A lesson in Life

DISCLAMER: Not mine. This is a cache save.

	The wind whistled through the trees, through John Egbert's hair, and the boy couldn't help but smile. It was an absolutely beautiful day outside! The leaves were plummeting from the trees and the air was getting that tingle of cold that made John absolutely ready for snow. His dad waved to him from the front door to let him know that supper was ready, and John eagerly jaunted back to his house, ready for a piping hot meal.
        John bounced into the kitchen after his dad, who had uncharacteristically made hamburgers for supper. Cookies were in the oven, though, so at least John knew his dad hadn't gone off the deep end. The two prepared their plates, John with a hint more reckless abandon than Dad, and they sat together at the table, each eating at their pace, John taking things like a sped up recording of Dad. The weather outside had been great for clearing John's head after a terrible day of school, and his downright shitty grade on the last math test had been almost completely eased out of his mind when he met eyes with his dad mid-bite.
        "..." Dad had a way with words, and an even better way with silence. Arms crossed, legs crossed, expression cross, the checklist was complete. John Egbert was in trouble. "How was school?" he asked John, who hid a grimace. He already knew. The tone said it all, not the words.
        "Well, Mr. Queen's class isn't going so hot." John slowly admitted. He had no clue what the point of these talks even were. "I mean, I'm not stupid or anything, and he's really funny and engaging! It's just..."
        "You haven't been doing your homework." Dad said flatly. At least he had let John trail off before laying into him. No computer for a week. No, two weeks.
        "Well... No." John had nothing. Nada. Jack shit. He had already resigned himself to his fate: an endless run of homework, homework, and homework. Or something worse. A tutor.
        "Have you been talking to that Dave boy online again?" Dad asked. The eyebrow he raised was only noticable to a trained Egbertian eye. "You know I don't like you hanging out with him. He's a fine boy, but I can't help but think he's a bad influence on you."
        Dad was of course referring to one of John's older friends, Dave Strider, who ran them music-slash-comic-slash-coffee-slash-ironic t-shirt shop downtown. Whenever John had started taking lessons, or rather was forced to by his father, Dave had taught him. John was barely older than a toddler then, and Dave taught him all the way up to two years ago, until John started spending more time at the shop than doing his homework. Dad had never been comfortable around Dave, considering how casually he acted towards everyone. He was a cool kid, and Dad... Dad was a grown-up. It also could have been the fact that Dave was a dorito-holic, if that was a thing, and constantly had their faint aura lingering around him.
        "Well... Yeah."
        "Alright." Dad replied, opening up a newspaper.
        "Wait what?" John asked, his head bobbing to the side. "No groundings no losing internet priveleges no nothing?" He was staring wide-eyed at his father, who was about halfway through the second page when he met eyes with his son's almost horrified stare.
        "No. None of that this time." Dad said as he went back to his paper. "Do you remember Rose Lalonde?" He asked as he crossed his leg.
        John thought hard. Rose Lalonde. Rose... Lalonde. Then, a burst of inspiration hit home.
        "Oh! My old babysitter!" his eyebrows shot up, his mouth shot open, and he shot out of his chair. Remembering something like that was an occasion for someone so forgetful, but John remembered everything about her. Her smile, her eyes, the fact that she would read to him and play piano with him for what felt like hours at a time. She also smelled like lavender, which was considerably nicer than Doritos. Most embarrassingly though was how John would always cling to her when his Dad made it back from his late meetings, hating that she had to leave. "I haven't seen her in... Five years?"
        Dad nodded in agreement. "Whelp, she's back in town after completing her doctorate in psychology and mathematical engineering. She's going to work for Skaianet but she said she would also be doing violin lessons and tutoring in her spare time until work picked up." He was almost finished with the newspaper. John always wondered how his dad could read so fast.
        "So she's going to... tutor me?"
        "Yes indeed." Dad said as he folded up the newspaper. He sat it on the table just a ding rang out from the kitchen. "Now, who wants cookies?"
        "Sure." John said, his brow still furrowed as he tried to remember more about Rose Lalonde.