Chapter 11: 2019

A/N: Look's who is back! It's me! I know most of you have probably given up on this story, and I was about to, when I decided to get off my Kurtbastian tumblr tag (for those of you that watch Glee, look up this pairing; now [I can even recommend a ton {TON} of stories!]) and write some more. Although I have not been very inspired ever since the March premiere (nothing interesting has happened, but since I have a theory that Amy is pregnant again, maybe things will get interesting again), I finally found an idea that stuck and I just had to update (for those of you that don't know, I've been having a HUGE writing block for the past two months). So, let's get to it!

There was a pause of silence after Ricky and Amy took the stage. After about a minute, Ricky rolled his eyes and took the mic off of the stand. "Well, it would be Amy's turn to introduce this story; however, since she is in a funk—real mature Ames, by the way," Ricky retorted, sending a smirk-grin towards Amy which was instantly sent back*, before continuing, "so this story is another story about school. And for those of you that don't know…"

"If you didn't know, you probably live under a rock with how much my parents talk about my grades…" John said quietly.

"Oh and you don't? 'Look everybody; I got a 99 on my math test that I started studying for at 7:30 that morning!'" Mina added a high pitched, stuffy tone to her voice and the all the teenagers in the yard laughed.

Ricky laughed quietly as well before continuing: "Well, as I was saying: John is usually a very good student. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his dad; it's because John has never had any trouble in school. He's gotten As all his life. I mean, you are all here because this amazing kid is the Valedictorian!" Claps surrounded the yard, before Ricky continued. "However, there was a time when John was…not doing as well as he normally did."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"John? I don't understand! You've always been so good in school! And now this! I just...you know what? We will talk about this later! Just…just go to your room," Amy said in a defeated tone to John while balancing a very tired two-and-a-half-year old on her hip.

John had been confused, to say the least. I do really well in school! Sure, there is always Spanish, but who needs Spanish anyway? And it's not my fault! Sra. Rodriguez hates me…John went quickly up to his room. He was more than fine with reading upstairs for a couple hours until his dad got home to talk to his mom. Dad will understand that this—whatever this is—is not a big deal…hopefully.

The day had been a day of excitement for some, and fear for others. Report cards could either say wonderful things, or things that bring absolute dread. For John Underwood, almost every report card he had ever received had been the former; like his mom said, he had always been a good student; a great student even. Unfortunately, today's report card had something on it that made his mom quite unhappy. And to top it off, John did not know what this "terrible grade"—or whatever it was—that angered his mother even was.

About two hours after John had read some in his most recent book and finished up his homework, he began to feel hungry. He hadn't had soccer practice today—an activity that always had "in-car snacks"—and his mother had taken his report card almost as soon as the three of them had stepped through the door. Weighing the risks of his mother yelling at him more vs. how hungry he was John began to make his way towards the kitchen. While descending the stairs, John heard a disappointed tone coming from (what sounded like) a phone call that his mother was having. John quickly checked his watch, before contemplating who his mother could be talking to: she definitely wouldn't be talking to Dad; he's going to be getting home in the very near future; would Mom be talking to Mam? Or someone else's Mom?

John's thoughts were interrupted by a confirmation: "I just don't know Mom…what if this is the start of something really bad? What if he starts giving up on school? Or he starts hanging out with the wrong people? Or…oh God, what if he gets a girl pregnant? I just don't know if I could handle that…and what about Ricky…he would handle it even worse! Oh god, this would just not be good." There was a long pause and John heard his mother take long deep breaths before she began talking again. "Yes Mom…ok, I'll talk to him about it…and yes, I'll call you once we figure out more information…yea, he should be home any minute now. Ok bye, love you too," Amy said solemnly before hanging up the phone. With in seconds, John's father walked through the door.

"Daddy!" Emily squealed upon seeing her father, running up to grab his legs. Ricky moved slightly in surprise, but then quickly picked up his young daughter to hold against his hip.

