Inferno Part 2

~3~ Is This What You Want?

Ellie's POV

We go upstairs and I stop to get the paddle. I get it out of our closet, and Taylor waits on me. As we're about to go into Luke's room he grabs my hand and pulls me to him.

He bends down and whispers in my ear. "Don't go as hard as you did for the nail polish" he says sternly. I just look at him.

"He might not graduate, Ellie. We need to make that more of the issue than the cheating. I'm serious" he says.

I just nod.

We knock and wait for his "come in." When we go in, he's sitting at his desk, working on math homework. It immediately irritates me. They are not supposed to do homework in their room. I had always let Liam do homework in his room. He rarely did it at the table. However, both Sasha and Luke got into a bad habit of saying they were doing homework, but they would actually play with their toys instead. Many nights we had to do homework at 9pm, because they didn't have it done.

We decided to make that a strict rule.

"Why are you working on homework up here?" I ask darkly.

Luke makes a disgusted noise under his breath and shakes his head.

"So now I'm in trouble for actually doing homework? Make up your mind" he snaps.

"I'm getting real tired of you talking to my wife like that. This is your last warning before I grab soap," Taylor says darkly.

"How much homework have you actually been neglecting?" I ask him. He still isn't facing us. He's writing a problem down on a piece of paper.

"Turn around and answer my question" I say, losing my patience.

Luke sighs but silently does what I ask. When he looks at me, he starts talking.

"I'm behind, ok?" He asks, trying really hard to keep his tone civil.

"With what?" I ask, putting the paddle down on the bed and folding my arms.

"You name it, I'm behind in it" he says, rolling his eyes.

"What happened?" Taylor asks from his spot on Luke's bed.

"I don't know" Luke says, looking at Taylor.

"Nope. That isn't an answer" Taylor says, sternly.

"I kept my grades up for football and basketball. After that I just quit caring. I'm almost graduated" he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Luke, as of now, you're not going to graduate" Taylor says sadly.

"What?!?" Luke asks, appalled.

I nod. "Don't act like this is a shock to you. Mason has told you over and over that you needed to step
up. You're failing his class...a class that's required to graduate from high school" I say, getting annoyed.

He just stares at me

"He says you have a project and a test left. If you don't get an A on both, you won't be walking...You're going to have to take summer school" I continue.

He just shakes his head, getting even more mad.

"That guy has it out for me" he hisses.

"Don't you dare try to pass the blame. You dropped the ball. We're not going to sit and hold your hand, making sure you get your work done. You're a big boy. You knew you were failing. It was your responsibility to either work harder and quit being lazy, or get help. You didn't do either" Taylor says.

"I know I'm failing. That's why I cheated" Luke finally says.

"Instead of just studying?" I ask, raising my voice.