I Promise

Chapter 20

I'm lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when Jack walks into the room.

"Hello! Guess who's here?" he announces cheerfully. I laugh and say "Hello" to him as well.

"I talked to the headmaster," he says as he grabs the chair from my desk and pulls it up next to the bed.

"Yeah?" I reply, pushing myself up into a sitting position. "What did he say?"

"You need to start getting better marks if you're going to graduate," Jack replies.

"Jack, I've been gone for almost two months and school is almost over," I say. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Well, I asked him that as well," Jack replies. "He told me you could do the school work from home, and we could get it to your teachers."

"And what about exams?" I ask, still in disbelief as to how I could possibly get better marks with less than a month left of school.

"He said you would still have to go to school to take exams," Jack replies. "But he also said that, if you absolutely cannot make it to school, he could probably figure out some way to work around it."

"Wait," I say, "He knows about...?"

"Yeah," Jack replies. "Almost everyone knows. I mean, you have been gone for a long time, people are obviously going to start wondering what happened to you."

"How did the headmaster react to it?" I ask. "Did he say anything to you about it?"

This time Jack doesn't reply. He looks down and begins fidgeting with his hands.

"What did he say?" I ask. "You didn't get expelled, did you?"

"No," Jack says, shaking his head, "But I had to beg him not to expel me or punish me. Thankfully I was able to convince him, otherwise, I might have a problem."

"So...how am I going to get all of my school work to my professors?" I ask.

"I'm head boy darling," Jack jokes, "I'm sure I can figure something out."

I laugh and Jack adds,

"But in all seriousness, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out what we can do. I'm sure you should have at least one of your friends in all of your classes. You're very popular, you should know someone in each class. You could text them and see if they can get the school work and homework to you and back to your professors.¨

"Thank you so much for all of this," I say.

"It's my pleasure," Jack replies. "Like I promised you, I will do anything to help you with whatever you need. Even if it is as small as this."

"When are you going to get that job you promised you'd get?" I joke. Jack laughs.

"If you really want me to get a job I can get one," he says.

We continue to joke for hours after that. Jack probably would never have left my side if he didn't have to, but even after he does we text and call each other until we both realize we've stayed up too late.

We never talk about our son's future again, but the topic stays in the back of my mind because I know that both Jack and my mother were correct.

Jack and I couldn't take care of a baby alone.

And even if we could, what kind of life could we provide him with, if we don't even know how to provide for ourselves?