Eyes Only For You (Olitz)

KEEPING IT 100

Olivia had just pulled up in front of Golden Oak High School. She waited patiently for her son to come out of the school.

He set in the passenger seat and did not exchange any words with his mother.

O: Your teacher called, I think his name was Mr. Grant. He wants to have a teacher~parent conference with me tonight.

Ray just looked out the window. Olivia had drove only a short distance from the school before pulling over into a parking lot.

She was now facing her son's direction.
O: Talk to me. What's going on?

Ray slowly turned toward his mom. Tears in his eyes.

R: This will be my first year playing basketball without him in the stands. Jake was more of a dad than Edison has ever been. Jake didn't care that we weren't blood related, he came in and raised me, And now Jake's gone and a part of me is gone.

O: The twins and I will be there every game cheering for you. I can promise you that. We'll continue to get through this.

Olivia squeezed her sons hand. Now she had tears in her eyes.

She started driving again. This time with the radio on low.

O: I miss him too. I still go visit his gravesite at every break I have at work.

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Olivia and her son walked to the door of his teacher's classroom.

Mr. Grant walked over to his student Ray and who he assumed was Ray's Mom. He shook their hands.

FG: Hi I'm Mr. Grant.
O: Nice to meet you I'm Olivia... Ballard. You can call me Olivia.

FG: You can take a seat up at my desk and Ray you can start your homework if you want?

Mr. Grant and Olivia set across from each other.

G: I've called you hear today to discuss a drop in your son's grades. He's failing my class and several other classes at this rate he won't pass 10th grade and I've told him as a coach I won't allow him to play basketball or baseball, but as a parent and as a teacher I wanna do whatever I can to help him pass.

Ray looked up at his teacher before looking back down at the work in front of him. It's true his grades had started failing. His step dad just died a 8 months ago and he wasn't handling it well.

Grant watched as Olivia's smile disappeared and she became sad. He now had moved from in front of her to beside her.

FG: I know we just met and all but tell me what's going on.

Ray put his headphones on. He didn't want to hear the story again.

Olivia gathered herself together the best she could before she begin to speak.

O: About 8 months ago I lost my husband & Ray's step dad. But Ray's dad and I had him when we were 16 and 17. Edison his dad spent more time out of the picture, but my his stepdad became his dad he was different he stepped up when Ray was little. He's been there ever since.

The tears started rolling out of Olivia's eyes now. Mr. Grant placed a hand on Olivia's hand.

O: The last 8 months has been hard for all of us. Ray's been trying to hold it together for his sisters and I but he's having a hard time. Things are starting to hit him.

FG: I'm going to give you a hug now. Everything's going to be okay. I'll work with Ray. I got him.

Grant reached over and hugged Olivia. For the first time in a while she felt everything was going to be okay.
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Grant has just walked in the house. He took his time hanging his keys up, taking his jacket off and shoes off. He looked on the time on the microwave it read 9:45.

He headed over to the kitchen and grabbed his self a glass of scotch. He just needed a few minutes to relax, but his wife,Mellie, didn't feel the same way.

Mellie: Fitzgerald Grant!! Where have you been? You make these promises to your kids saying you'll see them before they go to sleep, but you arrive home 2 hours after their bed time.

FG: I've had a long day. Please just let it go. I'll make it up to them tomorrow.

M: Tomorrow?! they asked for you tonight.

FG: LET IT GO MELLIE.

Fitz had a long day at work and was sick of his wife's bickering, so he grabbed his phone and Scotch and went down to the basement.
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It was a nice Saturday in Fall  as Fitz pulled up to the baseball field.

He could barely make it out the car before both of his kids ran over to him. His 8 year old daughter Emily ran over to him and his 12 year old son Jeremy followed.

They walked over to the field together. Fitz had talked to the Coach for awhile and Emily went back to practicing with the rest of her team.

FG: Let's go find our seats Jeremy.

Fitz was determined to sit as far away from Mellie as possible so he set on the top of the bleachers.

O: Mr. Grant?

Fitz turned to his left to see Olivia and Ray sitting beside him. 

O: We've went from never seeing each other to seeing each other back to back days.

FG: Yea crazy. Which ones are yours?

Olivia searched the field for her twins. She pointed over at two little girls with brown curly hair.

O: #3 is Lauren and #5 is Morgan.

FG: Wow I think I've officially figured out the mystery of who Lo and Mo is. My daughter Emily she's #4 she always says Lo, Mo and her are the three musketeers, but I usually have something going on and I'm not able to make these games.

O: So Mr. Grant, who's this sitting next to you looking just like your twin.

FG: This is Jeremy and also you call can me Fitz. To anyone I meet that's not a student I say call me Fitz. Mr. Grant is for the students.

Ray: Can I call you Fitz, Coach?

FG: I'll make you a deal you get your grades back right before basketball season and I'll think about letting you call me Fitz instead of Coach Grant.

Jeremy, Ray, Fitz and Olivia laughed and spent the rest of their afternoon watching the girls play softball and getting to know each other better.