He had even overheard his parents joking later that if they had another kid, they would definitely give them that terrible name.
Thank God they hadn't, or their entire family tree would be a running joke.
"Alright," Claire agreed.
"Are you under a lot of academic stress right now, Dexter? Do you want my old study guides?"
"You might only be a junior this year, but college applications are right around the corner."
"Sure." He agreed instantly, before Claire even had to persuade him.
Now it was Claire's turn to be stunned.
She had mostly offered just to tease him.
If this had been the old Dexter, he would have definitely clasped his hands together and begged, "Please, spare me!"
His actual reaction was entirely unexpected.
"I'll organize them for you when I get back."
Claire had casually put together a set of study materials for Shirley before her own finals.
Remembering this, she looked at Shirley. "Give your copies to Dexter so he can use them for now."
"When he's a senior, I'll put together a fresh set for him."
Shirley shook her head frantically. "Forget about mine. I pretty much destroyed those study guides."
In reality, it was because the pages were filled with incorrect answers, and she wanted to keep the tiny shred of dignity she had left in front of her brother.
If he found out she had sobbed her way through those practice tests, it would be humiliating.
"Just give them to him. Your wrong answers will probably be a great reference for him," Claire said, knowing full well that Dexter's grades were even worse than Shirley's.
She honestly had no idea what was wrong with these siblings.
You could argue that Shirley just hadn't taken her studies seriously, but Dexter?
The kid had practically slept through every class.
Forget about Shirley not wanting to hand them over; Dexter didn't even want them.
"Would I even be able to understand her notes?"
Not only was Shirley's handwriting nowhere near as neat as Claire's, but her logic and step-by-step breakdowns definitely wouldn't be as smooth either.
Hearing this, Shirley bristled.
"I didn't even want to give them to you, and here you are complaining!"
"Stop fighting and keep your eyes on the road." Claire was genuinely afraid that if she didn't say something, Shirley would turn around and smack him.
They were driving, and with Shirley's questionable driving skills, she couldn't afford to be distracted.
Shirley scoffed. "If we crash, it's whatever, but we can't drag Claire down with us." As she drove, she started chatting with Claire about Latham's family. "Honestly, with Pandora around, Latham's situation isn't entirely hopeless." "After Lance got discharged, Pandora hired a full-time caregiver for him."
"Latham tried looking for work, but his standards are too high for
normal jobs and he's not
qualified
for the big ones. He's honestly doing
worse than my dad."
"I have no idea what he's actually doing right now. My parents haven't mentioned it."
"Cindy, on the other hand, packed up and left the family."
Cindy's departure wasn't much of a surprise.
"She was never Latham's biological daughter anyway, so it makes sense that she left," Claire noted, seeing nothing wrong with the decision.
If Latham hadn't known she was an illegitimate child, it might have been different.
But since Latham and Octavia had completely turned on each other and her true parentage was public knowledge, staying with the family would only make her a massive liability.
"But guess what happened with her and York?"
"Didn't they call off the engagement?" Claire didn't want to make blind guesses.
Still, knowing Cindy's indecisive
nature-and the fact that she had
been personally molded by
Fallon she definitely wouldn't make
a clean break when it came to
relationships.
"They did break it off, and York is literally engaged to someone else now, but Cindy
is still living in his apartment."
This was the juicy gossip Shirley had managed to dig up.