Chapter Nine: Here We Go Again

Sam walked in and set his back pack down on the table, plopping himself into a chair and grabbing an apple he pulled out a notebook from within his bag and began to scribble in it. The page he was writing on was already almost filled with little clips of writing and doodles.

"Hey," Sam looked up to see Ruthie smiling over at him. Sam refrained from rolling his eyes and merely nodded in her direction. "What are you up to?"

"Not much," Sam said closing his notebook.

"How's seventh grade, we haven't had much time to talk. How was your first month of school?" Sam sighed and put his notebook back in his bag. He didn't understand why Ruthie was always coming over, she was married she should be with her family now. As far as Sam was concerned this wasn't her home anymore.

"Why do you care?" He said. Grabbing his bag he bolted up the stairs leaving Ruthie alone in the kitchen.

"Sam?" Annie watched her son bolt past her and into his room. Annie shook her head and took the laundry bin she was carrying into her room. She set the bin down on her bed and began folding the fresh laundry. She couldn't understand what was going on with her son. She had seven children, five of whom were grown and out on their own. None of them had been easy, but none had been constantly difficult, although behaviorally Mary came close, and emotionally Ruthie was too. But none had ever been as difficult as Sam. It didn't seem like anybody could reach him.

The phone rang and Annie walked across the room to answer it. To her surprise it was Sam and David's school.

"Hello, Mrs. Camden. I'm Jeffrey Dower, your sons principal." Annie nodded.

"Yes, Hello Mr. Dower. Is something wrong? Are one of my boy's in trouble?" Annie was sure the answer was going to be yes and she wasn't sure which one it would be, it could have been either.

"Well, not in trouble exactly, yet. But your son Sam has been missing a lot of school and we were wondering why?" Annie sighed, the anger building inside.

"I assure you I will speak to him." Annie said firmly.

"And also Sam's teachers are a bit worried about him. He doesn't have any friends, as far his teachers can tell. Some of his teachers feel he should talk to the school counselor." Mr. Dower said in a falsely concerned voice.

"Thank you. I'll talk to him." Annie said again.

"All right." Annie hung up and tossed the phone on to the bed. Eric walked in and looked down at his wife.

"Everything all right?" he said sitting down beside her. She laid her head against his chest softly.

"It's Sam. That was his principal. He hasn't been going to school." Annie felt Eric tighten. "His teachers are worried about him…Eric, I'm worried about him…"

"I am too…I'm not sure how to reach him." Eric sighed and dropped hi arm from around her shoulder. She looked up and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to him." Eric stood up and walked out of the room, knowing that Sam would be in his room he headed straight down the hall. He looked in on David and saw him talking away on the phone.

"Sam, can I talk to you?" Eric asked opening the door slightly. Sam shrugged and continued drawing in his notebook. "What are you drawing?"

"Nothing," Sam said quickly stuffing the notebook under his bed. "What do you want?"

"Your school called." Eric said losing a bit of his patience.

"Yeah…and?" Sam said folding his arms across his chest.

"And they said you have been going!" Eric snapped.

"So. School sucks." Eric looked blankly at his son.

"That doesn't mean you can just not go!"

"Why should I? I do all my homework and pass all my tests! I don't talk when I'm at school, so what am I missing?" Sam said glaring at his father.

"How do you know what's going on if you're never there? Your teachers say you don't have any friends." Eric said.

"So what…"

"So, how do you know what your homework is?"

"Because I do have friends…well…a friend…" Sam shifted and got off the bed. He walked over and stood by the window. "Happy. I have a friend. I'll go to school…blah blah blah…"

"Sam, why won't you talk to me? I want to help you? You always seem so alone…" Eric reached out and touched Sam's forearm to get his attention. Sam jerked his arm away, a fire lit in his eyes.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Sam screamed.

"Sam?" Eric looked at him with a mix of confusion and annoyment. Sam ran out of the room and locked himself into the bathroom.


Authors Note: Hey everybody. Heres the next chapte I hope everyone liked the previous chapter...I don't eve remember what it was about...well anyway. like I said there are going to be rather large gaps in the story line as you can see it has jumped ahead a month but the story needs to keep at a fast pace.

I'm hoping to finish this story soon. I don't know how much longer I can keep at this story I 've been writing it for over a year now. So we'll see. I will finish it though.