"Well if I were your teacher I'd give you an A+."

"Of course you would. You're my brother. You have to like my work."

"No, I have to encourage you because I'm your brother. I like it cuz it's good." Carly smiled at Spencer's kind words.

"Hey Spencer?"

"Yes, Freddie?"

"Why did you drop out of law school?"

"Because it was law school."

"Then why did you go in the first place?"

"It seemed like the responsible thing to do."

"That's it? You studied for and took the LSAT, applied to a bunch of schools, and actually went to the trouble of moving to one, all because it was the responsible thing to do, but yet you couldn't stand it for more than three days?" Freddie's voice wasn't accusatory, just skeptical. It did, however, cause Spencer to pause a moment before answering.

"I was sitting in tortes class one day and instead of paying attention to the professor I was playing with a bunch of rubber bands and pencils and crumpled up paper making some three-dimensional thing. At one point I looked around for something else to add to my sculpture and I realized I was the only one not paying attention. I asked myself 'what the heck are you doing here?' So that night I made a list of the pros and cons of law school. When I realized the 'cons' list was over twice as long as the 'pros' I knew I wasn't where I was supposed to be."

"Do you ever regret quitting? Even a little?" Sam asked.

Spencer looked at each of the three teenagers sitting before him and thought about all the time he spent around them and all the fun he'd had. He also thought about everything they had written in the essay he had just read. About where they had all come from and the family they had created together--a family that wouldn't exist if Spencer had made a different decision three years ago. A lot of people told him dropping out of law school was stupid or irresponsible. It was perhaps the most "stupid" and "irresponsible" decision Spencer had ever made. It was also the only decision Spencer had ever made about which he had no regrets.

"No, I think dropping out of law school was the best thing I ever did."

"Really?" Sam goaded.

"Absolutely!" Spencer replied. "Now, who wants spaghetti tacos?"

"Sure," Freddie agreed.

Sam jumped up from her seat. "Always!"

Carly's only response was a smile as she and her two best friends joined Spencer for yet another family dinner.