"ali please tell your sister she needs to get up"
alina rolls her eyes before jumping off the stool and leaving the kitchen.
jen carries on buttering her toast as she waits for her kids to get ready and leave for school.
she misses waking them up herself but moody teenagers don't tend to like their mom gently telling them they need to get out of bed in 15 minutes.
justin hurried into the kitchen, pulling his jacket on as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
"i'll see you later on, i should be finished in time for jacks soccer match" justin breathed heavily from rushing as he took a bite of jens toast, kissed her on the cheek and then left the kitchen just as quickly as he'd entered it.
jen smiled as she heard him shout bye to the kids, hearing the muffled goodbyes back to him.
with it being near the end of may, the kids will be breaking up for summer soon which everyone always looks forward too because it means they can head back to LA for a while and no homework.
"girls are you ready?!" jen shouts from the bottom of the stairs.
it's a warm day, even at 8am it's starting to heat up as the sun gets stronger. the patio doors are open as the dogs run in and out of the house as they please.
"ali! summer! you're gonna be late!" jen shouts again as she looks down at her watch.
finally the girls come down, both visibly annoyed they have to go to school.
"i don't get why we can't drive ourselves yet, why is jack allowed to and we aren't?" summer complained as she hauled her backpack over her shoulder.
"because he's older and payed for the car himself from the money he's actually earned" jen smiled back before taking in the outfits her newly turned 15 year old daughters were wearing.
alina had chosen a short sage green summer dress and trainers.
and summer is wearing an even shorter black skirt with a black crop top.
jen had tried to get summer to wear more colour but she was firm in sticking to her dark aesthetic.
"can you two not wear things so short for once?"jen asked.
summer rolled her eyes, moving past her mom without saying anything.
alina looked down, smoothing her dress out, "i like this dress though mom"
"you look beautiful honey i just don't want either of you to get dress coded...again" jen smiled as she kissed her daughters head, leading both of them to the door so they wouldn't miss their bus.
"ha like anyone would wanna look at alina inappropriately " summer smirked as she bit into an apple she'd taken from the kitchen seconds earlier.
"shut up, at least i don't act slutty" alina spat back just as quickly.
"hey! come on, you're gonna be late" jen rolled her eyes as she almost pushed her daughters out the house.
she leant against the door frame, pulling her gown tighter around her silk pyjamas as she watched the girls head down the drive.
she couldn't help but smile at how, when they were babies jen had imagined them looking like this...but it was alina with the dark hair and grungy clothes and summer with the blonde hair and girly clothes...and yet somehow they'd switched and become the opposite.
"i'll be picking you up tonight, your brothers got a soccer match!" jen shouted to the girls. they didn't turn around but jen could tell summer rolled her eyes, which made jen giggle to herself.
finally once the girls had disappeared down the street jen headed back inside.
she washed her face and changed into some green cargo shorts and a black tank top.
she tied her brown hair back with a claw clip (she'd stopped dying it when she started her break from acting).
she made a glass of iced coffee and headed into the garden with her laptop, sitting on one of the sun loungers in the shade, she began replying to the few emails she had in her inbox that related to the recent project she'd just directed, a short film about cancer that kristin had sent to her last year.
the day passed quickly by as jen busied herself tidying the house which seemed to constantly be messy. she also spoke briefly to courteney about seeing her again in a month or so but had to hang up because the girls were about to finish school.
jen pulled the range rover into the pickup bay and waited, big sunglasses shading most of her face from the teachers and parents who always stared for too long.
finally she saw alina walking towards her.
"hi sweetie, how was today?" jen asked as soon as alina got in the car.
"it was good, i got a B on that maths paper"
"oh that's so good, well done baby" jen smiled widely as she twisted in her seat to look at her daughters smile.
"where's your sister?" jen asked as she turned back around, knowing they couldn't sit there for too long.
"i don't know, i haven't seen her"
jen knew this pattern all too well and when she saw summers head of year walking towards the car she knew how this conversation was going to go down.
she rolled her window down, lifting her sunglasses onto her head, smiling as pleasantly as she could.
"hi mrs theroux" the teacher smiled as she reached the car.
jen had to force her smile just a little when she heard the false politeness in the young woman's voice, knowing she was just trying to stall before telling jen the bad news.
"hi miss yates...what has she done this time" she asked sarcastically with a slight laugh.
"well...it's more what she hasn't done actually"
jen cocked her head to the side, smile faltering slightly.
"summer didn't actually arrive for registration this morning, she didn't show up to any of her classes."
"what?" jens smile completely dropped off as she turned back to alina.
"she was with me when we got on the bus i swear"
jen turned back around.
"why didn't the school contact me?"
"we tried to ring your husband but it went to voicemail, a message was left"
jen closed her eyes, trying not to snap at this young woman for not ringing her when justin hadn't answered.
"ok" jen sighed "i'll have a word with her when i see her" jen reapplied her plastic smile.
"ok, but the attendance officer and the guidance counsellor have been in conversation and because this isn't the first time summer has done this, we would all like to have a meeting with you and your husband to try and think of a strategy to maybe support your daughter better"
jen placed her hand on the steering wheel, eyebrows furrowing more.
"i'm sure that can be arranged soon" jen answered stiffly "but in the future i would like these meetings to be held before the staff get the chance to gossip about my daughter without me or her dad present"
jen kept her tone pleasant but the smile was no longer there.
she knew summer was difficult, she always has been, and lord knows it drives her parents insane.
but she will always defend her. in any situation.
