Chapter Thirty-Four – A Rebel Among Us
Shawn had been on his way to pick up Ian from the sitter when he'd received the page asking him to report to Salem High School for a problem concerning JT. His immediate thought was that his younger brother was hurt considering that the page came from Vice Principal Helmsey's Office. So he called Belle and had her go pick up their son while headed to the High School to see what happened. And that brought him where he was now, at the Vice Principal's office.
"I'm here to get my brother John Thomas Brady." He told the woman standing behind the desk with a bright yellow pair of reading glasses perched on her nose.
"And you are …?"
"I'm his older brother, Shawn Brady—,"
"Oh my word Mr. Brady I wasn't expecting you to be so—," the woman waved her hand in the air gesturing as she took off her glasses.
"Yes, well my parents had him when I was sixteen. May I see my brother?"
"Yes, of course. He's in with Principal Helmsey, that's right through those doors on your left. He said for you to just go on in when you arrive." She directed Shawn toward a double door compartment where the first available door on the right was closed.
Shawn walked to the door and after knocking once he opened the door entering the office. The first thing he saw was his younger brother sitting in a chair in the corner of the room slouched slightly with what looked like red paint all over his hands.
"Ahh, you're Mr. Brady I presume? I'm Vice Principal Helmsey," A tall black haired man said as he stood from around the desk and reached for Shawn's hand. "I'm glad you could come today sir. I'm only sorry we had to call you in here for an incident like this."
Shawn shook the man's hand and then sat down in t he chair beside his brother before facing the Vice Principal. "I'm sorry but what incident? I was led to believe that JT had been in some sort of accident. Is he in trouble or something?"
Vice Principal Helmsey sat down again and inclined his head to the side. "Well I'd say trouble. You see Mr. Brady, John Thomas has unfortunately fallen off track this year. He seems to be going through a bit of a rough spot for the moment. He was caught attempting to vandalize school property this afternoon. You can see this is a problem."
Sparing a frown of disbelief at his brother Shawn returned his attention to the problem at hand clearing his throat. "So is he suspended?"
"It's not a matter of if whether or not he'll be suspended because its county policy that if anyone is caught vandalizing school property than it's an automatic suspension. More so, it's a matter of how long he'll be suspended. John Thomas has an exemplary record here, he's an honor roll student, and as far as I can tell has never been in any sort of trouble of this nature. He's at the top of his class and I would like him to stay there." VP Helmsey leaned forward. "I'll level with you Mr. Brady. I'd like to help John Thomas out, give him a break. So we'll just keep him out of school for two days instead of five on the condition that he cleans up the graffiti."
Shawn straightened in his seat. "That sounds good, right JT?" He asked looking expectantly at his younger brother. When JT didn't respond quick enough he tapped him with his foot.
"Yes, sir that sounds fine." JT replied promptly.
"Good then everything's settled." Vice principal Helmsey stood with Shawn and JT as they walked to the door. "Now John Thomas lets make this the last time I have to see you in my office, young man. And remember I'll expect a call from your mother when your parents' get back in town.
"Yes sir." JT said as shook his head at Shawn's look of confusion as they walked out of the main office and down the hall way go leave the building. When they arrived outside JT asked his brother for a ride home.
"What happened to your car?" Shawn asked in return as he clicked the button on his key ring unlocking the door.
"Dad took the keys; I kind of got into a little trouble with my car so Dad revoked my driving privileges."
Shawn nodded and climbed into his truck. "By the way since when are Mom and Dad on vacation?"
"Since about thirty minutes ago," JT replied as he buckled his seat belt.
"Ahh, so what are you going to do when you have to tell them you've been suspended?"
"I'll think of something," was all JT said before turning to look out the window.
*~*~*~*~*~@~*~*~*~*~*
Sometime later Shawn arrived at his parents house and was surprised to see that there were a couple of other cars in the driveway including his wife's. "Looks like Mom and Dad have some company." He said as he got out of his truck clicking the button to lock the doors.
"Those cars don't belong to company, it's my Dad's car." JT replied hesitantly as he followed his brother up the walkway to the house. "This is going to be fun," he sighed sarcastically as he took out his keys to open the door only to have Bo open it before he could stick his key the lock.
"Shawn, JT, we've been waiting on you," Bo said stepping to the side to a let his sons in the house. Once inside Shawn spotted Belle leaning down to tie up their 14 month old son's shoe while the little boy stood in front of the couch. She looked up.
Walking over to his wife he picked up his son as she finished tying his shoe and stood back up then leaned over under the guise of kissing her he whispered, "What's going on?"
"I don't know, Mom called me after I got Ian and asked me to meet her and your parents here. So l call Joanne and asked her if Iris could stay at the play group a little longer and came here." She replied returning his kiss with one of her own on his cheek. "Is JT alright?"
"That's something I'd think we'd all like to know." Hope replied looking over at her errant son. "It's interesting, this afternoon I got a call from your school informing me of JT's suspension and letting me know that his older brother already took care of the problem and picked him up from school since his father and I were out of town." She crossed her arms and gave JT a piercing gaze, eyes full of anger.
