It seems that ever since Billy has entered the realm that is middle school, his grades (and attitude) have changed significantly.

Billy no longer takes pride in his homework: to get him to do it is a daily battle of wills.  He says he will do it later on, but when grade card time rolls around, his grades tell the tale.  Whenever we ask him about it, he says that he hates school and hates the teachers even more.

Billy's sudden dislike for school (or himself) deeply troubles us.  We don't know what is going on, but we don't like it one bit.  

It seems funny, but Billy never has his friends over.  If he wants to see his friends, he has to go over to THEIR house or see them at school.  He never has them come HERE.  We haven't met his friends; we don't know what they are like or if they are bad kids.  They must be because up until he started middle school earlier this year (August, only a few short months ago), Billy was a totally different kid.

I wonder if Billy is doing something we don't want to know about.  The very thought of him being in a gang or possibly using drugs makes us shudder in fear.  We are suddenly scared for him and his future.

I don't know what is going on, but Hugh and I are going to start doing P.I. work of our own, Crandall-style.  We are going to get to the bottom of this mystery and see for ourselves why Billy is like this.  We may not like what we discover, but we have to get our old son back, somehow!

~To be continued.~