Page 17 of Booth

“What about the party?You have to go, Falkner.They’ve been planning this for a month.”He said that he’d be there.“Good.So I’ll take you in tomorrow, we’ll have a nice big breakfast sort of as your last meal, and we’ll have some fun.Then I’ll drop you off and pick you up when you’ve fucked up so badly that they’ll be talking about it for years to come.How a student doctor had failed his exam so badly that he’d even spelled his name wrong.”

By the time he’d convinced him that the party was a no-brainer, he was willing to allow him to pick him up in the morning and take him to breakfast.He’d have an hour for lunch, too, and Cullen was going to be there for him by bringing subs and sodas so that they could have time to relax, too.

True to his word, Cullen picked him up at six the next morning.Once they were seated at the restaurant, they talked about anything but what he was going to do today.He’d even laughed a few times, even though when he’d left the house, he was sick with worry.Then, when they pulled up in front of the university where the test was being given, he looked at Cullen with love that he’d forgotten that he’d had for his baby brother.

“I don’t know how I’ll do today, Cullen, but I know that whatever the grade is, it’s going to be good.Good enough?Yes, but I feel like I will do well.And it’s because of you.”He asked him what he meant.“You’ve gotten me out of my head and into thinking about something else.You’ve relaxed me enough that I feel good about today.Not great, but really good.Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.And I wanted to tell you something else.Dad is the one who told me to get you and take you out this morning.He said that on the morning that he had to take his bar exam, Mom did the same for him.She’d taken him out to breakfast, didn’t talk about the exams, and kept him thinking about anything but the test he was about to take.He said that every time he thought that he should go through the test again, that he’d not answered some of the questions right, he would think of Mom and her doing what she’d done for him.And he’d just move on to the next section.This is me telling you that you’ve got this, Falkner.Don’t second-guess yourself and mess up.You’ve got this.”

“I feel like I do.I’m not arrogant enough to think that I’m going to ace the test, but I’m going to do my very best at this, and I’m going to be a good doctor too.”Cullen told him that he expected no less from him.“Thank you for that, too.I needed that.”

Hugging his brother had never felt so good before.Cullen was getting used to being hugged, and he thought that he’d gotten the best one from him than anyone else in the family.Cullen was his baby brother, but he’d never really felt like anything other than his older brother.Cullen was wise beyond his age.He was an old soul, too, with what he’d seen out of the country.And he couldn’t love him any more than he did at that moment.Hugging him again, he got out of the car and didn’t look back.It was time to do his exams, and by god, he was going to do the best that he could, too.

The first thing he did when he got his exam was put his name on the sheets that were his to do his figuring on.Making sure that he spelled his name correctly had him smiling a bit.He was ready, as ready as he could be to be here today, and it was all thanks to Cullen.The man had given him what no one else had given him.Confidence.Opening his booklet, he was set to begin.

At lunch, Cullen brought them two subs to eat and a cherry pie for them to have for dessert.They didn’t talk about the tests or how well he thought he was doing either.Cullen even told him a dirty jokeso that he was laughing when he was ready to go back inside.Falkner was ready again to take the exam and didn’t second-guess himself once.He didn’t allow himself to go back over the test either when he was finished.He’d given it his all, and there was no point in going back over the test again.However, he did make sure that he spelled his name correctly on all the paperwork that he turned in.

When Cullen was in the parking lot, Falkner had to sit in the car for several minutes before he could say anything to his brother.He’d finished and couldn’t remember a single question that he’d had trouble with.That didn’t mean that he’d gotten them all right, but he didn’t have any trouble with any one question that had him second-guessing himself now.The test was finished, and there was nothing he could do about it now.They were headed to his parents’ house when he finally turned to look at Cullen.

“You did me a solid favor today, buddy.”He told him it had been his pleasure.“No.I’ll never forget what you did for me today.Ever.If you ever need anything from me, and I do mean anything, you just ask, and it’s yours.Even if it were to cost me my licenses from today, you mean that much to me.”

“Thank you.I don’t think that I’d ever ask you for anything like that, but it’s good to know that I have you in my corner.I love you, Falkner.You’re the best brother anyone could ask for.”Humbled by him, they drove to the house in a good silence.He couldn’t have said what he thought about on the way there, but it was a good time.“All right.Here you go, buddy.”

The party was in full swing when they pulled into the driveway.The huge sign that said congratulations to him was a nice touch.Mom, Dad, and his family met him at the door, and it was nice to know that they loved him this much.Getting him some food, he wandered around the house looking at what would soon be his.He didn’t want it, but he knew that in order for his mom and dad to have what they wanted, he was going to take it.Like Cullen said, he owed them so much.

There were fireworks, too, that his dad had gotten someone to shoot off for them.It was a lovely evening, even if it was just a little bit cold.And the food had been so good that he’d gone back for thirds when everyone else had had their fill.Even the desserts were his favorite foods, and the cherry pie, he noticed that they’d had for lunch looked just like the one that had been at the party.He loved Cullen even more for getting his favorite pie for them at the school.

Mom and Dad gave him the cruise ticket, and he was more excited about it than he’d thought he would have been before Cullen told him.They also told him that they were planning to move out of the big house and wanted him to have it.Not only did he take the house, but he told them that he was excited about living in it on his own.His parents were going to be close to him as they’d already purchased another home that wasn’t far away.Life all of a sudden was taking on a good status, and he was happy for the first time in a very long time.Relaxed as well.He couldn’t wait for his cruise to start next week and hoped he could convince Cullen to go with him.

