As the evening progressed, a professor at night school concluded his class for the night.
"That's all for our lecture this evening, gentlemen," the professor addressed his pupils, "we will continue our discussion on atomic structure and nuclear physhics tomorrow evening, and later this week, the dean would like for you to attend this weekend's graduation rehearsal. Dismissed."
The students gathered their texts and studies, and began to disembark the classroom, however, the professor called out to Simon.
"Mr. Seville, before you go, may I see you for a moment?" the professor asked.
"Yes, sir..." Simon said, as he packed up his satchel, and approached the head of the classroom, "what can I do for you?"
"Before you leave, the dean, some of the other professors, and myself, would like to have a little meeting with you." The professor said.
"Is there some sort of problem that I have caused?" Simon asked.
"Not at all," the professor said, "we actually would like to discuss something with you, regarding your future."
"My future?" Simon asked.
Shortly later, Simon sat among a few other professors in the dean's office.
"Mr. Seville," the dean addressed Simon, "I don't believe I have to mention to you just how impressed we are with your performances here at our little institution of education."
"In all my years as an instructor, never before have I seen any pupil at this school with such a high GPA, nor finer studying and testing skills than you." One professor remarked.
"And other students seem to respond rather well towards your example, especially those you have volunteered to help tutor in their own studies." Simon's professor said.
"Well," Simon began, as he removed his glasses to wipe a smudge off one of the lenses, "I take my education, and the tasks that are handed to me very seriously. I mean, what kind of contributor to society would I be if I were to be some sort of a high school drop out, wasting my days operating a deep fat fryer, and wasting my nights out partying, abusing drugs, binge drinking, and sleeping around with a bunch of bimbos, if you will pardon the expression?"
"We have no doubts that you have a bright future ahead of you, Mr. Seville," the dean said, "however, we would like to ask if you would possibly consider joining our teaching staff for our next fall semester."
"You want me to teach here?" Simon asked.
"You'd make an excellent addition to our faculty!" One professor said.
"We need some younger and fresher blood in our system!" Another professor said.
"You already set an excellent example for other pupils!" Another professor said.
"Pupils are more likely to respond more positively to an instructor who is closer to their own generation, and speaks the same language, so to speak." Simon's professor said.
"Wow." Simon said. "I honestly don't know what to make of this proposal. I am honored that this faculty thinks so highly of me, though I've never been exactly sure if teaching is really my forte."
"Well, naturally, we're not asking you directly to join our teaching staff," the dean said, "but we would very much appreciate it if you were to take the offer into consideration, and let us know something, one way or another."
Simon thought about it for a moment, before nodding his head, and rising out of his seat. "You gentlemen make some convincing points. I haven't made up my mind just which direction I would like to head towards in the months to come, but I do promise that I will take this offer, and give it some careful consideration before I make up my mind."
"Very well." The dean said, with a smile on his face. "We look forward to seeing you and the rest of your class graduation, Mr. Seville."
"Thank you, sir." Simon said.
An hour and a half later, Simon returned home, and found Jeanette sitting up in bed, staring at the television set, with a zombified look on her face.
"Are you alright?" Simon asked.
Jeanette shook her head. "I'm still having trouble sleeping."
Simon sighed, as he placed his satchel on a small chair next to the bedroom door.
"Why won't you take a sleeping pill, Jeanette?" Simon asked. "I seriously doubt that taking just one pill for one night is going to cause any harm to you, let alone, feed you a dependency."
"That's just it," Jeanette said, "I take one to sleep for one night, then what will happen in the future when I go through additional episodes of insomnia? My first instinct will be to pop a pill, and pretty soon, I won't be able to sleep at all without a pill."
"Well, I don't know what else to suggest, Jeanette," Simon said, "but you might be interested to hear I've received another offer this evening."
This perked Jeanette out of her sleepless misery. Anything to do with Simon's life was of interest to her. "What's that?"
"The dean has asked me to consider joining the teaching staff beginning the following fall semester," Simon said, "he and some of the professors and instructors believe that I would be able to reach out to other pupils, and leave a better impact on them, if they were to see an instructor who is closer to their own age, yet possesses the wisdom and knowledge one would come to expect from a teacher."
"What are you doing to do?" Jeanette asked.
