“What are you really doing here?” Jason demanded once they were in the hallway.
“I missed you,” Haley said, nodding her head solemnly as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and added, “So much.”
“And the cupcakes?” he asked as his eyes narrowed on the little liar.
“I was hungry.”
“So, you brought cupcakes for the whole class?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that his class was staying out of trouble.
“It was the polite thing to do.”
“I just feel as though you could have put a little more effort in when you decided to cheat,” Jason said, wondering where he went wrong as he glanced up from the quiz that he’d given on the American Revolution to find the student that really should have known better, standing in front of him, looking at a loss for words.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Adam, a kid who really should have known better, said as he did his best to try to appear innocent.
“Look,” Jason said, tossing the quiz back on his desk with a sigh, “if you’re going to cheat in my classroom, then you might want to consider changing the answers into your own words.”
“But, I didn’t-”
“Explain to me how this happened again,” Kasey said as Trevor, who was wondering what the hell was taking them so long, struggled to keep Mikey’s arm still.
“I don’t need stitches!” Mikey yelled, somewhat desperately as she continued to try to squirm her way free so that she could make another run for it.
“Yes, you do,” Sebastian said, sighing heavily as he shifted to get more comfortable from where he lay across her legs, trying to keep them pinned to the bed.
“We are no longer speaking, sir!” Mikey said with a scathing glare for her best friend as Reese, who was holding down her other arm, continued to glare at him.
“There’s no reason to panic,” Mikey said and if she hadn’t said that as her legs gave out, he probably would have believed her.
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Cole said, rubbing his trembling hands down as his face as he stared down at Mikey while Jonathan, who’d decided to come help them after he’d spotted them walking to the baseball field on his way home, mumbled, “There’s so much blood.”
“I’m fine,” Mikey said, nodding to herself as Sebastian carefully lowered her to the ground.
“And all this blood?” Sebastian asked, looking paler by the second as Trevor knelt by her side and took a closer look at her temple and decided that a trip to the emergency room was definitely in order.
“Hold up.”
“Just please leave me alone,” Elizabeth mumbled sadly as she hugged the grocery bag filled with the one thing that let him know just how bad this was tightly against her chest as she headed towards the old park bench by the kiddie playground.
“Can’t do that,” Cole said, quickly catching up with his little sister.
“I don’t feel like talking about it,” she said as she sat down.
“That’s fine,” Cole said, joining her.
“I’m serious, Cole,” she said, looking sadder than he’d ever seen her.
“I know you are,” Cole said, leaning back with a sigh as he glanced towards the group of kids watching them by the baseball field.
“Let go.”
“I’d rather die!” Elizabeth bit out vehemently as her grip tightened around the edge of the bathroom counter.
Thankful that she was ticklish like her mother, Jason simply shifted his hand so that his fingertips were near the side of his little girl’s stomach and-
“Oh, my God, no!” Elizabeth gasped around a bout of laughter as she released her hold on the counter so that she could stop his tickling assault.
Once she was free, he simply picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Ignoring her sputtered demands that he put her down so that she could live out the rest of her life in seclusion, he headed for the front door.
“What the hell happened?” Jason asked when Mikey finally stepped out of the bathroom.
With a heavy sigh, she said, “I’m afraid that I can’t tell you that.”
“Well, did you at least fix her?” he asked right around the time the sniffles started up again.
“Define fix…” Mikey said as she rolled the baseball between her hands.
“This,” Jason said, gesturing between Mikey and the closed bathroom door, “is exactly why I don’t want you playing with my children.”
“Open the door, sweetheart,” Jason said as his grip on the door frame tightened and he forced himself to slowly exhale as he pressed his forehead against the bathroom door.
“I-I’m f-f-fine,” Elizabeth managed to get out on a broken sob that had him pushing away from the door and ramming his fingers through his hair. He was going to kill the little bastard, he decided when the next round of sobs began.
“You should probably call Aunt Hayley.”
“You really should,” Sebastian said, drawing his attention to the duo that he’d called in to help fix this.
“Why are we at the mall?” Sebastian asked, sighing heavily as he placed their tray down at the small food court table.
“Well, we,” Mikey said, stressing the second word as she gestured between her and his father who was doing his best not to smile, “are spending a lovely evening at the mall. I’m not sure what you’re doing here to be honest,” she added with a sad shake of her head and a pitying look that had him narrowing his eyes on the little brat.
“I’m spending quality time with my father,” he said with a glare as he grabbed his drink off the tray.
“Doing what?” she asked, blinking innocently as she grabbed one of his fries and popped it in her mouth.
Narrowing his eyes on her, he grabbed her burger as he said, “Guy stuff.”
“What did he do to piss you off this time?” Uncle Trevor asked as they watched Sebastian storm out of the house.
“I don’t remember,” Mikey said, pursing her lips up as she thought it over only to shrug.
“You’re evil,” Uncle Trevor said with a rueful smile and a shake of his head as they watched as Sebastian’s eyes narrowed on them.
“I know,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly as Sebastian stormed over to the truck.
“You really enjoy tormenting my son, don’t you?” Uncle Trevor asked with a curious look in his eye.
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