Chapter 9

“Mr.Dixon, my parents are driving me insane about the test scores on that first test that we took at the beginning of the year.”Booth told him what he told him every time he brought it up.That the tests were just for his own use and didn’t count against the kids who took them.“But they don’t care about that part.They said that I took a test and I should be able to know the score of it.I don’t care.I feel like I did well on it, but they have this thing about making sure my grades are good.”

“It won’t matter at all if you did well or not, Thad.I told you, it was just a test to see how well you kept up with your studies over summer break.You know you did well and that’s all that matters, correct?”He said not according to his parents.“Well, I’ll call them and let them know too that I have no plans on making the test public, nor do I have any intentions of using the test on anything other than what I wanted to know.”

“They’re not going to like that.”He just told him that he wasn’t going to use it in his grading system.“You said that, but they don’t believe me when I said it didn’t count.It’s a test, and that’s all they hear.Can’t you just tell them what I got and be done with it?It sure would make my life a bit better at home.”

“I’ll talk to them during my break period.All right?”Thad shrugged and said again that it wouldn’t matter what he said, they wanted the score.“I’ll talk to the two of them today.That’s the best that I can do for you, Thad.If they wanted to, they could test you on the same material and see what they could come up with on a score.If I gave you your score on the test, then I’d have to give everyone their score, and it might be detrimental to the other students to get theirs.Trust me when I tell you that you had the highest score.That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Thad looked at him with relief, but still a little nervous.He did wonder at parents who would put that much pressure on someone who was just a kid.They must be overachievers, and they hoped that they could rub some of that off on their kid.He wasn’t looking forward to talking to them, but he knew that letting the other kids know that they scored below even a ‘D’ wouldn’t be good for their level of confidence.

Booth called them at one, and of course got someone who worked in the house.Leaving a message seemed like the best bet, but he knew that as soon as the message was given to them, they’d be calling him back during class even though he said that talking to them after four would make it so that he could speak to them about the grades that they weren’t getting.He’d even thought about destroying the papers so that he’d not accidentally have them laying out where someone could get to them.Right now, they were at his home in his office.Booth hated to act all suspicious about something when he’d been well within his rights to hold back on the scores as their teacher.

Almost as soon as he put the phone in the cradle in the office, it rang again.Thinking that it couldn’t be the Sawyers, he started away when he was called back.It was them.He rolled his eyes when he was told the phone was for him and asked if he could take it in the principal’s office.Granted permission, he hurried to the room to take a call that he was dreading more than he thought necessary.

“This is Mr.Dixon, Thad’s Latin teacher.With whom am I speaking?”They were both on the line with him.“I wanted to tell you that the test at the beginning of the year meant nothing to his grades and was only—”

“If it had nothing to do with his grades, then it should be no problem for you to give us the results.When you’re testing my child, you can bet that I take a deep interest in his study habits.”He told him that no one got the grades and that he’d destroyed the papers after he’d gotten the information off of them that he’d needed.Booth would do that when he got home.“Well, that’s going to get you into trouble.My son deserves to know what you were testing him on.”

“I agree with you if I had graded them.But all I did was look them over to see what kind of studying that had been done over the summer break.”Mr.Sawyer said that he was going to sue him.“Good luck with that.I told the kids before they took the test that it wasn’t going to count in their grades that were in the classroom, and I meant it.I have—”

“Perhaps you didn’t understand me when I said that I wanted that grade given to me.I don’t care what you did with the grades; once I have an understanding of what his score was, then I’ll back off.There is no reason for you to keep those sorts of grades hidden from us.”He told him that he wasn’t hiding them at all because there had been no score on the paperwork.“I demand that you tell me what he got on the test you gave him.”

“No grade.”The man sputtered a bit before asking him what he’d said.“He, like the other classmates that Thad has, got nothing on the test because it wasn’t graded.I looked them over and knew where I was going to—” He cut him off again.“Look, Mr.Sawyer, I’m not going to be able to finish a sentence with you if you keep cutting me off.There were no grades.I have nothing to give you.Nothing.It wouldn’t count on his grade.However, if you keep threatening me, I’m going to give Thad an out for my class and not teach him at all.I don’t need this kind of pressure from a student’s parents when there is no reason for it.”

“He needs Latin for his college performance.I know that you teach the class with a good ear for the language, but so far, you’re not impressing me when I have no idea what kind of grades my son is getting.Do you understand where I’m coming from at least?”Booth told him that he was putting undue pressure on his son, and he was going to drop him from his class because of the stress he was under at home.“You will not.”

“How do you think your son is going to feel when I tell him that I’m not going to be teaching him anymore?The amount of pressure on him right now is more than he needs to be.Simply because you think you deserve more than you’re entitled to at the moment.”Booth took a deep breath and let it out slowly.“I’m going to tell you for the last time.There was no grade given on the test.Nothing will come back on him for taking the test that was for my own personal teaching.If you keep this up, hounding him and me about it, I’ll take him out of my class so quickly that you’ll wonder how it happened.And don’t think that I won’t report to the head of the school about why it happened.I saw a potential abuse in the form of you trying to get something from him that no one else has seen.”

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