Christine's Pov
Now Parker could jokingly call me a nerd all he liked, because I was officially frilled that school was starting back today. Summer had been amazing, if you excluded the kidnapping and the recovery process afterwards, but I was really glad to be going back to normal, plain old high school. I didn't even care if I got stuck in the same, old boring classes again that I would easily ace. I was just going to enjoy myself and my junior year; after all, you only got to do your junior year of high school (unless you failed, but there was no chance of me doing that.)
I got dressed in a pair of white shorts and a pink spaghetti strap top, before slipping on my sneakers and heading downstairs for breakfast before Michael got here. He had been pretty insistent about picking me up today, even though I could easily drive my car if I wanted to and get myself there. Mom and Dad had brought me a car – well okay, mom had brought it and it was a very safe and new one. She had a lot of money and wanted me to drive the safest car possible, in the price range I allowed because I was still in high school and I didn't need a fancy car. We had argued a little about that, but in the end I won. We had talked about me getting a part-time job too soon, which dad seemed to think was a good idea, though mom seemed to think I should focus solely on my schooling, though she knew I could easily handle a job and school. It would all depend on what clubs I joined this year and how much time I'd have to myself, because I wanted weekends to still be free of any work but school work.
"Morning you two." I said as I walked into the kitchen and started making my breakfast. Dad was reading the paper, which he still read because they still produced newspapers despite most people saying they were redundant now. Even Mom didn't read the news in the paper, she read up about it on the net and found out the news exactly when it happened. They had quite a few arguments about technology, part of it being because my dad was still kinda a Luddite, even though he enjoyed T.V because he could watch his sport.
Dad suddenly got a call on his phone then and after a few minutes of speaking he hung up the phone and came over to me, ruffling my hair. "Sorry kid, I got to go, but have fun back at school." He said before he went and kissed mom before heading for the door.
"So Christine, are you looking forward to starting up with your academics again?" Mom asked and I felt like laughing. Most parents would never ask their kid that. "It's your junior year, you can learn so much more in the science club and math club."
"I'm looking forward to school mom, but I don't think I'm going to be joining those clubs this year." I admitted slowly, wondering how she was going to take this.
"Why not, you excel in those areas?" She asked and I sighed as I tried to eat a little.
"Because mom, despite excelling in those subjects and attending those clubs I want to do other things now. To be honest, I want to join the soccer team and I want to join an art program and maybe the glee club we have at school. I want to do things I find fun." I said, because I owed it to her to be honest. She spent a lot of time teaching me about science and I was glad I knew, but now I wanted to learn something different, something I found truly enjoyable instead of just educational.
"While joining the soccer team could be really good for your health, joining something like the glee club is illogical and so is quitting the science and math clubs, so logically you'd just be wasting your time as you are far too intelligent for something like that. At school you should focus on your academics, not fun and wasting your time with pointless clubs. Your college application would fare better…"
"I don't care about college right now mom and if I wanted to join the glee club it wouldn't be pointless, because there are a lot of things you can learn by singing and dancing." I said, cutting her off. "Mom, I don't even know what I want to do once I get to college. I'll focus on that sort of stuff when I'm in my senior year. Right now, I just want to do things that I enjoy doing and what I just said is what I enjoy mom. Also, school is for more than just academics."
"Maybe so, but if you want to be a scientist or get a doctorate it's better to stick to studies that are a part of that. You can't get distracted and lose focus Christine. I focused solely on my studies in school and I'm now the leading anthropologist in the country." She said and I scoffed. Why did it sound like she expected me to be her?
"Whoever said I wanted to be a scientist or get a doctorate in anything. No offense mom, but I enjoy working with computers and creating art, that is where my passions lie. I know that you want me to follow in your footsteps, but maybe I don't want to be you mom, especially when it comes to high school and having friends." I said, but honestly I was struggling to hold back my temper right now, so it was a good thing a horn sounded. "Well, that's Michael, so I guess it's time for me to go to school and waste my time doing things you don't deem good enough." I said as I got up and stormed over to the couch.
