Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! I really enjoyed reading them, it was one of my favorites to write :) This is a pretty important chapter, something I know lots of my readers have been waiting a while for happens in it. I'd also like to thank my reader sweetlittlelaurathings for suggesting an idea for a plot that begins in this chapter. I'm sorry that there isn't much of Emma, Ryan and Sarah but they'll be in the coming chapters! Again, hope everyone enjoys and reviews if you want me to continue!
Chapter 12: Spelling Words
The rest of the winter break was great for the Hudson family. Allie had spent a lot of time playing in the snow with Ryan, Emma and Sarah, as well as Michael and Brendan before the Hummel-Andersons went back to New York. She'd also enjoyed her new presents, and had even gone ice skating and sledding with Lindsay and Jessica. The first few weeks back at school went well, and Allie successfully finished her first semester at Cambridge.
Today was the first day of the second semester, and Allie was nervous for school today. Today, all the fourth graders would be taking quizzes to see what groups they'd be in for math and reading. At Allie's school, they divided the kids into three groups for math and reading. The "green group" were the most advanced, the "yellow group" was in the middle and the "red group" was having trouble. The teachers didn't tell them which group meant which, but everyone figured it out anyway. It was like a traffic light: green was the one with the most room to go, yellow moved more slowly and red was at the bottom.
Last semester, Allie was in the green group for all both math and reading, but at the end of the semester, she was starting to have trouble with her spelling words. She'd started to have trouble over reading winter break. Finn and Rachel had given her some books for Christmas, and sometimes she would misread words. Sometimes, she'd read one word as a synonym for it, such as reading "couch" as "sofa." Other times she'd read a word as one that had similar letters, for instance, reading "car" as "chair."
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked Allie at breakfast that morning.
"Yeah," Allie said.
"I know it's a new semester, but the first semester at a new school is usually the toughest," Rachel said.
"And you did pretty well!" Finn added.
"We haven't gotten my report card yet," Allie pointed out.
"I'm sure you did great," Finn said.
"I'm glad we don't have report cards yet," Ryan said.
"You will in fourth grade!" Allie teased her brother.
"Guys, I'm sure that Allie did great on her report card, and that Ryan and Emma will too when they get theirs," Rachel said.
"And me?" Sarah asked.
"And you," Rachel said. "You just don't need to worry about report cards for a while."
"Yeah, you don't even have to go to school all day yet," Allie said to Sarah. She had to admit, she loved having three siblings.
"I should probably take these three to Cambridge," Finn said to Rachel. "Have a good day."
"You too, all of you," Rachel said as Finn, Allie, Emma and Ryan began leaving for school.
x
"Okay everyone, here's your spelling test," Allie's teacher, Mrs. Copeland, said to the class as she handed out blank sheets of paper. Allie began to feel nervous. What if she couldn't stay in the top reading group?
Mrs. Copeland arrived at Allie's desk and put a sheet down on her paper. When the entire class had their sheets, Mrs. Copeland began to read off the list of the spelling words. Allie knew how to spell the first few, but when her teacher was about halfway through the list, she started to get confused.
"Catch," Mrs. Copeland said.
"That's easy enough," Allie thought to herself as she wrote c-a-c-h on her paper.
"System," Mrs. Copeland said.
Allie gulped. She didn't know how to spell that. Was it s-i-s? And did it end with i-m or e-m?
"Maneuver," Mrs. Copeland said.
It was another word, and Allie had no idea how to spell this. She looked at the boy who sat across from her, Jason. Jason was pretty smart, so maybe he knew how to spell this word. Allie did her best to look across the aisle without her teacher noticing.
"Allie," Mrs. Copeland said.
Allie gulped. She'd been caught. Lots of the other kids in the class gave Allie suspicious looks.
"Allie, you can go wait in the hall," Mrs. Copeland said. "We'll talk later."
Allie nodded nervously as she went into the hall. She didn't want to cheat. She hadn't been planning on looking at Jason's paper. It just - happened.
But she knew that cheating was wrong. At her old school, a student who'd cheated had been suspended for a day. And Finn and Rachel weren't going to be very happy when they found out about this.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Copeland came into the hall. "Allie, would you like to tell me why you were looking at Jason's paper?"
"I didn't mean to," Allie said.
"You didn't mean to?" Mrs. Copeland asked. "Then why did you look at it?"
"Well, I was so confused," Allie said. She knew there was no excuse for cheating. "I shouldn't have done it."
"You're right, you shouldn't have," Mrs. Copeland said. "Now, if this was a regular test, you'd automatically get a zero. But since the school requires us to give all students this test, you'll take a new one during recess, and as a punishment, you'll lose your recess for a week."
Allie nodded. She knew she couldn't argue with this.
"And Allie," Mrs. Copeland added, "I'm also going to have to let... the Hudsons know about what happened today."
"I know you will," Allie said. She was nervous about going home today. As she went back into the classroom, everyone was doing a worksheet. Allie sat down at her desk as Jessica tapped her shoulder. "What happened?" Jessica whispered.
