There was a rather muscular man with short brown hair who was cleaning up. "Oh, hey, Julie, your dad's picking your brother up, he'll be here shortly."
"Great..." Julie rolled her eyes in sarcasm.
"Wait, aren't you Julie's dad?" Robin asked in confusion.
"No, I'm Jeremy," the man told her. "I married Julie's dad."
"You're married to who?!" Robin and Cindy asked in alarm.
"I married Julie's dad, we're life partners." Jeremy explained.
"Oh..." Robin and Cindy blinked, they had heard of that sort of thing, but never actually met anyone who had two dads or two moms.
"These are Cindy and Robin," Julie introduced. "They have history class with me."
"Oh, it's nice to have Julie's new friends over here." Jeremy smiled.
Cindy and Robin smiled, well, he seemed nice. After a short while, the girls were given a tour of the bedrooms, guest room, bathroom, kitchen, and living room.
Jeremy told a funny story which made the three girls laugh and the elevator went off to summon a bald man with glasses in a blue suit with a small boy with short reddish-brownish hair with square black glasses in a khaki suit with a white rose in it to make him look like a young gentleman.
"Jeremy, I'm home." the bald man called.
"Oh, great..." Julie sighed.
"You must be Mr. De Longpre," Cindy smiled. "This is such a lovely place... How could anyone have problems in a place like this?"
"Who's the little boy?" Robin asked.
"That's my adoptive younger brother, Allen Gregory." Julie informed.
"Why, hello there, Allen." Cindy smiled.
The boy winced, then looked back at her. "Yeah... How about we say it's Allen Gregory and only address me as that from now on, kay, baby doll?"
Cindy glanced at him, not liking his choice of words. "Erm... Okay..."
"Hi, there, Allen Gregory," Robin greeted. "I'm Robin Snyder, nice to meet you."
"Hmm... Yes, it is, isn't it?" Allen Gregory smirked smugly. "Sorry you have to be stuck being Julie's friend... My apologies, Julie's new friends, she's making this totally uncomfortable for everybody!"
"Boom!" the bald man smirked to his adoptive daughter. "Right in the face! Look at your face, Julie... Well, Julie, I must say, these friends seem more interesting than your old friends..."
"Uh, thanks, Dad, I guess..." Julie shrugged.
"Uhh..." Cindy took out her deck of cards. "Anybody wanna see a magic trick?"
"Ooh, I love magic tricks, I just love them." Jeremy encouraged.
"I know a magic trick!" Allen Gregory swiped the deck from her hand and rushed over to the balcony. "It's called 52 Pick-Up!" he then shuffled the deck and it fell off the other side down on the lower ground. "Oops... Guess I'm just like your magic trick, IT SUCKS!"
Cindy bit her lip.
"Allen Gregory, that wasn't very nice, I think you should apologize to Cindy." Jeremy spoke up.
"Way to go, son." Richard laughed.
"Thanks, Dad, learned from the best." Allen Gregory high-fived him.
Cindy and Robin gaped, jaw-dropped. Richard didn't even scold his son!
Cindy then heard her alarm go off. "Oh, excuse me a sec..." she took out a pill bottle. "Could I have a glass of water please?"
"Sure, Cindy." Jeremy smiled and went to get it for her.
"Now you see why this wasn't a good idea?" Julie whispered to Robin.
"I should ask Duncan and Abby to prank them." Robin agreed.
"Hmm..." Julie smirked darkly.
"They're worse than Meg's dad..." Robin winced.
Jeremy came back with Cindy's glass of water. "I wasn't sure if you needed a straw or not, so I put one in for you."
"Thank you, sir..." Cindy said, she popped out a pill and took it with her water, then sighed. "Ah... Much better..."
"So, how was school today?" Richard asked casually.
"I-" Julie tried to start.
"Allen Gregory, how was your day?" Richard asked, ignoring his foster daughter.
"Oh, it was fine until that Gina Winthrop busted my balls again," Allen Gregory folded his arms. "She told me I couldn't have alcohol in class."
"WHAT!?" Richard couldn't believe that. "That's absurd!"
"Yeah, he's like seven." Cindy agreed.
"Not that," Richard glanced at her. "Who said you couldn't bring alcohol to class? The next parent teacher conference, I'm gonna have a word with that Miss Gina Winthrop!"
"You can't bring alcohol to school." Julie glared at her brother.
"Be quiet, Julie, Daddy is talking here." Richard scolded.
Julie looked to Cindy and Robin. "I am so sorry, you guys..."