"Mom I'm sorry, —"
"You bet you're sorry, young man. How could you get suspended in the first three weeks of school in your senior year, I'd really like to know?"
Belle and Shawn could feel the tension growing in the room. The air was becoming thick with it. Their baby brother was in a world of trouble and this time not only with Bo and Hope but John as well. "Look Mom I know it seems like a big deal but it's really not. Principal Helmsey was willing to give JT a chance to get back on track so I think—,"
"Shawn I think it would be best if you would stop trying to cover for your brother. That's part of the problem here. You're so busy trying to cover for him all the time that you only end up getting him into more trouble. I think it's high time that you let him take responsibility for the decisions he makes." John interrupted from his seat across the room.
"John,"
"Dad," Marlena and Belle called out simultaneously. "That's not fair, Shawn is only doing what a sibling does for their brother or sister. I'd do the same thing for one of my brothers or sisters." There was no way Belle would allow them to say anything to her husband like that. Shawn wasn't the reason JT was acting out and they had to know that. At hearing his mother raise her voice baby Ian began to cry.
"Alright, everyone calm down. You're scaring Ian with all of this yelling." Marlena replied as she moved to take the small blonde-haired child from his father's arms. Jiggling Ian for a few moments she got him to quiet his cries to mews. It was obvious from the way everyone was reacting that the emotions were running high and with all of that tension in the room nothing would be solved. "Look, we're all adults here. I'm sure we can talk about this calmly and rationally without raised voices." She stared at everyone in the room before returning her gaze back to her grandson whose baby blues eyes peered up at her. "And I'll take Ian here into the kitchen for a snack." Belle walked over and kissed her son's cheek before her mother walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
After she left everyone seemed properly chastised and didn't know what to say so JT was the first to break the silence. "Shawn didn't even know I'd been suspended when he came to get me from school today. He thought that I had been in an accident or something. So don't take out my mistakes on him. It's not his fault." He told his parents hoping they honestly knew he was telling the truth. Shawn wasn't responsible for his actions, he was.
"JT is right, I didn't know he'd been suspended when I arrived at school. But, everything that's happened isn't entirely his fault. And even if I had known he was in trouble I still would have gone to bat for him." Eying both his parents and John critically he continued, "JT isn't a saint by any means and you shouldn't expect him to be. He's a kid and he's gonna make mistakes sometimes, that's a given. It's not like he doesn't have a reason to be acting the way he has. Let's not forget that he was lied to his whole life by the two people in the world who should always be honest with him. This isn't exactly a normal family situation."
"I resent what you're implying there, son. JT wasn't the only one thrown for a loop with his paternity, I was too. But, that's no excuse for his behavior of late. It's been completely inappropriate and I'm not about to just let it go." Bo added.
"Okay Dad, but I'm not suggesting you let him go unpunished or anything but at least cut a guy some slack."
"I really think JT has been getting enough slack lately. But, that's about to stop right now because it's time he learns to take responsibility for his bad actions in order to know that there are certain lines you just can't cross no matter what. " John chimed in much to both Shawn and Belle's dismay.
"I don't think this is about JT learning responsibility Dad." Belle started.
When John attempted to interrupt Belle, Hope put her hand up and spoke. "No John, Belle is right. This isn't about JT not learning to take responsibility. It's about his behavior and how it seems to becoming progressively worse."
"My behavior hasn't gotten worse—," JT started but was silenced when everyone turned to look at him incredulously. "Okay excluding last month, my suspension, and the car I've been pretty good. I'm not going to make any excuses for myself because I know that I haven't been on the straight and narrow lately. But, I will get better, I promise, today was a wake-up call for me I intend to get myself back on track.
Everyone seemed to sincerely consider what JT had to say and took it rather well. It seemed like they were all calming down satisfied that JT was going to attempt to pull himself back together. And that's when all hell broke loose.
"That's really good John Thomas. I'm glad you seem to want to take some initiative to make things better. So in the interest of getting a new start, I'd like to propose something that I had been planning on suggesting later. But, now seems like as good a time as any." He paused dramatically, "I'd like JT to come live with me, indefinitely."
The outburst at the Brady household occurred three hours earlier and the after effects were still being felt among family. After John had announced his "proposal" Belle and Shawn had taken Ian and JT and hightailed it out of the house before the situation had got any worse. They made the decision that maybe it would be best for their parents to handle the situation without them involved or JT around, so they invited him to stay with them for the night. But, not without issuing their parents the order to get the situation together and act like adults instead of mindless children.
After they left in separate cars, Belle and Shawn gathered their children from their respective activities, Serena from soccer practice and Iris from her play group before meeting up again at home. Belle had called Mimi and Brady and informed them of what happened while Shawn fixed dinner with JT's assistance. Her brother and sister-in-law had reacted the same way she and Shawn had, with an abundance of shock and wonderment. They agreed to meet and talk about the situation over lunch next week then Belle had hung up the phone and went on with normal family activities. They were watching television for a while when Belle discretely got Shawn's attention and nodded toward the doorway so they could leave and talk about what happened with JT and their parents in private. Leaving JT behind teasing his nieces as they watched Lizzie Maguire, Serena's favorite show.
