It had taken me all day to get enough courage, but I was as ready as I was ever going to be. This entire plan was Jax’s idea. He’d given it to me when he’d called this morning and asked me again if I’d told my parents about my bio exam.
“Nah. I’m kinda thinking that maybe I’ll just wait until I get my midterm grades. That’ll give me some time to come up with a good story.”
“That’s not the way to do it.”
“Why not?”
“Look, I’ve been in this situation so many times it’s not funny. But I always win ’cause I kinda treat it like a basketball game. You ever heard of the saying, ‘The best defense is a great offense’?”
“No.”
“Well, that just means that you go at your parents before they have a chance to come at you.”
“Go at them with what, my grade?”
“Yup.”
“You have lost your mind. You don’t know my father, and you definitely don’t know the judge.”
“I’m telling you, I know what I’m talking about. All you’ve got to do is go to them straight, tell them about the D, but here’s the good part. Tell them that you’ve already got a plan to fix this. That you’ve already worked it out. I’m telling you, my plan will work. It always does—even with the judge. Parents like that kind of thing. They like it when you take responsibility.”
Responsibility—that was the judge’s favorite word. But I still wasn’t feeling Jax’s plan. Until I thought about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it might work. My mother always said that if I came to them with the truth, I would never get in trouble. This was my chance to see if that was the truth.
I folded my test in my hand, then found my parents downstairs in the family room. “Mother, Daddy, can I talk to you?”
“Certainly, dear.”
My mother dropped the paper she was reading, but my father continued working on his crossword puzzle.
“Linden, Diamond wants to talk to us.”
Now my father looked at me. He took a puff on his pipe, then smiled. “Is this going to cost me anything?”
“No, Daddy.”
I sat on the ottoman so that I could face them. “I wanted to talk to you and Mother about school.”
“Is anything wrong?”
I shook my head at my mother. “Not really It’s just that I ran into a little trouble.”
Now I had their full attention. “What kind of trouble?” the judge asked. Only she didn’t sound like a judge. She sounded worried. And that gave me a little hope.
“Well, when school started, I thought it was going to be easy to keep up, but it’s been harder than I thought.”
And just that quick the judge was back. My mother folded her arms and I began to wonder if I’d made a big mistake. Maybe I should have waited until report card time. If I had to be grounded, then later is always better than sooner.
I took a deep breath. “I’ve been keeping up in all my classes except for biology. We had a test, and even though I really studied … I didn’t do well.”
“What does that mean?” the judge asked.
“I got … a D.” I opened the paper and showed them. “But I’ve already started fixing this. I spoke to my teacher, and he’s giving me some extra work to make up the grade. And he suggested a tutor I can work with. I’ve put together a plan so that by the end of the year, I’ll be able to get a B.” When they didn’t say anything, I added, “I wanted to tell you because I wanted to take responsibility.”
The quiet kept going. Then my mother said, “I’m disappointed—”
But before she could finish, my dad took up for me. “I have to say, Diamond, I’m glad you came to us.”
“Well, I wanted to, Daddy. I wanted to be honest and not have any surprises for you when my midterm grades came in. I thought this was the mature thing to do.”
“It was. And I like your plan.” He puffed on his pipe some more. “I especially like that you’ve already taken steps to fix this.”
“By the end of the year, you’ll be proud of me.”
“Well, dear, we’re already proud of you,” my mother said. “It’s just that I’m concerned. Maybe it’s time for you to reconsider the dance team.”
“No, Mother. I really can handle it. I was just surprised by all the work you get as a sophomore. But I have it under control now.”
My dad looked at my mother and said, “You know, Elizabeth, there is such a thing as the sophomore slump.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but if it was going to get the judge on my side, then I was all for it.
My dad said to me, “You’re always telling us how mature you are, and to me this proves that you’re trying to be.”
“Yes,” my mother said, although I wasn’t sure she really agreed with my father. “It’s good that you came to us. But we have to see improvement, Diamond. You’ll have to bring this grade up or else we will revisit all of your activities, is that clear?”
“Yes, Mother. And thank you for believing in me.” I stood and walked slowly out of the room. But when I got to the staircase, I dashed up the steps. I couldn’t believe I’d wiggled out of that! I’d walked right out of the room without being grounded, with my cell phone still on—everything was fine. It was just like Jax had said. My boyfriend was brilliant.
I wanted to call him, but I wasn’t going to take the chance, just in case the judge came up here to give me one final word of warning. I bounced on my bed and grabbed my Sidekick: It wrkd. Ur brilliant. KOTL. CUl8tr.
I wondered what Jax would think when he read my text. This was the second time I’d told him that I wanted to kiss him. Maybe this time he would get the message.