went to the fact he had suggested Sam cheat. Would Sammy rat him out? He hoped not, it wouldn't be the first time they had taken the fall for each other. Whether Sam would or not would mostly depend on how mad Sam was at Dean by the time Sam and his dad talked. Dean figured that Sam would probably get grounded and be given extra chores for getting caught, and Dean would of course do them for him once their dad was out of sight knowing he would owe Sam BIG time for this!
Dean blinked and finally answered his father's query by choosing to omit the fact that he did indeed believe and knew Sam had cheated, "Uh Sa… Sammy? No, I can't believe he'd get caught cheating." He hadn't exactly lied to his father, but he did feel very guilty now for talking Sam into cheating in the first place. At least he would have a couple more hours at work to think about something to say to his dad in Sam's defense.
John narrowed his eyes at Dean's behavior. He'd bet money that Dean knew something he wasn't telling, but this wasn't the time or place to talk about it. He knew Dean could ride the bus home after work, but made a point to say, "I'll be back to pick you up at five."
A shiver ran up Dean's spine at the look his father gave him. He nodded and answered with a half smile, "Uh you know dad, I wouldn't worry about me. I can probably get a ride back with Randy… Who knows, I might even get in a little over time?"
John gave Dean a somewhat less then friendly smile and said, "I'm not worried about you Dean, but maybe you should be. Be ready at five."
Not waiting for a response, John turned and headed out to go pick up Sam.
Sam sat in the hard plastic chair, squirming in embarrassment. A bit of black ink was still visible peaking out from under his long sleeves and Sam rubbed at it, wishing he could just erase this whole day. He should have known he couldn't pull off this stupid stunt. He should never have listened to Dean!
Sam unconsciously jiggled his right leg up and down, expending his nervous energy. Every muscle was taut and he couldn't help the pout that formed on his face. Every time the door to the office opened his head jerked up even though he knew it was going to be a bit before his Dad could make it over from work. He cringed, thinking of what that phone call might have cost them. Dad needed that job. Having to leave work to take care of a delinquent son wasn't going to help matters with his tight-ass boss, Sam thought miserably.
About forty five minutes later, the door swung open and Sam gulped, seeing his father walk in, countenance far from cheery.
John walked in and saw a very dejected looking Sam sitting in the office waiting for him. He gave Sam a displeased look and then went to the secretary. "Excuse me ma'am, I'm here to pick up Sam Winchester."
She said, "Alright, if you could have a seat, I'll tell Mr. Billings that you're here."
John went and sat down next to Sam to wait and said quietly, "Is it true?"
Sam felt his insides flip. God how he wished it wasn't true. He couldn't look his father in the eye, just stared down at the carpet, "Yes" he said hoarsely.
John sighed and finally did accept that Sam had cheated. He shook his head in disappointment and said, "Okay. We'll talk about it at home."
As he was finishing his sentence, Principal Billings came out of his office and introduced himself to John. John stood and shook hands. Mr. Billings asked them all to go back to his office. Once they were inside Mr. Billings said, "As I told you over the phone, Sam was caught cheating in his Algebra class."
Mr. Billings turned to Sam and said, "Is there anything you'd like to say in your defense? Any explanation you'd like to give?"
Sam glanced over at his father, whose opinion he cared about more than he was willing to admit, and then back at the Principal. He hung his head in shame, but there was nothing he could say, not without getting himself and Dean into a lot more trouble. "No sir," he told the floor and both men, "I'm sorry for cheating. I swear it will never happen again."
John could tell that Sam was mortified about the whole thing, and couldn't imagine why he'd done it. Mr. Billings turned to John and said, "School policy is clear on this. He's suspended for three days, and if it happens again, he'll be expelled."
John echoed Sam's earlier promise, "It won't happen again."
Mr. Billings nodded, believing both of them. He opened a file on his desk and got out a piece of paper. It was a form letter already filled out which explained why Sam was being suspended. The Principal handed John the paper and a pen. "You'll need to sign at the bottom."
John signed and handed it back. Mr. Billings turned back to Sam and said, "We'll see you when your three days are up, and then I hope to never see you in this office again."
John put an arm around Sam's shoulders and headed them out to his truck. Once they were in and John was driving towards home he said, "What happened?"
Sam blinked away tears of shame. God, he was so embarrassed. "I, uh, wasn't ready for the test," he said quietly. "I tried, but I just didn't have the, um, equations memorized. So, I thought, you know, I'd write 'um on my arm."
John was quite for a few seconds while he thought that over. Then he asked, "Is it something you've done before? Something you do often?"
"Daaad!" Sam whined, offended by the suggestion. "What, you think that's why I get such good grades?" He slumped down dramatically, taking his embarrassment out on his father. "No! I've never cheated before! And I wouldn't have this time if -- " he cut himself off, not quite willing to rat on his brother, "-- if I hadn't been behind," he finished lamely.
Not happy with the attitude or the fact that Sam was obviously hiding something from him along with Dean, John said, "Watch your tone Sammy, I wasn't assuming you'd cheated before, I was asking if you had. You're grades are always good, why would you feel like you needed to cheat? I mean so what if you flunk one test, you'd make it up and still pass the class. All I've ever asked is that you pass. You could get all C's and that would be fine. But getting caught at cheating brings attention to us, and that's something we can't afford to do."
"See, Dad, you don't even understand. One bad grade could bring down my entire GPA! And I know YOU don't care because all you care about it hunting! I've been working my ass off to make time to study and also do all the training you make us do. So, yeah, I messed up, but I just didn't feel like I had a lot of choices!" Sam let out in a heated defense knowing it wasn't likely to convince his father it was okay but needed to release some of the frustration he felt about his life.
Irritated himself John said, "What do you mean you didn't have a lot of choices?! You had the whole night to study! I think the real question, and one I intend to ask Dean when I pick him up, is what the hell were the two of you doing last night that made it impossible for you to study? And just for your information little boy, your GPA IS less important then hunting. But even if it weren't, can you honestly be proud of a GPA that you cheated to get?"
Sam wanted to be mad at his dad, but the lecture was to close to the truth for him to feel anything but shame about the way he had acted. "No, sir," he said quietly and spent the rest of the ride silent staring out the window and feeling guilty.