The Fallen Officer's Son

9. Carson

I handed Dolan the USB drive that held our PowerPoint and he raised a brow making me stare at him.

"Oh," he replied as if realizing what it was and gave me a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his neck making me smile, "is it complete?"

I nodded.

"You edited all of it?" Again I nodded, "You shouldn't have done it on your own, you know?"

I gave a half-hearted shrug, "didn't take long." He sighed and shook his head.

"I could've helped," he pointed out.

"I know," I agreed, "but you were busy with practice and all." He sighed again but nodded.

"Next time," he said pointedly, "I'll do the editing."

He said that as if we would be partnered again in a future project. I bit my cheek and just nodded not wanting to rain on his parade. Who knows if we will ever do another school project together? Today we were doing our presentation.

The weeks leading up to today have been long and crazy, to say the least. Dolan had invited me to his first game of the season and I had asked if I could bring my mom and sisters.

"The more the merrier," he had said and so I asked Mom and the twins if they wanted to go and of course, they were all in. We sat close to the fence and cheered every time Dolan's team made a goal. The game ended with Dolan's team winning against the opponent with a score of 5 to 3.

I had gone down to congratulate him and he grinned saying, "You're my lucky charm." I just stared at him with a face as red as a tomato while he grinned.

"Stop flirting with your boyfriend and go shower!" His friend and teammate, Jonah, said making my blush grow even more and Dolan only smiled before running off to the showers.

I sighed and went back to the bleachers where I had left my sisters and mom. When I got back, one of the twins, Ryder, raised a brow.

"Where'd you go?" She asked as Rylie and Mama started gathering up our trash.

"Went to congratulate Dolan on his win," I replied and she nodded.

"Are you two ready?" Mama asked and we nodded. The four of us headed down the bleachers after that and made our way towards the exit and after throwing out the trash, made our way to her car with the girls fighting for who would sit at the front. Taking that as my chance to beat them both, I opened the passenger's door and climbed in, and shut the door making them turn and glare down at me but I only smiled giving them a little wave. Mom shook her head with a chuckle as the girls climbed into the backseat.

From: Dolan
Hey, where did you go?

To: Dolan
Home? Why?

From: Dolan
Oh

I furrowed my brows as he started up writing again before stopping and then started up again.

From: Dolan
Sorry about what Jonah said earlier,
he was being an idiot

I bit my cheek as I remembered his comment when I had gone to see Dolan to say he was great and congratulate him on his win.

To: Dolan
No worries

From: Dolan
Thank you, by the way,
for coming to my game

I smiled and mom looked over with a raised brow.

"What's got you smiling all of a sudden?" She asked making my face heat up with a blush.

"Dolan," I replied which had the twins attention.

"Oooh," they teased making my blush grow.

"Car has a cruuuuuushhhh," they sang before breaking into a fit of giggles.

I rolled my eyes, sisters I swear.

To: Dolan
It's no problem,
Thank you for inviting me :)

I sent before putting my phone away. Dolan sent another text asking if we could hang out tomorrow and possibly work on our project that was due the following week.

And now here we are. In the present.

Dolan and I headed to our class and to our seats. I could hear whispers as we did, and kept my head down.

"Ignore them," Dolan said and I looked up at him, "they're idiots who worship idiots." I blinked before nodding.

****

"It has now been two decades since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 – where only the courage of passengers and crew possibly prevented an even deadlier terror attack.

For most who are old enough to remember, it is a day that is impossible to forget." Dolan said, as the presentation neared its end, "In many ways, 9/11 reshaped how Americans think of war and peace, their own personal safety and their fellow citizens. And today, the violence and chaos in a country half a world away brings with it the opening of an uncertain new chapter in the post-9/11 era." I clicked next in the PowerPoint as Dolan walked over to the poster board where pictures of the victims of the attacks along with the officers, firefighters and rescue workers who lost their lives.

"Now I would like to take a moment to pay our respects to all those who lost their lives on this tragic day," he said before he began naming them, "Officer Charles Walker." I ignored the rest of the names after my dad's name was read and ignored the looks from my classmates. I tuned back in as loud claps echoed the classroom.

"That was a great presentation, gentlemen," Professor Reed said once Dolan finished the presentation, "if you don't mind, I would like to keep your poster and show it to my next class." Dolan and I exchanged glances before nodding. "And Carson?" I looked at him to see Professor Reed smiling, "your father was a hero and he would be very proud of the young man that you've turned out to be." I bit my cheek before nodding and returning his smile.

"Thank you," I murmured before Dolan and I headed back to our seats.