Funnily enough, dad came back in then. "Hey, I forgot to grab something." He said as I stormed past him. "Christine, what's wrong?"
"Why don't you ask her, she's the one who's apparently got my life planned out for me and thinks that anything I want to do that doesn't correspond with her idea of life is illogical." I said with a slight bit of attitude as I walked out the front door and slammed it behind me.
I went straight over the Michael's truck and climbed in, and apparently Michael saw I wasn't too happy because he didn't say anything, he just started up the truck and started driving.
I loved my mom, I did, but sometimes I really wished she'd think more about other people's feelings before she spoke. She wanted me to be open to her about what I enjoyed and what I wanted, that was obvious, but when I am she makes me regret it by saying something tactless. I had always known that she wanted me to be a scientist or more importantly possibly an anthropologist, but I never thought she actually expected me to be one. Right now it felt like she was planning my life without considering my feelings or even asking me what I wanted.
Booth's Pov
As I watched the door slam, I looked back at Bones who was still sitting at the island bench. Alright, I know I was called into work, but I had a feeling I had to find out what just happened between Bones and Christine or else I was going to be coming how to a very big problem tonight. Christine didn't get mad at Bones often because, like me, she had accepted her mother's faults and loved her fully, so whatever Bones had said in the short period of time I had not been here had not been good. I guess now I should have stayed until Christine went to school.
"Okay Bones, want to tell me what just happened?" I asked.
"I simply told Christine that joining clubs with no academic values instead of clubs that do is purely a waste of time for someone of her intellect and skill. Christine is much better participating in clubs that will look good on her college application, especially if she wants to become a scientist or get a doctorate. She shouldn't be wasting her time on pointless things, she should focus on her studies like I did and that's what I told her." Bones explained and I rubbed the back off my neck. I'm gone for a moment and this happens.
"Well, now I see why Christine was so mad." I said and Bones got that confused look on her face.
"I don't follow." She said and I sighed. "Bones, you literally just told our daughter that what she loves is worthless and isn't good enough for you. She obviously told you what she wanted to do this year, like you wanted her to, and then you just went and made her regret it by judging her decision." I explained, hoping that Bones got it. See, I didn't need to know exactly what Bones said because I could easily imagine what she had said from what she'd told me.
"No, that's not what I did, I was simply explaining it to her logically." I obviously didn't get through to her.
"No Bones, you might think that's what you were doing, but it wasn't because Christine isn't you, though from what you just told me you told her you wanted her to be. She is a sixteen-year-old girl who has her own logic and own passions and you just told her you weren't on board with them." I said so she understood that she had upset our daughter. Christine wasn't Bones, she didn't think as logically about everything as her mother did. "Also, when has Christine ever said she wanted to be a scientist, other than when she was a kid, because I haven't heard her mention it once in the last few years."
"Well, with how adamant she has been about science and math and how much she knows about forensics and anthropology it seemed the only logical path. Our daughter is a genius after all, just like me." Bones said and I sighed again as I grabbed what I had forgotten before, which I was now glad I had forgotten. Obviously Bones had not thought before she had spoken.
"Okay Bones, I really need to get to work and I don't want to fight with you, but since I love our daughter I'm going to say this. You might not think you're doing it, but what you're doing right now is putting your ambitions for what you want Christine to be onto Christine and that isn't fair on her. We made her, but she's her own person and I can tell you that the one thing that pisses a teenager off the most is when their parent tries to decide their life for them. Do you remember how angry Michele used to get with Cam?" I said, before kissing her cheek. "Think about what I said, then think about how to apologize to our daughter or she might not speak to you, because whether you meant to or not you hurt her feelings Bones."
I left for work then and prayed to god that if Christine saw Bones before I did Bones would make things better and not worse. Christine may be a genius, but that didn't mean she couldn't get upset and sometimes I think Bones forgot that, especially now that Christine was in high school.
