SOUNDTRACK: "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" - Tears For Fears

MONDAY

Kate felt like her stomach was going to crawl out up her throat and force it's way out of her mouth. Finals week was here; there was no more putting it off. She was standing on the Quad, enjoying the last few rays of sunshine she'd get before heading into the Languages building for her French final. She had been up the night beforehand speaking with Jared, attempting to speak fluently, but his speaking skills were not as high as she needed them to be. In the end, she just spent several hours repeating common phrases and going over French history in an attempt to calm her nerves. The final bell rang and she rushed inside to her class just in time, sitting down and pulling out a pen and pencil.

The test was divided into two parts: a written one and an oral one. The teacher divided them up and took half of the class to perform the oral exam, leaving the other half in the classroom with another teacher. Kate had her oral exam first.

Please, dear sweet merciful Flying Spaghetti Monster, let me ace this. I deserve a motherfucking win after all the shit I've been through this year, she thought as they were led down the hallway to several meeting rooms.

Students sat at desks, writing in silence as teachers walked up and down aisles, monitoring the tests. She took a deep breath and sat in one of the chairs lined up against the wall outside the small meeting room where the oral test was being given. Faint voices drifted under the door as the first student began. Kate took a deep breath and tried to remember what she had crammed into her brain at a feverish pace over the past few weeks. It would be a miracle if she squeaked by with a C.

Three hours later, the Flying Spaghetti Monster had indeed been kind and merciful to her; she felt confident that she had performed much better than she anticipated and she walked with relief into the crowded, noisy cafeteria for lunch. Students were milling about, getting food and talking to each other. A few were trying to hopelessly cram for whatever exam came in the afternoon in between bites of food. Kate stood in line, happy to be one step closer to Holiday Break.

That afternoon, she had her AP Chemistry semester final and she actually felt really good about it. Chemistry was easy for her. She had always picked it up really quickly. And Professor Rucker was an excellent teacher. During the last few days of class, she had even spent her time tutoring other students and going over key concepts with them. She was glad to do it because it gave her a chance to really feel like she had something under control. Most other aspects of her life felt like she had no say in anything.

Her relationship with Jared and the rest of the family was a little stagnant. Her place on the soccer team was established and the coach for the main team was eyeing her closely now. It made her nervous and excited all at the same time. She enjoyed playing on the reserve team, but honestly they were the reserve team for a reason, really. The play was swiftly approaching and Kate oscillated between confidence and outright fear. Anytime she thought about having to get in front of all those people (Luke had kindly informed her that the shows usually sold out completely for Winterlake performances), the contents of her stomach threatened to make an encore appearance. She knew her lines. She knew the blocking. She just had to actually act like she cared.

TUESDAY

Kate felt like her brain might explode. She had to keep reminding herself that exams were almost over. Only one more day and they'd be done for a whole semester. Her semester final for AP US History had left her brain particularly decimated. It felt like she was trying to catch water with a slice of Swiss cheese as she walked into rehearsals after school. Professor Howard was running them ragged through finals because the play opened on Friday. They had one show Friday night, two shows Saturday, and one show Sunday. And so far, they were all about seventy-five percent sold-out.

The next morning, she had her final two exams, English and Pre-Calculus. She hadn't even really bothered to study for English - she knew the books by heart and knew she could whip up a paper in no time. Pre-Calculus was going to be a bit harder. The worst one had been her Web Design and Programming test. Her programming skills were still new and she was almost positive she had keyed something in wrong when writing the code for the sample website. She had enjoyed the class and was contemplating taking another one next school year, but for the moment she was glad it was done. She knew she was in too deep when all of her textbooks started to look like the code staring back at her.

She dropped her bag in one of the seats in the house and sidestepped an usher vacuuming the carpet on her way up to the stage. The set was pretty much all finished, save for a few remaining props that needed placing. A large ornate, if slightly run-down, curving staircase swooped up stage right, leading to the second story of the set where balcony scenes took place. A period styled lamp sat downstage in front of it, and two lighting techs were testing it. Underneath the staircase, on a slight platform, a kitchenette had been set up with period appliances. Directly in front of it, a worn wooden dining set held court at center stage. The floors had all been redone in a wood finish and the false walls had been painted to make them look worn and aging. Yellowed wallpaper lined the walls in the bedroom area and a door stood at the end of the bed, acting as the gateway to the bathroom. The entire space was up on a slightly higher platform, giving the stage a more broken-up look and making it look more like distinctive rooms.

