Shout out to urnotkenzie on Twitch for redeeming the !write command and choosing this story to get an update! If you want to decide what gets updated next make sure to join us on stream! 

Callum’s POV

The shop was actually doing really well considering it was a Monday at 1 pm. The coffee side had a line that wrapped around the bar and dozens of people were milling about in Ryder’s half with several already in the checkout line. 

Starting our own business had been a gamble. We knew that most small businesses fall within the first three years and the only place we could afford to buy at the time was an old run-down place with mold in every corner. It had taken a lot of time and money to get it fixed the way we had wanted it and we really couldn’t afford to fail so it made me proud to see us doing this well at a time when we weren’t normally busy. 

That was until my phone started ringing in my back pocket. With us being as small as we were, neither of us had employees so when we were busy like this calls and texts were ignored until we had a second to breathe. That being said when I got my fourth call in a row and the customers were finally starting to thin out a bit I pulled the phone from my pocket and picked up without thinking. 

“Hey, is this important? The shop is slammed,” I said as I steamed milk, my shoulder being the only thing that held the phone in place.

“Hi, this is Principal Miller calling regarding Axel and Weylyn Scott. Am I speaking to Callum Scott?”

“What did they do,” I groaned as I set the cup aside and rubbed the bridge of my nose, a headache slowly starting to form. They hadn’t even made it through a whole day yet.

“It appears that they tried to ditch their English and Math classes,” the woman said with a sigh. 

“We didn’t ditch.” Axel’s yell was muffled but I could still hear the glare in his voice. “We just took a different class than what was assigned to us.”

“Normally I wouldn’t even call home for this other than to just inform you they would be getting detention for it but given their records in school and the fact that it is the first day I would really appreciate it if you could come and have a little talk with us.” I groaned again. 

“Is there anyway we can push this back to another day or even a little later today? I’m at work at the moment.”

“I understand that work is important but this your sons deserve your attention.” Axel laughed, Weylyn groaned, and I scoffed.

“They are my brothers. How old do you think I am?”

“My apologies but your brothers deserve your attention too. This is important.”

Ryder didn’t know a damn thing about coffee and even if he did, with a crowd like this he wouldn’t be able to do both. Liam was working until 3 and Jax wouldn’t get off until 6 so neither of them could come cover while I dealt with this. We were about to lose so much money. 

“Alright,” I sighed. “I can be there in 10 minutes.” I didn’t want for her to answer before hanging up and finishing the last few orders I had already taken. At least I only had to turn away two people and they seemed to be rather understanding, having overheard the entire conversation. 

“I have to go deal with something at the school,” I said as I grabbed the car keys from under Ryder’s desk. “I don’t know when I’ll be back but just let everyone know that the coffee part is currently closed.”

“What happened,” Ryder asked with a frown as he handed someone a receipt and went to scan out the next items. 

“I don’t even know. Something about the traded classes. They’ve done it before and I threatened them within an inch of their lives the last time. I didn’t think they would be dumb enough to do it again this early on in the year.”

“Go easy on them,” Ryder sighed as I planted a kiss to his forehead. 

“Nope. I think I’m going to kill them instead.” 

“Remember what Andrew said,” he scoffed. I tried to pull away from him but his hand gripped my wrist and pulled me back so I had to look at him in the eyes. “You have to build trust with them again. And they are probably just acting out to test boundaries. Go easy and remain calm. Everything is going to be fine.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, this time when I pulled away he let me. “Remain calm. Sounds easy enough. I’m a calm and rational person.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, you stay here and run the shop. Hopefully, I’ll be done soon and we can reopen the coffee part before our usual rush.”

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind. I can come running if you need me.”

“Right,” I laughed as I began walking to the door. “Because out of all of us, you are by far the best runner.” He went to yell something at me but simply groaned when I shut the door behind me. 

The entire drive to the school I repeated the mantra Andrew had tried to drill into my head back at camp. 

Just take deep breaths. Excuse yourself if things get to be too much. Keep your voice low and think calming thoughts. You can do this. It’s only for a few minutes. 

I parked the car and was in the school seconds later. The secretary didn’t even look at me before pointing to the office. 

“Principal Miller is waiting for you. Just go right in.”

