Chapter 1- Absence Slips

"Boys, get down here!" Lois yelled from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready!"

Francis, Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey slowly and one-by-one came from their shared bedroom into the kitchen.

Just as the last one, Francis, stumbled into the kitchen, Hal was getting up to leave for work.

"Well, boys, see you after school. Be good," Hall said as he smiled and patted Dewey on his head. He gave Lois a quick kiss before leaving.

"Remember to turn those signed absence slips into the attendance office, Francis," Lois reminded.

Francis rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter, mom? I'm probably going to get kicked out some other time anyway. Why not now? Speed up the process a little."

"Francis!" Lois screamed loudly. "You WILL turn in those absence notes and you will NOT get kicked out at anytime during the rest of your high school career! You're lucky I made up those fake excuses for you when you stupidly decided to skip school, if it weren't for me you would already be expelled!"

Reese and Malcolm stared wide eyed at the scene going on in front of them. Dewey was too invested in his breakfast of cold pancakes to even realize what was going on.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine mom. I'll turn in the stupid absence notes." Francis stood up from the table and went to his room to go get dressed.

"Darn right you will!" Lois yelled at him as he left the room.

Lois let out a loud sigh and sat down at the table.

"You boys better not act like that when you're older. Or I'll die from a heart attack by the time I'm 50," Lois told her sons.

Reese and Malcolm both nodded but didn't say anything. Shortly after all three of the boys got up to get ready for school.

"Damn, mom really got mad at you out there." Reese remarked to Francis as he walked into their bedroom.

"Yeah, well she's about to get even more mad at me. I'm not turning those slips in." Francis said as he grabbed his backpack and put it on.

"What?! Are you crazy?" Malcolm asked in a loud voice. "Mom would kill you!"

"Malcolm, come on. Mom wouldn't kill me. She might kick me out, but that's the worst that could happen." Francis left the room without allowing anything else to be said to him.

"Boy is he stupid," Reese said as soon as Francis left. "Even I wouldn't do something like that."

Malcolm nodded. "Yeah. Francis is crazy."

Reese shrugged. "Oh well. At least we'll get to see a show tonight when we get home from school." He snickered as he thought about what might happen after their mom finds out about Francis not turning in the slips.

All three of them left for school, saying "bye" to their mom on the way out.

"Hurry up!" Reese yelled at Dewey as they walked on the sidewalk. "We don't have all day, me and Malcolm have things to do and mom won't let us walk without you!"

"I'm trying!" Dewey yelled as his tiny legs tried to keep up with his older brothers.

"Man I'm so excited to get home, I heard mom dragged Francis out of school by his ear and was yelling at him loud enough for classes down the hall to hear!" Reese said with a smile on his face."

"Oh damn. Mom's probably still yelling at him." Malcolm commented.

"Guys, look at this penny I found!" Dewey excitedly yelled.

"Shut up Dewey! Me and Malcolm are trying to talk about what mom's going to do to Francis!" Reese yelled back.

When the three boys got home they could hear yelling from outside the house. They all grinned at each other.

"I dare you to open the door first," Reese said to Dewey.

"No way! Malcolm should do it." Dewey looked up at Malcolm.

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Fine. You're both babies." Malcolm said as he opened up the door to their scream-filled house.

"And don't even think about leaving this house until you're 18!" They all heard Lois yelling at the 16-year-old Francis.

Malcolm swallowed hard. "Should we pretend to not be here yet?"

"Nah," Reese replied. "Let's just sit on the couch and watch TV." He added as he simultaneously jumped over the back of the couch and took off his backpack.

Malcolm and Dewey joined him and they watched cartoons together, although they were slightly drowned out by the yelling.

Eventually the yelling stopped and Lois walked out of the boys' bedroom and sat at the kitchen table. She let out a sigh as she put her elbows up on the table and ran her hands through her hair. Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey looked over at her but stayed as silent as possible. They knew better than to talk to her while she was like this.

Hal soon came home from work and sat down at the table next to his wife. "What's wrong? Did Francis not turn in those papers?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"No, he turn them in..." Lois raised her eyebrows and let out a huff.

"What is it then? Did Reese do something?" Hal was talking quickly. "Reese! Get in here!" He yelled.

"What?!" Reese yelled as he started to stand up.

"No." Lois replied. "Reese, stay in the living room!" She yelled back.

Reese got a confused look on his face and made a "what?" Gesture with his arms as he dropped back down to the couch.

"Hal, it's Francis." Lois said with a fragile voice, as if she was telling him he had cancer or something. "He was caught at school with drugs in his locker."