Author's Note: Sorry if there's any spelling errors or anything in this one. Normally I proof read, but tonight I'm being extremely lazy and just wanted to get this up, so please ignore any possible spelling errors you may see. I'm also sorry this took so long to get up. I have had no motivation lately to do anything. But I finally sat down in front of the laptop and just started typing. This chapter kind of just came together and it seemed to fit.

Chapter Ten

Clarissa sat staring at the menu in front of her, but nothing looked appealing. Of course, it would probably help if she could focus on the items in front of her instead of how to fix her home life. Despite the great night they had a Chuck E. Cheese, it didn't last. Christiana was right back to her antics the next day, and it seemed to have gotten worse. Her grades had slipped lower than they had ever been before and the school was threatening to expel her if she didn't pull them back up ASAP. Charter schools are great if your child is academically suited for them, but their expectations are extremely high, and even a tiny slip in grades causes and up roar. Up until this point Christiana had always met and usually exceeded all of their expectations.

Right after Caelan had died she had allowed her grades to slip a bit due to everything that was going on, but due to the circumstances, the school understood and allowed it to slide for a short period of time. By the next testing period she was back to her normal, straight A's-self. This new attitude she was displaying over the last few months was really beginning to frustrate Clarissa. The principal had told Clarissa the only reason they had yet to expel Christi is because this isn't like her, but she also informed her that if it continued they would have no choice but to expel her for underachieving academic levels. Clarissa was beside herself. She had tried everything to fix Christi's problems, but nothing was working. She was officially out of all options except for one. She hated this option. She had promised herself she would never allow her children to get to a point where this option was ever needed, but what choice did she have? Her daughter was beyond her help at this point, and there was only one option left. If this last option didn't work Christi was going to have to be removed from her current school and enrolled into a regular school. She wouldn't get near the education Clarissa had always wanted for her, but her new attitude was the deciding factor on that.

Jon entered the diner and stood inside the door waiting to be seated by the hostess. He looked around at his surroundings, as he always did and spotted Clarissa just as the hostess approached him. "Just one," she asked. Jon nodded, never taking his eyes off Clarissa. He couldn't help but notice the far-off look in her eyes, and the stress that was written all over her face.

"I know this is against your policy, but can you give me a second. I see somebody I know, I just wanna see if I can join her at her table," he asked the hostess. She frowned and followed his line of sight, which still hadn't left Clarissa.

"Normally I would say no because you're right, it's against our policy, but that women looks borderline distraught, and if you know her and think you can help her, I say go for it," the hostess said, giving him a small smile. Jon nodded.

"I hope I can help. You can walk me over, if you want, so it looks like you're seating me. I don't want you getting in trouble, or fired, or anything," Jon acknowledged. The hostess gave another smile and led him in the direction of Clarissa's table with a menu in her hand, as if she was going to seat him at a table near Clarissa, and stopped at the table next to the one she was sitting at.

"Is this good enough," she asked, to make it seem like she was sitting him at that table. He nodded.

"Yup, perfect, thanks," he said as he turned his full attention to Clarissa. "Hey stranger, mind if I sit with you," he asked her, pulling her thoughts back to the present.

The moment she heard his voice she was jolted out of her thought and came crashing back to reality as she looked up at him. She gave him the best smile she could muster, which she knew must have looked hideous. "Yeah sure, have a seat," she said motioning to the other side of the table.

Jon slid into the booth, took his menu from the outstretched hostess' hand and opened it. "So what has you so lost in thought, staring off into space as you try to decide on lunch," he asked as he folded the menu shut, knowing exactly what he wanted.

"Boy, you don't waste any time, do you," she chuckled as she finally decided on what she wanted and she too closed her menu.

"Nope, not when it comes to my friends who look like they haven't slept in days and they have the weight of the world weighing on her shoulders. So out with it, what's going on," he answered and fired off the question again.

"My eldest daughter is giving me a ton of problems, and I'm trying to figure out a way to make sure she's not going to get expelled from her school, but if I can't get her grades back up where they're supposed to be, that's exactly what's going to happen," Clarissa admitted.

"Wait, your daughter is going to get expelled for low grades? What the hell school does she go to," he questioned. Being a high school dropout, things like charter schools didn't really mean anything to him.

"She's in a charter school. Their expectations are super high, and anything under a C is grounds for expulsion if it stays in that area too long. These schools are supposed to set your child up for college earlier, but no college is going to take a student that gets D's and F's; especially later in the academic career." Clarissa could tell by the blank look on his face Jon had no idea what she just said. "I take it you don't know what charter schools are," she laughed. Jon shook his head.

"Nope, not a clue. Actually, I'm a high school dropout, so none of the academic stuff means much to me, honestly," he truthfully admitted.

The waitress approached then to take their orders. Jon ordered a cheese burger with a side of cheese fries while Clarissa ordered a chef's salad.