"I told them I would give the offer some careful consideration," Simon said, "though I just don't feel that teaching is really my calling."
Jeanette nodded. "Sometimes I wonder if perhaps I should be a teacher... but maybe an elementary teacher or something... I love children, and I love to share my knowledge with others..."
"Why don't you then?" Simon asked. "I certainly feel you'd make a far better teacher than I would, irregardless of the grade or age you teach."
"I'm not exactly sure a college drop-out meets the requirements of becoming a teacher." Jeanette said.
Early the following afternoon, Simon and Jeanette were in their living room, listening to Brittany's new solo album on their stereo. They both were picking up on an underlying theme within the tracks on the CD, a theme of grit and determination, of overcoming obstacles to reaching goals in life, of which both Simon and Jeanette knew were inspired by Brittany's own life. Both enjoyed the upbeat tunes and positive messages of Brittany's new tracks.
"These songs are great!" Simon said, as his head bounced to the beat of the song they were currently listening to, "it's been so long, I almost forgot what a great voice Brittany has."
"I just miss her voice really, she has a beautiful voice," Jeanette remarked, with a sigh through her nose, feeling a small amount of home sickness.
"You realize what will happen now, don't you?" Simon asked.
"What's that?" Jeanette asked.
"From this moment now, Brittany will consistantly be competiting up against all of these other artists." Simon said.
Jeanette laughed. "Yeah, I think at this point, Katy Perry, Lada Gaga, and Adele are the least of her worries, but it's going to be hard to top Carly Rae Jepsen... it's going to take another 'Call Me Maybe' to achieve that."
Simon cringed. "I guess all it takes for some people is an association with Justin Bieber just to achieve success."
"Brittany's got twice as much talent, and has worked twice as hard for this success," Jeanette said, "it hasn't been easy trying to get work in the music industry by herself when all people wanted were the Chipettes."
"Well, can you blame them?" Simon asked. "The Chipettes were the hottest girl band there was."
Simon and Jeanette shared a laugh. At the same time, David Seville sat in his living room, looking through an old family album, flooded with photos, scraps, and memories of his boys. Although two years had past, Dave did alot better these days than he did in the beginning, but he still occasionally came down with a case of empty nest syndrome. It didn't help matters that it was coming upon that time of year, where the boys used to get out from school, which meant having more of them around. Summers were always their time, depending on what kind of a schedule arose, summers were usually spent either with the boys on a concert tour, or if the summer was a period of lull, Dave and his sons would go on a vacation trip. Dave pondered on trying to plan some kind of a getaway for him and his sons, but knowing that they were grown up, more independent, and have their own lives, spending a week or even a weekend on some kind of an outing with their father probably wouldn't appeal to them very much. Dave was brought back to reality when he heard the phone ringing. Dave reached over the arm rest of his chair to answer the phone.
"Hello?" He said.
"Dave!" Alvin squealed on the other end. "Dave, I've got really big news!"
"What's going on, Alvin?" Dave asked, clearly indicating the excitment in his son's voice.
"Some big wigs have been keeping an eye on me," Alvin said, "if all goes well after this semester, I may actually have a contract with the NBA!"
"That's great, Alvin!" Dave said.
"Whoda thunk it, huh Dave?" Alvin asked. "A little guy like me getting a shot at playing with the big boys!"
"I'm sure you'll do great, Alvin!" Dave said.
"I'm sure too!" Alvin said, still as cocky as ever. "How's the old homestead?"
"Oh, about as usual," Dave said, "I was just flipping through our old family album, and thinking back on the summers we used to have."
"Yeah, those were alot of fun," Alvin said, "I really wouldn't mind doing it again sometime..."
"Really?" Dave asked.
"Sure," Alvin said, "it'd be nice to see you, Simon, and Theodore more often than just Thanksgiving and Christmas, I don't see why the four of us can't get together, and just make something special out of it."
Dave was astounded that he'd hear such a thing coming from one of his sons. Especially Alvin. "Well, I get in touch with Simon and Theodore then, and see if they would be up for it."
"That'd be cool!" Alvin said.
"Great then, we'll see how this will work out." Dave said.
"Okay, Dave." Alvin said. "I've gotta run anyway, I've got practice in a few minutes."
"I'll talk to you later. Bye, Alvin." Dave said.
"Bye, Dave." Alvin said.