All of this had sprung up in a matter of days, which really impressed Kate. Of course, she knew that the set designers and props masters had been working on these things since the show had been announced, as they had with every other production. But it still didn't cease to amaze her how all of these things could get done in such a short period of time. But Winterlake was a school dedicated to putting students in specific paths of study; students interested in stage design and production aspects certainly received a lot of hands-on training there.

They were on their final run-through of the play before dress rehearsals. She had done a costume fitting the week beforehand and was positive she had lost at least a few pounds down to the fact that she'd been too stressed and busy to eat. With soccer practices on hold, she was devoting all of her energy to studying and rehearsals. The costume department was doing a fitting on Luke in one of the wings backstage and he gave her a nod as she walked by.

Their relationship had become an interesting one. He was a graduating senior and planning to go to Yale for drama. They had spent quite a few lunches chatting and getting to know one another, on his insistence. She actually liked it because it made her feel more comfortable with him. They shared some pretty intense scenes and being a little more friendly with him made her more comfortable. Olivia, on the other hand, was not so welcoming.

Olivia Garland was the junior playing Stella and was every bit the theater student. She could dance, sing, act, and recite Shakespeare - the total package. She was even stunningly beautiful. Initially, Kate had thought she was just one of those really serious theater kids who always wore black, took everything to the extreme and made angry trees in their 'movement classes'. But after their first rehearsal, Kate realized she was just a bitch. Luke told her that Olivia had auditioned for Blanche and was more than miffed when she'd been given Stella instead. Kate had been doomed from the jump, really.

"Olivia," Kate remarked, giving the blonde a polite smile. "Were your exams good?"

"They were fine," came the clipped reply. The girl barely made it two seconds before reeling on Kate. "I hope you know all of your lines. Because if you fuck this up, no one is gonna let you live it down," she hissed.

"Thanks for the reminder," Kate muttered. "Hope you know yours. You seem to spend all your time worrying about me. I'm kind of concerned you won't be prepared," she answered.

Olivia's eyes blazed in an almost-comical manner. Kate knew she was getting to her. "I know the entire script, front to back. This was supposed to be my role," she growled, her nose pressed against Kate's.

"Okay, clam down. Go eat a burger or something," Kate quipped.

"I'M RAW VEGAN!" Olivia shouted as she stalked back onstage.

"Okay then!" Kate copied her tone in a joking manner.

One thing was for certain: when the play was done, she'd be happy to be rid of Olivia Garland.

WEDNESDAY

"Hey Kid," Jared called from the kitchen. "Could you come here?"

Kate looked up from her script. "You know, I'm sixteen. Its a little weird to be called 'kid'," she responded.

"Fine. Get your ass in here, you little gremlin," he corrected himself. "Better?" he asked with a slight grin when she appeared in front of him. He sighed and leaned against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. "I wanted to let you know I won't be at your show."

Kate's face fell and the slight euphoria she had been experiencing following the completion of her exams disappeared like a balloon popping. "Oh."

"I know I said I'd think about it. And I did, I swear," he hurried out. "I wish I could be there. But with this Taylor Swift shit and people on me more about Suicide Squad promotion, I've got a lot of heat on me right now." He uncrossed his arms and pushed off the counter. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

Ever since they had been photographed a little while ago while out with Stevie and Vedder, Jared had been aware of people looking into who Kate was. Part of him wanted to just ignore it and carry on with his life, letting the fans gossip. If she was one of his friends or just a casual fling, that's exactly what he'd have done. But Kate wasn't his friend or a fling; she was his daughter and a permanent fixture in his life. He knew he had to introduce her at some point; when Suicide Squad started press, he'd be getting photographed like crazy and at some point, Kate would be with him and they'd be seen together.

Robin had been getting on him about getting ahead of the story and controlling the narrative. She kept telling him she could arrange a big tell-all story with People or something, but a tell-all didn't feel appropriate. It wasn't like there was a sordid story to it all; one day he wasn't a dad and the next he was adrift in this parenthood ocean-thing hopeless flailing about trying to stay afloat. It wasn't anything worthy of a massive story, even though he knew his fanbase would look at it that way.

