Oh yeah, right. Disclaimer: I don't own anything that isn't mine. this story doesn't contain slash. It doesn't contain incest. It doesn't contain adult scenes. It contains little, if any, coarse language. So basically, rated because I'm paranoid.


AN: Just FYI, I wasn't planning to write this chapter. I planned to cut to another scene and skip this bit because I wasn't sure it would come out right. But a couple people who reviewed (thanks btw! :D ) asked either for this scene or wondered what would happen, so I figured I'd just write it after all. I'm still not sure it came out that well, mostly because I've never been to a parent-teacher conference, but, yeah. I'll post another chapter soon to make up for this one :)

"Cindy, would you like to go out in the hall?" Mrs. Jeffries asked.

From the expression on her face, the answer was clearly 'no', but she and Guerrero both knew that saying it would tick her teacher off even more. Sighing, she got up and left, closing the door behind her.

"Please sit down," Mrs. Jeffries said, motioning to a regular sized chair. Guerrero sat down and leaned back, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, waiting.

"Cindy isn't doing well in English," the sharp woman finally said after straightening the files on her desk. She seemed to want a reaction.

"It's only September," Guerrero said.

She blinked. "Does Cindy read books at home?"

"Select ones," he said, remembering her passion about Narnia. "Why?"

"She's a little behind in her reading and grammar, and in my opinion, they go together." Apparently her opinion was the ultimate authority on this matter.

"Uh huh," he said, thinking. He had never been to one of these before, if Cindy had ever had one. He had, as a kid, but the kids were never allowed into the room. But he was never one to be insecure and let the new sich. rule him. * He just responded with his usual cockiness, and if he blundered, hey, at least the blunder would make a funny story to tell Cindy.

But the teacher was moving along. He supposed he had better pay attention.

"No child uses perfect grammar, of course," she said authoritatively, "but even if they don't use perfect grammar, I expect them to be able to tell me the correct way to use punctuation and the right word instead of slang."

She paused. Again. Like she was letting a break in case he wanted to say something. Guerrero raised his eyebrows and made a little motion with his hands, as if to say, 'okay, where are you going with this?'

Her lips came together and compressed in a decidedly unfriendly expression. "My point is, Cindy cannot."

"Okay," Guerrero said, shrugging. "Anything else?"

Her mouth opened a bit, as if she couldn't believe this. "Are you going to do anything about this?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that your job?"

Okay, now she was ticked off. "Do you mean to insinuate," she said, incensed, "that I am not doing –"

"No," he said, exasperated. "I'm saying you haven't had any time to do it yet. It's September, dude. If she hasn't made any improvement by March, give me a call and I'll do somethin' about it. Now, anything else? You're gonna catch a fly if you aren't careful," he added with a pointed look.

Her mouth snapped shut. "Cindy does not have any friends."

"How do you know?" Guerrero countered, shifting in the chair.

"She eats by herself. When the class is asked to get into groups, she always ends up in the group that is short a person. She doesn't talk to others in class. Normally, I would be glad of this…"

But because it's Cindy, you aren't, Guerrero thought.

"…but I believe, coupled with the other evidence, she does not have peers here at school. Does she have friends at home?" the teacher asked, adjusting her glasses.

That's a very subtle way to hint that her home is responsible for all this, Guerrero thought. "A few," he said. He actually had no idea. And he wondered.

"Oh," Mrs. Jeffries said.

"Are we done here?"

"Yes, I believe –"

"Good. Glad ta meecha," he said, getting up. "Great talkin' to ya. See ya." He walked to the door and opened it to see Cindy sitting on a chair outside the door. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," she said, grabbing her backpack.

"Goodbye," the teacher said, coming up behind them.

"Bye," Cindy said, and walked off like she was in a speed walking competition.

"Later, dude," Guerrero said, and followed.


* -I abbreviated "situation." hope that makes sense!

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