"Hi baby! How was your day today? From the look of Mommy's face, it doesn't look like she had the best day." Ricky smiled softly before lightly kissing Amy.

"Ew Daddy, no kisses!" Emily spoke in a way that only a small child would.

"No kisses huh?" Ricky asked, a smirk spreading across his features. "Are you sure about that?" The house was then filled with little girl squeals and laughter. After a minute or two of raspberry kisses, Ricky spoke again: "Where's John? He's usually running down the stairs when he hears me get home. And is that his…oh. Saw something that you didn't like?" Ricky asked knowingly.

"Well, somebody got a C—a C!—I never got a C, well except during summer school the summer before 12th grade…but that was not a great time in my academic career! I was a little distracted…" Amy said quietly.

"I remember, and a C? Really, that doesn't seem much like John…" Ricky sounded genuinely surprised, and worried, and John sank lower into the seat he had made for himself on the stairs. Ricky looked over the paper for a full minute, before laughing a little to himself.

"Ricky! This isn't funny! John is getting a C! What if he starts getting more Cs, and then he starts hanging with the druggies, and then he starts doing drugs, and then he starts failing all his classes and then we both don't know what to do and then…" Amy was cut off by a quick kiss before Ricky called out to John.

"Bud? Hey John? I know you're on the stairs, or near the stairs, or by the top of the stairs! I—WE need to talk to you buddy! And you have done nothing wrong!" After hearing his father's tone, John slowly made his way down the rest of the stairs. He grimaced and hung his shoulders down before walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. He took a big breath, before he began speaking at about a mile a minute.

"Look I don't know why I did so badly in Spanish! But my Spanish teacher hates me and I am really trying really hard, but since Aunt Ashley was teaching me some Italian this past summer and I've kind of been getting them a little mixed up, and like I said before my Spanish teacher seems to hate me and she wanted to talk to the two of you and I'm just so sorry…" John wanted to continue, but his voice betrayed his emotions, cracking slightly. Amy then sat down next to him and wrapped him in a large hug.
"Oh baby, it's really ok. I didn't realize that it was in Spanish and I'm…" Amy began to apologize until Ricky cut in.
"Bud, did you say that your Spanish teacher doesn't like you? Because she said that she wanted to meet with us…and usually your child's Spanish teacher doesn't want to meet with their student's parents. Maybe we can ask Miss Smythe** to arrange a meeting with this Spanish teacher of yours when we have our parent-teacher conference—which, by the way Amy, is next Tuesday—because something about this Spanish teacher seems a little off."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"And speak with the Spanish teacher we did!" Amy said in an over-excited tone. "No one messes with my little boy. Well…young man now." Amy's voice slowly began to change from over-excited to a more serious, upset tone.

"Ames, we have more time for that later…and we haven't even gotten to that part yet!" Ricky exclaimed, equally a little emotional. "However, right now, we need to get back to the story."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A few days later, Ricky and Amy were situated in John's fourth grade classroom with Miss Smythe and Sra. Rodriguez, and no one in the classroom seemed to be feeling quite happy: Sra. Rodriguez seemed slightly angry and defensive, Amy and Ricky were both fuming and trying desperately, and mostly failing, to keep their cool, and Miss Smythe was down-right uncomfortable. Finally it was Ricky who cracked, looking as though he was a cartoon character: smoke out of the ears and all.

"You…you are taking your hatred of teenage parents," Ricky's voice rose at the thought, but Amy gripped his arm, "because you think they are irresponsible and their children should immediately be put in foster care, which let me tell you, is no party, out on our amazingly smart and joyful and…everything son just because he's not perfect at Spanish? He's 10! And who even needs SPANISH! Maybe you should start giving Cs out to Mina Kennish too and at least four other parents in John's class because they all have parents that were teenage parents too. Or maybe you should start giving Cs to Lewis, because he has two dads for parents! That's different and non-conventional too! Or is that just too wrong because gays are now "accepted-by-society"?

