Mike stood at the kitchen counter, absent-mindedly chewing a bite of cereal much longer than was absolutely necessary.

"Morning," Charlie called as she came into the room, glancing over her shoulder.

Mike nodded in acknowledgement, still chewing. He heard Charlie moving around the kitchen getting her own breakfast together, but lost in his own thoughts, he failed to make the requisite small talk. The next thing he knew, she was sitting on the counter next to him, looking down at him.

"So who did Briggs have to whip last night?"

Mike immediately snapped out of his rumination. "What?" He tried to recover. "What are you talking about?" he said with a forced casualness.

Charlie shrugged and shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. "Iwoknow," she said around it.

Mike, still trying to appear casual, watched her chew for a moment. "How do you know someone got whipped last night?" he finally asked.

Charlie swallowed this time. "Briggs," she stated. "He's always in a crappy mood for a while after he has to punish someone. And then he walks around for a while longer like someone killed his puppy."

"And he's doing that now?" Mike asked, suddenly genuinely concerned.

"Yup," Charlie said around another mouthful of Sugar Rice Puffs. "I'm guessing it was Johnny, for almost getting himself and Jakes killed by that crazy chick."

"Yeah," Mike said, relieved, "probably."

Charlie studied him for a moment. "You know though," she said, trying to hide a small grin, "I haven't seen him this worked up since that last time he had a two-for."

"What's a two-for?" Mike asked, again trying to pretend he had no idea what Charlie was talking about.

At that moment, Johnny came down the steps. "Hey Mikey, you ok?" he asked, reaching across Charlie for the cereal box.

Mike shrugged, "I'm fine. Why?"

He saw Johnny wink at Charlie before he turned back to Mike, "Just be glad you went second, man. Briggs worked out most of his wrath on me before he got to you. What did you even do anyway?"

Charlie hopped down from the counter, grinning at Mike. As she pushed past him, she slapped his butt. "You lied to me," she whispered in his ear, then flashed her dazzling smile.

Mike nodded and smiled back shyly. "Sorry," he shrugged. "Our lies are our life."