|Paul's POV|
Something in my gut was telling me Murphy was up to something when she wanted to be dropped off to school early. She said she had work to do, I didn't question it. After dropping her and Vaughn off, I waited for them to go into the building before pulling off and heading back home.
As I entered the house, Steph was coming down the stairs.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine.
I watched the frown form on her face. Ever since my health scare a few years back, she's been watching me more intently than ever.
"You don't look fine, Paul. What's wrong?"
"I'm just thinking of what Murphy is up to. She's been extremely moody lately."
She rolled her eyes.
"Paul, this is not our first rodeo raising moody teenage girls. This is not new."
"What's new is her wanting to get to school this early."
She sighed.
"Paul, are you really questioning this?"
"Yes. When it comes to any of the kids, my gut is never wrong. When something is off, it's off."
"Fair enough. Well, until she gives us reason to think otherwise..."
"I'll table it for now. What's the game plan for today?"
"You and I, relaxing, going to lunch, then picking up the girls and off to Houston we go."
"Relaxing?"
"Yes, have you heard of it? It's quite amazing."
I laughed at her sarcasm.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"Back to bed. Paul, stop questioning me and move it!"
She didn't have to tell me twice. When we got up again, we double checked to make sure we had everything before getting in the truck. We were grabbing lunch and picking up the girls early.
Steph stayed in the car to take a call as I went to sign the girls out of school. I was waiting in the office as they called for early dismissal for both Murphy and Vaughn. Vaughn came in first.
"Leaving school early on a Friday, my kind of start to the weekend."
I laughed at her comment.
"Mr. Levesque, Murphy never signed in today," the secretary stated.
I turned to Vaughn to see if she knew anything.
"Have you seen your sister?"
She shook her head. I turned back to the secretary.
"Thank you. Have a good weekend."
"You too," she replied, giving me a half hearted smile.
Just as we were about to leave, Murphy appeared.
"Hey dad."
"Where were you?"
"In class."
"Why didn't you sign in this morning?"
"Oh, I forgot. My friends and I went to get breakfast during our free period this morning."
I gave her a look.
"Go to the car. I'll be right out."
Vaughn nodded, but Murphy shook her head.
"You don't believe me?" she questioned.
"I told you to do something."
"I don't care."
I saw the look on Vaughn's face.
"Murphy, come on," she said softly, grabbing her sister's arm.
I watched as Murphy snatched her arm away.
"I told you I went to hang out with my friends. Just take my word for it and leave shit alone."
As the words came out of her mouth she quickly covered it. I wasn't too far from the secretary's desk, so I know she heard what was said.
"You want to cause a scene?"
"Dad..."
I took a step to her and leaned down so only she could hear me.
"Take your ass to the car like I said the first time, now!"
I was pissed. The kids and their language was one thing. Cursing at me, never would I accept that. I watched as she took a step back, leaving the office with Vaughn behind her. I turned back to the secretary.
"Could you pull up the attendance records for Murphy Levesque for these past few weeks. While you're at, please do the same for Vaughn Levesque."
She smiled.
"Sure no problem. Give me a moment. You can have a seat in the meantime."
"Thank you."
As I went to sit down, I got a text from Steph.
What's the hold up?
Murphy didn't sign in today. Checking the attendance for the both of them. I'll be out soon.
I pocketed my phone and the secretary called my name.
"After a quick glance, Vaughn has perfect attendance, no remarks."
Well that's a plus. I know her mouth can get her in trouble at times.
"As for Murphy, she's been missing half the day on Fridays."
"So she wasn't in any classes today?"
"No, sir."
"There's no way the teachers just forgot to..."
"They call roll and put it in digitally at the beginning of every class. If she was there, it would've popped up. Even her signing herself in this morning before or after her free period would have been in the system."
She handed me the papers.
"Thank you, and again, have a good weekend."
"You as well."
I folded the papers and left the office, running into Ethan. He and Murphy had been dating for a year now and I still wasn't a fan of the kid.
"Uh, hi Mr. Levesque."
His friends were behind him. I simply nodded.