Amy took a deep breath, before she cut in quickly: "Miss Smythe…Sra. Rodriguez," a glare was sent towards the older woman's body, "can you give us a minute?" Miss Smythe just nodded quickly before pulling on the other woman's arm. As soon as both women had left the room, Amy gave Ricky's arm a hard slap: "Do you mind? I know that you are angry—trust me, I am just as angry as you are; if not more—but we are at John's parent-teacher conference! And we have to keep our cool! I think that we should talk to Miss Smythe alone, and see what we can do from here." The tone of Amy's voice changed significantly once she continued: "Ricky—Ricky, look at me—we'll figure this out. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that this woman no longer works at this school, ok? I love you, and I love John and Emily and I think—no, I know—that we've done a fantastic job with John. And no stupid…"

"You two have done a fantastic job with John," Miss Smythe said from the doorway, "and if I had kept my baby that I had in high school, I don't think he would have turned out half as amazing as John has. He is smart, and kind, and so loving to his friends and to everybody around him, and I would hate to see one stupid C bring him down. And I've been worried about Sra. Rodriguez for a couple of years now. She seems to pick certain students to give 'unusual' grades to, and I didn't realize it was a discrimination thing until this year. Lewis Marseille-Rogers has been getting bad grades this year in Spanish as well. And since his dad is French and can also speak Spanish, I had been having some doubts about the legitimacy of the grades he had been getting. But don't worry, the school is going to handle everything; I was just down at the office and we are just now seeking a substitute teacher for the time being. I'm so sorry." Ricky and Amy, completely shocked, just nodded. There was a moment of stillness before Amy ran to hug the teacher.

"Thank you for doing that for us. And I'm sure you would have made an amazing mother," Amy answered softly.

Miss Smythe chocked a little before continuing, "I think that's all. I'll see you all soon." Amy and Ricky began to move towards the door, before Miss Smythe spoke again: "and you really have done amazing things with John."

Amy and Ricky smiled to one another, before Ricky answered: "It wasn't us. Whatever has made John this amazing was not really anything that we did. And thank you, you don't understand how important her removal from this amazing school environment was to us."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

For once in the past hour and a half, the entire group was silent. However, being the teenage boy that he was, Lewis began speaking first: "I can't believe that you two were the ones that got that bat-shit crazy teacher out of that school," Lewis quickly covered his mouth, realizing that he had just swore loudly in front of a number of young children, "but she was awful. But I will have all of you know that she hated all of us; not just me, John, and Mina. She probably thought that all the rest of this bunch was crazy for hanging around the spawn of gays and teenagers, and hey, maybe she was right. But if she was right, I'm really glad of it."

"I am too," John said before turning towards his parents. "And Mom and Dad, I'm really glad that you did something about her. Because she was completely God-awful and you two definitely should not have been treated the way you were treated. I shouldn't have been treated the way I was treated either, but especially not because of who my parents were. That's just wrong. On a completely random note, who knew that Miss Smythe had had a baby in high school?"

A/N: Well, that was a little longer than expected! Sorry if it's not my best but I really wanted to get something out there, so you would know that I haven't abandoned this story. Also, I have a random oneshot that should be up sometime later today and I have recently put up a Father's Day oneshot (called Perfect) Also, I'm going to try to have the next chapter of this up sometime this week (and hopefully it will be longer!). Thank you all my faithful readers, and this time, even though you should review every time, please especially review this time so I know how many people I still have reading this story! Thanks again and I will see you soon (it feels good to be back!)

*This was a little reference to episode 4x15 ("Defiance") I just love that little smirk interaction at the beginning of the episode!

**I couldn't help but name John's teacher after one of my favorite television character of all time (anyone know who he is? And yes, it is the last name of a male character)

P.s. Because I have never officially stated the ages of the other two children (but Leo's birth will be coming up in The Graduation Present in two chapters, and then the story will really start to get interesting) I decided I would do that right now: John-April 12th, 2009; Emily-November 16th, 2016; and Leo-October 7th, 2021.