The Files of the Big Damn Principal

Cameron had promised he'd be in touch more and since he'd not even had the time to buy Christmas cards, he'd just have to call. That would be why Zoe's telephone was ringing.

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Hoping that this wouldn't be a call she'd regret answering, Zoe reached over to grab the phone. "Hello?"

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"Happy New Year, ma'am," Cameron said instantly. He was possibly just curious to see if she'd know who she was talking to.

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There were only so many people who still called her ma'am, even if she hadn't recognized his voice. "Cameron?" she said. "Oh, it's good to hear from you. Happy New Year to you too."

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Look, he was going to be a little bit proud that his principal knew who he was when he called. "I'm working on my new year's resolution of being in contact more," he said. "So I figured I'd start off by wishing you a not too eventful year or at least one with harmless events."

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"I like the sound of all of that," Zoe said. "A peaceful year and you keeping in touch. How are you doing? Are you staying busy?"

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"I'm good, ma'am," he sounded it too and there was definitely some excitement (possibly close to bounciness) in his voice. "I'm almost finished my training, there's actually a pretty decent chance I'll be getting stationed as fighter pilot."

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"Really? That's very good news," Zoe said. "There's nothing in the world like flying. I'm so glad you're getting to do what you want to do."

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"It's pretty sweet," Cameron had to agree. "I'm definitely not going to complain. Who's things in Fandom? And Grace? Has she got any admirers yet?"

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"Things in Fandom are all right. Grace is fine, but she's not dating until she's thirty," Zoe said. "We had another strange weekend and we got to see her as a teenager again. She might not have admirers, but she definitely admired some of the boys."

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"You didn't have to kill any of them, I hope?" he asked. "Good to hear the island hasn't stopped confusing people."

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"No, they were thinking crazy too. Doesn't mean I didn't get a glare or two in, of course," Zoe said, laughing. "I don't think the island will ever stop confusing people. It'd be a kind of boring place to live then."

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Chuck didn't particularly want to do this, but he got the feeling he wouldn't stop getting nagged at unless he worked this whole thing out. It helped he was hanging around the school anyway today, since he could just stop by Zoe's office after he left the library.

"Hi, Principal Winchester," he said. "Are you busy?"

She looked busy.

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Zoe peered past a pile of papers and smirked at Chuck. "Not with anything I want to be busy with," she said. "Come on in."

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"Thanks," he said, walking into the room and taking a seat. "I wanted to talk to you about me missing my finals last semester."

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"Yes, I heard you were...out of town, so to speak," Zoe said. "Family emergency, was it?"

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Sure, let's go with that. "Uh, yeah. My dad died. I left for the funeral and then just...stayed away longer than I anticipated."

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"Grief over losing a parent does come before classes," Zoe said, because she wasn't a nerd like certain members of her family. "Were the finals all that you missed?"

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Actually Chuck had missed the last two weeks of classes but that was more due to him being lazy and avoiding post-SOW stuff than anything that had to do with his dad. He definitely wasn't going to admit to that.

"Yeah, pretty much," he said. "I mean, if you want me to do something to make up for it, I'll do it. I'd just really like to graduate in the spring. If I don't I might very well be nagged at until the day I die."

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"How were your grades before finals?" Zoe asked. "Is there a solution to this that you'd prefer?"

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"My grades were fine." As very well they should be considering who was doing most of the work. "I'll be honest with you, in the past my dad just tended to give the Headmistress money when I screwed up. But something tells me you wouldn't be a fan of bribery."

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"In the past, your headmistresses weren't as nice as I am," Zoe said. "And as much as I'd love some extra cash to clothe my ever-growing toddler, bribery won't be necessary. I'll talk to your teachers, and see if we can get your grades to simply stand as they were before finals. Does that sound reasonable enough?"

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Chuck nodded, looking extremely relieved. He thought he was going to have to go through some weird punishment or something. "Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you."

"And I would have bought Grace clothes if you wanted me to," he said. "...just no flannel."

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"I'll settle for you agreeing to call Sam the next time you're out of town for so long, so I don't have to deal with a frantic stepson and his flannel," Zoe said.

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Chuck winced a little at that. "I'm not going to do that to him again."

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