Here's chapter 4..... not too exciting, but I promise this fic will have plenty of action in the later chapters! If I jump to it now, none of it will make any sense! Don't worry, I've got the whole thing planned out:) Anyways, this chappie focuses mostly on Dash! (look at chapter title)
Chapter 4: Dash's Problem
"Uh, hi dad." Dash said as he looked down at the floor."What's wrong?"
"You know perfectly well what's wrong, young man." Helen said. Bob looked at the two of them, still lost about what was happening between is wife and son.
"If this is about this morning, I didn't mean to do that..." Dash started to say fairly quickly.
"And what did you do this morning?" Helen asked, a bit surprised. Then she remembered he had used his powers.
"Uh, nothing." Dash muttered.
"Dash, you know what I'm talking about."
"Um, no I don't." Dash said again.
"What is all this about?" Bob asked, still watching from the sidelines.
"I got a call from Dash's teacher today, telling me Dash is failing nearlyall of his classes." Helen said, raising her voice a bit.
"What, your failing?" Bob said in shock.
"I'm not failing that much." Dash said under his breath.
"Dash's highest grade this quarter was a 72." Helen said.
"Hey, I got a 100 in gym!" Dash said, getting all worked up
"I'm talking about other subjects, I know you aced Gym." Helen said, a bit exasperated.
"Dash, I don't get it. You've never done this bad in school before!" Bob said. Dash stared at the floor.
"So, I don't care if I fail." Dash said as he raised his voice. He looked up at his parents.
"You should care about your grades, Dash. They're important!" Helen told him. She sat down on the sofa.
"I don't see what the big deal is about all this." Dash said again.
"It's a very big deal. You'll never make it in life if you don't do well in school." Bob responded. Helen glanced at him as if to say he was being a bit unrealistic.
"The point is Dash, we want you to do well in school because we care about you. And you want to be a Super hero, right." Helen told him slyly. Dash looked at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean by that?"
"They don't just let anyone be a full time Super." Helen replied as she looked at her husband.
"That's right, you have to do well in school." Bob added.
"Really, why?" Dash asked a bit skeptically.
"You just do Dash. Now, did your teacher tell you anything?" Helen said, getting back on topic.
"Maybe." Dash said, looking down at the floor.
"Dash!" Helen said. He looked back up at his mother's face.
"Well, he told me about it."
"And..." Bob continued.
"That was it." Dash said again.
"Dash, what did he tell you?" Helen said, urging him to continue.
"Nothing!" Dash said, looking back up. He sat down on a chair and crossed his arms.
"Dash, your mother can call your teacher back you know." Bob told his son. Dash looked from him mom and back to his dad. He knew they would find out and he couldn't hide it any longer.
"Well, he gave me some extra credit project." Dash said under his breath.
"May I please see this project." Helen asked kindly.
"Maybe after dinner..."
"NOW Dash!" Bob and Helen said in unison. Dash got up to his feet and slowly walked to his room to get the packet.
A few minutes later, he returned with it, crumpled a fair bit and torn here and there. Apparently, he had take his anger out on it.
"Let me see it." Helen demanded, reaching her hand out. Dash frowned, but gave it to her. A bit too forcefully for Helen's taste. Helen frowned at him as she took it.
"And your going to do this, right?" Helen said as she leafed through the packet.
"Maybe.." Dash said in a huffy voice.
"Yes, you are going to do it!" Bob added to Helen's comment. Dash frowned.
"Besides it doesn't look to bad. I'm sure you'll be able to do it perfectly the first time around, right Dash!" Helen told him, hinting that she didn't want any problems from him.
"Fine." Dash mumbled. He grabbed the papers back rather forcefully.
"You watch it young man!" Helen scolded. "I want you to start this while I get dinner ready."
"Whatever." Dash said. He turned to go back to his room.
"Get back here Dash! You'll be working on it right here, where I can see you." Helen said, pointing to the table in the living room. Dash stared at her.
"What?" He cried. Helen looked at him and Dash quickly obeyed.
"If you have any problems, your father will be more than happy to help you, right Bob!" Helen said, turning back to her husband. He was drifting off, starting out the window.
"Right Bob!" Helen said a bit louder to get his attention.
"What, oh, sorry." He said. "Yeah, I'll help you Dash." After saying this, he walked of down the hall and went into his study and shut the door. Helen gave a loud sigh and went to prepare dinner. Dash sat down on the floor and stared at the packet, pouting.
Meanwhile, Violet was still in her room, thinking to herself.
"Why did I tell my parents that?" She asked herself as she stared at the ceiling. She was laying downwithher back on her bed, feet resting on the wall. She laid there and pondered to herself.
"Why did they have to stop me dating?" She said out loud. "It's not like they'd know if I was dating." She kicked the wall a bit and sighed. She didn't think she would get over Tony anytime soon anyway. He was the only boy she ever noticed, ever crushed on. She didn't pay attention to anyone else. No one paid attention to her either. Like she was invisible all the time, even if she wasn't.
