Lifeline

Parent-teacher Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences were usually not something I dreaded, but I was struggling in English, and while that may not matter in a normal time, I was grounded right now, and I knew Ashton had not been impressed with my behavior.

The twins and I were sitting at the school waiting for Ashton and Grayson to meet us there; Grayson would take all the classes we were likely not causing problems in and leave the tougher conversations to Ashton.

I once again found my leg bouncing, a habit that seemed to be surfacing more than usual recently.

"Stop fucking bouncing," Westin snapped at me; I shot him a glare back, silently wishing for his conferences to go bad just for that.

"Wipe that look off your face, Aspen; between the three of you, we have 15 teachers to meet with, and I don't have all afternoon," Ashton spoke as he approached

Ashton and I weren't on bad terms, but I definitely wasn't feeling the love lately, either. While he was still there every morning before I went to school and came to say goodnight every night, I could feel a rift.

Miles groaned. "Why do you have to meet with our teachers? It's optional, you know, and none of my friend's parents do"

Ashton didn't even bother responding, " Twins, you are with me since you both have the same history and science teacher. We will start there. Grayson is gonna see aspens Math and art teacher, and then we will switch"

My two conferences had gone great so far, but those weren't the ones I was worried about; Grayson and I were waiting for the twins and Ashton so he could take me to meet my English teacher, and when they came back, Westin looked pissed; which almost was a guarantee Ashton was in a bad mood too.

As we walked down the hall, a hand on my shoulder stopped me. " I want no surprises, Aspen, so is there anything you need to tell me now?"

I replied with a quick 'No sir,' and with that, we walked into the classroom.

My English teacher was young, and I was the first one in my family to have her so I shouldn't have been surprised when she was immediately making lusty eyes at my older brother.

"Mr. Miller, how nice to finally meet you. I have heard lots about your family from other teachers, and I must say I admire you so much for willingly taking in your younger siblings."

Ashton gave a simple nod in return, accompanied by, " It's nice to meet you too; I hope Aspen hasn't been giving you trouble"

She paused a moment, and I stiffened; what the hell? I hadn't been giving her any trouble in class.

"Well," she drew out,  "trouble no, but she does have me very concerned; Aspen's English really isn't up to a ninth-grade level, and at this rate, I can't see her passing the class"

Wait. What.

I felt the tears prick in my eyes. I had never gotten less than a B in school, and now a teacher was talking about failing.

I heard Ashton clear his throat. "I'm sorry, I don't follow. Aspen has never done poorly in school. English is her weakest subject, but she has dyslexia, which her file notes; surely you can understand that."

"Mr. Miller, her file says she has dyslexia, but there is no formal test on file; therefore, I cannot give her any sort of special treatment."

"I couldn't afford a dyslexia test when it was first noticed in kindergarten, and we have never had a problem having teachers work with us before because of that. I am not asking for special treatment for her, just for you to understand"

By this time, tears were streaming down my face, my eyes blurry, and I was having so much trouble focusing.

'Frankly, I think Aspen is just choosing to slack off, between her paper she so clearly did last minute and the quality of her assignments in class; if she doesn't step it up and start trying, I don't know what else I am supposed to do."

Not trying? What was she even talking about? I tried extra hard in English I had to, to even try and keep up with my classmates. I didn't hear the rest of the conversation, and the next thing I knew, I was being led out of the classroom.

I got my bearing as we approached the car, Grayson and the twins waiting.

"Ashton, wait, I swear I have been trying. I... I... I didn't know anything about maybe failing"

"We will talk at home, Aspen," was all I got in response, my other three brothers looking at me in concern as we all climbed into the car.

When we got home, Ezra was waiting at the table as we all filed in the door, Aston last slamming it behind him.

"What the hell, Ash?" Ezra questioned, but he was ignored, his eyes piercing through my soul instead

"Ashton, I swear I didn't know..." I started, but I was quickly cut off

"NO, Aspen, I am done with your excuses. I am done with you acting out; I am done with you thinking you can behave however you damn well please all the time. School is the priority in this house, you know that. You thought you were grounded before; well, say goodbye to what little freedom you had left cause it was over for you. I did not give up my life for you to run around alcaking off, and waste yourself but not trying. Get yourself in line. You have become so damn difficult to deal with. Go to your room for the night; I don't want to look at you anymore"

I was stunned, and I physically felt my heart breaking; it was no secret Aston is the one I am closest to, my favorite, and what he just said made me want to die. If that was truly what he thought, I didn't want to breathe anymore. I spun around on my heels, tripping up the stairs through my blurry vision.

I heard someone calling after me and lots of shouting between my brothers, but none of it mattered anymore because all I would ever be was a failure.