"if it's ok with you i'd like to leave and try and track my daughter down now please"
miss yates nodded, stepping back as jen rolled the window up and pulled away from the front of the school.
they drove in silence most of the way home before jen said "ali can you try and message summer and see where she is, use your snapchat and try and track her i don't know... just find out where she is"
alina could hear the tiredness in her moms voice and did as she was told, not bothering to tell her mom that summer would never tell her where she was.
they pulled up into the driveway and headed into the house, alina going straight to her room and jen moving to sit on the sofa as she contemplated what to do.
she knew she was supposed to meet justin at jacks soccer game in an hour but with summer being gone she didn't know wether to try and ring him and tell him now or just tell him when she saw him.
jen eventually decided on just talking to justin when she saw him. she asked alina if she was coming to the game, which alina unsurprisingly said no.
"call me if you find out where your sister is, don't leave the house and don't let anyone through the gate" jen reminded her, like she did every time they left her home alone.
jen grabbed a fresh bottle of water and headed back out to the car, immediately turning the AC on.
it was boiling outside and she knew it was going to be even hotter sitting in the sun for an hour and a half watching jack.
she drove with the windows down, letting the cool breeze blow all her worries about summer away as she focused on seeing her son.
jen hadn't actually seen jackson in a few days because he'd been staying at his girlfriend nickys house.
"hi" jen smiled tiredly as justin stood up to hug her.
"hi babe, what's wrong?"
"summer" jen said and justin nodded.
"we'll talk about it later ok?" he smiled as he kissed the top of her head lovingly.
kissing the top of someone's head has become a sort of affectionate tradition everyone had adopted in their family.
jen sat down beside him in the stands, looking out over the pitch, looking for her son who wasn't too hard to spot.
jackson, who was almost 17 had had a huge growth spurt in the last year, now towering over jen at 6 ft 1. he was lean but muscular from his love of soccer and boxing. his curly dark hair sat in a slight mop on top of his head but he never let it grow so long that it was in his eyes which jen was grateful for.
they watched his game, clapping when his team scored, cheering when it was him that scored the points.
finally the game ended and jackson jogged over to them, wiping his sweaty face with the inside of his shirt.
"hi sweetie" jen smiled as she wrapped her arms around her son, him having to lean down significantly for her to reach him properly.
"you did really well out there" justin smiled, patting jacks back.
"are you coming back to live with us or is nic keeping you longer?" jen asked as she picked up her phone and now empty water bottle.
"no i'm coming home for a while" jack laughed as he wrapped his albeit sweaty arm around his moms shoulder as they walked back to the car.
jack had always been an affectionate person and wasn't embarrassed showing his love for people, but he would never openly admit how much he missed his mom in particular when he didn't see her for a while. but jen knew everytime he kissed the top of her head during hugs.
jen unlocked the car so jack could sit in the passenger seat before turning to justin.
"so... what did they say this time?" he asked digging his hands into his pockets.
"she skipped again" jen looked down as she fiddled with her nails.
"the whole day?"
"mhh hmm" jen hummed as she looked back up at justin.
"is she home yet?" he asked.
"she wasn't when i left and ali hasn't called so i'm guessing no"
"ok well we'll do what we did last time and wait for her to get back, if she's not back by 9 i'll go out looking" justin said.
most people would be shocked and confused at how little summers parents seem to be reacting to the whole situation, but summers parents know her well enough to know her patterns by now.
justin could tell jen was feeling defeated as he brought her into a tight hug.
she inhaled, closing her eyes.
opening them again she saw two people on the far side of the parking lot, lenses pointed at them.
"there's paps over there" jen murmered as she pulled out of the hug. "i'll see you when we get home" she applied her smile, now knowing the cameras were pointed at them as she moved around to get into the car.
justin left in his car with jen following as she caught up with jack on what had been happening in his life the past week.
"jack can you set the table please?" jen asked as she busied around the kitchen, draining the pasta and finishing the bolognaise sauce.
"is summer not back yet?" alina asked as she entered the kitchen / dining room.
jen looked up at justin.
"not yet" justin replied as he handed jack the plates to put on the table.
they all sat in their usual places and ate their pasta and salad as they talked about whatever was going on in their current lives.
just as they were finishing their dinner jen heard the front door close.
she looked up at justin knowing he heard it too.
"right, you two can be excused. i want you to do your homework tonight before bed" jen said as she stood up, starting to clear the table.
summer wandered unphased into the kitchen just as her siblings were leaving.
"hi jack" she smiled, ignoring her sister.
summer and jack had always been close, she would open up to him more than anyone. he protected her when she needed it.
"hey S, mom and dad are pissed at you by the way"
"i'm sure they are" she rolled her eyes, smiling as she turned to her parents who were still clearing the table.
"sit down summer" justin spoke finally.
she sat down, staring right at them as jen silently handed her a plate of food she'd left for when summer came home.
summer didn't eat though.
"where did you go?" justin asked calmly.
"just around, met up with some friends at the mall"
jen narrowed her eyes slightly but still didn't speak. she didn't trust herself enough to not get upset or angry.
"you know you can't keep doing this...they're gonna kick you out"
summer just shrugged as she pushed her food around on her plate with her fork.
"we have a meeting with the school soon, they want to talk about you skipping classes"
"ok" summer replied nonchalantly.
"you can go now" jen finally spoke knowing this conversation was going nowhere. "take your food up to your room, i don't want to see you again tonight. get your things ready for school tomorrow, i'll be taking you myself"
summer groaned but got up nonetheless, taking her pasta with her and leaving the kitchen.
jen stood up immediately, heading to the dishwasher to start loading the dirty plates from tonight.
justin followed, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.
she stood up straighter, turning to him but not making eye contact as she welcomed his embrace.
her eyes prickled with tears.
"i just don't get what we're supposed to do" she said, voice muffled by his chest. "she just doesn't care, nothing we say is gonna snap her out of this"
justin didn't know what to say so he just continued to hold his wife tight.
"tomorrow will be better, i promise" he whispered quietly.