The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 24

15 Years Ago

Alice Blake chewed her nail down as she stood in front of her brother; it had been eight months since their father died, and things had gone completely downhill. Luckily her brother lived close enough that coming by to check up on his mother and Alice wasn't completely out of his way, but it was certainly not something he wanted to do every single day after work. Today he was in his uniform; the police cruiser in the parking lot made the setting for the whole situation a little over the top, but Nick didn't care. Alice had gone over the top, and he was done with covering her tracks, dealing with her attitude, and simply did not want to see her fail.

He had picked her up in the cruiser when he had been called; the dispatch told him that there was a problem at the high school, and he knew it had been Alice. He showed up, not for the first time, and this time he cuffed her and treated her like a criminal. It was to teach her a lesson, but the moment he got her home, she was released from her bonds. She scowled at him, but it was clear in her eyes that she was desperate for someone to tell her what she needed to hear. She had never been a bad kid, not once had she been sent to the principals office, or suspended. Now it was as if she was out of school more than she was in it; hanging with the wrong crowd.

Their mother had already begun to slip; she hadn't taken the sudden death of her husband well, and so Nick had to focus on fixing Alice first. Sitting her down, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Placing his head in his hands, he groaned at first, and then looked up at her. "Alice, you cannot keep doing this."

"I know," she whispered.

This was already a good start, and so he knew that he had to choose his words carefully. One wrong word and she might up and leave, and he didn't want to have to restrain her again or threaten her with a night in a jail cell. "How many courses are you failing?"

"Three."

"Can you pull your grades up before the end of the school year?"

"Maybe."

"I need better than a maybe." He sighed. "This is going on your criminal record, unless you can guarantee me that you're going to do better. What happened to your dream of becoming a psychologist?"

"It's stupid. Unrealistic."

"How many years of school?"

"Eight, minimum." She knew this by the time she was ten, she had it all planned out, but when her father was diagnosed, it all went downhill from there.

"About five grand a year? Give or take?"

"For the first four." She nodded.