Christine's Pov
Well, my first day of school was going pretty good. My mood wasn't perfect, but a good mood lifter was finding out the Michael and I had all the same classes this year, except for one. I mean, we hadn't had pretty much all the same classes since first year middle school and that was quite a while ago. I liked all the classes I was taking too, so this year was looking to be good. Michael and I were both taking Gym this year (duh) and I was taking Visual Arts while Michael was doing wood-shop (our one separated class) and this year we, despite my taking French last year and Michael taking Spanish, decided and luckily got into the Japanese class for our foreign language class, so now we'd be learning Japanese, and the rest of our classes were the basics and we'd be taking these all over a five-day week. I was also going to be trying out for the girls' soccer team the moment they held tryouts. Michael and I had considered taking a performing arts class, but decided we'd rather join the club since then we wouldn't have to rush to choose if we wanted to join. Right now it was school and the hospital on Wednesday. Alice wasn't faring to good when I saw her last week, so I was worried about her.
"Hey Miss Grumpy, what do I have to do to make you get past what happened with your mom this morning?" Michael asked as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders as I stood in front of my locker. I hid nothing from Michael, so I had told him what had happened between mom and I.
"Well, after school we could go do something." I said and I swear I could feel him smile.
"Hum, how about ice-cream and then back to my house to watch a movie?" He asked and I turned in his arms. "Deal." I smiled, giving him a light peak on the lips. That's when a gagging sound started and I looked to the side to see our friends standing there, Ford being the one who was gagging.
"So, are we going to lunch or are we expected to survive off your sweetness?" Layla asked and I just shook my head as I shut my locker and Michael put his arm around my shoulder.
"You know for two people who denied they had romantic feelings for each other, you two sure as hell are being lovey dovey with each other now." Stacey pointed out and I just shrugged as we headed as a group to the cafeteria.
"Well, aren't you guys the ones who complained about us not admitting." I said, because they had complained enough about it for a lifetime. We had spent a lot of time listening to them talk about how we should be together, though mostly Kate and Darius individually.
"So Michael, now that I'm done gagging, what's this I hear about you thinking about joining the glee club. Why they stopped calling it choir I'll never know?" Ford asked and I knew the answer to that, but I wasn't telling him that because of the judgy tone. What was with everyone judging today?
"Well, while I plan to kill Darius for opening his damn mouth to you when I see him, I'm thinking about joining 'cause I actually kinda like singing and I might actually enjoy it." Michael said and I smiled at him. Michael was not the normal jock, not at all, and I loved him because of it.
"You know some of the guys on the team are going to think you're weirder than you are now and may even brand you as a loser." Ford said and Michael shrugged.
"Good on them. I don't care if they call me a loser, because I'd rather be branded a loser then be miserable because I didn't do what I wanted. If it makes me happy, then I don't give two shits what anyone else thinks. Besides, I never said I was actually joining, I was only considering it because I like singing, I like dancing and I'm good with instruments." Michael said and I had to smile. This was one of the reasons I was dating Michael. Michael didn't care about labels, he just cared about doing what made him happy and screw what everyone else thinks. See, he might be a jock, but he was also a nerd and an all-round nice guy.
"Plus, if any of the guys tried to give Michael a hard time Darius would kick their ass's. Also, you three guys are some of the best players on the team, especially since the seniors from last year graduated." Layla pointed out and that was another very good point. Darius was the quarterback after all and even though they'd have to hold tryouts now, it was doubtful that he'd lose his position since the coach liked him as quarterback.
"Yeah, that's true. Practice actually starts up right around the corner, for a lot of teams." Ford said. "I hope the newbies are prepared for coach Jackman's tryouts or they're going to be kicked off the field right away."
"True, but speaking of tryouts, I'm looking forward to Christine trying out for girls' soccer team." Michael said and I smiled at him.
