You drew stars around my scars

Failure

Monday afternoon, Taylor received a message from Jessica's school informing her that Jessica was behind on her homework. There was a list of subjects that were overdue, Taylor frowned reading it unsure how the teen had managed to fall so behind.

The blonde plodded upstairs, she knocked gently on the teen's bedroom door – pushing it open gently.

Jessica was sat at her desk, scribbling away. Taylor sat on the edge of the bed, facing the teen "can we talk buddy?"

Jessica's face scrunched with confusion but she nodded "am I in trouble?"

Taylor smiled softly, shaking her head "not in trouble...I just want to understand. I got a message from school today..."

Realisation crossed Jessica's face "oh"

Taylor nodded "yeah, oh. What's happened baby? Why haven't you been giving your homework in?"

Jessica shrugged "I don't know – and that's not a lame excuse. I've just struggled to keep up with it all and then I fell so far behind that I couldn't catch up...but I spoke to my teachers, I came up with a plan. I am actually mostly caught up now – I'm just finishing off the biology then it's just the English paper left to do which I plan on doing after dinner..."

Taylor smiled once again "I'm glad you're on top of it baby...why didn't you tell me?"

Jessica looked down "embarrassed I guess..."

Taylor frowned "you never have to be embarrassed with me. How about I help you after dinner with your English? Words are kind of my thing remember?"

Jessica smiled softly, nodding eagerly "yeah, that would be great actually – I am so stuck with it – I have been staring at it for hours."

Taylor stood up, kissing her head gently "I'll call you down when dinner is done...relax for a bit once you've got that done."

A couple of hours later, they had both finished eating dinner and were now sat at the table with Jessica's assignment open in front of them.

Taylor scanned it over again while Jessica picked at her nails anxiously "I just don't get it Tay. It doesn't make sense to me"

Taylor glanced at her, then back at the work "it is a bit vague but don't stress. Let me just get my head around it"

Jessica watched her intently as Taylor's mind began to work. The blonde's face relaxed as she read it again and understood what was needed. She explained it to the teen. Jessica's face lit up "that makes SO much sense now!"

Between the two of them, they mapped out a plan of what Jessica would write then the teen began to get it down onto paper while Taylor worked next to her, checking in regularly.

Around 10pm, Jessica was finally done. She submitted it online before closing her laptop down. She rubbed her face as Taylor glanced over at her "good job buddy! Time for bed now!"

Jessica shook her head, mumbling slightly "not tired"

Taylor laughed loudly "your exhausted face is telling me different. Go on, head up – brush your teeth and get into bed. I'm just going to tidy up down here then I will be up too"

Reluctantly, the teen headed upstairs but 10 minutes later when Taylor headed up and poked her head in, the teen was already asleep, snuggled up comfortably.

Taylor smiled to herself, savouring the calm.

Over the next few days, they settled into a better routine to try and help Jessica keep up – each night when she got in from school, Taylor checked what homework she had. Jessica laid it all out then worked her way through it – Taylor helping whenever she was stuck. The teen kept ahead and finally felt more relaxed about school, feeling like she wasn't drowning anymore.