Fault

Mari: 13

Mari buried her head in her hands and sighed. Her mom was going to kill her! It was her first week of school and she was already being sent home. She had told her parents she was ready for high school. Her parents had finally let her skip 8th grade and she thanked by getting suspended. Her mom was probably driving over here thinking of ways to kill her. If only her parents weren't cops then they wouldn't have so many ways. She groaned in agony at the thought of her future punishment. Grounded till she can drive and extra chores. She would have to listen to an hour long lecture about safety and responsibility. It was accident! It wasn't her fault!

"Mari your mothers here." The office lady said peeking her head into the room where they stored the detained children. Mari sighed and picked up her backpack and shuffled out to her mom.

Her mom was talking the principle and judging the look on her face Winnie was not happy. Mari looked guiltily at the floor. Winnie grabbed her child's arm gently. "I will be talking to you about this later." She huffed at the principle. She dragged her daughter out of the office and out of the school.

"Three days of suspension for a small lab mishap!" Winnie swore angrily. "That's three days for nothing." Mari looked up at her mom surprised. "You're not mad?" She asked following her mom to the car.

"Sweetie you may look like me but you are father's child. If I got all worked up over every explosion I would be angry all the time." Mari thanked the lord she would live to see another day. She opened the car and smiled gratefully at the heat and at her mom. She watched her mom drive away from the school still cursing the principle.

"Thanks mom."

"Don't get me wrong you're still grounded." Mari groaned. "It wasn't it my fault it was an accident!"

Winnie looked away from the road and to her daughter. "You have been able to recite the Periodic Table of Elements since you were five and you expect me to believe you accidently had a chemical fire."

"Okay so it wasn't an accident exactly but it still wasn't my fault!"

"Really Mari then who's fault was it?" Winnie glared at her teenage daughter. She never remembered being this moody and hormonal when she was a teen. "My lab partner didn't think I knew anything. Apparently if you are a 13 year old in a sophomore class people still think your stupid!" Mari crossed her arms. "Was I supposed to sit there and let them harass me for being stupid?" Winnie groaned. "You could have gone for a method a little less extreme."

"Mom go big or go home." Winnie shot her daughter a scowl.

Fight

Matt: 15

Mari: 14

Sam watched his son from the review mirror. He was sitting with his arms crossed and a scowl permanently attached to his face. Every once and a while he would hear him mutter death threats but other than that Matt was silent. Sam raised an eyebrow but didn't voice his concerns. It took a lot for Matt to physically assault someone so the kid must have really pissed him off. Sam couldn't help but feel fatherly pride for his son. The other kid had left the fight with a black eye and a broken nose. His son though had only walked away with a couple scratches. He pulled in to their driveway and turned off the car. "You going to tell me what happened?"

Matt looked at his father. "The guy was being an ass and I punched him in the face." He paused for a second then added. "I should have hit him harder." Sam elected to ignore the last part. "How was this guy being an ass?" Matt pulled his arms closer to his chest and looked down at his feet. "You got in a fight in the locker room right?" Sam asked. Matthew looked up at his father expectantly. "Boys talk a lot in the locker rooms." Sam said watching his son squirm. "Did they try to talk about girl you like?" Matt slammed his fist against the seat furiously. "That guy was bragging to the whole locker room that he was going to try and sleep with Mari! He talked about her like she was some sort of whore. She basically my sister and he was talking how about how he would love to bang her in the back of his car!" Sam's pride expanded in his chest as his son yelled. He was protecting his best friend. "Next time just ignore it okay?"

Girls Can't be Cute

Lou: 4

Alex: 1

Mari: 8

Matt: 9

Matt climbed up to his and Mari's secret hiding place. Mari reached for the branch above her and climbed higher. "Good thing Lou can't climb trees huh Matt?" Matt nodded and looked up at his best friend. "Did you hate Lou when he was little?" Mari scrunched up her face. "A little bit when he would cry and wake me up. He would hog up mommy and daddy but my daddy says that envy." Matt shrugged. "I'm not mad at her she is just boring. All she does is eat and poop. Everyone thinks she is so cute too." Matt rolled his eyes at the adult's stupidity. "She's a girl. She can't be cute." He said in his most 'Duh' tone. Mari glared down at him. "I'm cute and I'm a girl!" Matt climbed up and laughed. "You're not a girl you're Mari."

"Guys come down and play!" Lou shouted from the bottom of the tree. "Grandpa Greg says you have to come play with me." Lou whined up at the bigger kids. Matt sighed and started to climb down. "If grandpa says it I guess we have to." Mari giggled and climbed higher. "I don't want to!"