"Hey, you know they have a lot of positions open now because most of the old girls were seniors. You could even be made team captain Christine, like I am of the girls' basketball team." Layla said and I laughed.
"Yeah, I'm just aiming to get on the team, not be made team captain or anything." I admitted. I had signed up immediately first thing this morning for tryouts, because they were already up on the board, and tryouts were on Friday. It was soon, but I was looking forward to it.
We reached the cafeteria then and once we had our food – I had originally planned to bring lunch, but in my anger with my mother I had left it at home – we sat down at the table Darius and Kate were sitting at, which is when Darius got hit by Michael.
"Oy, what's with the violence?! Didn't you read the no bullying signs?" Darius asked and Michael rolled his eyes.
"Didn't you learn that best friends shouldn't tell idiots like him things he'll make fun of?" Michael said, using his thumb to indicate that he was talking about Ford. Darius seemed to get it.
"Yeah, I did, which is why I told Kate to tell him that you wanted to join a club that had to do with singing and dancing, so I didn't deserve to get hit." Darius smirked and I shook my head at Kate who was smiling.
"Yeah you did, 'cause it was still you who wanted to tell him and I don't hit girls." Michael said.
"But you hit Darius and he's a girl." Chase said as he came to stand near our table and I started laughing, despite trying to hide it. I wasn't the only one either, everyone was laughing, except Darius.
"Very funny Chase, you know if you weren't my teammate and James brother I'd kick your ass." Darius said and Chase laughed.
"Like you could." Chase challenged and Darius stood up.
"Okay, you two, let's not turn this into some kind of alpha male pissing contest. We're all friends here." I said, with James adding an "I agree" from where he was sitting on the table, shaking his head at his brother. "Plus Darius, we all know you've been called worse and been called a girl a billion times by coach Jackman, now sit down." Darius sat down, though he was reluctant.
It was then I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and I took it out, only to see who it was who was trying to call my and rejecting the call, before I turned my phone off. If an emergency happened, then someone could call this one time, because I did not want to feel my phone vibrating all lunch time as my mother tried to call me.
"You can't ignore her forever." Michael whispered into my ear.
"I know, but I certainly don't want to talk to her now." I said, because it was the god's honest truth. She was the last person I wanted to talk to right now.
Brennan's Pov
As I tried to focus on what Angela was showing me, I couldn't help but look down at my phone. I had tried calling Christine in her lunch break, but she had rejected my call and then I couldn't get through at all, meaning she must have turned her phone off. I hadn't believed Booth before when he told me how upset Christine was with me, because Christine always accepted my logic, but this time it seemed I really had upset her. Maybe Booth was right, maybe I was putting my ambitions onto Christine, despite promising myself when she was younger that I would burden her with my ambitions or my faults.
"Sweetie, did you hear what I said?" Angela asked and I looked at her, noticing that she and Cam both seemed concerned.
"Sorry Angela, I was… distracted." I said and she said as she put down the pad she was holding as she turned off the Angelatron.
"Okay sweetie, what is going on? You've been acting strange all day. Did you and Booth get into a fight?" Angela asked and I shook my head.
"No, Booth and I aren't fighting. This morning Christine told me that she wanted to join the soccer team this year, an art program and maybe the glee club at her school." I explained.
"Well that's fantastic. If she told you, she must be really passionate about it." Cam said and I wondered how everyone else saw that, but I didn't.
"I told her that it was illogical to join clubs like those instead of the science and Math clubs she's been a part of for the last two years. I told her that, while the soccer team would be good for her health, that she should focus on her academics if she was going to pursue a future like mine. I won't explain it all, but when I told Booth what I said, he said I was putting my ambitions onto Christine." I told them and Angela and Cam sighed.
"How bad did Christine take it?" Angela asked me.
"She didn't look too mad, but Booth is better at reading people than I am and he said she was pretty angry with me. She won't even answer my calls." I said. I was actually worried about how badly I had upset my daughter.
