One year later

Lisa's pov

Today we received our progress report cards at school. The four of us are sitting in our room comparing the notes our teachers wrote on the cards. Carrie appears to be the only winner here. She has only meets expectations and above expectations checked on both her academic and behavioral categories. The rest of us are not so fortunate.

Julie and I have the worst fifth grade teacher at our school. She's like a thousand years old and has no sense of humor and no tolerance for rule breaking. Big surprise we have the most needs improvement boxes checked on our cards.

"I am so screwed," I say, frisbeeing my progress report across the room as I collapse on my bed.

Julie picks up my card, looks it over and replies, "What are you talking about, Lisa? Your report is better than mine."

"It still sucks," I sigh. "Spelling, gym, handwriting, and follows directions, all marked needs improvement. Shane and Mike are gonna be pissed."

"I'm in the same sinking boat you're in, Lisa." Stacey reads off her card, "Music, math, and respects others property, all needs improvement."

"Please, I have both of you beat by a landslide," Julie brags, picking up her card and reading it aloud. "Handwriting, works well with others, uses time wisely, punctuality, respects authority, and follows directions, all needs improvement and under comments it just says conference needed. Tell me that's not the cherry on top of the sundae, conference needed. When Shane and Mike see this, my ability to sit comfortably in the near future is going to be marked 'needs an insurmountable degree of improvement.' Don't feel so bad now, do ya?"

"Yeah, I do feel better. You are so screwed, cuz," Stacey smirks.

"Thanks," Julie says, throwing her pillow at her cousin. "You suck by the way."

I envy the two of them for being able to joke around at a time like this. I wish I could be so cavalier about disappointing Shane and Mike and the painful punishment that goes along with it.

"How much time do you think we have 'til they get here?" I ask anxiously.

"They should've been here by now," Stacey says, after looking at the clock.

"That's great. I'm sure being stuck late at work will only enhance their pleasant demeanor," I quip sarcastically.

As if on cue, the phone rings. I pick it up, it's Shane.

"Look, we're runnin' late, girls, so if we're not back by 6pm, just go to dinner without us. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure," I reply.

I can hear Dr. Curtis in the background, "Donovan! If you're done gabbin' on the fuckin' phone, can we get back to the meeting please?"

Shit, he sounds pissed.

"Yes sir, I'll be right there," Shane responds. "Alright, Lisa, I've gotta go."

I hear Dr. Curtis again in the background, "Now, Donovan!" he yells.

"Bloody hell!" Shane mumbles under his breath, forgetting to cover the mouthpiece of the phone. "Bye, see you tonight, girls. Love you," he says quickly, before the line goes dead.

"Well the boys are runnin' late so we may be on our own for dinner."

"Did he say anything about our progress reports?" Stacey inquires.

"Nope. Maybe they don't even know we got them today," I say optimistically.

"If wishes were dreams," Julie says cryptically.

"What does that mean?" Carrie asks.

"I don't know," Julie says.

"Whatever, you're weird," I say.

After dinner

Stacey's pov

We head back to our room after eating dinner to find Mike and Shane sitting on Julie's bed. They do not look happy. Now I see why. Mike has our progress reports in his hand.

"How was your day, girls?" Mike asks, as he and Shane stand to greet us.

"Okay I guess." I hesitate, not wanting to embellish, sensing Mike doesn't really want to know.

"Would you like to know how OUR day went?" He gestures to Shane and continues without waiting for us to answer. "Shane and I spent two hours in rush hour traffic, seven hours in meetings, and three hours drafting proposals and writing reports. We came home hoping to relax and unwind after an incredibly long and arduous day but instead we stumbled upon some objectionable, yet stimulating reading material, namely your progress reports."

"We received OUR progress reports today too, ladies. Would you like to hear them?" Shane asks, in a frighteningly sarcastic tone.

Not quite sure if we should respond or if his query is rhetorical, we remain silent and wait to see how this plays out.

"For well over half an hour, Dr. Curtis informed us of how inept we are at our jobs at the Foundation. We also heard about our lackluster performance, pathetic work ethic, tremendous irresponsibility, failure to produce anything remotely resembling tangible results, and our astonishing lack of commitment."

"Good, so you understand how inaccurate progress reports can be," Lisa says, hoping for some sympathy or at the very least some empathy.

Shane narrows his eyes at Lisa and exhales slowly.

"No, Lisa, that couldn't be further from the point I'm trying to make."

"So you're saying that all those terrible things Dr. Curtis said about you and Mike are true?" Lisa asks, in disbelief.

Shane runs his fingers through his hair and clasps his hands together underneath his chin.

"No, Lisa. Dr. Curtis never said those things verbatim but that's what Mike and I heard."

"So you're hallucinating and hearing voices," I say. "Maybe you should get some rest. We can save this conversation for another day." I walk over to our door and hold it open, motioning for them to leave.

"Are you really in that much of a hurry to get over my knee, Stacey?" Shane asks menacingly.

Recognizing the icy glare he's giving me, I curb my tongue and my attitude.

"No sir."

"The point I'm trying to make, ladies, is that even though Dr. Curtis was saying some things we didn't want to hear, they were things Mike and I needed to hear. It was an unwelcome, yet necessary wake-up call for the two of us. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

I have no clue what this man's talking about and judging by the blank stares on everyone's faces I'm not the only one.

Mike steps in, "You're veering off course, Admiral. Let me take the helm."

Shane throws his hands up signaling defeat.

"I think what Shane is trying to say, is that if the four of you really think about why your teachers wrote what they did on your progress reports, you will come to the conclusion that none of the remarks were unwarranted."

His words are met with more blank stares.

"You all got what you deserved." Mike finally simplifies what he and Shane have been beating around the bush about for the last ten minutes.

"Oh okay, now I get it," Lisa says.

"There's ten minutes of my life I'll never get back," my cousin says under her breath but a little too loudly.

"Well, it appears we have our first volunteer for an in-depth, HANDS ON discussion, Shane," Mike says sternly, while never taking his eyes off my cousin. "Julie, wait for us in my room. We'll be in shortly."

I watch my cousin roll her eyes, sigh loudly, and mumble, "Whatever," before stalking out of the room.

She'll pay for that later, I think to myself.

"Lisa, you're on deck so go wait in my room," Shane says coldly.

Wanting to minimize the punishment her bottom is about to receive, Lisa wisely leaves with a lot less attitude than my cousin.