Jon didn't have too many rules for Shawn. Curfew was one he was expected to follow, general tidiness and respect was expected. But other than that, he was pretty cool. Shawn definitely got away with a lot more than Cory did.
Jon did, however, come down on him about school sometimes. Counting it as the worst part about living with your teacher, Shawn put up with it, but he had spent a few weekends at home over grades that Cory probably wouldn't have got in trouble for.
Thing was, being his teacher, Jon knew what Shawn was capable of, and when he wasn't putting in the effort Jon knew he could. That annoyed Shawn to great lengths. He had argued that Jon should keep school stuff at school. Jon had agreed, as long as his grades didn't slip below a D.
So, when Jon made Shawn show him an assignment that he knew Shawn had gotten back that week, Shawn knew he was in trouble.
While Jon was looking through it, Shawn tried to reason with him.
"I did work hard on it Jon, it was just really difficult."
Jon raised an eyebrow at that, and kept reading. When he'd finished he frowned at Shawn.
"You could have easily got a C on this if you had actually put the effort in."
Shawn bit his lip, hoping not to hear the words he was dreading.
"Sounds like you need to stay in and study this weekend.
Shawn groaned. "Jon, I've got a really important party to go to this weekend."
Jon raised both his eyebrows then.
"Maybe next time you've got something important coming up, you'll actually study and not get such a bad grade."
Shawn found himself getting angrier.
"This isn't fair. No-one else gets grounded because they got one F!"
"Its not one F Shawn, you got three D's in the last four weeks. I warned you that this would happen if you got anything lower."
The fact that Shawn had nothing to say back to that angered him even more. Jon had warned him all three times, and Shawn had promised him it wouldn't happen again. That didn't change the fact that he was furious with Jon.
"Come on, man. Can't you ground me next weekend instead?"
Jon shook his head. "This isn't a negotiation. You can't pick and choose which weekend you get punished. I'm sorry that you had something on this weekend, but maybe that will help you to remember to do the work next time."
Shawn frowned. Jon didn't sound sorry.
"Ugh! You suck." Shawn grumbled, and stalked past his guardian, slamming his bedroom door behind him.
Things were very tense in the apartment for the next couple of days. Shawn refused to look or talk to Jon unless Jon asked him a direct question.
Jon was completely fed up of the attitude by Saturday afternoon, that he sent Shawn to his room, something he rarely did. Shawn shot him daggers, but went, slamming his door.
Jon wanted to yell that he'd take the door off the hinges if Shawn slammed it again, but at the risk of sounding like his own dad, he didn't.
It wasn't long before Jon went to bed himself, hoping that the teen would be in a better mood in the morning.
"Alright, alright!" Jon yelled out as he walked towards the door. He checked his watch. 3am... who in the world would be banging down his door at 3am?
He opened the front door to find a grumpy looking police officer and a very sheepish looking teenager.
Jon was instantly furious. "You've got to be kidding me."
The police officer frowned. "Does he belong to you?" he asked.
Jon thought about saying no. Just for a split second, he thought about going back to bed and letting the police officer take the errant teen to someone else to deal with.
But he couldn't. He signed the papers, he'd taken the kid into his home. No matter how angry he was, he was responsible for Shawn and any trouble he got in.
Besides, he was not going to be just another adult that gave up on the kid. He wouldn't do it to him.
With that in mind, he reached out and guided Shawn into the apartment with a sigh.
"Yes, he belongs to me."
The officer nodded. "We found this one and several other teenagers at an underage party."
Shawn didn't have to look at Jon to feel the heat of the look coming from the man.
"Thanks for bringing him home." Jon shook the officers hand and shut the door behind him.
Then, he turned on Shawn.
"Jon... I"
But Jon held up his hand, beyond furious.
"Do. Not. Speak." he ground out, eyes blazing.
Shawn visibly retreated into himself at Jon's tone, but Jon was too angry to notice.
"Does what I say mean nothing to you?" Jon yelled.
Shawn shook his head, but he remained silent.
Jon tried to take a deep breath, but he was unable to calm himself down. "I can't believe you Hunter. You knew that you weren't allowed to go tonight. I honestly thought you had more respect for me than that!"
Shawn wanted to yell back then, to tell Jon he did respect him—probably more than he'd ever respected anyone in his life. But Jon had told him not to say anything. So he didn't. He just stood there.
Jon shook his head in frustration. "I thought we had an understanding here, that we had a mutual respect for each other, or was I just imagining that?"
Shawn's breathing was getting heavier, and heavier and his chest felt tight. He wanted to apologise, to beg Jon to stop yelling, but he didn't want to anger the man any more than he already had.
"I'm at a loss here Shawn! If you're not going to take any notice of me when I ground you, what am I supposed to do?"
Kick me out. Abandon me. Give up on me.
Shawn's breath quickened, he felt like he might have a panic attack.
But still, Jon didn't notice.
"I can't even look at your right now. Just go to bed." he said, his tone dismissive.
Shawn hesitated for a second, begging Jon with his eyes to give him just a tiny bit of reassurance.
But, Jon, seeing this as disobedience, glared at him. "Now, Hunter!"
Shawn hurried off, still not saying a word.
Jon was still so angry, trying to take some calming breaths. He couldn't believe the kid had went and done that, after everything they had been through together.
If Jon had have taken any notice at all, if he had really looked at Shawn as he walked past and went to his room, he would have seen the silent tears running down the kid's face.