"That's okay..." Robin said softly. "I guess this is why you're... You know...?"
Julie sadly nodded. "Sometimes I think I was better off before... Lost and alone in the desert after my parents took their own lives and now I ended up here..."
Cindy overheard some crying and left the room.
"Well, Julie, I don't know about Cindy, but you certainly got a friend in me." Robin comforted.
"Thank you," Julie replied. "Excuse me, I wanna talk to Cindy."
"Okay..." Robin allowed her to.
Julie then excused herself and went to find Cindy before she would get lost.
Cindy cracked the door open and saw Jeremy crying in the bathroom. "Sir, are you okay?"
"Oh, um... Hello..." Jeremy nervously stood up and wiped his eyes. "I-I'm fine..."
"You don't look fine..." Cindy bit her lip.
"Oh, I'm fine, really, see?" Jeremy replied, trying to keep cool.
"Sir, what's wrong?" Cindy asked.
Jeremy sighed, he then looked out the bathroom door and shut it once he saw Richard and Allen Gregory were having their own personal conversation. "I'm not a very happy person as much as I used to... This is a lot for a little kid to take in, I shouldn't tell you."
"I've been hit with much worse." Cindy reassured.
Jeremy looked to her and bent down to her height. "Look, I used to be a client of Richard's, you see... He then fell in love with me and started to stalk me until I'd be forced to leave my wife, marry him, and have a life with him... I don't even like him, he made me abandon the wife and kids I loved and I'll never see them again."
Cindy's eyes widened. "Gosh!"
"Yes, between you and me, I don't like Allen Gregory, I'd rather run away with Julie and make her my adopted daughter." Jeremy confessed to her.
"Why don't you then?" Cindy asked. "You're big and strong, you can take him down..."
"Yeah, but, I wouldn't have anywhere to go..." Jeremy sighed. "I'd call a lawyer but since De Longpre's in my name now, no one will help me..."
Cindy pouted, then thought of something. "Um... Listen, my friend June has this cousin who's a law student?" she then suggested. "Maybe I could pull a few strings, and-"
"Thank you, but I don't know if you can help me..." Jeremy sighed. "Excuse me, I wanna stay in here a little longer until Richard or Allen Gregory call me to make dinner."
"Sure, sir..." Cindy walked off, then allowed him to be alone. "Sure..." she then gently shut the door and turned with a yelp. "Oh, Julie!"
"I heard everything and thank you for trying to help me." Julie sounded grateful.
"Oh, uh, you're welcome, Julie." Cindy said.
Julie gave a small smile. "Do you really think you can help us?"
"I-I'll see what I can do..." Cindy smiled softly back.
"JEREMY! DINNER! NOW!" Richard yelled like a frustrated toddler.
Jeremy took a deep breath, he left the bathroom and went to literally slave over a hot stove.
"Poor Jeremy..." Julie frowned.
"Listen, I can call up my older friends and we can see what we can do," Cindy suggested, she then took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Mike? We need to have a meeting on an issue, could we meet at the diner after school? Great, thanks, bye!" she then hung up.
"You think your older friends will like me?" Julie asked.
"They will once we break them down." Cindy promised.
"Thanks, Cindy, that really means a lot, you don't even know..." Julie smiled.
"What're friends for?" Cindy smiled back.
The two then shared a friendly hug.
"Oh, how touching." Allen Gregory's voice said.
Cindy and Julie then turned to see the bratty little boy who was also a prodigy.
"Outta the way." Allen Gregory shoved them and went to the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
"I really wish Shelia was back." Julie scowled.
Cindy looked over. "Who's Shelia?"
"Shelia Braunstein," Julie explained. "Allen Gregory was curious who his mother was one day, so he found a waitress who was a pretty good mom. She usually humiliated Allen Gregory and punished him. It was really awesome until she decided to leave."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Julie..." Cindy gently patted her back.
"Come on, let's get back before Dad eats Robin alive." Julie walked back into the kitchen.
"So, um, Mr. De Longpre, how long have you had this place?" Robin asked.
"Oh, a good while," Richard smiled proudly. "I come from a very wealthy family, my old man even brought the company from the ground up and I'm the Super CEO!"
Robin gave him a look. "Is that even a thing?"
"Of course it is, you Dumbo!" Richard put his arm around her. "You'll understand when you're older..." he then put his glass in her hands. "Martini?"
"I'm too young to drink, sir!" Robin yelped.
"Nonsense!" Richard insisted.
'Is he sick in the head?' Robin glanced at Richard in discomfort.