"Pleeeease?" begged the young yeti, "It's just for the summer."

"Absolutely not," Skips replied, not pleased with his daughter's request, "You hate the beach. Why would you want to go to California?"

"But, Daddy," she explained, "Amy's mom is letting her go!"

"Well Amy's mother is an alcoholic," he turned out of his chair to the young human at the kitchen table, "No offense, Amy."

"None taken, Mr. S," Amy muttered, mouth full of the sandwich she was eating.

"Stop shoveling food in your face and help me out here!" Maxine yelled at her friend.

Amy shrugged and continued eating. Maxine glared at her harshly before turning her attention back to her father.

"Everyone's going to be there," she pleaded.

"Everyone except you," the large yeti stood his ground, "No means no, young lady. You're too young."

"I'm eighteen years old, Daddy," she said angrily, "you can't keep treating me like a little kid."

"I said no, and thats the end of it," he said simply, before getting up from his chair and heading toward his bedroom, "I don't want to hear anymore about it."

Maxine sat at the kitchen table and pouted while she watched he father exit the room. Amy saw her friend so down and held out the other half of her sandwich as a peace offering. The eighteen year old glared at it and smacked it out of her friend's hand.

"I was just trying to be nice, Jeez Louise," Amy said, picking the sandwich up off of the floor.

"I never get to do anything," Maxine sighed.

"Well you can still come shopping with me," the human tried to cheer up her friend, "That will be fun."

"No I won't," she said sadly, "Daddy will think of some stupid excuse for me not to go like he always does."

"You can't just give up," Amy assured, "School's not even over for a few months. Maybe we can convince him to let you go by then."

"I guess so," Maxine mood brightened a little.

"There we go," Amy smiled brightly, shoving her plate into her friend's hands, "Now make me another sandwich."

The next day Maxine made sure her chores were done and the entire house was spotless when she got home from school. Malachi and Amy had volunteered their services, which helped immensely. When Amy actually committed to something, she didn't disappoint. By the by time Skips skipped in the door, Amy had gone to walk Malachi home, and dinner was on the table. Skips knew he should have questioned it, but he was too tired from an extra hard day of work to bother. He washed his hands and sat down at the table and dug in.

"So how's it taste?" Maxine asked in a sickly sweet manner.

"It tastes ok," he muttered, not looking up from dinner.

"Well it probably isn't as good as I'd hoped," she said taking a bite of her own dinner, "probably because I'm so tired from cleaning cleaning all day.."

"Max," Skips said in a serious tone, "no matter what you do, I'm not letting go to California for the summer."

"But, Daddy-"

"No buts!" Maxine was really starting to try his patience, "Tell me how many times have I had to pick you up off the side of the road because you forgot to fill up the van with gas?"

"I don't know, not that many," she sighed defeated, "Thirteen."

"So how am I going to trust you not to run out gas half way there?" Skips asked.

"But Amy's going to be there," she tried.

"I wouldn't trust Amy with a goldfish let alone my daughter," the older yeti laughed, "Now no more about this or you're grounded."

Maxine stared at her dinner, defeated. She only picked at her dinner, before excusing herself from the table. Skips sighed. He knew she was just try again tomorrow with some elaborate plan to try to get him to agree, so he had to think of something to keep her mind occupied.

"Wait," he said, "I'll let you go."

"Oh God you will?" Maxine squealed.

"But," Skips said slyly, "You have to do some things for me first."

"Anything you want," she said excitedly, "Anything!"

"You did a good job with the house," he said, "I want the house clean like this everyday."

"Done," she answered quickly.

"And on your report card," he continued, "I want all A's across the board. English, Science, Math..."

"Not hard," Maxine smirked, confident.

"For you and Amy," he smirked back as the color drained from her face.

"B-both of us?" she stuttered.

"If you can both prove to me you can take care of your stuff, then I'll let you go with her," Skips said, "Hell, I'll even let you take the van."

Just then Amy walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, hey," the young human said excitedly, "did he say yes?"

