“There’s something I need to talk to you guys about,” I said.
“Oh?” my mother asked. “What is it? Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Well, yes and no.” I could feel both of them watching me; I could sense my mother’s nervousness rising. She was not the sort of person that you would confess bad news to; she couldn’t deal with it. It would make her anxiety shoot through the roof. She was the sort of person who liked to hear happy news, who wanted things—especially in her own life—to always be going right. In other words, she certainly wasn’t going to be thrilled to hear that my grades weren’t what they thought they were.
“I haven’t been doing so well in school,” I said. I said it in a rush, just wanting to get the hard part over with. There. I’d put it out there. I looked at their faces and could immediately tell that neither were very happy with what I’d said.
“What do you mean?” my father asked. “I thought your studies were going quite well. That’s what you’ve been telling us when we’ve asked. Were you being dishonest?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I thought . . . I thought that things were going better than they were, actually. I thought that I was doing pretty well in most of my classes, but there were a couple tests that I didn’t do perfectly on, and a few assignments that I got a lower grade than I’d anticipated. So all those factors have combined to bring my GPA down. And I’m telling you now because I wanted you to be aware, and also, I want you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to bring them back up.”
My father was frowning. “We have an agreement, Tessa,” he said.
“I know.”
“And that agreement says that you will maintain your A average if you expect us to support you financially. We’ve been very generous with our support, in fact, and we have no problem doing so, so long as you keep up your end of the bargain. But it doesn’t sound like that’s happening.”
“Things aren’t going to stay like this,” I said. “I promise. I mean, I didn’t even have to tell you guys this, because I’m going to get my grades back up, I just wanted to be forthcoming with you, and—”
“Oh, Tessa,” my mom said. It sounded like she was about to cry. “This is terrible news. Is something going on with you? Something that would cause your grades to plummet? I mean, I just got off the phone with Marjorie and I was telling her how well you were doing!”
“No, no, nothing bad happened,” I said. “Nothing like that at all. I just told you guys what was going on, and I’m going to get my grades back up.”
“You’re damn right you are,” my father said. He had a bit of a temper, my dad, and the littlest thing could set him off. I should have known not to bring this up; I should have just gotten my grades up and not said a word about it. But I’d been afraid that they’d somehow find out and be upset that I hadn’t told them to begin with.
“This is not acceptable, Tessa,” my mom said. “Things are getting more competitive these days—not less. You can’t get by on B’s like you used to be able to. Don’t you want to succeed in life? Don’t you want to go out and get a good job—have a real career—when you’re done with school? We’re supporting you now so you don’t have the stress of having to work a job while going to class, or take out a huge student loan that you’re going to be stuck paying off once you graduate. Not every student is as lucky as you are.”
“I know,” I said. “And I appreciate everything that you guys are doing, I really do. And of course I want a career, and it would be really hard to be working a job and going to school.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” my father said.
“I’m going to get my grades back up.”
He nodded. “Good. And I hope you’re serious about it, because if your grades end up being anything less than what they’ve been in the past, that’s it, Tessa. We’re cutting you off.”
My jaw dropped. “Really? Just like that?”
“That’s what we agreed upon, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“So I don’t think you should act surprised that we wouldn’t continue to support you if you weren’t doing what you were supposed to. And what you’re supposed to be doing right now is getting A’s. Not B’s. That was not part of the arrangement. And I believe I told you that if you did start getting grades that weren’t A’s, we would no longer be financially supporting you.”
I nodded. “You did.”
“Did you think I was joking?”
“No.”
“I know there are plenty of parents out there who make idle threats, who would be willing to look the other way for something like this,” my father continued, “but I meant what I said, Tessa. A B is not an A.”
“I’ll get my grades back up,” I said, feeling my chin shake, which was a sure sign that I was about to start crying. Except I didn’t want to start crying, because there was nothing to really be crying about—I just had to get my grades back up. Plain and simple.
“What happened?” my mother asked. “I don’t believe you when you tell me that nothing happened. That doesn’t make sense, Tessa, because you’ve always been a good student. Something must have happened.”
She was looking at me imploringly, her eyes begging me to confess some awful thing that had occurred that would explain why my grades weren’t what she thought they should be. My father just stood there, arms folded across his chest, looking pissed.
Nick had broken up with me before I’d mentioned anything about him to my parents. So they really had no idea that I’d ever been involved with anyone. I’d gone on a few dates in high school, had gone to prom, but I’d never had a serious boyfriend. Not that Nick was a serious boyfriend or anything, but at one point, I had hoped he would be.