Don't You Go and Carry On With Your Life

Jack

We were finally going to be able to move back into our house tonight. Alex had texted me that he was finished moving all of his things out. It seemed like he only took his clothes and other items, but left everything else in the house for me. I didn't ask if he found a place to stay because I didn't care. Well I was a little curious but Kellin and Kylie were spending the weekend with him so Kellin would tell me later. I tried not to think about Alex much today because I needed to be prepared for my job interview.

I woke up at the same time Kellin had to get up for school. My interview was at nine am and I needed to be dressed and there on time. I was pretty nervous, I hadn't had a job interview since I worked at that restaurant while Alex went to school. I was kind of afraid I wasn't good enough for the job. There were probably other candidates who had more experience and were better suited.

I sat in the kitchen eating breakfast and going over my interview questions. I had been practicing all night, but it didn’t hurt to practice more. Kellin walked in, grabbed a pop tart, and left the kitchen without saying anything to me. Usually he would tell me he was leaving or bye at least, but he didn’t this time. I heard the front door open and close as he left for school. Maybe he mumbled bye and I didn’t hear him. Or maybe he was ignoring me because he was still upset he had to spend the weekend with Alex. I hoped it was the first thing.

I finally stopped stalling for time and got up to leave. The building was twenty minutes away, in downtown Baltimore, so I left thirty minutes ahead of time.

I ended up making it fifteen minutes early; I was sort of speeding. I walked inside and went to the information desk to tell the receptionist was here for an interview.

"Hi, who are you here to see?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm here to see Mr. Ruiz." I told her.

"Ah okay he'll be with you in one second." She told me.

I nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs. A few minutes later, a man dressed in a suit walked out. I couldn't help but to notice that he was kind of attractive. Great, like I needed another distraction from this interview.

"Mr. Barakat?" He asked me.

"Yes that's me!" I said and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you. Let's go to my office." He said and I got up to follow him.

*********

"So he just hired you on the spot?" My mom asked.

"Yeah he said that he was sure I would be perfect for the job. Plus they're going to train me so it didn't matter that I don't have much work experience." I said excitedly. I left the office with a new job that I started on Wednesday.

"That's perfect, Jack! Now you'll have some extra money."

"Yeah, we should be fine with money Alex gives us and my checks every two weeks." I agreed.

"When do you get the first check from him?" She asked.

"Next month. The alimony money and Kylie's child support money will be deposited into my account. And Kellin's child support money will be will be put on a card for him."

"Great, that should be enough time before your bills are due."

"Mhmm it is." I said. "But I'm gonna start taking some of our stuff home so it'll be there for tonight."

"Okay honey, you know you all can always come back if you need to." She told me.

"Yeah mom I know. Thanks for letting us stay for as long as we did." I told her and she brushed it off.

I made sure I had all of our things packed up so I wouldn’t accidently leave anything. Then I made two trips to place our bags in my car. Once I was finished I went to get Kylie from where she was sleeping on the couch. I picked her up and my phone began to ring. I sighed and sat her back down to answer it. It was Kellin's school calling.

"Hello." I answered.

"Hi, may I speak to Mr. Gaskarth." A lady asked. My eye twitched as I heard her call me that; I made a mental note to change that with the school sometime later.

"This is he." I told her.

"Hi, Mr. Gaskarth. My name is Helen and I am Kellin's algebra two teacher. I was calling to inform you that for the past few class periods Kellin has neglected to turn his homework in. He also failed this week’s quiz. I'm just a little concerned because he normally is excelling in this class. I just don't want to see him fall behind." She explained.

"Oh um thank you for calling me, Helen. Kellin has just had a lot on his plate for the last week. I think he might be a little stressed. I'll be sure to talk to him about it and help him catch up." I said.

"Okay and I'll allow him to take a make-up quiz and turn in one of the homework assignments he missed."

"Okay, thank you again, Helen."

"You're welcome. Have a nice day!"

"You too." I told her and hung up.

"Who was that?" My mom asked.

"It was Kellin's math teacher. She told me that he hasn't turned in his homework and he failed his math quiz. Kellin usually does well in math so I'm really worried. What if Alex and me getting a divorce is affecting his grades." I said worriedly.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Honey. Just talk to him when he gets home and let him know that he can talk to you if he needs help."

"Yeah I'll make sure to talk to him later." I picked up Kylie from the couch and carried her to my car.

Kylie was awake by the time we made it home. She sat on the couch with me and played with her baby doll. I couldn't think about anything other than what to say to Kellin when he got home. He wasn't in trouble for making bad grades, I just wanted to see exactly why his grades were slipping. I hoped it wasn't because of the divorce, but that's was the only thing that made sense.

When Kellin came home a few minutes later, he ran up to his room without telling me hi like he normally did. I didn't have time to stop him before he went up so I had to go up to his room to talk to him. I got up from the couch and walked up to his room with Kylie right behind me. His door was already closed so I knocked on it.

"Come in." He said after a few seconds.

"Hey can we talk?" I asked.

"Um sure." He said while staring at his phone.

"Put your phone down and listen to me?" I said and he sighed and did it. "Your math teacher called me today. She was worried because she said you haven't turned in your homework and you failed a quiz." I told him.

"Okay? Am I in trouble…?" He shrugged and I frowned.

"No but I'm worried too. You always do your homework and you never make any bad grades in math. What's going on, Kells?"

"Nothing, Daddy."

"Then why are you all of the sudden failing?"

"I don't know, I guess the class is getting harder." He snapped.

"Well why aren't you asking for help? I can help or I'm sure your teacher can." I said, ignoring his out-burst.

