Page 52 of Press Your Luck

"Maybe you need to keep trying. You've only had him for a couple of months.”

Jesus, she’d had twelve years and he was like this. How much time would it take? "I just want him to be happy."

She snorted. “Which is it, Pierce? You want him to act right or be happy? If you just want him to act right, punish him. If you want him to be happy, let him do what he wants.”

I pulled my phone away and stared at it, shocked by her statement. “He can be both, you know.”

“Pierce, if I knew that, he’d still be with me.” With that, Jeannie hung up.

“I hate you.”

I swung around to find Porter standing in the doorway, his face red with fury.

“Porter—”

“You and my mom never wanted me, anyway.”

I walked over to him, but he backed away. “I didn’t know about you. But now that I do, now that you’re here, I want you. I plan for you to stay with me. But I need help on how to help you.”

"Save it," he spat. “I don't need your help, and I don't need you asking my mom about me."

I sighed. “Your behavior at school is concerning, and we need to work together to address it."

"Work together?" He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "Yeah, right. You don't know anything about me, so don't pretend like you care. "

"Of course I care.” I was desperate for him to understand. "You're my son, and I want to be there for you. But you have to do your part as well. It doesn’t have to be like this, you know?"

A battle raged behind his eyes as he considered my words. For a moment, it looked like he might give in, but then his expression hardened once more. "Whatever.”

I cocked my head to the side. “What happened at school?”

Porter hesitated, his gaze flicking to the floor as he began to speak. "This kid, Jake... he's been giving me a hard time ever since I got here. Today, he just pushed me too far, so I fought back."

I’d gotten in a fight or two in school, so I knew where he was coming from. Even so, fighting was never the answer, even if it felt good in the moment. “Is fighting him going to solve anything?"

He looked up, his eyes filled with defiance. "He deserved it."

I nodded. "Standing up for yourself is important, but there are better ways to handle things than violence. Was there a teacher around?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m no tattletale.”

Right. “So, what do you think you could have done differently?”

"I don't know." Porter shrugged, looking away again.

“What about your friends?”

“I don’t have any. Jake told them I had a disease.”

I wanted to punch Jake myself. "Making friends takes time, and it's not always easy. Are there other kids that you can hang out with?”

He shrugged.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, and for the first time, he didn't pull away, giving me a flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe, we could find a way to get along. “I tell you what, you go clean the bathroom—”

He jerked away and glared at me.

“And afterward, we can go out to dinner. Maybe even get ice cream.”

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