Colton Ross had never been a failure. He could not recall any point in his life where something didn't come easily to him or where he could not figure out what to do next. Even before he was really aware of the world, he'd passed all the NICU tests with flying colors. He had spoken early, walked early, had always excelled in school, and was the one that all the other kids wanted to be.

But from the moment that Stella had leaned halfway across the dinner table to ask him and Isa how they were liking high school, he'd felt like nothing but a steaming pile of malfunction. Isa had rambled on and on about how well she was doing in her classes, all the friends she'd made, and how she was looking forward to helping the DJ out at the winter formal. Colton had listened to her excitement, happy that his best friend had finally found her place. He loved Isa and he wanted her to do well and be happy, but with things the way they were, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

Maybe taking all honors classes had been too ambitious. They'd warned him beforehand, letting him know that high school was more rigorous than middle school and maybe, if he really wanted to try out for cross country and swimming, he should think about cutting back a little academically. But of course, he thought he knew better, and now he was barely scraping by in most of his classes, and failing one. This wasn't him at all, and while he knew that moping about it was childish and annoying, he couldn't help but sit quietly at the dinner table, as the rest of the kids played a rousing round of Silent Football.

He'd thought the whole thing through many times, calculating his current grades, estimating how many assignments were left in the semester and trying to figure out how well he would have to do for the next six weeks in order to bring his grade up to where he wanted it. Even with extra credit, it was impossible, and no matter how many times he went over and over it, he knew that for the first time, he would not be making honor roll. Starting high school off on the wrong foot was going to have serious academic and career repercussions down the line. He couldn't help but think that he was going to wind up in a minimum wage job that brought him no personal fulfillment, and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

The shining star of the family, the pride of his parents and the idol of his siblings, and he was going to wind up a total and complete loser.

He slouched further in his chair and played with the remaining food on his plate before sighing and standing, making his way into the kitchen. It had been a good holiday so far, with everyone able to make it to dinner, Stella and her family flying in from New Orleans, and not one but two giant turkeys to be feasted upon. There had been much laughter, whether from old stories or new jokes, and this year, for the first time in a long time, no one, child or adult, had been injured. Mac and Jo had noisily flirted while preparing dinner, Isa had caught Flack and Jess making out in the hallway, and on a dare, Ben, Daniel, and Liam, had run out in the snow in their underwear. It was a Thanksgiving for the family books, and Colton hoped that in a few years when he looked back on it, he wouldn't remember this gnawing feeling in his gut.

Absentmindedly, he began to move the leftover food to the kitchen island and take the dirty dishes to the sink. At least he could be productive, even if he did feel like he amounted to almost nothing.

He'd read the articles that Lindsay had left on his bed or under his dinner plate; the ones about students putting too much pressure on themselves, the physical affects of stress, and tips for reprioritizing things in your life. And he'd tried to let go, he'd tried to refocus, and he'd tried to come up with brand new solutions. But he was still stuck in the quagmire of failed tests and low scored quizzes, and somewhere back in September was the kid who went through life so easily.

He was rinsing a plate with gusto when he heard footsteps behind him, and didn't have time to compose himself before he had to face Mac.

"Something going on we should know about?"

He wanted to shrug, he wanted to pass his mood off as something else entirely, but he couldn't quite eek out a lie, so he sighed and nodded.

"Not gonna make honor roll this semester," he answered, eyes flicking to Mac, then back to the dish in his hand. "I screwed up."

"Well," Mac started after a moment, joining him at the sink and rinsing another dish. "I don't think it's as simple as that."

"Doesn't matter how it happened. It did, and I have to fix it."

"Figured out how yet?"

"No."

"What's the problem?"

He dropped his shoulders, unwilling to confess but so very, very ready to share the burden with someone else.

"There's only one way I can figure getting myself even close to out of this mess. Tutoring. They offer it after school, and the hours I clock there will count towards my grade. It won't… it'll never make up for the fact that I failed three tests in a row, but it'll help. The only catch is that you have to have a parents permission to stay after. And… see, dad and mama don't exactly know that I'm failing math."

"Oh," Mac acknowledged, clearing his throat. "And how do they not know?"

"I forged their signatures on my report card."

Mac bit back a laugh; he knew he needed to be stern and helpful, but the thought of Colton painstakingly forging his parents signatures was striking him as fully amusing.

"And coming up with a story is just as hard as telling the truth and disappointing them."

Colton startled, looking up at Mac as if he'd never seen him before. Of course that was the problem. It wasn't about failing at his own goals, and it wasn't about lying either. It was about the fact that for every dream he had for himself, his parents were standing there right behind him, ready to fight just as hard as he was. They never gave him this odyssey, they never pushed him past where he wanted to go, and they never for a moment let him think that his worth hinged on his abilities. But for some reason, he felt like he'd let the team down.

"So then, what are you going to do about it?"

The question didn't need an audible answer and Colton just nodded as a strong hand was clapped onto his shoulder.

"Just because something doesn't go the way we expect, doesn't mean it's not worth it. Remember that."