"He didn't even notice me at the theater." Violet said to herself. Tears came to her eyes at saying this. She knew she shouldn't cry about it, as it was a thing in the past. But she couldn't help herself.
She stopped thinking and listened through her door. She could hear Dash yelling about something.
"Mom, can you come here?" Dash said in a loud voice. He sounded annoyed.
"Go get your father!"
"He's busy!"
"After dinner then Dash, not now!" Helen said back. She sounded annoyed too. Whatever Dash had done this time, it must have been bad. Meaning dinner would be unpleasant as everyone would be high-strung. She wasn't looking forward to it, not that she had a choice.
A couple minutes later she heard her mom's calling the family to dinner. Violet got up and opened her bedroom door. As soon as she did, she could smell the food. They were having spaghetti and meatballs tonight. Normally, she would have been happy, but tonight she didn't seem hungry.
"Dash, can you go get your father?" Helen asked her son, who was still sitting in the living room, pouting. He hesitated, but finally got up.
"Hi Violet, feeling better?" He mom asked sincerely. She didn't sound annoyed anymore, which was good. She put Jack-Jack in his high chair and began to feed him.
"Dad, it's time for dinner!" Dash said banging on the door."DAD!"
"I'll be out in a second." Bob called back gruffly. Dash said something under his breath, and then went back to the table.
"Where's your father?" Helen asked as soon as he walked in the room.
"He'll be out in a second." Dash grumbled, repeating his father's words. Helen went back to feeding Jack-Jack.
A couple minutes later, Bob walked into the room and sat down.
"Can we eat now?" Dash asked in a whiny voice. Violet had a strong urge to hit him on the spot, but stopped herself.
"Yes Dash, you may eat." Helen said under her breath as she fed the baby another bite.
The Parr family ate in silence for most of the time, though their thoughts were not silenced for even a second.
Violet was thinking to herself about Tony and what mess Dash had gotten himself into that had her mom so wired up. Whatever it was, it was pretty bad by the look of things!
Helen, who was more intent on getting all the food into Jack-Jack's mouth rather than thinking, was still worried if she had been to hard on her kids. They just aggravated her so much sometimes. Still, she loved them a lot. And it was her job as a mother to push them to their limits.
Dash was just plain mad at his parents and his teacher. Who knew he would've called home. His grades weren't that low. He barely believed them when they told him he needed good grades. Not like people would care about if he was good in school or not.
Bob was still thinking about the article. He wanted to get back into being a Superhero so bad. But his family was holding him back. He would talk to Helen about it that night, after the kids were in bed.
The family ate in the midst of their thoughts without saying a word for the longest time. Then the phone rang.
"I got it!" Helen and Dash said in unison. Helen got up and Dash prepared to run over too, but his dad stopped him.
"You stay right here." Bob said, holding his hand out. Dash glared at him and sat back down. By this time, Helen had picked up the phone.
"Hello." Helen said. Then paused to listen.
"Who is this?" She said. Then listened some more. "I'm sorry, can this wait?" She asked, sounding annoyed again. "Fine, I'll get him." She finished, then covered the receiver with her hand. "Dash, get over here!"
Dash looked up, expecting more bad news. He got up cautiously.
"Who is it?" He said nervously.
"I believe it's a friend from school." Helen replied as she handed him the phone. "Make this quick."
Dash took the phone from her andshe went back to the table.
"Hello?" Dash said.
"Hey Dash, what's up?"
"Oh, hey Jason!"
"I was wondering when I could come over.... you know, to help you study?"
"Oh, that. Um, I could ask now if you want."
"Sure."
"Mom, can I have a friend come over tomorrow?" Dash called out.
"Not until that project is done!" Helencalled back.
"But he said he would help me study!" Dash said back innocently
"Oh really?" Helen said. She looked at her husband for support. Bob looked at her and shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn't care. "Fine, he can come over tomorrow. But just to study!" She said in a warning tone. Dash turned back to the phone and smiled.
"She said yes!"
"Cool, I'll come by tomorrow after school!"
"Alright, see ya then!"
"Kay, bye." Jason finished. After that, the two of them hung up. Dash walked back to the table smiling and sat back down.
"I don't want any fooling around tomorrow, got it!" Helen told Dash.
"I know mom." Dash said through a mouthful of food.
"Who is this kid anyway. Have we met him before?" Bob asked.
"He's a new friend from school." Dash replied as he swallowed.
"Oh really?" Helen said.
"Don't worry mom, he's cool!" Dash said to reassure her. Helen didn't seem convinced.
"Just as long as you behave and get some work done I'm fine. Just don't tell him about anything!" Helen said,brandishingher finger mat him.
"I know mom, don't worry." Dash said as he got up from the table. He left and went into his room. Of course, Helen wasn't too comfortable with this at all.
A/N: Well, that wasn't so bad... was it? Thanks again for all the reviews!! Keep reading and I'll keep updating:) Poor Dash, hopefully his friend will help him................