After the waitress was far enough out of earshot, Clarissa continued their conversation. "You dropped out of school," she questioned as Jon nodded. "I honestly never would have guessed that. You seem so intelligent," she admitted. He laughed.

"Thanks, but I didn't pass ninth grade. Once I got into wrestling I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and school didn't seem all that important anymore, so I dropped out and focused on my wrestling career," he informed her.

Clarissa was impressed. For a high school dropout, he was successful and had a good head on his shoulders. Well except for the one mess she had to help him out of. "Well, it's good to see you knew what you wanted and went after it without falling into a life of crime or something," she joked. Jon laughed.

"Well, I'm no saint. I had plenty of issues, and quite a few run-ins with the law, but I didn't rob any banks or anything like that," he admitted. He wasn't going to go into any details right now. His past was murky and it was best left in the past for now. If they got to a point where he felt he had to tell her, then he would, but for now he'd leave the dot connecting for a later time. "So what are you going to do about your daughter," he asked, bringing Clarissa back to her current problem just as the waitress set their plates down in front of them and walked away again.

"I only really have one option left," Clarissa admitted as she poured her ranch dressing onto her salad. "I'm gonna have to get her into therapy with a psychologist and pray she opens up to them and we can fix this. There's something bothering her. There has to be, and she won't tell me what it is, and she's not fixing it on her own, so now I have to have a professional do it before she gets expelled."

"Does she know she's about to get expelled," Jon asked after he had swallowed a bite of his food. Clarissa nodded.

"Yeah, she knows, but she doesn't seem to care. Then again, lately, she hasn't seemed to care about anything, and it's scaring me. It's like she has no emotions, and I have no idea how to fix that. I don't think I've seen her cry since my husband died, and that was over two years ago. She gets angry, but not like a normal person, and I haven't seen her laugh since before her father died. She's just a shell, and it's scary," Clarissa admitted as she pushed a tomato around her plate.

"I know I don't know her, but maybe I can try talking to her? I had a lot of issues with my parents growing up, so I know what it's like to feel shunned or abandoned. Maybe that's what she's feeling," Jon suggested. Clarissa frowned.

"Why would she feel shunned or abandoned? I have never made my children feel that way," she said, taking offense to what he'd said. Jon shook his head.

"I didn't mean by you, I meant by her dad. I know he didn't abandon her, but she may not see it that way. I'm just trying to help, but if you don't want me to, I won't," he said, holding his hands up in defense.

Clarissa saw where he was coming from and had never even thought of that before. It was possible that Christiana was feeling like her father abandoned her. But why was this something Jon would know about?

"So your dad died when you were younger," she asked, without really thinking. Jon laughed.

"No, he's still alive and well. I speak to him now, but for a large majority of my childhood he was in jail. For the longest time I thought he was the biggest asshole ever. When I was fifteen he tried to get back into my life, and I basically told him to go fuck himself. He didn't try to re-contact me again until I was twenty-two. At that point, I had matured a bit and decided to try to have a civil relationship with him, and now we talk. I wouldn't say we're best buds or our relationship deserves father/son of the year award, but I did allow him to come back into my life. I know she doesn't have that option, but I can relate to the abandonment part of this whole thing, if that's what she's feeling. Given I'm a stranger, she may be willing to open up to me, but I may have to promise not to tell you anything, and I would make and keep that promise unless she's threatening bodily harm or something," Jon opened up a bit. Clarissa nodded.

"I can live with all of that, if this will just help her bring her grades back up and fix her problems. That's all I want, is for her problems to be fixed and her grades to return to normal." Jon smiled.

"I can try to talk to her. I can't promise that she'll talk to me, but I can promise to try to get her to open up." Clarissa nodded.

"I'm willing to give it a shot. Can we go try it now? Well, I mean after we finish eating. She'll be home from school in like an hour. We can go pick up Kaylin and go to my house. I'll take Kaylin out back to play while you try to talk to Christi," Clarissa decided. If this worked and she could avoid a psychologist, she would owe Jon big time. Jon laughed.

"Sure, we can give it a shot, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work right away. I'm probably gonna have to 'earn' her trust. It'll be a work in progress, I'm sure, but you can't get anywhere without taking the first step, right," he rhetorically asked. Clarissa shook her head.

"Are you sure you're a high school dropout," she questioned as the waitress dropped the check on the table and walked away, Jon eying her.

"Yes, I'm positive. Was it me, or was she rather rude the entire time we were here," he questioned, still eying the waitress. Clarissa glanced back over her shoulder at the young girl who had served them.

"She was kind of rude."

"Good, it wasn't just me. She can forget getting a tip," he said as he stood up to go pay the bill. Clarissa followed behind him hoping this little plan they were going to put into motion would work.

Author's Note: I felt like having Jon opening up a bit seemed like a good route, considering all the issues Clarissa is having with Christi, so we shall see how she takes this little divine intervention from her mother and her mother's friend. But me thinks she isn't going to take it very well. Anybody else with me? lol