Second Chance (PAW Patrol AU)

Chapter Five

After breakfast, Chase helped Rocky get his school bag. Rocky said goodbye to everyone, hugged Skye and they both walked out to the car. Rocky sat down and pulled his seatbelt on. Chase sat and did the same. "I'm proud of you," Chase said.

Rocky looked over at him. "Me?" he said. "For what?"

"For making a decision and standing behind it," said Chase. "I know you have thought about this alot. You asked me last night if they cared about you."

"Y-yes sir," said Rocky looking down at his hands.

"W-well," Chase stuttered. "I-I should have told you that they do in fact care about you. It's true that they have made some bad decisions." He placed his hand on Rocky's shoulder. "But deep down, they do care about you."

"Thanks, Dad," said Rocky with a smile. "Will you and mom go with me?"

"We will be as close as they let us," said Chase with a smile. With that, the duo drove off towards school.

As Chase pulled into the parking lot, Rocky eyed him curiously. "You can just drop me off," Rocky offered.

"It's okay," said Chase. "I'll walk with you up to the door."

"So you can accidentally find a reason to go back to work?" smirked Rocky.

"Your mom put you up to that, didn't she?" laughed Chase. Rocky, too, chuckled. "I'll just stop in the office and say hi to Principal Ryder."

"Oh, okay," Rocky laughed rolling his eyes.

Ryder was standing at the front door as they approached. "Good morning, Rocky," said Ryder. "And good morning to you too, Mr. Shepherd."

"Oh, come on now," said Chase sounding hurt.

"It's awfully nice to see your son to the door," smile Ryder. "But you still can't return to work."

"I was just going to see how things were going," said Chase.

"We're managing," said Ryder "Enjoy your vacation."

Ryder turned to walk into the school with Rocky without another word. Chase stood there for a moment and then smiled. His friends knew him too well. Chase returned to his car and drove back to the station.

***

"So, Rocky what have you decided about the accelerated program?" asked Ryder as they walked down the hall.

"I'm interested," Rocky admitted. "But I'm a little worried too about what it would mean for my future."

"That's a smart young man," said Ryder. "No one should jump into anything without finding out what's involved. Why don't we go to my office and discuss it?"

"Okay," said Rocky. "But, what about my classes?"

"I'll give you a pass," said Ryder, smiling. "We'll call it school counseling."

The two walked down the hall amidst the bustling students getting to their starting classes. They walked into the office and Ryder turned to the secretary as he walked by. "Hold my calls for a while, I'm meeting with a student."

"Yes, sir," said the secretary.

Rocky and Ryder sat down at his desk. He explained that at first, the program would involve a lot of testing. Essentially, Rocky would be required to take the final exams of all the main classes he would be skipping, such as Math, History, basic sciences and English.

Then, he would have the chance to test out of other classes that he would normally take in the early years of high school. That would allow him to move into the more advanced classes immediately or he could simply skip grades to whatever he felt was more challenging.