"Sarah! Get your ass down here." Ed yelled. He couldn't believe what he was reading.
"Dad! I was on the phone with Lexi, what's wrong?" The young girl trotted down the stairs, looking nervously at her dad.
Ed glared at the girl, looking her up and down trying to decide what to do with her. As usual, she was wearing clothes way too tight, way too short, and leaving very little to the imagination. He glanced up and saw Bobby creeping along the railing, looking down. "What is this? Why did a courier have to deliver this to me?" He waved the paper at his daughter.
Sarah turned beet red and reached for the letter. She looked at it and began tearing up, "I'm sorry. I was going to tell you. Both those teachers hated me this year. No matter what..."
"Shut up!" He pulled her arm and got right into her face, "No one hates you. No one is out to get you. Except maybe you. You might hate yourself and you definitely are the cause of pretty much all the bad luck you have. When...oh God! I've asked you this a hundred times, When the FUCK are you going to grow up and accept responsibility." He snatched the letter back, "You have to repeat senior year? When were you going to tell me?"
"I was going to tell you, but you're always so busy. You're never home. I mean, I know you have to work, but I've had to cook and clean ever since mom died." Sarah cried.
Ed's face melted seeing his little girl cry pulling her close, "Look. No, look at me, you need to graduate, and I mean really graduate. You will get straight A's next year and you'll get into college. I've been working and putting every penny away so you and Bobby get college degrees." Then he realized this was a replay of so many encounters and pushed her away, "Sorry, I'm not buying it. You've learned just one thing, how to manipulate people...with your tears and," he scanned down her lithe, barely covered body.
Ed sighed and looked her in her eyes, "You've gotten your way with tears for the last few years, and frankly, until you change your act, I'm not going to buy it." He looked up the stairs, "Bobby get down here, you're going to help Sarah get straight A's next year or neither of you are getting a red cent to go to college."
"Dad, I've never gotten anything but A's. Why are you punishing me?" Bobby whined as he came down the stairs.
Ed looked at his two children, both as different as two kids can be. 'Sarah, drop-dead beautiful. Slender frame, nice hand-sized tits, perfect body. I swear, the biggest curse anyone could ever have. She'll never amount to anything until she has to think her way out of situations rather than flirt her way out, check that, fuck her way out. Bobby...cursed with pimples and no charisma. Tall, skinny, no athletic abilities. Total nerd. But fucking brilliant. Must have been from his mother.' He thought, looking at them, 'I wish Jenny were here. She was as beautiful, if not more than Sarah is now, but what a mind. She'd have done a much better job.' His eyes teared up, "Look, things are going to change. Sarah, you're 18 and are now an adult. You need to make a choice. I'll still be your dad either way, but if you go back to South, and get your diploma, you will have a home until you get your college degree. If you decide that's not for you, I'll stake you some money, you can get a job waitressing, or over at the plant and you're on your own."
Sarah looked shaken, "Daddy, I can't get straight A's. I'm not like Bobby."
"Actually, you are. I talked to your guidance counselor last year. I didn't want to tell you, but your IQ scores are 15 points higher than Bobby's...and his are really high."
"Wait, what? Blonde Bimbo here is smarter than I am?" Bobby looked stunned, "I'm sure she blew the guy administering the test."
Ed grabbed Sarah as she went after her brother, "Look, stop it both of you." He glared at both, "Bobby, I want you to apologize, and mean it. Sarah, I'm afraid you've made your bed...you do seem to have manipulated the men and boys around you to get your way."
Bobby's face was bright red as he softly said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."
"Sarah? Do you realize there was a bit of truth in what he said?"
Sarah looked down and nodded, "Yes, I guess I deserved that, I accept your apology." She thought back to Mr. Daniels and how she'd only passed European History after he had her suck him off in the backseat of his car. It was only that once...if you don't count him calling her into his office after finals. 'Why couldn't it have been Mr. Johnson? A 30-year-old guy rather than a 63-year-old fat man?'
Ed sighed, "OK, here are the new rules. Both of you will be seniors next year. Bobby, I want you to sign up for Physics and Calculus in her classes, in fact, I want you in all her classes."
"Wait, I can't be in her classes! I need to take the advanced courses." Bobby sputtered...
"On top of that, Sarah wasn't wrong. You've pretty much done none of the chores while she has been cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes, laundry...what have you done?"
"Jerked off in my underwear in his room." Sarah fumed, "I never told you, but my panties are always missing, then in the laundry, crusty."
Ed looked at Bobby, "What? Seriously?" Not seeing a denial, he angrily stalked away, 'Christ, I have no idea how to deal with this. What the fuck would Jenny have done?' He turned, "Both of you, go back to your rooms. Oh, and Bobby, don't jerk off in your sister's panties." He stopped, rubbed his face, and sighed, "I never thought I'd ever say those words," he looked sternly at his son, "In fact from now on, you leave your door open until I can trust you again."
Sarah grinned at her brother as she spun and headed upstairs but stopped as her Dad addressed her.
"And you. This fall, I'm taking your phone away at 7 every evening until you bring home an A. And dating? Off the table. If you live here, no boys...none."
"Daaaaad!" the small blonde whined, "I need to talk to my friends." She heard Bobby snicker that she needs to fuck her friends.
"You 'want' to talk to your friends. You ''need' to get straight A's and you 'need' to graduate and you 'need' to go to college. You can have your phone back 5 minutes later for every test you get an A on...you lose 10 minutes for every non-A."
"Daaaaddd," Sarah whined but as she saw the set look on his face she simply nodded and went up to her room.
* * *
"You cooked dinner." Sarah said, looking at her dad, "I could have done that."
"No, I can cook. I'm sorry for dumping everything your mom did on you. I guess we both have to make changes." He looked up as Bobby crept in, his eyes on the floor, "Actually, I guess all three of us have to make changes."
As they sat down, Ed passed the baked ham around, "OK, from now on, I'll do a lot more. I can help out with the cooking, Bobby, you'll be doing the dishes, morning and night."
"Dad! I need to do my homework. I can't do dishes."
"Yes, you can. What is it? Half an hour to do dishes?" He scooped up some green beans, "Sarah, I called one of your teachers and got reading lists for this next year." He pulled out a sheet of paper. "We're going to the bookstore and picking up all of these."
Sarah looked up, tears welling, "Dad! It's summer. I can do all that when school starts."
"Yes, you can." He looked intently at her, "But, tell me honestly. Will you? Or will you look at all the reading, and all the homework and feel swamped? I'll let you think about it. Would you like to take your classes ahead of everyone else? Get a head start? Or feel helpless like you always do and fall behind? Think about it. Let's eat."
* * *
Sarah ran up and threw her arms around her dad, "You were right. I could answer all the teachers' questions since I had read everything." She stepped back, "And now the homework assignments are going to be a breeze."
Ed watched in wonder as his 19-year-old daughter ran upstairs to do her homework.
After dinner, Ed looked over at Bobby as the boy headed to the kitchen, "So, how was school? Actually, how was it with your older sister in your classes?" He put down the paper as the boy plopped down on the couch.
"Honestly? The same as always. Same girl, different crowd. She never even showed up for 5th-period history. I guess she was out with Jed in his Vette." Bobby angrily replied, "and, she doesn't even look at me when she's with her posse of admirers."
"Wait, what? She told me that she was able to answer all the questions the teachers asked." He felt like punching the wall. "I wasn't asking you to spy, but you have to tell me. Is she going to apply herself? Is she going to get A's?"
Bobby slowly shook his head, "I don't know. I kind of got the feeling that having prepared she'd be able to hang with her new friends and ride out the first few weeks."