"Okay I'll start asking for help." He rushed.

"And your teacher said she'll let you turn in the homework and take one of the quizzes so make sure you talk to her about that tomorrow."

"Okay."

He didn't sound like he was actually going to do it, he was just trying to rush me out of his room. I left his room without trying to convince him anymore.

"Kylie, go with Daddy." I heard Kellin tell her. I didn't notice she didn't follow me out.

"Noooo!" She whined.

"Go, get out of my room!" He told her and she began to cry, not leaving out of his room. I turned back around and went to go get her.

"Come on, baby. He just needs some time to himself." I told her as I carried her out. "How about you help me cook dinner? That sounds fun doesn't it?" I asked Kylie as I rubbed her back. She still continued to cry so I turned the TV to Dora the Explorer and she slowly quieted down.

I went into the kitchen to begin making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I worried about Kellin while I cooked dinner. I wanted to know what was actually bothering him but I didn't want to keep pressing and make him angrier. I didn't know anyone he would talk to besides Vic. He definitely wouldn't tell Alex was wrong so I couldn’t ask him. Maybe I could beat around the bush and get him to tell me something on accident.

It didn't take long for me to finish cooking all of the ingredients. I set the table for us and then I went upstairs with Kylie to get Kellin. His door was closed again when I went up there so I knocked. After a minute I didn't get a response so I knocked again. I still didn't get a response, I figured he was taking a nap. I slowly opened his door and saw that he was laying on bed talking on the phone. He glared at me when I opened the door all the way.

"I didn't say you could come in." He said, after putting Vic on hold.

"You didn't say anything at all." I said.

"Yeah exactly. I didn't want to be bothered."

"Kellin I don't know where this attitude is coming from bu-"

"-What attitude? I don't have an attitude." He cut me off.

"Yes you do. I can tell by the way you've been taking to me all day."

"Sure Daddy." He sighed.

"I'm serious, Kellin." I warned.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"This isn't how you normally act."

"Oh my god is this because I told Kylie to get out of my room?" He asked, gesturing to Kylie who was standing behind my leg afraid to come all the way into his room.

"No it's about the way you've been acting today. Now get off the phone and come eat dinner." I demanded.

"I'm not hungry." He quickly answered.

"I wasn't asking." I told him.

"Oh so now I'm being forced to eat??" He questioned and I sighed.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Kellin. It's dinner time and I know you're hungry because you haven't eaten since lunch and usually you're starving by now."

"I'm not hungry." He repeated and took Vic off of hold. He began his conversation with him again before I could speak.

I stood at the door trying to figure out if I was dreaming or not. Kellin was never this disrespectful to Alex or me before. I couldn't tell if it was his teenage hormones or him negatively reacting to the divorce.

I picked up Kylie and left Kellin's room. I didn't know how to react to him acting act this way. I didn't know if I should punish him or not.

I went downstairs and got food for Kylie and I. Kylie fed herself with her hands while I ate and picked up my phone to call May. She had a teenage daughter and younger son with her husband, Matt. I figured she would be able to help me choose what to do about Kellin.

"Hello." She answered.

"Hey May, what's are you doing?" I asked her.

"We're about to eat dinner. Matt made steak for us. Wanna join?" She asked.

"No thanks, I made spaghetti for us. I was actually calling to see if you can help me with something." I told her.

"Yeah what's up?"

"It's Kellin. First his teacher called to tell me he's been not turning in his homework and he failed a quiz and when I tried to talk to him about it he snapped at me and talked back. Then when I tried to get him to come down for dinner he just had a bad attitude and I don't know he's acting weird." I explained.

"Oooh do you think he's acting out because of the divorce?" She asked and I sighed.

"I was thinking that, but when I asked he said he hasn't been doing well in math because it's getting harder and I was thinking that maybe I've been prying a lot lately to make sure he's okay and that's probably annoying him."

"Yeah but that's no excuse for him to talk back or anything. Did you ground him for that?" She asked.

"No that's what I needed help deciding. I don't know if I should punish him or try to talk to him more."

"I think you should try talking to him again first and if he's still being rude then take his cellphone and tell him he's grounded." She suggested. "That's what Matt and I do with Natalia when she talks back or catches an attitude."

"Yeah you're right. I'm going to try that after dinner, thanks."

"You’re welcome, good luck!" She said and we both hung up.

I sat my phone down and pushed the rest of my food away. I was so frustrated that I didn't feel like eating any more, maybe this was what Kellin felt like. My head was beginning to hurt thinking about this situation too much. I placed my head in my hands trying to think straight and I quickly looked up when I felt Kylie's spaghetti covered hand touch me.

"Eat." She said as she held a few noodles out towards my face trying to get me to eat it.

"I'm not hungry, mama." I told her and she pushed the noodles closer to me. "Okay okay I have my own food. Look I'm eating it." I picked up my fork and put some spaghetti on it. She made sure I brought the fork to my mouth and ate my food. Then she put the noodles in her own mouth. She watched to make sure I ate all of the food on my plate.

"All done." I told her and showed her my plate. She giggled and clapped for me, she was so cute.

I grabbed a plate, put spaghetti on it, and grabbed a can of Sprite for Kellin. I carried it up to his room and his door was closed once again. I used my free hand to knock and I didn't get a response. I considered just walking away but I decided against it. I at least wanted to bring him something to eat. I opened his door but his room was empty. I could hear his shower going and him moving around in it. I took a deep breath and sat the food and drink on his nightstand. Then I walked out of his room. I guess I could let it go for today. Maybe he would be back to his normal self by tomorrow.

Notes

Next chapter will be about Alex!