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As Things Change - Part XI Bo and Nora walk into the waiting area outside the principal’s office. His secretary looks up as they approach her desk. “Bo and Nora Buchanan. We have a meeting with Mr. Thompson.”   “Of course. He’ll be right with you.” She picks up the phone and buzzes the principal, letting him know Bo and Nora have arrived. The door to his office opens and he strides out to greet them. “Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan. Come right in.” He shakes Bo’s hand, ushering them into the office. He turns to the secretary. “Please get Matthew Buchanan out of his class. And Mr. Winters has a free period. He should be in the teacher’s lounge.”   The secretary gets up from her desk. “Right away.”   Mr. Thompson walks back into his office and closes the door. He motions to the chairs in front of his desk. “Please have a seat. I haven’t seen the two of you since the dance last year. I guess you’ve given up chaperoning?”   Nora glares at Bo. “Well, we… Matthew hasn’t gone to the past couple dances so we…”   The principal is enjoying watching her squirm. “So you’re not interested in helping out the school anymore?”   Bo takes Nora’s hand, smiling at the principal, knowing he is just teasing them. “I think we’d be open if you could find a way that our talents would be useful, right honey?”   Nora hasn’t caught on yet. “Well, I’m not really the PTA type… And I don’t know much about geometry or calculus…”   Mr. Thompson smiles at her. “It’s a little late for this year. Perhaps we should meet at the beginning of the fall semester to discuss ways for you to contribute?” Nora nods quickly. “I’d like that. Very much…” Bo shakes his head. “You have to excuse my wife. She’s not used to being called into the principal’s office. It makes her a little nervous.” “I see.” “So why are we here? The school year is over tomorrow. How much trouble could Matthew have gotten into this late in the game?”   The principal is about to answer when the door opens and Matthew's history teacher walks in. Bo stands and shakes hands with him. “How are you, Mr. Winters?”   “I’m good, Mr. Buchanan. I wish we were here under better circumstances.”   “What’s going on? We don’t know why we were called in today.”   Mr. Winters hands Bo a folder. Nora stands and peers over Bo’s shoulder as he opens the folder. Bo frowns as he sees Matthew’s test with an ‘F’ written at the top of the page. “So Matthew flunked his final and that merits a call to the principal’s office?”   Nora grabs the test out of the folder as Mr. Thompson shakes his head. “It’s more serious than that.”   Bo glances down at the folder and sees another paper with an identical ‘F’ on top. He picks up the paper and hands it to Nora. She compares the two tests and looks at Mr. Winters. “Matthew was cheating on his history test?” He nods. “Why? I know he studied for it. He didn’t need to cheat.”   “That’s why I called you down here. Matthew should be here shortly and we’ll get to the bottom of this. Cheating on finals is a very serious offense. Even though it’s the end of the year, he could be expelled.”   Nora stares at Bo. “Why would he do this?”   The door opens and the secretary ushers Matthew into the room. He sees his parents, teacher and principal and knows it’s not good. “What’s going on? Something wrong?”   Nora holds up his paper. “Can you explain this?”   He takes the paper from her. “I flunked my test? I didn’t think I did that bad.”   Bo hands him the other test and Matthew sees Raven’s name at the top, along with her ‘F’ and his heart sinks. He looks at his teacher. “You think I cheated?”   “The answers are all the same, Mr. Buchanan.”   “So! That just means she copied me.” He turns to Nora. “I didn’t cheat, Mom. I swear. I studied for that test.”   “Do you know this other girl?”   Matthew hesitates before slowly nodding. “She came to one of the meetings at the Center.”   “You were speaking to her yesterday before the test,” Mr. Winters points out.   “She asked me to help her cheat. I said no. That was it.”   Bo stares at his son. “We need the truth now, Matthew.”   “That IS the truth, Dad. She wanted me to help her pass and I said no.”   Bo frowns. “Why would she ask you out of the blue to help her cheat?”   Matthew sighs, knowing it’s time to tell the whole story. “I met her at the Teens Together meeting and then she showed up at the Putt Putt Park the night we got in the fight. She hit the ball that clocked that kid in the head. Then she took off and we got blamed.”   