After going into their room and shutting the door Belle leaned against it as Shawn headed to his dresser. "So what do you really think about JT moving in with my parents for while? You really didn't say earlier when we were at your parent's house."
Shawn started unbuttoning his long sleeved shirt and took it off leaving him in his white t-shirt and jeans. "What do I think? Well, besides that it's a pretty bad idea and that JT doesn't need another Father let alone to move in with one. I pretty much don't have an opinion about it."
"Gee Shawn don't be shy, tell me what you really think." She replied dryly.
"What Belle, you can't honestly tell me you think JT should move in with your parents." Frowning he continued, "I realize that John is JT's real father and he needs to be involved in his life but, having JT move in with him isn't the right thing to do."
"I'm not saying I disagree with you Shawn. But, I think my Dad made a good point."
"A good point, since when has your father ever had point?"
"Shawn, I resent that, staying with your parents is obviously becoming a problem for JT. He keeps getting into trouble and maybe a change of scenery wouldn't be so bad for a while." Belle moved to stand against the dresser in front of Shawn as he took off his boots.
"So what, you think moving in with your parents would somehow change JT's behavior?" He paused a moment and looked into Belle's eyes. "Okay don't take this the wrong way Belle, but your parents don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to dealing with problem children. Two prime examples of that would be your sister and brother," He held up a hand. "Never mind that they are reputable citizens now, it's not like they haven't seen the other side of the law before—,"
"Oh that's rich coming from you Shawn, honey you haven't exactly been as sweet as apple pie you know. Let's not forget that you were a handful too. Or did you forget that you got arrested when we were in high school. As a matter of fact you were even younger than JT is now—,"
"Okay the situation were completely different—,"
"And so were the situations with Brady and Sami." She put her hand up to stop him from interrupting. "Besides, I wasn't talking about my parents taking JT anyway." When Shawn was about to ask whom she continued, " I was talking about us." Shawn closed his mouth promptly not knowing what to say so she continued. "Okay before you say anything I've been giving this a lot of thought lately, especially with all the problems JT has been having with your parents. I think he just needs a change of scenery to get his act together. And we'd be perfect because we aren't his parents and it wouldn't be like he had to reject one of them if he wanted to stay with us. We love him and care about him so why shouldn't he come here with us?"
"Are you serious?" Shawn questioned as she sat down beside him.
"As a heartbeat." She replied promptly, "What do you think about it?"
"I think I need to think about—,"
A knock sounded at the door followed by a voice, "Now I know you guys could at least wait until the children are asleep before you—," Belle got up opening the door before JT could continue.
"What was that JT?" She asked holding the door wide open to let him see that they weren't doing anything.
"Apparently nothing." He replied walking into the bedroom. "I just wanted to warn you that your tiny terrors are looking for you. Rissy said something about bubbles and then stormed out of the room. When I asked Serena what she meant she told me that usually meant that Iris was ready for her bath. So I thought it best to let you guys do that. I mean I don't mind playing with the rugrats but I draw the line at bathing them. So what were you guys doing if you weren't," he gestured vulgarly.
"None of your business kid." Shawn said to his brother as he ruffled his hair.
"Hey don't mess with my style because it took me long enough to get it right." JT said blocking his hair as Shawn leaned to ruffle his hair again. Belle chuckled by the door watching her husband's antics with their brother.
"Mommy," a wet fully clothed Iris called out as she ran into Belle's leg.
"Whoa, Iris why are you all wet?" Belle leaned down and peeled a strand of Iris' wet hair off her face.
"Because she tried to full the bathtub by herself to play with the bubbles. JT, I thought you were going to get Mom or Dad, not come and play." An equally wet Serena added with bubbles decorating her clothes and hair as she entered her parents room crossing her arms mad at her uncle.
JT stopped tussling with Shawn to see his wet nieces, Iris in Belle's arms and Serena with her arms crossed and a ton of bubbles decorating her and fell out laughing. "Oh my gosh, you're all wet. I thought you were kidding when you said she does that."
"No I wasn't kidding JT that's why I told you to get Mom or Dad. Stop laughing, this isn't funny." Serena said her bright eyes blazing with annoyance as her uncle laughed at her. "You want to know what it's like to be all wet, Iris get JT." And before Belle could stop her, Iris ran head first onto JT who stood beside Shawn in front of the bed. As Iris plowed into his body she forced back on the bed making sure to get his clothes all wet as Serena headed out of the room for a moment and returned a second later with something in her hands.
"Oh not on my bed, Iris, Serena don't you dare!" Belle called out as Serena climbed into the mix on the bed and poured a glass of water over JT's face leaving him sputtering. Shawn stepped to side out Serena's way to stand by Belle hooting with laughter.
"This is what you want to invite in the house on a daily basis, so enjoy it." Shawn added as he pushed Belle down on the bed. "Okay now everyone get Mommy." And everyone started to attack Belle. Who allowed herself to be pulled into the madness that was her family not worrying about her newly wet bed one bit.
Tell me what you think.