"Hello, Amy," Skips greeted, "You spending the night again?"

"Yeeahh," she said, "Those renovations to the house are taking so long. Angela says hello."

"I'm sure," he said, rolling his eyes, "You know where the cot is, though I doubt you'll use it."

"Amy!" snapped Maxine, "My room, now!"

"But I haven't eaten yet," Amy picking up a plate.

"You'll survive," the young yeti said, snatching the plate from her and shoving her out of the kitchen.

Skips chuckled as he watched the scene. His mind was at ease knowing that there was no way they could keep up their end of the bargain. He'd figure out something for them together while her friends were gone. But for now he was just going to enjoy his mediocre dinner.

It was over two months and a half later and Skips slumped in his chair. Another hard day working and all he wanted was his paper. As if she could read his mind, Maxine handed it to him.

"Here you go, Daddy," she said happily, "but don't be too long. I'm going to go meet Amy at the graduation, ok?"

"Oh crap," he thought as he took his paper, "That's today?"

"Alright, Max," he grumbled, "I'll meet you up there."

When Skips opened the paper, two cards tumbled out. He chuckled as he looked at them. They were both report cards. The first one was filled with nothing but A minuses.

"Amy must not have done very well," Skips called out to Maxine, "if this is the best you could do,"

"Oh, silly daddy," the sickly sweet tone returned to her voice, "You should check the name. Bye! Love you!"

Confused, Skips looked at the line where name was supposed to be and instantly paled when he saw Amy's name where he expected Maxine's. He quickly scrambled for the other one, praying that he'd find a B, but found nothing but A's across the board.

"Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed out loud.

"Congratulations, Class of 1969!"

Maxine and Amy threw their graduation caps in the air as the principal congratulated them. Maxine quickly caught hers, but Amy's flew off in a different direction. Amy became instantly annoyed as a nerdy kid passed it back to her. Maxine laughed.

"That shit isn't funny," she huffed, "It has nerd germs on it. I can't put it back on my head now."

Amy held the cap as they filed out of the gym. The second their feet hit the grass outside, the girls clasped hands as they sprinted around the school to the area where they were supposed to meet the parents for pictures.

"Max!" Maxine heard her father call out over the crowd.

They scanned the crowd, and Amy quickly spotted him and they made a b-line for him.

"Hey, Daddy! Look at our diplomas!" Maxine said happily, showing off both of her scrap of paper, "Did you get any good pictures?"

"Yeah I got some good ones," he said, "I got some of Amy too. I'll send them to your parents when your mother's feeling better. Shame neither one could make it."

"Uh yeah," Amy said uncomfortably, "Angela's sick and, well, Dad had a big meeting he couldn't miss, so yeah..."

"Well," Skips quickly changed the subject, "you girls head on home. I'll get dinner started when I get home."

Dinner had been eaten, and Amy was half-asleep on the couch while Maxine and Skips did the dishes.

"So," Maxine began, drying off plate, "aren't you going to congratulate Amy on her A honor roll?"

"Max," Skips saw this coming and attempted to find a way out of this, "I told you I'd think about it. Don't get your hopes up."

"No, Daddy," Maxine could have easily snapped the plate in half with the fury she was feeling, "I didn't spend months of nothing but studying to just to have you weasel your way out of your end of the bargain. I am not a baby and you can't keep treating me like one!"

"You're right," her father sighed.

"You're darn right I'm righ-" she tried to begin another tirade, "Wait, what?

"You held up your end of the bargain, so I'll hold up mine," Skips said.

"Are you saying," the young yeti asked in disbelief, "that I can go to California for the summer?"

"Yes, you may go," he replied, "But you have to promise that you'll call me every night you're away, and no drugs."

"Oh my God!" she squealed loudly, dropping her plate into the sink and splashing Skips.

He toweled himself off as she ran quickly to tell her tell her sleeping friend on the couch. The older yeti grimaced as the both screamed in unison at the news. It was going to be a long night.