No really, I'm okay. I'm also a great liar.

of tests and trials and tribulations (fourteen years old)

It's not the most downcast we've ever seen him, but. It's still noticeable.

Annabelle had emailed me an article about how kids' "worst day ever"s can actually be their worst days ever, because they haven't had enough experiences to compare.

And even though this isn't his worst day ever (that is a day we do not want to relive), we can see it, in the way his shoulders are just a bit more slumped than normal, in the way his eyes are downcast, in the way his mouth falls into a frown and his eyebrows furrow when he looks away.

I'm sitting on the couch when he sits beside me, and leans into me. I wrap my arm around him.

"Mom," he says, and it's barely more than a whisper. "I got back my test today." I don't ask; he doesn't elaborate. And I don't look at him, but his eyes are shut. It makes it easier to block it out, he told Annabelle.

He studied so hard for that test. I think Annabelle and I could both teach the subject, for all it's worth.

And despite being the writer, I am inferior to Annabelle when it comes to pep talks. Because we've been in love for so long, we have a telepathic connection. She comes into the living room with three mugs of hot chocolate in hand, FInn's with extra whipped cream just how he likes it. She brushes her hair back into a puff of curls and smiles at him. Gentle.

He doesn't smile back, but we know he appreciates it.

"When I was in freshman year of college," she starts. "I wanted to write a book. So, so badly, and it took up every inch of my free time. I planned and I wrote, and I planned some more and wrote some more. But then I, after finishing, realized that it was wrong, all wrong, and that maybe I wasn't cut out for writing. It hurt, and barely passing the English final project reinforced my belief. That didn't good, I can tell you that. But I kept writing, and even though it didn't suck up all my life anymore I kept going at it.

"Failure hurts, Finn, and I'm not going to tell you it's a rare feeling. We've all failed. Your mom and I? No exception. No one's an exception. Some people may be better at hiding it than others, sure. But you're not your failures, your missed shots, your bad test scores. You're what you choose to make of them. You haven't disappointed anyone, especially not yourself."

Finn's sniffling, and Annabelle plants a kiss to his hair. And then wipes the dot of whipped cream from the tip of his nose.

"You're gonna be just fine, Daydreamer."

a/n: cough cough totally not cough cough inspired by real events cough cough i mean what