"Dad!" T.J. shouted as he ran towards him, Kyle not too far behind following him down the stairs. Nick stood taking a deep breath as he wondered why T.J. was so excited. He knew they both wanted something from him, but he wasn't sure what it was or what it was for. "Dad, I need $10 so I can go to the movies after school!" He said half out of breath.
"Yeah, me too," Kyle added as he nodded his head and smiled at some thought that only he and T.J. knew.
"What ever happened to earning your own money? Back in my day..." Nick was cut off, unable to finish his sentence because Kyle interrupted him.
"We know, dad, we know." After pausing for a few seconds Kyle said, "So how about that $10 for each of us?"
Nick groaned, but eventually gave in. The last thing Nick wanted was to hear the boys going on and on pestering him for money. The past week Nick had not been himself. The boys had noticed a change in their father as had Nick. He was more irritated with the boys' actions than usual. Usually he would just brush it aside and not think about it again, but lately every little thing that irritated him stayed with him for at least a few days. Whenever he would think about something like that he would just make himself more angry, and than he would take his anger out on the boys.
"Jack, I need to borrow your car tonight," Nick said as he interrupted Chris and Jack's discussion. "My car is still in the shop. They said it won't be ready for at least two more days."
"What!? No way! Tonight's Anna's party and there's no way I'm missing it."
"Jack, how many times have I let you borrow my car? You can't just do me this one favor?" He shouted angrily as he threw the newspaper he was reading down at Jack. "Fine," he said as he began to walk away, "use your car tonight. I don't care," he said throwing his hands up in the air. "But remember this the next time you want something from me." Nick bolted out the door, slamming it as hard as he could. The boys just stared blankly at each other. Never had they seen their dad that angry before. They remained silent though, listening to their dad's complaining as he made his way to the front of the house. His voice was loud and clear, very clear. He was loud enough for them all to hear him take out anger this time on Sam. "For Christ's sake, stop spying on Angela, Sam!" Sam quickly shut the blinds and turned towards his brothers wondering if Angela had hear him.
"What the hell is up his ass?" Jack asked as he wondered what was wrong with his dad.
"I didn't even do anything," Sam replied, acting as though it was the others' faults.
"Don't look at me," Chris said. "I'm not the one who didn't let him borrow imy/i car," Chris said as he looked directly at Jack.
Jack rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, you want to blame this on me, you can walk to Anna's party tonight. Besides," he said as he put on his black wrist band, "I'm not the one who was asking for money."
"He didn't have to give it to us!" Kyle shouted out in their defense as the other's gathered their things and left for school.
center/center
"I don't know about this, Kyle," J.T. hesitated as he kept a look-out. "Someone can get hurt, we could get in trouble."
"Listen, just think of what we'll be doing for this neighborhood. Things won't be so boring."
"They will be if we get caught and end up being grounded," he reminded him.
"How is dad going to find out? I know iI'm/i not going to say anything," he said implying that myabe T.J. would get scared and tell dad what they did.
"I...I'm not gonna say anything."
"Good, well less talk and more work. I need help lifting this thing you know."
"I won't say anything, but what if school calls dad? we'll be in deep trouble."
"Don't worry about it. I took care of it all," Kyle said and smiled remembering how he had paid Jack to call both of them into school. "Let's get things ready so we can get it done with, okay?"
"Fine," T.J. said finally.
center/center
Nick was fuming as he hung up the phone. He had just received a phone call from a cop who had been a buddy of his' saying that he had both T.J. and Kyle in his custody. Nick didn't know all of the story, but he knew that T.J. and Kyle had ditched school and that was enough for him to drop everything he was doing and get over by them. Kyle and T.J. sat in the back seat of the police car as Nick talked things over with his friend.
"What did they do now?" He asked as he rolled his eyes. he could not believe that they would pull something like that after giving them $20.
"Well, first off they've ditched school."
"Why didn't the school contact me? I don't understand why they wouldn't. I didn't call either of them in sick."
"It appears that one of your sons called in school for them. The secretary at the school said she recognized that it wasn't you on the phone." Nick rolled his eyes some more as he listened carefully to the rest of the story. "The reason why I called you up though was because they were disturbing your neighbor's houses and cars."
"How so?" Nick asked.
"Well, they threw balloons filled with different things such as paint, shaving cream, and things like that. I think they may have used something of your dog's as well," he said making a disturbing face.
"I don't believe it!" he said throwing his hand up in the air. "So now what? How much trouble are they in?"
"Not much from the police. Your neighbors are being kind enough not to press charges. All they want is for the boys to clean up the mess that they made."
"Alright, well I'll take them home I guess."
By the time the boys and Nick got home, Chris, Sam, and Jack were all sitting around on the couch watching t.v. Nick turned off the t.v. and stared them all in the eyes. He stopped though as he stared directly at Kyle and T.J. The boys could feel that they were in for it. Jimmy came through the back at that moment. He looked around and could feel all the tension that was in room. He paused by the entrance to the living room and stood silent.
"You're both ground!" He shouted still looking at the two.
"Come on, dad, we're sorry," Kyle said.
"Not as sorry as you're gonna be! I can't believe you two! Not only did you lie about going to the movies, but you ditched school. I'm so sick and tired of caring more about your grades than you both do. You're ground until I say so."
"That's not fair, dad," Jack said interrupting them.
"You're grounded as well. I know you called in the school for them. You're the only one stupid enough to do something like that. How much did they pay you? 10, 20 bucks?" jack stayed silent as Nick went on yelling. "You know what, since you all have an opinion you can have your own opinion about this. You're all grounded!"
"What!" The boys said in unison.
"I didn't do anything!" Chris said. "You can't do this!"
"I can, I will, I am, I just did," he said as he cringed his face and grabbed a hold of the arm of the couch. The boys stood watching their dad as he became pale.
"Nick are you okay?" Jimmy asked as he stepped forward and put his hand on Nick's hunched over back.
"I think i'm having a heart attack," he said as he reached for his chest.