CONSEQUENCES
by Spense
(Please Note: The prank described in the following chapter is courtesy of Boomercat. I needed something typical of a teenager, yet sophisticated enough to be done by a Tracy, and as always, she provided the perfect thing.)
Chapter Two
A few weeks following the beginning of Alan's school term, Virgil was manning the Command and Control Center. He'd managed to turn his ankle pretty good on the last rescue they'd been on, and Brains had recommended that he stay off of it for a few days. Therefore, Brains was riding in Thunderbird Two, and Virgil was stuck here, riding the desk. Boring.
The rescue was well underway, and well handled. There wasn't much to do at this point except keep an eye on things. The beep of the vid-phone was a welcome diversion.
Ah, Virgil," the man said, recognizing him, "this is Headmaster Simmons from Wharton Academy . . ." As the man rambled on, Virgil's attention was sharpening. A call from the Headmaster could mean anything, but this was Alan they were talking about.
It could be as innocuous as Alan coming down with a case of the flu, or as major as blowing up the Chemistry lab. Again.
Virgil informed him that Jeff was away at the moment, but he was authorized to deal with anything that came up. The Headmaster allowed that he was aware of that, and proceeded to fill Virgil in.
Virgil felt his mouth tighten at the news. There had been an 'incident' as the Headmaster put it. A cherry bomb had been dropped into the toilet on the third floor and flushed. Unfortunately for the Wharton Academy Academic Building, it had been equipped with a magnesium fuse and a special compound that allowed it to burn under water. It had detonated between the second and third floor, blowing out the plumbing and severely damaging the interior walls.
There had been half a dozen young men in the vicinity at the time, and any one of them could have done it. The staff at Wharton's was currently looking into the matter, the boy who did it would be expelled. The Headmaster was just letting all the parents of the children involved know what was happening. They had fingerprints, and other evidence, and would know the culprit shortly. This was just a courtesy call.
Virgil asked immediately to speak with Alan privately. The Headmaster agreed. He didn't even seem surprised.
When Alan was on the phone, Virgil didn't even let him speak, he was so incredibly furious.
"What on earth possessed you, Alan? Did you think none of us would recognize that little prank as something Gordon did when he was your age? And Scott did before him? Geez, Dad was furious then, and you can bet he'll be doubly so now. Especially with you acting so childish lately!"
Alan's mouth opened to speak, but Virgil overrode him.
"Now, you listen to me, and listen good. I suggest you think long and hard about what you're doing and how you'll handle the consequences. Lying is not going to help you one bit. They have fingerprints and other evidence. You'll buy a lot more credence with Dad and the school if you come clean and tell the truth. You know they'll expel you over this, and trust me, it's going to be bad enough when Dad comes to get you, but if you try to lie your way out of it, it's going to be ten times worse."
Alan's mouth had tightened and he looked as furious as Virgil felt. Virgil felt like throttling him. Geez, what had the brat been THINKING! "Don't say anything. You've already done enough. Well?"
Alan nodded rigidly, his eyes blazing with anger.
"Good. I'll break it to Dad. Why I'm doing that, I don't know - he's going to be absolutely furious. But you'd better be on your best behavior when you talk to him, or you aren't going to like the consequences. Understand? The only thing you can do now is try to make the best of it now. Got it? And don't say anything besides 'yes' or 'no' to me right now, if you know what's good for you," Virgil threatened angrily.
"Yes Sir," Alan said pointedly again, clearly unrepentant
Virgil's eyes narrowed at the attitude showing in that expression. "Watch it Alan," he snapped sharply.
Alan's mouth tightened again. "I'd better go," he said shortly, then signed off.
Virgil sighed, then steeling himself, called his father, who was on his way back in TB2. As expected, Jeff was not happy.
Jeff marched into his office as soon as TB2 had landed. He'd pushed the big machine as fast as he dared in order to be back before the Headmaster of Wharton Academy called. He just couldn't believe it. Only Alan had the ability to aggravate him this much.