"Yes, sir."

Mac smiled and nodded.

"I've got to chop some more wood for the fire. Would you like to help?"

Colton nodded and abandoned the dishes, following Mac out the back door. Maybe he couldn't turn this thing on a dime, and maybe it was going to have to take some creativity to get back on track, but at least it was still possible.

"You did what?"

"Sorry."

"We know you're sorry, we're just a little hazy on how we got here in the first place."

Colton rested his chin on his arms, leaning on the table and listening to the grandfather clock tick in the other room. He knew that coming clean wasn't going to be easy, but the way the two of them sat across the table, united, really made him feel even worse.

"You guys were right. I should have held off on some classes."

"Colton, can you start at the beginning so we know where to go?"

He nodded.

"The first few weeks weren't so bad. I was able to keep up with everything. But then the teachers started assigning more reading and more projects. I was spending a lot of time on geometry before and I was keeping up, but then I had less time for it because everything else required more. Somehow I fell behind, so I started putting more effort into it, but then everything else got harder. English is the only class where my grade is high enough that my GPA is acceptable to stay on swim team. If that goes down, I'm off the team, and I don't want to let everyone else down. I guess… I'm just kind of stuck. And when the report cards came out, I knew they would be bad, but I didn't know that they would be so awful. I've never… never had an F before. So I forged the signature because I didn't want you to be disappointed. I wanted more time to fix it myself. I guess that backfired."

"Apparently so. How are we going to fix this?"

"I'm going to have to sign up for after school tutoring in geometry, and maybe in science too. I'll keep up with everything else on my own."

"Have you talked with your teachers about all of this?"

"Some of them. My geometry teacher said that she can see I'm putting forth effort, but she thinks that one on one tutoring would be best. There's a few things I can do for extra credit in science too. I'll get there and I'll bring the grades up, I'm just not sure I can do it before the semester ends."

"Has the stress of that been helping you to get things done?"

"No."

The two of them exchanged a look.

"Alright bud, I think you need a break."

"I can't take a break!"

"No, listen to me. You have a long weekend and I know you have homework you need to do. And I want you to work on that tomorrow, but Saturday I want you to take a break."

"But-"

"Your mama is right, son. It's the same thing you used to tell Avery when she was having a hard time. You get so stressed and you can't learn."

He was quiet, eyes following the wood grain of the table.

"We know you've been working hard honey. And we know that you're not where you want to be, but it's time to let go a little. Trust us, it will make things easier in the long run. Your brain needs a breather."

"But you're not… you're not disappointed in me?"

"We're a little upset that you didn't come to us sooner, but we're proud of you for coming up with a plan on how to fix this."

"Well I feel like crap about it."

"You probably will for a while," Adam conceded.

"Eventually you'll get to where you want to be and it won't be so bad anymore. You have to let it suck for a while."

"Okay."

"And you're going to let us know when you need help. We'll do whatever we can, you know that right?"

"I know. Thanks."

Lindsay stood up from her chair, walking around the table to take her firstborn into her arms. Sometimes she felt that he was much too old to hug like this anymore, but when he melted into her, she knew that wasn't the case at all.

"We love you and we're here for you no matter what."

"Thanks mama."

"Go up and get some rest and tomorrow we'll see what else we can come up with to help, alright?"

He nodded and leaned up to kiss her cheek before retreating upstairs.

"What do you think?" Adam asked, absentmindedly tapping his fingers on the table.

"I think he's being too hard on himself," Lindsay sighed rubbing at her temples. "I understand that he wants to do everything he can to get to where he wants to be. I worry that he hasn't entertained any other ideas about his future. He's wanted to be a doctor since he was two years old and I love that about him, but that doesn't mean that's all he can do. Maybe it's what he's meant for, but if it's not I'm afraid he won't see anything else. And he'll get halfway through med school and have to start over, or he'll be thirty years old and not know his kids because he's always working. If this is what he really, really wants then I support him. But he's not even fifteen yet and he's already completely stressed out."

"You think we should try and push him out of his comfort zone a bit?"

"Maybe. Not right now, not until he's back where he wants to be and has his confidence back. Maybe we need to talk to his guidance counselor, get in touch with some colleges, see if we can open up his tunnel vision a little bit."

"If it's his passion I don't want to push him away from it or make him feel like we don't approve, but I don't want to see him crash and burn either."

She moved back around the table to settle in his lap, sighing and wishing she could turn back time.

"We just have to keep the lines of communication open. He's a good kid and I think he knows he can come to us now. But I think we've always put a lot of faith in his maturity and kind of forgotten that we need to guide him still."

"He's so easy, it's hard to remember that he needs us to parent him."

"He's trying to be an adult. He's been trying since he was seven. Maybe he needs us more than we think. We'll figure it out. He'll be okay."

"I'm glad we're in this together. It would suck alone, or with anyone else."

"Sure would. I love you."

"I love you too."

"C'mon, let's go to bed. Deal with the rest in the morning."