Fame

40

"Mommy, are you mad at me?" Beth asked.

Quinn sighed. "Of course I'm not mad. I'm sorry, B. I'm gonna call Daddy and then I'll help you do homework, okay?"

Beth nodded.

Quinn walked into her bedroom and closed the door as she dialed Puck's phone number.

"Hey, babe." Puck answered the phone. "How'd it go?"

"They want her to repeat kindergarten." Quinn blurted. "They said she has a learning disability or something. And she needs extra guidance."

"Wow." Puck said softly. "Quinn, I'm sorry."

"She's not repeating kindergarten." Quinn said. "They said it was up to me, and I know my daughter. She's smart."

Puck was silent.

"How can they tell me this when there's, like, a week left?" Quinn asked. "They neglected her all year."

"Q, I-I gotta go." Puck stuttered.

"Oh. Okay." Quinn replied. "I-"

The phone line cut Quinn off.

"Love you."

Quinn put her phone in her pocket and went back to Beth. "Alright, B. Homework. What do you have?"

"Writing." Beth replied.

"Okay." Quinn said as she sat beside Beth at the counter. She gave Beth a pencil and took a pen for herself. "This says to copy the sentences onto the lines. I'll do it, too. Come on."

Quinn took a blank piece of paper and began copying the sentences while Beth copied them on her homework page. Quinn looked at Beth's page. "Good job, B."

Beth smiled slightly and continued copying it. Quinn sat with her for twenty minutes until she was done.

"What other homework do you have?" Quinn wondered.

"Math." Beth frowned.

Quinn took Beth's math worksheet out. "Addition and subtraction." She began working on the problems on a separate sheet of paper while Beth did them on the homework sheet.

"This one isn't right." Quinn told Beth. "What's five minus three?"

"I don't know." Beth whined as she put her head down.

"Look." Quinn said as she began drawing a picture. "If you have Mommy, Beth, Daddy, Finn, and Rachie, that's how many?"

Beth counted each of the people Quinn drew. "Five."

"Right. And if Rachie, Finn, and Daddy leave, who's left?" Quinn asked as she crossed them out.

"Me and Mommy." Beth answered.

"Which is how many?" Quinn questioned Beth.

"One. Two." Beth counted.

"So what's five minus three?" Quinn wondered.

"Two." Beth responded.

Quinn nodded. "Good girl."

Beth smiled. Quinn's praise was giving her confidence.

"Do you have any other homework?" Quinn asked.

Beth shook her head.

"Good. Finish this, and then we can watch a movie." Quinn said.

"Okay." Beth replied as she continued writing.