Diane walked out of Wills office to find Alicia coming out of the elevator, she seen Diane leave Wills office and her son sitting in the office with his hands in his head.
"Is he sick?" Alicia asked worriedly
"No, I had to stop an argument between Will and Zach in the lobby, if I left them it would have been office gossip for weeks to come"
"Why? What's going on?" Alicia asked
"Will is angry and rightly so, but the two of them are too similar they just needed some time to calm down" Diane responded.
"I'll go talk to him, can you ask Will to come in" Alicia said as she walked into Will's office.
"Are you ready to explain yourself?" Alicia asked as she pulled on of the seats from Will desk over to the sofa to sit across from her son.
"Look at me" she said a little more forcefully "I need you to explain and you might want to start before your Father gets back"
"Mum, I promise it was a one off"
"Regardless of wither it was a one off or not, you are still in big trouble"
"It won't happen again" Zach responded
"I really hope it doesn't, but you still haven't explained why you did it" Alicia said as Will walked in and pulled his desk chair over.
"We are waiting Zach?" Will said.
"I just wanted to try it, I was curious"
"What about cutting class?"
Zach shrugged "I've said I won't do it again, I'm sorry"
"No, you won't, Zach this is serious, you now have a suspension on your record" Will said
"I know, I'm sorry, I don't know what else you want me to say."
"OK, well you are already grounded; you already have your phone and laptop confiscated. I don't really know what else we can do Zach" Alicia said
"If I was to say nothing would that be an option?" Zach asked
"No, we will come up with something, but Uncle Owen is going to come and pick you up, and he is under strict instruction that you are not to leave his site. You have to go into the dining room and study, is that clear" Will said
"Yes, I understand" Zach said, as his parents left.
"I need to go back to Court" Alicia said looking at her watch, and back to her husband
"Go, we will be fine here, Owen won't be long" Will said as he placed a kiss on Alicia's cheek before she left
….
"You know how annoying it is for teachers when their students don't listen, or worse don't show up. There is nothing like wasting our time and breath on kids who don't appreciate it" Owen said to his nephew as they drove home from The LGG offices.
"So you're saying you and my Mum never cut class?" Zach questioned, he had never actually been told off by his Uncle, usually he was the cool one.
"Well maybe I did, but never Saint Alicia" Owen said trying to lighten the load. "Your Mother was like a grown up when she was 10" he added
…
Later that evening the family were sat down for dinner, Alicia had make a nice salad, and they were sitting on the decking in the garden eating in the warm summer sun.
"How were your first exams?" Will asked his kids
"OK" they all responded in unison
"Mum, do you have any tofu?" Grace asked
"Did you buy any when we went grocery shopping?" Alicia responded
"No"
"Well, there's your answer, I made you a bean salad" Alicia responded.
"You know Grace, I think it's great that you are sticking up for something you believe in" Owen said
"Thank you" Grace replied back happily as she put some of the bean salad onto her plate, but the smell of the chicken and bacon in everyone else's salad was making her mouth water.
"Are you sure you don't want some chicken" Zach said waving his fork in his sisters face, Grace screwed her face up
"Mum tell him to get that chicken carcass out of my face" Grace squealed in disgust.
"Zach, leave your sister alone" Will demanded.
"I was only joking" Zach responded
"Well it wasn't funny" Grace replied back.
"Dad can we go out and practice driving after dinner?" Rachel asked
"Not tonight Sweetie, Your Mother and I need to speak to your brother" Will responded
"We really don't need to talk" Zach replied sullenly
"It's not up for negotiation Zach" Alicia said before taking another mouthful of lettuce.
"Ohhh, Zach is in trouble" Grace said smiling.
"Grace that is enough" Will responded, clearly getting tired of his bickering children.
"It's not fair, Zach gets in trouble so we don't get to practice driving" Rachel said.
"If you said earlier I wouldn't have had any wine" Owen said
"You are not teaching my kids to drive, you re the world's worst driver" Alicia said before letting out a small laugh that earned her a playful slap from her brother.
"That is not true" Owen said pouting
"How many times did you sit your test?" Lucy asked
"Just a couple" Owen replied
"It was six" Alicia replied
"What six" Rachel replied laughing, and was soon joined by her Mum, brother, sisters and her Dad.
"Actually it was 7, I stopped telling people when I was sitting it" Owen admitted.
The whole family started to laugh, except the twins
"Don't worry girls, you won't take 7 attempts to pass your driving test" Will said
"And if you do, we won't ostracise you like we did Owen" Alicia replied.
Once dinner was finished the family continued to chat for awhile as Alicia and Owen finished another bottle of wine.
"OK Girls, can you start clearing up please, Zach, lets go inside to the dining room and wait for us" Will said
The girls started to clear up whilst Owen went into the living room with his wine to sit in front of the TV. Will and Alicia went into the Dining Room to talk to Zach.
"Mum, Dad, I really am sorry"
"Zach, we need you to be honest, was today the first time?" Alicia said as she tried to make eye contact, but Zach's eyes were firmly on the floor.
"Look at me Zach; I'm not going to be angry I just need to know?" Alicia said as she placed her hand under Zach's chin to gently lift it.
"Today was the first time, and honestly I didn't like it, I just wanted to try it" Zach replied honestly
"See, that wasn't too difficult, was it?" Alicia said
"No, I guess not, can I go now?"
"No, we are not nearly finished" Will said with more anger in his voice than Alicia.
"Where did you get them from?" Alicia asked
"Someone at school"
"Have you got anymore, if you do, you need to hand them over just now, because if we catch you with them again I will not be happy, do you understand?" Alicia asked
"Yes, I understand, and I don't have anymore"
"Good and what about skipping class, it's the week of finals and you thought it was a bright idea to miss class?" Will said
"It wasn't one of my best ideas" Zach said
"Well at least we can agree on that" Will said
"Honey, I know, that you know that what you done was wrong, so what I need to know is why? it's not like you" Alicia asked
"I just got caught up in the moment, I promise, it won't happen again"
"Who were you with?" Will asked
"Does it matter"
"Yes it matters" Will said
"Just some kids from my class"
"Do they have names?" Will asked
"Yes they have names" Zach said not giving much more away
"Do you care to deliberate?" Alicia asked as Zach's eyes were drawn further to the ground.
"Not really"
"We aren't giving you a choice Zach, who were you with, who gave you the cigarettes?"
"Please don't call her parents?" Zach said
"No one mentioned calling anyone's parents" Alicia said
"It was Sophia" Zach said.
So Sorry it's been so long, I have been so busy the past few weeks, I hope to get more written soon