"Hello, Ethan."
He looked back at his friends before looking at me. They went in the opposite direction.
"Do you have a second?" he asked.
"I actually have someplace to be."
"I'll uh, make this quick."
I nodded and stepped to the side to give us semi-privacy for him to say what he had to say.
"What's on your mind, Ethan?"
I watched as he took a deep breath.
"I know we got off on the wrong foot. I just want you to know I really care about Murphy. I don't want her to keep getting in trouble for being with me. I don't want to be the problem."
I stood there, taking in what he was saying.
"We did get off on the wrong foot. The two of you sneaking around has not made me more comfortable with this relationship you have either. Still, Murphy knows the rules her mother and I have in place. Her breaking them is not on you, it's on her. She's accountable for her own actions."
"I get that, I just..."
"You're defending your girlfriend, I get it."
"Yeah."
"So was she with you instead of being in class today?"
He shook his head."
"No, sir. We spent our free period together before we came back to school. She went to the library saying she needed to get something and I went to class. I just saw her and she was ready to go to lunch. I told her she was called to the office for early dismissal."
"Do you know where she was?"
"I have an idea of where she might have been, but it's not my place to tell you. You and Mrs. Levesque need to hear it from her."
"So, you know why she skipped?"
I saw his face harden. I guess this was serious.
"Yes, sir, I do. Still, it's not my place to tell you."
I held out my hand. He shook it.
"I won't be seeing Murphy other than at school, will I?" he questioned.
"We'll see. Have a good weekend."
"You too. Have a safe flight."
I nodded and went to the car. As I got in the driver pulled off moments later and we drove in silence. Both the girls had their headphones on. Steph looked over at me.
"What took you so long?"
I handed her the papers.
"We'll talk later."
She gave me a look, but didn't press the issue.
I knew the truth and once again, my gut wasn't wrong. Now I'm just wondering what's going on with Murphy. I assumed she skipped class to be with Ethan. If she wasn't with him, what was she up to? Hell, everything he just said could've been a lie, but he did go out of his way to speak to me.
We pulled up to the terminal to board the jet. Our driver took out our bags and I thanked him before we boarded. Sitting down, the girls headed to their seats as Steph and I did the same. Once we took off, they fell asleep. Steph took that as our time to talk this out.
"Alright, what's going on?"
"From those papers I gave you, Murphy has been skipping class."
"Yes, I see that. What took you so long to come out?"
"I was talking to Ethan."
"Ethan?"
"Yeah, Steph."
"Ethan, Ethan? Our daughter's boyfriend that you don't like? That Ethan?"
I shook my head.
"Yes, him. I never said I didn't like him."
"Oh, but the cold shoulders and nonchalant mannerisms say everything, my love. So, what did he have to say?"
"He told me he cares about Murphy and doesn't want to be the reason she's in trouble. Basically, he wanted to clear the air."
"That was very mature of him."
"Yeah. I told him he's not accountable for her actions, but I get him standing up for her. I respect it."
"So you didn't give him a hard time?"
"No. He pulled me aside and wanted to talk. What was I really going to do to him on school grounds?"
She laughed.
"Paul, you can silently hurt a lot of people. Anyways, back to this skipping class issue. I know she has a free period everyday, why didn't she go to the rest of her classes? Why is it just Friday that she's been skipping?"
"I'm not sure. Ethan said it wasn't his place to tell me what was going on, but he knows. He got upset when I asked him why. Must be serious. We'll have to talk to her about that. I think something is going on with one of her classes," I stated.
There goes my gut again. Steph took a look at the papers again.
"She has a college prep class for two hours every Friday after her free period."
"That's the class she's been skipping?"
She nodded.
"Since the first class, pretty much. I don't understand why we weren't informed."
"Maybe the class is optional."
"I don't remember Zach taking this class. Neither did the girls. Maybe it's new?"
"Maybe it's a different name. We can handle it on Monday. I don't want this to be the cloud over the weekend. I'll talk to her when we get to Houston. Then, we'll leave it at that."
"Paul..."
