Inferno Part 3

~143~ Parent/Teacher Conference

Sasha's POV

As soon as mom and Nolan come downstairs, Nolan immediately glares at me.

"Sasha, come on!" He snaps.

Dad looks at Nolan surprised, and then looks at me. His good mood from earlier has now been replaced by concern and curiosity.

"Can we sit at the table?" I ask, looking at mom.

"Sure," she says as she pushes Nolan gently to get him moving. It's very rare that I see Nolan mad, and it's never been directed towards me before. He's always so "go with the flow," that this is out of character for him.

Mom gets in the fridge and gets out several sodas, passing them out. She gives me a caffeine-free one, which I'm glad. This baby has been wiggly enough as it is already.

Please be a girl! Please be a girl! We find out tomorrow, and I'm crazy nervous. I want a girl so bad.

I open my soda and take a sip, instantly cooling my throat. I'm actually a little nervous.

"Mommy, I really have to go potty. Please?!?" Drew begs from the corner, holding himself and dancing.

"Hurry," I say, keeping my face stern and not smiling like I want to. He's just the cutest little thing.

"Holy cow I didn't know he was there. That scared me to death!" Mom says, holding her chest and trying to calm her heart.

"What did he do?" She asks.

"Started a food fight at school."

Dad laughs "that's my boy!"

"Daddy!!!!"

He looks at me innocently: "I can say these things, Sasha Jane, he's my grandson. Now if you ever did it, young man, I'd have to put YOUR nose in the corner until YOU were doing the potty dance too."

Nolan smirks despite himself, and then makes his face mad again.

"So what's going on?" Mom asks, looking at Nolan and studying his face.

I glance at Nolan, and he's staring at his soda so hard, I'm expecting it to burst.

I get out the file I have in my bag, and open it. I get out several of his latest assignments and papers, and hand them to both mom and dad. They're silent as they look everything over.

"I've talked to all of his teachers—He's working hard. That isn't what we're concerned with."

Mom nods as she flips to another paper. "He needs more help with his dyslexia," she says, matter-of-fact. It wasn't a question—she knows immediately what the problem is.

Nolan shakes his head subtly, completely frustrated.

"No I don't. I'll just work harder."

Dad glances up from the paper he was looking at, and stares at Nolan.

"Buddy, everybody sees how hard you're working."

"Sasha is just too strict—This is so dumb. I didn't have any problems last year with Mrs. Meyers."

"The work is harder as a Freshman, Nolan. Mason is really concerned. There's several really hard classes of his that you have to pass to graduate," I say.

"Of course the two of you would team up against me."

Dad looks at Nolan, and his eyes tighten. "That's enough. I know you're upset, and feeling defeated right now, but that's enough. This isn't Sasha or Mason's fault. There's nothing I've seen on any paper I've just looked at, that would make me think she's being unfair. Look, right here..... instead of "There is" you wrote "Is there," which totally changes the structure of the sentence."