The other shoe drops.

Every afternoon when I pick the teen up from the bus stop I ask him, "Do you have any homework?" And almost every day the answer is, "No."

It didn't occur to me to worry. After all he came here late in the school year. It seemed logical that the homework was winding down as the teachers were preparing for summer.

All together now: "SUCKER!"

I heard from the husband at the end of the week. The teen is missing several science homework assignments. The school sent an email to the teen's mom, who forwarded it (with an accompanying upset note) to the husband, who forwarded the whole shebang to me. Now everyone expects me to handle the situation, only it's the end of the school year and hello, it's too late.

Being a stepparent is, in some ways, an awful lot like being a babysitter - except that babysitting pays a lot more. You have no intrinsic right to be a part of that child's life. It doesn't matter how much you love the child, what sacrifices you've made, or even if you've been the child's primary caregiver all her life. You're nothing, because you're not a legally recognized parent.

I can't take the teen to a doctor without a signed form from the husband giving me permission to do so. I can't sign him up for school, because I'm not a parent or guardian. And now, apparently I can't even talk with his teachers. They email his mom, in another state, rather than pick up a phone and call me. I've had a call in to his economics teacher since the middle of the week with no response. I tried to get hold of his science teacher Friday morning, but there's been no response from her either.

If I had only known about this sooner, I might have been able to do something about it, but his finals are this week. He's insisting he hasn't missed anything. His English paper is due this week - the one he's been telling me he was working on. Only he hasn't. So all that has to be done.

I'm so angry with him right now. I feel used and played. He pulled the wool over my eyes without even trying, I was so trusting. Man. What an idiot.