“I assume you are the brother,” the woman behind the desk asked as I closed the door. Axel sat proud and tall in the chair in front of her while Weylyn at least had the decency to look ashamed. 

“Yeah, brother and legal guardian. What’s going on,” I asked as I took the chair between both of my brothers. 

“Like I said over the phone, it appears that they ditched their classes to take the other’s class. Normally we would give them a warning and send them back to the correct class but after being caught it appears that Axel began disrupting class. He began cussing and throwing books around the room so they were sent here. Again, normally I would just give him detention after school and we would chop this up to first-day jitters but given their records in school, I don’t see how we can look past this. We were already weary in letting them in to begin with but this is just proving that we should have declined their requests. It’s the first day and they are already causing trouble.”

I sighed. It hadn’t been easy to find this school to begin with. Jax said he had gotten denied from three other schools before this one. If they got kicked out we would have to try to online school them and none of us had the time to supervise that. 

“I understand. I would like to say that they aren’t usually this bad but there’s no point considering you have already seen their record.”

“We aren’t that bad,” Axel scoffed, I glared at him and he shut up.

“I’ll be honest with you,” I said with a sigh as I hung my head. “They’ve had a hard time. Our dad ran off when our mom got pregnant with them, I had to leave for school when I turned 16 and our mom was never really around. They’ve pretty much been raising themselves for the past several years up until last month. Give them some time to adjust.”

I was playing the trauma card and I just prayed to god it worked. Weylyn sunk farther down in his chair with a small blush while Axel openly glared at me. He could be mad all he wanted, he would learn one day that the trauma card can get you out of almost anything. 

The woman frowned as she looked at all three of us. For a second I thought she wasn’t going to buy it but when she sighed I knew I had her. 

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to accept your brothers in the first place and this has not made me feel any better about doing so but I understand that family is hard. They will still be getting after-school detention starting tomorrow and I will be sending them home early today. I will not be so lenient with them next time. Do not let there be a next time.”

“I understand, thank you for being so reasonable about this. I will personally see to it that nothing like this happens again.” She hummed like she didn’t believe me and I couldn’t even blame her. Hell, even I didn’t believe me. “You two, get up. We’re going home.”

“Actually, could they wait outside for a second? I want to talk to you alone for a moment.” I nod as I hand Weylyn the keys to the car.

“Go wait in the car. I’ll be out in a second.” He took the keys and I hated the way he couldn’t look me in the eyes but I got over it quickly when Axel scoffed and purposefully hit me with his chair before leading his brother out of the room. 

“I understand that raising siblings is hard,” she said after a few minutes of us staring at each other. “I raised all three of mine, the youngest is going to law school.”

“That’s impressive,” I said with a small shrug, not knowing where this conversation was going. 

“It is,” she said with a smile. “She’s going because she has had a positive role model all her life. She has been on the honor roll her entire life because I have pushed her and have been there to support her. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Are you calling me out for being a bad guardian right now,” I asked with a harsh glare. 

“Not calling you out, but giving a reality check of sorts. My siblings have never had a record like yours. I advise you to put your siblings first. They need a good parental figure and if you can’t be that for them then I recommend foster care or adoption with visitation rights.” I stared at her for second, trying to do all the things Andrew taught me but it didn’t help my words come out any softer. 

“Listen here bitch,” she flinched as I raised my voice. “I did the best I could while I was there. I was 16 years old raising 4 kids with no help from anyone else. I’m happy that you were able to do better than me but you look to be about twice my age which means you were likely fully grown when you started raising your siblings. I didn’t have that luxury. I, as a 13-year-old, had to take care of two 8-year-olds, a 10-year-old, and a 12-year-old while also trying to do my own schoolwork. I got a job at 15 just to try and make ends meet because my mom didn’t have enough money to go around. I had to leave when I was 16 and by the time I was able to come back none of them wanted anything to do with me. It wasn’t until last month that they were ready for me to help them again. I don’t know what happened these past few years without me but it was not my fault. Do not speak to me as if you know what we’ve been through because you don’t. I’ll keep them in check. Have a great day.”

She stared at me with a stunned expression as I got up from the chair. I tried not to but the petty part of me slammed the door on my way out as she called after me.