"Dr. Brennan, I think right now the best thing you can do right now is give her a little bit of time to cool down. If I've learnt anything from raising Michele, who was already a teenager when I started taking care of her, is that when you upset them you let them come to you and don't pressure them. I had my fair share of arguments with her and they ended better when she came to me in her own time." Cam said and when I ignored logic and just thought like a mother, I knew she was probably right.
"I agree with Cam on this one. Christine isn't one for being dramatic, but on this she'll need time, so when you see her tonight, if she doesn't want to talk don't force it." Angela said and even though I wanted to solve this issue with my daughter, I guess I could see the reasoning behind what they were saying. "It'll be okay sweetie, it usually is."
"Thank you Angela." I said and she smiled.
"Oh, don't thank me sweetie, because I'm going to tell you now that you need to start watching what you say around your daughter. Christine knows how you are and is used to it by now, we all are, but that doesn't mean some things you say aren't going to upset her. She's a teenager and while she more level headed than most, you need to remember that." Angela said, lecturing me, and again I knew she was right. Just like Booth, she seemed to understand my daughter better than I did at times. It was evident to me that I needed to try to learn more about my daughter, because she wasn't just like me.
Christine's Pov
School was over and I was now at Michael's house, sitting on Michael's bed eating choc-strawberry ice-cream out of a tub that you'd only slightly feel guilty about eating the entire thing and Michael was eating choc-mint out of a tub as we watched Captain America: Civil War. I had seen the movie before, along with all of the other marvel movies that had been released over the years, mainly because I was friends with Michael. Michael owned nearly every Marvel movie released – he had all the Iron Man's, all the Captain America's, all the Thor's, all the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, all the Avengers, every Spider-Man movie every released, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, all the X-Men's, Black Panther, Deadpool and the Fantastic Four movies with Chris Evans – but still he had picked Civil War because it was one of his favorites and it was definitely mine. We often talked about who our favorite superhero from the movie was – I was in a split between Black Widow and Captain America, while Michael quite liked Ant Man and Spider-Man.
Michael and I were basically alone, other than Katherine who was here but was watching T.V in the living room. Just sitting here with Michael, eating ice-cream that would have ruined my appetite for dinner if we hadn't already eaten. It was six-thirty and while ice-cream was supposed to be before dinner, we decided after once Michael was told he had to watch Katherine until Angela and Hodgins got back from dinner. We hadn't made anything – we had ordered Chinese which had been quite enjoyable.
I scooped up the last of my ice-cream, not feeling at all guilty for eating it all, and then placed the container on Michael's bedside chest of draws, having finished eating only minutes' after Michael had. Once it was down, Michael pulled me closer to him as we watched the movie on his impressive sized T.V. We weren't worried about his parent's coming home and seeing us like this either, because unlike my father they weren't overprotective – the fact that he was a guy might have something to do with that.
There was a knock on the door then and Michael reached over me to grab the remote control so he could hit pause, which was a pain since we weren't that far off finishing the movie.
"Come in." Michael said and Angela opened the door, stepping into the room.
"Hey Christine, Booth is here to pick you up." Angela said and at first I wondered why he'd come to pick me up when Michael was planning on taking me home, but I pretty much worked out why in a second.
"He wants to talk to me about what happened this morning, doesn't he?" I asked, even though I already knew what this was about, and she nodded.
"Can you tell him I'll be out in a few, the movies nearly finished."
"Of course." She offered and she shut the door with a smile. It was no secret that Angela was fine with Michael and I's relationship.
"Well, let's get this movie finished." Michael said and I cuddled closer to him.
X
I was now sitting in the passenger seat of my dad's SUV, having only left Michael's house a few minutes ago. Dad seemed to be debating something, my best guess was that he was debating how to approach what happened between Mom and I this morning.
"So, how did school go today?" Dad asked and I had to fight back a laugh. Well, that wasn't a bad way to go about it.
