“I’ll handle it. Let’s just get through the conferences.”
Sebastian’s teacher was nice and showed me to their reading table where I could sit during Sebastian’s conference. I sat with my back to them and pulled out my reading book to begin reading.
“Overall, Sebastian’s grades are where he’s expected to be, but I’d like to see some improvement in all subjects. I think if he were to put in some extra time, he could be in the top percentile come fifth grade next year.”
“Extra time? Like, hiring a tutor?” Raquel asked.
“I don’t think you need to hire a tutor, but perhaps set aside some time in the evenings where an adult can work with him.”
Raquel laughed.
“We’re in the midst of planning a wedding. William and I hardly have time to think about anything other than the wedding.”I’m supposed to help at the wedding.
“I understand. But the extra time put in with him will benefit him down the road.”
“We’ll look into a tutor right away. We can’t have two stupid kids.”
I’m not stupid.
“I’m not insinuating that you have any stupid children. If I may be frank, some of Sebastian’s behavior in class is where I’m most concerned.”
“What do you mean?” Raquel asked.
“Some of the children have complained about Sebastian picking on them on the playground.”
“Sebastian, are you picking on kids?” his mom asked him.
“What? No!”
“He said he’s not. I believe my child.”
“I’ve witnessed him calling other kids names in class,” the teacher said.
“Well, maybe you’re misunderstanding him.”
“I’m certain that I’m not.”
“Well, he could just be stressed. We have the wedding going on and recently moved in with William and his kid. His kid has a lot of… problems.”
What kind of problems do I have?
“Perhaps it’s a change in environment. I’ll give you a call the next time we have an incident in class. We can address it at that time.”
“Fair enough. In the meantime, we’ll look into a tutor for him. Sebastian, get Patrick. We need to get to his conference.”
I closed my book, and as I put it in my backpack, Sebastian grabbed my sleeve and yanked me out of the seat. The legs of the chair were tangled with the table and another chair and made a lot of noise when I fell out of the seat. I was on the floor on top of my backpack, looking back at my dad.
“He fell,” Sebastian lied.
“Lots of problems,” Raquel said to Sebastian’s teacher.
As soon as we left his class, I led them to my classroom. While another kid from the class and their mom were still talking to my teacher, I took hold of Dad’s sleeve and walked him toward the bulletin board for our class. All the kids made a picture for the bulletin board using tissue paper we twisted with an eraser on a pencil. I pointed to the tree I made with the tissue paper and then I pointed to my name.
Dad nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Lovely,” Raquel said.
Did she like it? I couldn’t tell for sure.
