Title: Easy A
Author: SunflowersAndHoney
Summary: The one with the signature.
Rating: K
A/N: For my mini-me, Mia, who brought her grades up and made me so proud. Keep going!
Echo Park, 3:39PM
"Camryn, if you come clean now, I promise me and Mama won't get mad. But if you lie, Mama will make me ground you. You don't want to be grounded, right?"
His youngest daughter shook her head.
"So, did you eat the last fudge bar from the freezer after Mama said no sweets before dinner?"
"No, Daddy, I didn't."
Both Dom and Letty looked at the chocolate evidence around her lips and shirt.
"Really?" Letty asked, putting her hands on her hips. "You're gonna do hard time, kid. I'm talking no cartoons on Saturday morning, no hopscotch outside, no dessert for three days."
The four-year-old, affectionately known as Cammy, had brown eyes that suddenly ballooned in size at the mere thought of missing her cartoons and dessert. "But-."
"And no bedtime story." Dom finished for his wife. Camryn slammed her hands on the table. "Okay! Okay!" Her squeaky voice exclaimed. "I ate it. I'm sorry! Please don't ground me!" She rounded the table, halfway to tears, and climbed into her father's lap.
"You guys have got to stop using Uncle Brian's interrogation tactics on the kid." Their eldest daughter commented.
"Mind your business, Aston." Letty responded.
"Yeah, mind your business, Aston!" repeated Cammy from the safety of her father's arms.
Aston slammed the fridge door closed and teased, "Make me, Camry!"
"It's Camryn!"
"We were all named after cars, kid. Get over it." Aston told
"Aston, enough! Stop picking on your little sister."
"She started it."
"Where's Nova?"
"It's Wednesday." Aston yelled over her shoulder as she left the kitchen. "She had driver's ed."
Dom looked at his wife. "I can't believe our kid is denying us the right to teach her how to drive."
"To be fair, when she gets her license, at least our insurance won't be sky high."
"If she gets her license. No driver's ed instructor is going to teach her how to drive better than we can."
"She's a smart kid. She's probably sailing through that class. Besides," Letty assured him, "they've got a pretty good teacher."
Los Angeles High School, 3:50PM
"A 'D', Uncle Rome? Are you insane? I can't bring home a 'D'. My parents will kill me."
"It's just the written exam. You can take it over once you get your parent's signature at the top of that one."
"Signature?" Nova refrained from asking if her teacher was high. "No way."
"Then you'll have to take the 'D' and it will ultimately bring your final grade down. You have to pass this class."
Nova made a noise that was half-groan and half-scream. "You're killing me, Uncle Rome. I'm in all pre-AP classes, I don't get into trouble and I just took this school to the championships in volleyball! How many sophomores can say that? Give me a break."
"I can't play favorites in class, Nova."
"Why not?" Nova huffed, crossing her arms. Rome was taken aback by just how much she looked like Letty just then.
"It's not fair to the other kids."
"Who cares about the other kids? They've got to learn sooner or later that life isn't fair."
Rome tried his hardest to hide his laughter. "Signature, then retake the exam."
Huffing once more, Nova readjusted the straps on her backpack and turned on her feet.
"When my parents kill me, just make sure they bury me in silk, not satin. Satin is tacky."
"Got it."
Echo Park, 4:20PM
"Aston, I need a favor."
"What's in it for me?"
"What do you want?"
"Twenty bucks and do my chores for a month."
"Ten bucks and your chores for a week," countered Nova.
"Fifteen and two weeks."
"Deal." They shook hands and then bumped fists.
"What's the favor?"
"Mom's signature on a bad test grade."
"No way."
"What? We had a deal."
"I'm better at Dad's signature."
Nova shrugged. "I'll take it." She shoved the exam in her older sister's face.
Judgement read loud and clear across Aston's face. "A 'D'? This is a disgrace." She teased Nova, saucily. "You're better than this, kid."
"I don't need your judgements right now, Aston."
"You're right. What you need is a tutor."
"Just. Sign." Nova replied through gritted teeth and pushed an inkpen into her hand. Aston forged their father's signature and then wrapped the pen in her shirt, rubbing profusely.
"What are you doing?"
"Wiping my fingerprints off. I don't want them to know I was your accomplice."
"Fair enough." She unzipped and reached into the outer pocket of her backpack and pulled out a few crinkled bills, handing Aston a five and a ten. "Pleasure doing business with you."
Sunday, 2:15PM
The post-church barbecue was in full swing. The weather was lovely, the laughter was loud and the food was plentiful. Kids ran around while their parents stood or sat around talking. Nova came out of the kitchen via the back door with three of her friends.
"Did he fall for it?" One of her friends asked of the forged signature.
"Hook, line and sinker." She bragged.
By the garage, Dom, Letty, Rome and Tej stood around talking and drinking Coronas.
"There's my other niece." Rome said when he saw Nova run down the stairs, friends in tow.
"She's been strange acting weird lately."
"Weird how?" Tej inquired.
"She's doing a lot of chores. She even took the liberty of emptying the dishwasher and vacuuming. Those are Aston's chores."
"She probably just feels bad because of that test."
"What test?" Dom asked, drinking from his beer.
"The one you signed. The 'D' that she got in my course. She was so scared to tell you."
"She should be."
"Because she still hasn't."
"Yeah, and I didn't sign anything."
Tej's eyes got wide and he opted for drinking from his beer. This was none of his business and he wanted no parts of the drama that was about to unfold.
"Nova!" Dom, Letty and Rome shouted at the same time.
"Oh. Crap." Nova muttered.
Letty slammed her hand onto the kitchen table. "You forged Daddy's signature?"
"I got this, Let." Dom told his wife. "You forged my signature?"
Letty rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at the same time as Nova.
"How'd you find out?"
"That's not what's important. What's important is that you committed a crime. This could go on your permanent record. You could be suspended or worse." Letty explained. She wasn't trying to scare the kid, but she was bad cop. That's how she and her husband handled these things.
"Uncle Rome isn't going to tell anyone. He said so himself."
"Because he feels like he owes Daddy his life. But you put him in a tough position with his job. And now, Daddy owes him. What you did to both of them is not fair. Apologize to your father."
"Sorry, Daddy."
"And you will apologize to Uncle Rome." Dom added.
"I did."
"Again." Her parents said together.
"Okay." Nova's voice shook, and Dom could see that her eyes were welling up with unshed tears
"We're not trying to be hard on you and your sisters. We just want you to become better people than we were."
"You guys are the best people I know. We just want to be as badass as you two are." The tears began to fall freely.
Both Dom and Letty's hearts melted and Dom opened his arms. "Come on."
Just as Camryn had just days before, Nova found her comfort in her father's arms.
"I remember the pressure of high school, and sports and parents and friends, but you have to make better choices, kid. That's all we want." Letty soothed her daughter by rubbing her dark, wavy hair.
"You're better than an easy A. We want you to know that. And we want you to know that we love you no matter what."
Fin.