Together

97. What if he knows?

And my momma swore
That she would never let herself forget
And that was the day that I promised
That I'd never sing of love if it did not exist
But darling you are the only exception
-Paramore

"JJ, can I speak with you?" Ms. Taylor requests, catching his eye over the group of teens heading out the door. The bell has rung, but she was able to catch him before he could dip out of her algebra class.

JJ'd been distracted, more so than usual, and figures it's not gone unnoticed. No doubt she was wanting to know what was going on in his head as he was spacing in class today. But that wasn't any business of Ms. Taylor.

Not that Ms. Taylor wasn't cool, she really was. Been giving him a lot of slack with his concussion and what not. But he had bigger things on his mind than solving for X right now and none of it did he feel like divulging to anyone that didn't need to know.

This was the week he was going to find out about Luke and having visitation, and he did not like his chances. Everyone was telling him it was gonna be alright. Shoupe was insistent that he didn't believe that any judge would grant visitation in these circumstances, but all that did was bring to JJ's mind how fucking back the whole ordeal was.

Kie and the rest of the pogues showed equal optimism, but JJ was pretty certain behind closed doors, and his ears, that they were singing a different tune. He couldn't blame them though. He didn't ever force John B into believing his father was dead despite that mounting evidence either, and God knows he, Pope, and Kie had their fair share of reality conversations behind his back during that time.

Every day that the dreaded hearing got closer he was just more and more unsettled with the reality he didn't want to face. It was the worse kind of count down and it was entering hours. Less than forty eight left, now.

"Sure, what's up?" he replies, adjusting his backpack over one shoulder.

He has to look down at her cause she's so short. She kinda reminded him of a middle aged mom, though he knew she was single. She never wore a wedding band and all the pictures she put up on her desk were of her and girl friends. Still, she gave off a comforting vibe that he likes to imagine would come from a woman with children. Kie's mom was kinda like that at times when she wasn't pissed.

Ms. Taylor gives him a sympathetic smile, like she's already apologizing for whatever is going to come out of her mouth. She hands him his last quiz. He sighs when he sees so much red it looks like she tried to murder it.

"C'mon, a D?" he challenges. Minus actually.

"It's algebra," she says, eyebrows raising. "There's only one right answer." She takes the paper out of his hands, setting it face down on her desk while she leans against it. He can feel the lecture before it begins.

"I'll make it up," he hedges. "Just taking me a minute to catch up from being out."

"It's not just this score," she says regretfully. "I'm worried about you passing the class."

Oh shit. He knew he wasn't doing the best lately, but failing? He can't fail, he's a senior. He needs to graduate and there are no more years left to make up the classes if he fails even one.

It doesn't take him long to put together that he also needs a certain grade point average to even get into San Diego State. He'd skimmed by the last couple years and that hurt him enough with his overall average. He needed to pull it together and not just pass all his classes but do well in them. Otherwise, bye bye scholarship.

"JJ," Ms. Taylor says, head tilting so she can meet his eye. He was clearly drifting again. "I think it'd be good if you, me and Mr. Shoupe met to talk about a plan. We still have time to correct this, alright?"