Educate

"So Jason comes home next week, which means you have until then to move all your stupid trains out of his bedroom," Sam firmly as she made herself a sandwich.

"First of all, for the millionth time, my trains are not stupid-"

"Yes they are," Sam said.

"Well Jason doesn't seem to think they are," Freddie said. "He loves building models with me! I bet he wouldn't mind housing his old man's collectables in his room for a little while longer."

"My first-born child is finally coming home from college for the summer and I will not let you ruin his perfect homecoming with your dumb toys!" Sam snapped. "Seriously, move them out of there!"

"Wow, somebody's cranky," Freddie mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Freddie said quickly. "Well where am I supposed to move my trains?"

"Well I'd like you to move them to the garbage, but that's just me," Sam said. "Look, I don't care where you put them, so long as it's not in any of the kids' rooms, our room, the living room, the dining room, the office, or any part of the house where I'd have to see them."

"That leaves me the garage," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"Perfect, start moving them then," Sam said, turning back to her sandwich.

"Fine," Freddie conceded. "But I hope you can sleep tonight knowing you forced your husband's model train collection out into the garage."

"I'll sleep just fine," Sam smirked.

Freddie headed out of the kitchen and into the living room where his fourteen-year old daughter, Ashton, was sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Ash," Freddie said brightly. "Want to give me a hand? Your mom's making me move all of my model trains out of Jason's room and into the garage."

"Oh…sure," Ashton mumbled.

Freddie frowned. "Sweetie, you okay?"

"Well my entire academic future is down the toilet, but other than that, sure, I'm okay," Ashton said bitterly.

"Your academic future?" Freddie repeated, concerned. "Whoa, whoa, let's back up there. What happened?"

"I made a huge mistake," Ashton said, looking down at her lap. "I really messed up, daddy."

"Ashton," Freddie said, thoughts of his trains fleeing his mind as he sat down next to her. "You're kind of scaring me right now…What's going on? Did-Did you get into some sort of trouble at school?"

Ashton didn't answer, and continued to avoid her father's eye.

Oh jeez, Freddie thought to himself as every worse-case scenario raced through his imagination.

"I'm really sorry," Ashton whispered, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"Ash, listen, you-you need to tell me what's going on," Freddie said. "And-And that way I can help you, okay?"

Ashton slowly nodded, and Freddie braced himself as she opened her mouth.

"I got a 'C' on my geography test yesterday."

Freddie blinked. "What now?"

"A 'C'!" Ashton exclaimed. "That's right! I got a 'C'!"

"That's-That's it?" Freddie said. "That's what you were so upset about?"

"Yes!" Ashton said. "Now can you just yell at me and tell me I'm a failure so I can get on with my moping?"

"Honey, you're not a failure because you got one 'C'," Freddie chuckled.

"Yes I am!" Ashton said. "I'm Ashton! I've been getting straight A's since kindergarten! In the fifth grade I got that fancy certificate for getting five-hundred A's in a row!"

"Yes, you've always been a great student," Freddie said. "But-"

"I can't believe I let myself get a 'C'," Ashton said, shaking her head. "I mean I should've studied way harder for this test. Ms. Christopher said it was going to be challenging. But I had a bunch of student government stuff to do so I guess I just got a little lazy with my studying…ugh, but that's not an excuse, right? I should've pulled an all-nighter or-"

"Hold on, Ashton, calm down," Freddie said. "Let's put this in perspective. Now as thrilled as I am that you care so much about your grades, this is just one test. Sometimes things happen. You've always gotten good grades in geography so I'm sure your average is still high."

"But that's not the point!" Ashton said. "One 'C' can lead to more 'C's! Oh my God…I could wind up like Emma! Oh, that would just destroy me!"

"Okay…not crazy about you using your sister as a negative example like that," Freddie said. "But Ash, don't be so hard on yourself. You're a good student who just had an off day. It happens to everybody! Jason got the occasional bad grade, and he's off at Cal Tech right now!"

"But I-"

"You can't be this hard on yourself," Freddie said gently. "It's not healthy. One grade doesn't mean you're suddenly a failure. It doesn't mean that you're suddenly a lazy student. It doesn't mean anything other than you might've had a little trouble understanding a certain section of the material, which is totally normal!"

"So-So you're really not mad at me?" Ashton asked.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Freddie asked, confused.

"Well, I-I just know how important grades are to you," Ashton said. "I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Aw, Ashton," Freddie said, putting an around his daughter. "I'm not disappointed in you because of one test grade! Yes, I-I will always consider your education to be one of the most important aspects of your life, but the only way I could be disappointed with you is if you didn't try your hardest in school. And you do just that, Ashton. You try your hardest."

He kissed the top of his daughter's head. "You're going to be fine, sweetheart. Remember that, and don't let one bad grade make you think otherwise."

Ashton smiled up at her father, looking absolutely relieved. "Thanks, daddy."

"Anytime," Freddie said. "Now go on, go have some fun or something. It's a perfectly nice Saturday afternoon."

"I thought you wanted me to help you with your trains, though," Ashton said.

"Eh, don't worry about it," Freddie said. "Besides, between you and me, I think I'm going to see if I can leave them in Jason's room a little while longer before your mom gets too mad at-"

"Frednub, if you don't get those trains out of Jason's room I swear you're gonna wake up with honey in your slippers in the morning!" Sam yelled from the kitchen.

"I think you should move your trains," Ashton said.

"Yeah good call," Freddie nodded, jumping to his feet.