"I told you I'm sorry!" Not like I mean it, but I still say it to be civil. I'm already home, in our living-room, being scolded for not going to class. Apparently the school was expecting me to go, and since I didn't, they called to make sure everything was all right. Mom's not happy about that one.

"That's not enough, young man!" Mom says. "The least I can expect is for you to go to school, John."

"Well, I WAS going to school until you changed me to that other fancy one two towns over," I complain. "And I told you that you couldn't force me to go there, so here we are, proving myself right."

"I'll drive you there myself if I have to, so don't test your luck."

"Tough luck, you still have to get me into the car."

At this point I'm just being difficult on her out of sheer delight. I have a pact with Eugene regarding my training with Ajax and I don't plan on missing another class.

"That's it, you're grounded," she says, like it matters to me. "I want you home as soon as you're out of school, and you're not receiving visitors through the ladder, either."

"Uh. Scary. Like I have a life after class anyway," I say sarcastically, and I pick my own phone to dial Lyle.

"What are you doing?"

"Lyle? Wait a sec," I tell him and then I put him on speaker. I turn to Mom. "Go ahead and tell him he's not allowed to come home anymore. Go on."

"What?" Lyle asks, confused. "What's going on there?"

"Lyle? This is John's mother. John is currently grounded until he behaves as he should."

"On top of being changed to another school? Man, that's harsh."

"He deserves it for not going to his new school today."

"You skipped school on your first day?"

"I so did."

"You're a moron." Lyle says without delay. "You know everyone is expecting the new kid."

"I know, and I don't care," I reply.

"Stop playing farming simulator and go to class already. I have gossip for you," Lyle says, and hangs up on us.

"There, now I don't even have access to my few friends," I tell Mom. "What's next on the agenda? Are you going to cut down the internet, too?"

"You tell me. I could use some ideas," she says, and sighs. "I don't want to be like this, John, but you leave me no choice. You're too aggressive and stubborn."

"You reap what you sow!" Grandma roars from the kitchen.

Mom lowers her voice to barely a whisper. "You used to be such a well-behaved and nice kid... What happened to that John?"

"If you need to know, he died when you moved him out of Celadon Bay."

"Are you still onto that?"

"No, I'm not. I don't want to go back there anymore," I reply with simplicity. "I'm just telling you what happened to that John."

"Do you want to take a week off and visit your cousins? Maybe bring that John back?"

"I just told you, I don't want to go back there!" I snap at her, already climbing the stairs to my room. "See how you never listen to anything I say? Then you people expect me to talk to you guys like we're all friends."

"I want to be that kind of mother, but you don't let me in, you always lock me out, and I don't know what else to do anymore..."

"Just leave me alone, will you?"

"Fine, have it your way!" she says to end the conversation and goes somewhere else.

I climb the rest of the stairs and enter my room, but the sight awaiting me there is one I wasn't prepared for.