Allie turned to her friend. "I'll explain it after school." She hoped that this wouldn't make her friends like her any less.
x
After school that day, Finn picked Allie, Ryan and Emma up. He seemed preoccupied by something, but he didn't say anything about the test to Allie. When they got home, Allie went off to do her homework, still feeling guilty about the test. She had a feeling her teacher had already called Finn and Rachel and told them.
Afraid to face anyone, Allie just went up to her room, attempting to avoid the confrontation she was sure was coming. When she was about halfway through her math homework, she heard a knock at the door. "Come in," she said, worried it was Finn or Rachel.
Instead, it was Emma. "Allie, can I borrow your scissors? I can't find mine."
"Of course," Allie said. "Emma, I need to tell you something."
"What?" Emma asked.
"I got in trouble at school today," Allie said.
Emma's eyes got big. "You did?"
"Yeah," Allie said. "I think your parents are mad at me."
"Why'd you get in trouble?" Emma asked. "You behave."
Allie reconsidered telling Emma about what happened. Before she had a chance, Finn and Rachel came into her room. "Emma, could you please leave for a few minutes?" Finn said. "Mommy and I need to have a talk with Allie."
"Okay," Emma said as she started to leave the room.
"Allie, I'm pretty sure you know what we're here to talk about," Rachel said when Emma was gone.
"I know," Allie said. "Finn, Rachel, I'm sorry I did it, I didn't want to do it, it's just that the words were so confusing and I was worried I'd get them wrong."
"Cheating is not right," Finn said. "Besides, the point of that quiz was to see which group you'd be best in."
"I don't want to be in the group for the stupid kids!" Allie said.
"You're not stupid!" Finn told his daughter.
"I know, but I'd feel stupid if I was in the red group!" Allie protested. "It's just that sometimes I read things wrong." Then she felt herself blurting out about how she sometimes misread words, even giving Finn and Rachel a few examples.
"I'll talk to your teacher about that," Rachel said. "Did you take the retest?"
"Yes, and I'm missing recess for a week," Allie pouted. "I didn't want to cheat!"
"We know, it's not like you to cheat," Finn said. "You have to remember though, there are school policies in place."
"I know," Allie said. That hadn't been as hard as she'd thought it would be. It was clear Finn and Rachel weren't happy, but at least they didn't make her feel any worse about what had happened.
x
Rachel had been surprised to hear about Allie looking at the boy's paper at school, but she had a feeling that there was a story behind it. Allie had confirmed that there was a story, and now Rachel was becoming suspicious that Allie might have a learning disability. After dinner that night, she e-mailed the school district's learning disability specialist, asking if Allie could be evaluated. She knew from experience that if Allie's teacher didn't listen to Allie's side of the story, the problem wouldn't get any better. She told Allie about the plan when she put her to bed that night. "Thank you for being honest with Finn and me," Rachel said. "I know being honest when you've done something wrong isn't always easy."
"If I lied, I'd just get in more trouble," Allie said.
"That's true," Rachel said. "Again, thank you for being honest." She started to leave.
"Mom?" Allie asked.
Rachel looked at Allie, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Allie gave her a confused look. "I mean Rachel... I'm sorry."
Rachel sat down on Allie's bed. She couldn't believe Allie was comfortable calling her Mom. "Sweetheart, what you call me is completely up to you. If you want to call me Mom, I'd love for you to call me that, but if you feel more comfortable calling me Rachel, I understand."
"I kind of want to start calling you Mom," Allie told Rachel.
Rachel felt tears coming into her eyes. "I'd love for you to call me Mom."
"I love you, Mom," Allie said.
"I love you too," Rachel said. "Good night." She gave her oldest daughter a hug before going to join Finn.
"What happened?" Finn asked.
"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.
"I know you, I can tell when you're thinking about something," Finn said.
"You know me too well," Rachel said as she gave Finn a kiss. "Allie called me Mom."
"She did?" Finn asked, getting a big smile.
"Yes," Rachel said proudly. "We were just talking about her day, and then she called me Mom."
"I told you she'd warm up to us," Finn said to Rachel.
"She really feels like part of the family now," Rachel said.
"She IS part of the family," Finn said.
"And I'm so glad she is," Rachel agreed.
x
Later that night, Rachel had gone to bed early because she got tired a lot during her pregnancy, so Finn was downstairs watching TV. He was happy that Allie had called Rachel Mom, and he was hoping that soon she'd call him Dad. As the football game went to commercial break, Finn heard someone coming downstairs. He turned and saw Allie.
"Hi Allie," Finn said.
"Hi Finn," Allie said.
"You okay?" Finn asked.
Allie sat down. "Finn, can I ask you something?"
Finn nodded as he moved closer to Allie. "Of course."
"Is it okay if I start calling you Dad?" Allie asked. "Rachel said I can call her Mom, and you and Rachel are my mom and dad, after all."
Finn was hoping this was coming. "Of course you can. It's like I told you, whatever you want to call me is fine, you can call me Finn or you can call me Dad."
"I love you, Dad," Allie said.
"I love you too," Finn said.
Chapter 13 preview: Allie, Finn and Rachel meet with the learning disabilities specialist. Rachel and Finn find out the genders of the babies. More of Allie with Ryan, Emma and Sarah.
