I'm still not done with all the pictures - and I probably won't have the chance to do them until this weekend. But I've got nine days off from school from Saturday on 
which means that I will probably have the chance then to do a few chapters (and also try making a few of my 3D sims CC projects that I really need for this story - if I only figure out the tutorials, that is... I know how to mesh, and also a little about texturing, but I don't have a single idea how to get the objects ingame or how to make them usable. but with a bit of practice and patience, I'll hopefully figure it out)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER 12: Those hard times -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The day after, I met up at Tony's school, knocking on his teacher's office door. I wished Peter could've been there too, but he was busy at work, with a couple days of filming a plane trip away, so he hadn't been available.
"Come in," the teacher said.
I opened the door, and was met with a friendly face as Madeleine got up to shake my hand.
"Please sit down," she said, and filled two cups of coffee. She handed one of them to me, and sat down behind her desk.
I sat down opposite her and took a careful sip from the cup. Still a bit hot, so I set it down on the desk to cool down a bit.
"The reason I wanted to talk to you is that I'm getting worried about Tony," Madeleine said, and took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "The last week his mind has been somewhere entirely different than in the classroom. We had a math test yesterday. He normally gets around 85-100% on every test, but as I looked over the tests yesterday, he didn't have a single correct answer. What's more, he's not as active during the classes as he usually is. Normally, he's the first kid with a hand up, and eager to answer any questions, but lately his activity in the class has consisted more of staring into the distance and definitely not paying attention. When he was asked what the capital city of France was during a geography lesson, he answered "Manchester United". I've tried to talk with him, but he won't say a word about what's bothering him. Do you have any idea what's going on?"
I sighed. Apparently I was not the only one going through a tough time right now.
"You know Aidan? My youngest son?"
"Of course! He's a lovely boy, and Tony speaks about him often."
"Well, you see... a week ago, we got the message that Aidan is a lot sicker than we thought, and there's nothing the doctors can do about it. Tony is the only one of the kids old enough to understand what is happening, and I think he's struggling a lot with accepting it. He's probably got a lot on his mind, and I think this is why he's so distant. I've been pretty much the same."
The stunned expression in Madeleine's face told me she had definitely not known anything about this. She got up, and put her hand on my shoulder.
"That's... that's..." she sighed. "No wonder Tony has been do distant lately. Poor Aidan. And after everything your family has already been through?"
Tears started welling up in my eyes again, and Madeleine handed me a paper tissue. She took one for herself too.
"I'll talk with Tony," I said, drying the tears away. "Even though his brother is sick, it doesn't mean he can quit doing his schoolwork."
Madeleine smiled carefully. "No worries, Jenna. We'll try to be a bit more understanding toward him. Obviously you're all going through a hard time right now. I'll of course give him another chance on the test."
I smiled back. I was just glad Tony had an understanding teacher.
*****************************
When I got home, the first thing I did was to go upstairs and knock on Tony's door.
"Are you in there, Tony? I have to talk with you."
"Go away!"
"I need to talk with you, Tony. It's important."
No answer.
I opened the door, expecting it to be locked, but it wasn't.
Inside, Tony was lying on his bed, crying.
"Tony, what's wrong?" I asked.
"Go away!" came a muffled voice from inside the pillow.
"Look at me, Tony. We really need to talk."
I pushed over a chair and sat down next to his bed.
He turned his head to look at me. His eyes were red.
"What?"
I went straight on. "Are you doing your homework, Tony? I've just talked with your teacher, and she's worried. She said you got zero on a math test yesterday." I looked into his eyes. "Or is it something else?"
Tony buried his head in the pillow again.
"Tony... your brother being sick doesn't mean you can stop living. This is hard for all of us. But you have to try thinking about something else. Quitting your schoolwork won't help Aidan in any way."
No answer.
"Aidan needs his big brother. He looks up to you. And it certainly won't help if you're lying here all day."
"I know," he finally said, and turned around. "It's just that..." He sighed. "I can't concentrate. I feel like I should be doing something to help him. Not just dust away in a classroom."
He sat up, drying his tears, and I wrapped my arm around him, stroking his back in comfort.
"The best way you can help your brother right now, is to be there for him. Be his big brother. Play with him, and make him forget he's sick. Aidan needs us to be strong right now. I know it's hard, and even I struggle to understand why all of this is happening. But even so, I try to do my best at work. It does help with shutting out the bad thoughts, if only for a little while. Can you at least try your best to focus at school? Dealing with all of this will probably get easier with time, even if you don't believe it now."
Tony looked away for a few seconds.
"I'll try," he finally said.
"Good. And just so you know, your teacher will let you take the math test over again. I hope you do a better job this time, Tony," I said, and ruffled his hair. I knew he hated when I did that, but he just gave a tiny smile.
"I'll do my best, mom."