"Well, I'm taking most of the classes I want to, including Japanese as my foreign language class, and I'm taking nearly all of them with Michael – the only one different is he's doing wood-shop and I'm doing Visual Arts. Plus, I signed up for the girls' soccer team tryouts on Friday." I explained and dad smiled.
"That's great. You're going to blow that coach away at the tryouts." He said and if I was Mom I probably would have taken that a literally. "What about clubs?"
"I haven't signed up for anything yet." I said. "Now, why don't you talk to me about this morning like you want to and stop beating around the bush. I know you really do want to know about my day, but that's why you came to pick me up right." I said and he smiled at me.
"Am I that transparent?" He asked me and I shook my head. Fun fact about my dad, he was actually quite smart, but he played down his intelligence to make my mother feel more accomplished. It was probably why I was so smart honestly.
"Not really, but considering I am so smart it wasn't so hard to work out that probably to only reason, other than you just being thoughtful, for you picking me up when Michael was going to take me home was that you wanted to talk to me without Mom around. We can't do that at home, 'cause that's where she is." I said, since it wasn't that hard to deduce.
"Clever, just like your dad." Dad said and I smiled. "But seriously now, what upset you so much this morning. I already talked to Bones about it and I got the basics of what she said, but I want to know what annoyed you the most." I sighed.
"In a way, it was all of it. Mom seems to think that intelligent people should live to certain standards, even if she doesn't realize she's doing it. More importantly, I avoided telling Mom things because I worried about what she'd say and when I finally told her like I gathered she wanted me to, she basically did what I knew she would. I don't like it that she's trying to place her ambitions and her pride on me, because I'm not her." I said and Dad nodded. "I know that she wants me to go into the field of science, but she basically made it sound like she expects me to."
"I get why your mad Christine and you have a right to be, but I don't think your mom really thought about what she was saying before she spoke. That doesn't change what happened, but I think Bones knows now that she needs to let you do what you want. I'll personally be proud of you no matter what you do, even if it's singing and dancing." Dad said and I smiled. I knew Mom hadn't been thinking about what she was saying, but I was allowed to be mad at her for a while.
"Thanks Dad, but singing and dancing is just a hobby." I said, because that was what it was. I never saw myself doing it professionally.
"Back to your mom though, just go easy on her. She's been distracted by this all day, so even if you're still mad with her, at least talk to her." Dad said and I looked out the window. I could do that, as long as she didn't say anything about my choices. You'd think if you had a daughter who was a straight A student, you'd let her make her own school choices. I had missed some of my Wednesday classes last year 'cause I had gone to the hospital and still kept my grades up, but Michael and I would be going to the hospital after school now on Wednesday's since it was our Junior year and our work was getting harder.
X
We got home and when I went in Mom was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a book.
"Hey Mom, we're home." I said and she turned her head to look at me, seeming a bit shocked.
"Christine, how was school?" She asked and I shrugged.
"I like all my classes and they're nearly all with Michael, I'll be learning Japanese, I got to be with all my friends again and I signed up for the soccer tryouts, so I'd say that my day at school went well." I said and she smiled.
"I'm glad. Christine, I'm sorry for what I said this morning. I let my ambitions and pride take over and I upset you when I wasn't trying to." Mom said and I smiled, slightly in defeat.
"I know you didn't mean to Mom, but you did mean some of what you said." I said, since I know she meant it. "I forgive you though; however, I want a shower so I'm going upstairs." I said, leaving the two of them.
I didn't entirely forgive my mother, but she was the way she was and staying mad at her was not going to make things better, so it was better to just forgive her the best I could and get on with life. One day I hoped she realized how much I love her, because not every kid would forgive their parent so fast. Then again, Mom just said something insensitive, which was something she did often, it's not like she actually tried to stop me. She tried to do that and I wouldn't be so quick to forgive her.
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also, I thought I'd add that if I get anything about American schools wrong, I'm sorry, but I'm Australian and schools here are different.
