Malibu Reel

THE FIGHT & MONTAGE: Part 3

During dinner at the Lovely house, everyone is seated at the large, rectangular dining table, in the white and silver themed dining room. Tara and Max sit on the right, Ashley sits next to Josh on the left and Victoria sits at the head of the table.

The table is silent as Petunia brings out the main dish after everyone finishes the salad.

"Josh, are you aware that your son got into a fight with Asher in the middle of practice today?" Victoria asked annoyed, before drinking her lemonade in a tall glass.

Max looked down a little.

"Did you win?" Josh asked, before taking a bite of the chicken on his fork.

"Josh!" Victoria yelled. "That is beside the point."

"What?" Josh shrugged, not really seeing what the big deal was.

"His coach is threatening to kick him off of the team!" She replied.

Josh took away from his plate, "Is this true son?"

"Yeah," Max said, a bit disappointed.

Josh sighed, "I told you to TALK things out with Asher, remember?"

"I know dad, and I did... when we got in detention. Everything's cool now though." He finished.

"I can't believe that coach," Victoria said, putting her glass down. "We have been funding that school for four years now, including all of the sports teams and most of the clubs, and he has the AUDACITY to try and kick Max off the team?" She voiced, clearly upset.

"No, don't worry, I'll handle this," Josh said. "I'll head up there tomorrow morning and have a talk with that coach."

Everyone then relaxed a bit.

"Well on a brighter note, I got the lead as 'Annie' in our school play." Ashley said smiling.

"That's amazing princess," Josh smiled at her.

"That's wonderful, Ashley. You're gonna give me a run for my money in the next few years, huh?" Victoria asked, smiling.

"Yep!" Ashley said as everyone giggled.

"So anything new with you Tara?" Josh asked.

"Um, no," she said. "School is school and I've still been working on my music."

"You know, my agent could find you some really great songwriters and producers to help you with your music." He said, before eating a piece of broccoli.

"No, dad that's okay. I wanna write my own songs." She said, sitting up more.

"Sweetie, it's no problem at all, I mean if you're serious about your music, then maybe-"

"Maybe I should just let three other people write MY music about how I feel?! No dad, I can do it on my own." She said, getting annoyed.

"Tara, people do it all the time. It's really no big deal." He said.

"Yeah well it is to me," Tara said as she stood up, grabbing her plate and glass, leaving the dining room to head back up to her bedroom.

"What I say?" Josh asked, looking flabbergasted.

"She's an artist; they're sensitive about their work." Ashley said.

"Yeah and it kinda sounded like you didn't believe in her," Max said.

"No, of course I believe- look, I'm just saying she could get extra help." Josh finished.

"Which sort of insinuates that you don't think the songs that she's already written are good enough," said Victoria.