Thank you for all your follows! Please do let me know if you would like me to continue with this. :) Oh and just for reference, in this, Davey is the same age as Jack. :)
Chapter 2
"Mom, can I go? I can see Davey outside the school." Jack said pulling Charlotte's hand.
"You don't want to grab something from Luke's first?" Charlotte said.
"Mommm, I've already eaten at home. Please can I go? Davey and I want to hang out for a bit before our lessons start." Jack said.
Charlotte smiled slightly. "Alright, but watch the roads ok?" She said.
"I will! Bye mom! Bye dad!" Jack grinned before running off towards the school.
Charlotte watched him until he reached the school and then he and Davey disappeared into the building. "Ok, how have we both created a kid that actually enjoys school?" She smirked at Jess, who continued pushing Lizzie in a pram towards Luke.
"Beats me." Jess smirked.
"Remember it's his parents evening tonight. Sam knows we have to get off early right?" Charlotte said.
"Yep he knows." Jess nodded. "And I texted Lane last night to confirm that she and Zach can still watch the kids."
"Cool." Charlotte smiled as they entered Luke's. "Hey Luke!"
"Hey!" Luke smiled at them. "The usual?" He asked.
"You know us so well." Charlotte grinned.
"Unfortunately." He smirked.
"Aw Luke, you wound us!" Charlotte laughed.
Luke chuckled and headed off to the kitchen to get their food as Charlotte and Jess sat down at a table.
"So I heard from TJ yesterday." Jess said.
"Oh yeah? How are he and Doula doing?" Charlotte asked.
"Yeah they're good. Doula still has some wobbles I think." Jess said.
"That's understandable." Charlotte said.
"Yeah.." He sighed. "I told her I'd go and visit them tomorrow. I feel bad that it's been a while since last time."
"I'm sure they understand that you've been busy. And you ring her every week." She said.
"I know. I just..." Jess sighed. "I feel like Liz would have wanted me to look out for her."
"Hey, you have been." Charlotte said softly. "You ring them every week and you make the effort to go and see them. Liz would be so proud of you."
Jess gave her a small smile. "Thanks."
"Pancakes, omelette, juice and a drink of death." Luke said placing their food and drinks infront of them.
"Nothing like Luke to change the mood huh?" Charlotte smirked.
Jess chuckled. "Can always rely on Uncle Luke."
"What are you two yammering on about?" Luke said.
"Nothing!" Charlotte grinned.
"Just keep being you, Uncle Luke." Jess smirked.
"A lot of work..." He grumbled walking off.
"Hey!" Rory smiled, walking into the bookstore.
"Hey!" Charlotte smiled looking up from the till. "And there's my gorgeous niece!" She grinned coming round to bend down to smile at Millie in the pram.
"Where are the guys?" Rory asked looking round.
"In the back doing the books." She said. "I'm up front today. They're actually trusting me for once." She grinned.
"That is risky." Rory teased.
"Nothing like the support of my loving sister." Charlotte grinned. "Hey Millie, why don't we just run away together huh?" She whispered, receiving a smile from the youngster in return.
"I think I would have something to say about that." Sam said appearing from the back.
"Meh, it was worth a try." She joked.
"Hey!" Sam smiled at Rory.
"Hey. Just thought we'd come and say hi." Rory smiled giving him a kiss.
"Well it's a nice surprise." Sam smiled. "Hey sweetheart." He smiled down at his daughter.
"We should get going if we want to collect Jack and then take him to Lane and Zach's and then get back to the school in time." Jess told Charlotte.
"Oh yeah! I didn't realise it was that time already!" Charlotte said glancing at her watch. "Sam, are you sure it's ok if we get off?"
"Of course, you go." Sam nodded.
"I can help out for a bit if you want." Rory offered. "Mils and I don't have any plans anyway so I don't mind."
"Really? That would be cool." Sam smiled.
"Thanks sis." Charlotte said.
"No problem. Hope it goes well." Rory said. "Give Jack and Lizzie a hug from me."
"Will do." She smiled before leaving with Jess.
"Mr and Mrs Mariano, thank you so much for coming in." Mrs Peters smiled at them.
"Of course. We wouldn't have missed this." Charlotte smiled.
"Please, take a seat." She said. "So Jack is definitely a character. He's got lots of friends here." She said.
"He loves school." Charlotte said.
"Yeah, he definitely didn't get that from either of us." Jess joked.
"I dropped out of college and Jess didn't go." Charlotte explained. "But we're so happy Jack seems to be enjoying it. And he's been doing well, right?"
"He is very bright, yes." She nodded. "But..." She said hesitating for a bit.
"What is it?" Jess asked.
"Jack's grades are slipping a little bit." She explained. "I have no doubt that Jack is very bright. He has shown that in previous work. But I feel like, at the moment, he is a bit more focused on being the class joker than his work."
Charlotte frowned. "That doesn't sound like Jack."
"I was a bit surprised at his latest behaviour as well. I've had to send him out of the room a couple of times recently because he's been disrupting the class." Mrs Peters explained.
"How has he been disrupting the class?" Jess frowned.
"Passing notes, playing up a bit for laughs." She said.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Charlotte said surprised. "I...We will talk to him about that."
"Don't get me wrong, Jack is a great kid. You've both done a great job with him. We all love teaching him. It's just recently that it's been a bit tricky to get him to concentrate. It's annoying for us because we know he's got so much potential. We've had to separate him and Davey Belleville quite a few times." She said.
"We'll talk to him." Charlotte promised, glancing at Jess who nodded in agreement.