Bo nods, crossing his arms. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”   “I thought it was just a harmless prank. Then when I saw her at the Center again, she asked me to help her with history. I told her about our tutoring program but that’s not what she wanted. She wanted me to cheat and I said no.”   “But she didn’t get the hint?”   Matthew shakes his head. “No, she acted like I was going to help her.”   “You have an obligation to report these kinds of things, Mr. Buchanan,” Mr. Thompson reminds him.   “I thought once I told her no she would let it go, but she didn’t.”   Bo continues watching Matthew. “Is that all there is, son?”   Matt stares at Bo, shaking his head. “Dad, I…”   “This is your only chance to come clean, son. I want the entire story. Now.”   Matt looks down. “She threatened to tell Kallie I was sleeping with her if I didn’t help her,” he says quietly.   “WHAT?”   Bo puts his arm around Nora. “Is that why you helped her?” he asks calmly.   Matt looks up, tears threatening. “I didn’t help her! I didn’t think she would really tell Kallie that and I hoped Kallie wouldn’t believe her if she did. All I know is that I didn’t help her on the test. She sat next to me, she must have just looked herself.”   Mr. Winters looks at the principal. “I’ve had problems with the other student cheating before. I haven’t had any issues with Mr. Buchanan prior to this. I’m willing to let him take another test.”   Nora turns to Mr. Winters. “You believe my son?” He nods. “Thank you.”   The principal shakes his head. “We still have codes of conduct in this school and even if you refused the request to cheat, you neglected to bring it to my or Mr. Winters’ attention.”   Bo nods. “I appreciate you letting him retake the test Mr. Winters but I agree with Mr. Thompson that Matthew had an obligation to report what happened, even if he didn’t intend to help her.” He looks at the principal. “What punishment do you suggest?”   The principal is taken aback. “I must say, Mr. Buchanan, I’m not used to having parents request punishment when their kids get in trouble. Especially since it seems Matthew isn’t guilty of cheating.”   Matthew frowns at Bo. “Yeah, Dad. I didn’t cheat.”   Bo nods. “So it seems. But what you did isn’t right either, Matthew.” He turns to the principal. “We can deal with this at home if you would prefer.”   “Well, since Matthew must retake the test, perhaps he could meet me here on Saturday.”   Bo shakes his head. “I’m sorry but we’re leaving town first thing Saturday morning.”   “Well, then I guess the best time would be tomorrow afternoon.”   “But I’ll miss the picnic!” Matthew protests.   Nora shakes her head at her son. “I think that’s more than fair, Matthew.”   “But, Mom, I had plans…”   Bo stares at him. “Not another word, Matthew.” He turns to the principal. “He will be in your office to take the test tomorrow afternoon. Thank you.”   The principal shakes Bo’s hand before turning to Matthew. “You can return to class, Mr. Buchanan.”   Matthew glares at his parents before leaving the office, followed by Mr. Winters. The principal turns to Bo and Nora. “Well, this has been a very odd – and refreshing – conversation. I appreciate your time.”   “Thank you for contacting us. Enjoy your summer.”   Bo and Nora walk out of the office and silently head out to the parking lot. Bo opens Nora’s door before making his way to the driver’s side. He climbs in and turns to her, clearly angry. “What are we going to do with that boy?”   “Calm down, Bo. His teacher said this girl has cheated before. Sounds like she took advantage of Matthew.”   “And he let it happen. When will he learn to stand up for himself?”   “He’s a teenager, sweetie. He’s still developing.”   “Well, he better develop quickly or…”   She leans him over and kisses him. “Or what? You know you’re no better at punishing our son than I am. You bluster and scare him out of his wits and then it dies down.”   “Well this time I mean business!”   She smiles. “Sure you do. We leave for the ranch on Saturday. How much punishment can you dole out?”   He frowns at her, not bothering to respond as he starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot.   Marcie knocks softly on the door of the loft. Lauren opens the door and beckons her inside. “You look terrible.” She holds up a shopping bag. “I brought the essentials – 7-Up and saltines.”   “You’re an angel, Marcie. I just can’t keep anything down. I need to go back to work sometime. John thinks I’m near death.”   “I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that. If you would just tell him why you feel sick, he’d be fine with it.”   “I can’t tell him yet! Rex doesn’t even know and I have to tell him first. “   “What are you waiting for?”   Lauren sighs. “I’ve tried to tell him but when I bring up kids he starts telling me how relieved he is that we don’t have them and won’t have them any time soon.”   “Oh, dear.”   “And then I get upset and feel nauseous and run into the bathroom. It’s pathetic.”   Marcie shakes her head. “Isn’t Rex suspicious with you being sick all the time?”   “He’s a guy! He thinks I have the flu.”   “What are you going to do?”   Lauren takes a seat on the couch, opening the box of crackers. “Rex did this weird thing where he made a ‘date’ with me for tomorrow night. I’m going to tell him then.”   “That’s a great idea. He’ll have the rest of the weekend to get over the shock before he has to tell Bo.”   Lauren shakes her head. “Rex said the Buchanans are leaving for the ranch on Saturday morning.”   “Really? How long will they be gone?”   “Rex wasn’t sure. Why?”   “Well I talked to Michael and he’s willing to think about adoption. I wanted to have Nora discuss it with him. You know, the legal end of it.”   “That’s a great idea. Did you tell him about Miki?”   Marcie nods. “He’s not ready for that yet. I wanted Nora to let him know it could be a reality before we contacted child services. You know how Michael is about details. He’ll want to know we can adopt her before he meets her and gets attached.”   “That sounds sensible.”   “Yeah, Michael is being very analytical about this whole thing. He spoke with Dr. Conklin and he’s not as convinced we can’t conceive on our own. But I just feel like it’s such a slim possibility that I don’t want to waste time hoping for a miracle when I could be helping a child like Miki.”   “I understand. Maybe you can meet with Nora when they get back from the ranch.”   Marcie shakes her head. “I don’t want to wait. I’m going to call her.”   Matt walks out of school and groans when he sees Bo waiting for him in the parking lot. He slowly makes his way to the Jeep, pulling open the door. “I have my bike, Dad.”   “It’s in the trunk. Hop in.”   Matt tosses his backpack into the backseat and climbs in the Jeep. “Where we going?”   Bo puts the car in drive and pulls out of the parking lot. “Your mother asked me to take you to the mall and get you some gear for the ranch.”   “About today… I’m sorry.”   “You’re sorry? Matthew when are you going to learn to stand up when it counts?”   “I said I wouldn’t help her cheat. What did you expect me to do?”   “I expected you to take the extra step and inform your teacher or your principal what was going on.”   Matt rolls his eyes. “Do you know how hard that would be?”   “Yes, I do. You think I don’t know what it’s like to be a Buchanan and the expectations that go along with that?”   “I think it’s just different…”   “Yes, it IS different. I grew up in Texas where my father owned half the county and everyone knew who he was and that I was his son. You think that didn’t put extra pressure on me?”   “Maybe you were just better at handling it.”   “That’s crap, Matthew. I have talked to you again and again about always doing the right thing. Your mother and I have encouraged you to do the right thing. We’ve stood by you no matter what and we always will but I hoped that support would give you the courage to ask for help when you can’t do it by yourself.”   “I try, Dad.”   “I know you do. But you still try to do things on your own instead of seeking advice and making different choices. This is no different than the situation with Stevie’s parents. When will you figure this out?”   Matt hangs his head. “I’m sorry, Dad.”   Bo is about to respond when his cell phone buzzes. He sighs when he sees the name on the caller ID. “This isn’t a good time, Balsom… Yes, I remember that case… Did you call John? … Where are you? … Okay, okay, I’ll be right there.” He disconnects and puts the phone back in his pocket, glancing at the street sign. He signals and makes a left turn. “We’ll have to discuss this later. I have to go meet Rex.”   “Is he in trouble too?”   Bo grins. “No more than usual. I’m going to drop you at Asa’s.”   “Why can’t I just go home?”   “Because Asa’s is closer and I don’t have time to take you home.”   “I can ride my bike…”   “Matthew! I think it would be a good idea today for you to do as I tell you.”   “Fine.”   TBC