The fanbase was his biggest concern. He wasn't the first celebrity to have a kid pop up out of the woodwork, so he wasn't worried about what colleagues and people in the industry would say. It was how his fans would treat her that terrified him the most. The longer he waited to say anything, the more vicious they'd get in their interpretation of things. If they managed to identify her, all bets were off. His summer with Irina had been enough of an example of how his fans would treat Kate if they saw her as a potential lover of his. And as much as the idea made him want to vomit, it was almost preferable to people learning she was his child. It was a lot harder to live his lifestyle of choice with a kid in the picture, especially a teenage girl.

If he claimed Kate and made a big announcement about it and everything, he knew he would be opening her up to a lot of followers and unwanted attention. His fans would follow anyone he was remotely connected to. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the cleaning lady had a decent following at this point. He didn't know if Kate would be able to handle it. So once again, he was put in the position of making himself look bad to protect Kate. If this was parenthood, he wasn't sure he was cut out for it.

"When are you going to tell people?" Kate asked softly, hurt in her eyes. "If everyone knew who you were, you could come right?"

He blinked and sighed. "Yes. Of course."

"So why aren't you telling anyone? Just get it overwith," she mumbled.

He wished he could. "My mom and Shannon will be there. Emma even said she was going. There will be plenty of people there for you," he told her.

He knew his brother, mother, and former assistant were no replacement for himself but it was the best he could give her. Jared almost wished that he could hide behind the excuse of a meeting or event because at least then it wouldn't have been something in his control. Instead, he was just hiding.

"I think Shannon wants to take you out for dinner afterwards. Maybe I'll join you then," Jared offered.

Kate scoffed. "Don't bother," she remarked before turning and walking back to the living room. "You spend all this time telling me how you want to be in my life, Jared. But you never seem to come through when I need you. You go on and on about how you missed stuff, but you sure as hell aren't trying to prevent missing out on things now."

He didn't have the energy to argue with her so he ignored her comments. "Do you ski? Or snowboard?" he asked, following her through the house.

She gave him an expression of puzzlement at his sudden change of topic. "What?"

"Do you ski or snowboard?" he repeated.

Kate blinked. "Uh, neither. Ive never been. Why?"

"I'm taking you," he replied in a definitive tone. "Every year for my birthday, I take a little trip. A gift to myself. I just decided I'm going to Vail to go snowboarding. So that's what we're gonna do."

"Just you and me?" she asked cautiously.

"And a few of my friends," he added carefully. "You've met Jamie already."

Kate smiled at the mention of the curly-haired goofball. "Who else?"

"Chloe and one of my oldest friends, Sian," Jared replied. "You'll like them."

Jared specifically left out Irina. He felt slightly guilty for using her to distract from Shannon's stupidity and wanted to make it up to her. Plus, it had been a while since he had gotten any significant action with anyone. As annoying as the model could be at times, she was nothing if not willing and adventurous in the bedroom. It was one of the reasons he kept her around. Plus, she actually happened to be a pretty decent friend if he ignored certain things.

"Your friends? What are you gonna tell them about me?" she asked, putting her script down in interest.

He sighed and sat on the arm of the sofa. "The truth. That you're my daughter." Silence filled the room for a few seconds. "I realized how much I'm having to miss out on because of me wanting to keep...things...quiet. But they're my friends. And they should know who you are. So that's what I'm going to do."

She didn't exactly know how to react. Part of her was jumping with glee because it seemed like he was finally starting to accept reality. But another part of her rolling in nerves, afraid of what his friends would be like. In her limited experience with the few of Jared's friends she had met, they were self-centered workaholics and oblivious to her presence.

"It's a start," he continued. "I - I'm trying, gremlin. I really am." He sighed. "I'm not used to sharing a lot about my personal life. Even telling my friends is a big deal for me."

Kate nodded and they sat in silence again. "Why do you keep calling me that? Gremlin?" she asked after a second.

Jared smiled and stood, closing the gap between the two of them. "You never saw the movie? Gremlins?" She shook her head. "It's a classic," he answered in disbelief. "The plot leaves a bit to be desired, but there's this little creature called a mogwai and he's really adorable. You remind me of him a little. That's why I call you that. Plus, like you said. Kid seems a little young for you," he explained with a chuckle.

"Isn't that the movie about the weird little beasts that you can't feed after midnight?" she asked. "That destroy everything?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "The main one is good, though."

"Why is it that everything about you is so freaking weird?" she asked, her guard dropping a bit more.

"Hey, you love it," he teased with a grin. "I'm the weird dad that embarrasses his kid and calls her weird names. Get used to it."