“Lesson learned,” Mikey said evenly, refusing to look away first.
“He can have you,” Sebastian bit out.
There was a heavy sigh and then, “You kids are going to be the death of me,” Uncle Trevor said as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face.
“I think we should clear up a few things first,” Aunt Zoe said as she focused her attention on Sebastian. “You are not going to military school,” making him frown.
“What? But the therapist said–”
“Do you really think that we would send you off to military school based on the word of a therapist that you’d just met?” Aunt Zoe asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “We love you, Sebastian.”
“But I screwed up,” Sebastian pointed out, looking confused while the need to kick him intensified.
“Yeah, you did and we’re going to talk about that, but that doesn’t mean that we’re ready to give up on you,” Aunt Zoe said.
“It does mean that you’re grounded for a month and that if you ever do anything like that again, I’ll allow Mikey to beat some sense into you,” Uncle Trevor drawled.
“I’m ready to do that now,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly.
“And you’ll be joining him for that month,” her stepfather said as he walked into the kitchen, carrying Nathan.
“But…” Mikey began only to end up sighing when she realized that it was pointless to argue, especially since they were getting off pretty easily considering everything that happened.
“I just got off the phone with Garret. Seems that he had an interesting conversation with the school,” her stepfather said as he placed Nathan down on the floor so that he could make his way across the kitchen and climb onto Sebastian’s lap.
Traitor.
“What did they say?” Uncle Trevor asked as he grabbed one of the sippy cups that they kept here for the twins from the cabinet.
“First, I’m curious about something,” her stepfather said as he looked at Sebastian. “Would you have gone to that school if you knew that Mikey would get in trouble?”
“No,” Sebastian said with absolutely no hesitation.
“Why were you doing it, Sebastian?” Aunt Zoe asked as she took the sippy cup from her husband and poured some apple juice in it before giving it to Nathan, who was lounging comfortably on Sebastian’s lap.
There was a pause and then, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, that’s too bad because we need to figure out a few things including why you went to a school that you knew you weren’t supposed to set foot in,” Uncle Trevor said as he folded his arms back over his chest, letting his son know that he was more than willing to wait this one out.
For several minutes, Sebastian didn’t say anything as he sat there, glaring at the kitchen cabinets as he ground his jaw and then finally…
“Because she makes everything better.”
“I really do,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head and a heartfelt sigh that drew Sebastian’s glare while Uncle Trevor tried to bite back a smile.
Clearing his throat, Uncle Trevor said, “That doesn’t really explain why you had to break into the school every day.”
“It made it easier to get through the day if I had something to look forward to instead of trying to figure out how to kill seven hours every day,” he admitted with a shrug.
“What I don’t understand is why you told us that you wanted to keep homeschooling instead of going to Radcliffe when you had the chance,” Aunt Zoe said.
When he didn’t answer her, Mikey said, “Because he didn’t want you to have to try to find a way to come up with the money to cover the tuition. He knew that if he accepted the scholarship, that you would have to find a way to cover Jonathan’s tuition. He lied so that Jonathan could take his place.”
“You have a big mouth,” Sebastian said, sighing heavily.
“And you should have told them sooner,” Mikey shot back, not really caring that she was breaking her word, not when keeping her mouth shut meant that Sebastian was stuck in a situation that made him miserable.
There was a heavy sigh and then, “Sebastian, it’s not your job to worry about that.”