"I wanted to show you some of his previous work so you can see why we believe he isn't performing at his greatest ability at the moment." She smiled kindly. "This was an assignment about writing about your hero. He wrote about you." She smiled at Jess.
"He did?" Jess said surprised, glancing down at the piece of paper.
"As you can see, it's a great piece of writing." Mrs Peters said. "This is something he produced this week. As you can see, it's clear he hasn't put as much effort in it."
"Wow, that is a...contrast..." Charlotte said surprised.
"We're not sure why his focus isn't there at the moment but we really hope he can get back to how he is because as you can see, his potential is there." She said. "But let me reiterate, Jack is a great kid. We're not saying he isn't. We just wanted to let you know what's been happening recently."
"No, of course. We're glad you've been honest with us. I promise we will talk to him and try and find out what's going on." She said.
"Ok. Thank you." Mrs Peters smiled.
"I thought he was doing well. I never thought he'd be playing up..." Charlotte sighed as she and Jess were walking towards Lane and Zach's to collect the kids.
"I'm sure it's just a phase. We've all been there. Trying to impress our friends and classmates." Jess said.
"I know. But...it's not Jack. Jack loves school. Or so I thought..." She said.
"We'll talk to him." Jess said. "We know he can do better."
"That piece about you was amazing." Charlotte smiled softly at him.
"Yeah.." He said gruffly.
Charlotte knocked on the door as they reached Lane and Zach's and smiled as Lane opened the door. "Hey!"
"Hey!" Lane smiled at them. "Come on in. Lizzie's just fallen asleep but Jack's through here watching some tv with Zach."
"Great." Charlotte smiled.
"Thanks for watching them. We really appreciate it." Jess said.
"Oh you don't need to thank us. You watch the twins for us all the time so we're happy to return the favour. They're great kids." Lane smiled.
"Hey Jack, you ready to head home?" Charlotte said spotting their son on the couch with Zach.
"Mom!" He smiled getting up and coming to give her a hug. "How was the meeting at school? Did you meet Mrs Peters?"
"Yes, she seems really nice." She said.
"We'll talk about it at home. Have you got everything?" Jess asked.
"Yeah!" Jack said grabbing his school bag.
"I'll just go get Lizzie." Charlotte said.
"Thanks again for watching them." Jess told Lane and Zach.
"It's no problem dude." Zach said. "We had fun, right Jack?"
"Yeah." Jack grinned, nodding.
"I made sure he did his homework before watching tv." Lane said.
"Great thanks." Jess said.
"Right, we're all set. Thanks again guys. Let's catch up at some point yeah?" Charlotte smiled.
"Definitely." Lane nodded. "Have a nice evening."
"You too."
Jack looked up as Charlotte and Jess entered his bedroom. "So...how was the meeting?" He asked glancing at them, putting his book down.
"I have a feeling you might know." Jess said sitting down on his son's bed.
"What do you think she might have said?" Charlotte said.
"That...I've been in trouble recently..." Jack said quietly.
"And why has that been?" Jess said.
"I don't know..." Jack said glancing down.
"Jack, hon, we just want to understand. Mrs Peters also said she knows you're a great kid and that you're really bright and have so much potential. So why have you been slipping lately? We saw the piece about your hero." Charlotte said softly.
"You saw that?" Jack said, glancing at Jess.
"Yes and we were so proud. It was amazing, Jack." She said.
"Is something going on that you're not telling us? I know you and Davey like to have fun together but we never thought your friendship might disrupt your work." Jess said.
"It's not Davey's fault!" Jack said quickly. "Please don't stop me hanging out with him."
"We're not saying we will. We just want to understand." Jess assured their son.
"I don't know. I guess...I just find the work too easy. It's boring." Jack admitted.
"Boring?" Charlotte said surprised.
"I finish the work in class quicker than anyone else and I get bored. So I try and make people laugh. And then the homework is so boring that I just try to finish it quickly." Jack said quietly. He glanced at them. "Are you mad at me?"
"No." Charlotte sighed. "I just wish you could have told us."
"We could have contacted the school and your teachers. We could have gotten them to give you more challenging work. I'm sure they'd be happy to do that." Jess said.
"Really?" Jack said looking up.
"We can ask them." Charlotte nodded. "But we need you to talk to us, ok? We need to know what's going on. We can't help you if we don't know."
"Sorry." He said quietly.
"Get some sleep." Jess sighed. "We'll talk more tomorrow."
"Are you sure you're not mad?" Jack asked nervously.
"After reading that piece you wrote, never." Jess assured him. "Goodnight." He said softly, giving his son a kiss.
"Night dad." Jack said.
"Night darling." Charlotte smiled softly.
"Night mom." He replied.
Charlotte sighed as she turned off the lights in his room and shut the door. "Well I wasn't expecting that." She said.
"Me neither." Jess said. "Our son wants more challenging work. That's why he's been playing up. To try and enjoy school more. Our son wants to enjoy school so much that he tries to make his own fun." He said smirking slightly.
"It's not funny!" Charlotte said but laughed slightly.
"At least he's not just been a troublemaker." Jess pointed out.
"I guess. But we need to make sure he does focus more. We don't want him to lose sight of what he wants. He could go so far. I really want that for him." She said.
"I know. I want that too." He assured her.
"So we ring the school tomorrow?" She said.
"First thing." He nodded.
"Want to head to bed?" Charlotte asked.
"Oh yes please." Jess smirked. "Lead the way."
"Oh I intend to." She laughed, grabbing his hand and leading him to their bedroom.
So I hope you liked it! Please do leave a review if you like and let me know what you think! :) Thank you so much for all your support! I really do appreciate it. :)