"I got this, Steph. Trust me."
She nodded, leaning back in her seat. I was going to do the same when Zach called me. Steph tried to piece together our conversation, even tried getting the phone out of my hand. Relax mama bear. Once the call ended, I looked over, laughing at her.
"You could've let me talk to him," she said, pouting.
"Baby, he called to talk to me. You can call him yourself."
"I will."
She grabbed her phone and called him, but he didn't answer.
"I know damn well he's not ignoring my calls."
"Relax. He'll call you back."
"He better. What's going on?"
"He's in the doghouse with Kylie and still hasn't spoken to Rory."
She rolled her eyes.
"They need to fix this."
"He said he was going to call her. Plus, it's inevitable for them to straighten all this out face to face."
I got up to use the bathroom. Vaughn was still sleeping, Murphy wasn't. She was leaning against the window, staring into space.
"Hey, you okay?" I questioned.
She looked up at me.
"Murphy..."
"I need to talk to you and mom."
"Absolutely. Whenever you're ready."
"Can we talk now?"
I nodded and she got up, coming back to where Steph and I were sitting.
"Hi, baby. Did you enjoy your nap?" Steph asked.
"Not really," she mumbled, sitting down.
"What's on your mind?"
"I, uh, I know that you got my attendance record."
I nodded.
"I did and I ran into Ethan on the way out," I replied.
Her eyes widened.
"Ethan? My boyfriend Ethan? You didn't hurt him, did you? He's not the reason I was skipping class. He..."
"Calm down. I know he wasn't the reason. At first, I assumed he was. He wanted to clear the air."
She took a deep breath.
"So..."
"I don't have a problem with Ethan. I had an issue with you sneaking around."
She nodded.
"What is the reason you've been skipping class? This isn't normal behavior for you," Steph questioned.
Out of all the girls, Murphy was honestly the least controversial and wasn't in trouble. She was sneaky and had her moments, but overall can't complain.Vaughn on the other hand, she was the fireball.
"It's a college prep class. Seniors either have it Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays for a two hour block. Then next semester we start an internship on that day we have the class. Most of my friends have it on Mondays or Wednesdays. I had it on Mondays with Ethan, initially. The head of the program, Mr. Morgan, switched me out and moved me to Friday, the one he teaches. He's one of the younger teachers at the school and the girls drool over him. There's a different teacher, Ms. Aronson for the Monday and Wednesday class. I don't know why I was switched out and the office wouldn't let me switch back in."
She got quiet. Steph and I looked at each other.
"Is this a class your siblings had? I did remember Zach or Rory having this."
"It was an elective, but they decided to make it mandatory starting last year."
"So, you're not showing up? Is it because they switched you out? Not having the class with Ethan and your other friends?"
"No! This has nothing to do with Ethan and my friends. It's Mr. Morgan and the remarks he makes to me and the other girls. He asked me to stay after class one day and he made me feel really uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable how?" I quizzed.
"He was asking questions that had nothing to do with the class. More personal stuff. He tried to move the hair out of my face, but I blocked him. He said something about my uniform and how it fit on me. I told him I had to get to my next class and he cornered me..."
She paused, taking a deep breath. I felt my blood beginning to boil.
"Sweetie, did he touch you?"Steph questioned.
"He tried to. He told me I was beautiful and tried to kiss me. I shoved him back and left. I haven't gone back to his class since. I'd see him in the halls and go the other way."
Son of a bitch.
"I wish you would've come to us when this happened" Steph commented.
"I... I was hoping to get switched out after talking to my guidance counselor next week. I was skipping on purpose. I don't want to be in his class anymore."
"Trust me, you won't," I stated.
Steph stood and took her hand. They went to the back room of the jet. I sat there, speechless. Her words replayed in my head. A teacher tried to make a pass at my daughter. Best believe I was going to get to the bottom of it. That school had no idea what was about to hit them.
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Author's Note-
A teacher being inappropriate and making a pass at Murphy? How will Paul and Stephanie handle this one?
With the family all back together, how will things pan out in Texas?
Likes and comments appreciated!