Alan could only have found out about that particular prank from Gordon. What he wouldn't have known until Virgil told him was that Scott had nearly gotten expelled for that same thing as well. Jeff had managed to talk the schools into keeping his sons, but apparently word got around, and he doubted he could keep Wharton from expelling Alan over this. He'd basically said so to Alan on the terse message he had left on his son's phone since he couldn't get hold of said child himself.
Jeff tried to turn off his thoughts by going back to work while he waited, but it wasn't helping. He was almost grateful when the vidphone beeped again a few hours later. As expected, it was the Headmaster. Jeff steeled himself for the news.
It took him a moment to realize what the man was saying. The culprit wasn't Alan. They'd traced the fingerprints to a senior who was a known trouble maker. Alan had been very cooperative, and the Headmaster went on and on about how mature he'd become. Jeff's heart sank as he thought of his reaction.
Jeff thanked him automatically, and met the eyes of his horrified middle son who had made sure he was present when the call from Wharton came in. The other Tracy siblings, in their infinite wisdom, had made themselves scarce, as had the rest of the island's inhabitants.
Sighing heavily, he consoled Virgil. "Never mind, I jumped to the same conclusion you did, son."
"But you didn't just jump down his throat and not give him any chance to defend himself!" Virgil whispered in horror.
"No, but I left a message insinuating that I believed he'd done it. We'll fix it," he reassured his son, hoping against hope he was right.
TB TB TB TB TB
Alan slammed his books down on his desk and disappeared back out the door of the dorm room without a word to his roommate. Fermat just watched, his eyes huge as Alan stormed out. Somehow, that just made Alan more angry.
'Now you know where you stand' his thoughts whispered to him as he headed away from the building in the light spring air. Everything else looked so happy, but here he was, angry again. The cause? As usual, his family.
Both Virgil and his father had really believed he'd done it. They really had believed that he could be that totally stupid. Now he had conformation of what he'd always wondered. What the rest of his family really thought about him. His father's letters had been damning enough, but this!
All the 'you can talk to me Alan', 'there isn't anything we can't talk about' type speeches. Well, Alan had just found out how wrong they were. This was it. He knew where he stood with his family now, and he wasn't going to give them another hold over him ever again.
He wasn't wanted in the first place, from the very day of his conception, so they sent him away, always believed the worst, and generally quite clearly felt he was a waste of time and space. Well, if that's what they thought, so be it. He was finished trying to prove anything to anybody anymore. From now on, he wasn't going to share anything with anybody. It was safer that way. You didn't get hurt.
TB TB TB TB TB
Jeff hung up the phone slowly after talking with Alan. He'd had an impossible time trying to get hold of his son. It was clear that Alan was dodging his calls, and not returning the numerous messages he'd left. Jeff was once again both angered and frustrated by Alan's actions. He was tempted just to go get Alan and bring him home and sort this out, yet that was not the way.
He'd had such a hard time getting hold of him, that he'd finally had the Headmaster interrupt him in class and bring him to the office so he could take the call. He'd made sure he was calm, and in control of himself before he talked to his volatile son.
Surprisingly Alan didn't argue, or defend himself, or blow up in the righteous indignation that he had every right too. At first Jeff was relieved, but then he became concerned. Alan was cool, calm, and very sparse with words. For the first time ever, Jeff had a hard time communicating with Alan.
After he'd apologized, and told him to expect an apology from Virgil as well, the normal process would be for Alan to blow off steam, and vent his anger. Which was why Jeff had called first. He could then referee Virgil's apology. Then all would be done, and Jeff would be able to start a dialogue and sort things out. But Alan didn't even seem angry. He seemed – well, distant, was probably the best term.
He just nodded, accepted his father's words without any emotion showing at all. Finally, he excused himself to get back to class, leaving his father staring at the vidphone in disbelief. Somehow, Jeff felt, they'd reached a new place, and it was not a positive one.