"Okay, time to get up," Selina said as she came into her daughter's room and opened the curtains. "I let you sleep in today for some reason, but now you really do have to get out of bed and get ready for school."
"Do I have to?" Stephanie and turned her body so she was face down on her pillow. "I think I'd rather stay home."
"After how you behaved yesterday, I wouldn't blame you," Selina told her. "That poor boy. But avoiding it won't help anything. You need to see him today and apologize."
"You think he'll listen to me after that?" Stephanie asked, sitting up. "What's the point in apologizing if no one will listen to me apologize? And why do you have to keep beating this dead horse anyway? I told you I was sorry. What more do you want from me?"
"I want you to mean it," Selina replied firmly. "I want you to realize how your actions affect others and that being hurtful is not a good way to behave. Do you realize that, Stephanie?"
"Well, after Percy yelled at me, I felt worse than I've ever felt in my whole life cause I knew he was right," Stephanie told her mother. "Is that realizing it?"
Selina sat down next to her, a small smile on her lips. "Maybe. And could another reason you felt bad be because there's a part of you that does like him?"
"Just a minute," Stephanie told her. "Let's not go that far."
"All right," Selina said and gave a knowing nod. "I'll play along." She got up and headed to the door and when she put her hand on the doorknob, Stephanie asked her to pause.
"I don't know what to do with him," she got out. "At first, I just thought he was this huge nerd who was obsessed with me, and who wants to be with someone like that? And then when I was…when I was badmouthing him, I made the mistake of kissing him and…"
"And you felt something then?" Selina supplied. "What sort of something? Butterflies? Your whole body being warm? A feeling of well-being?"
"Well, first I felt the butterflies, and then it was like I really needed to throw up," Stephanie told her. "That can't mean I like him, can it?"
"It means you like kissing him at any rate," Selina replied. "At least that's what it sounds like. Now, whether or not you like him as a person seems to be something that you still need to discover, but it seems like you're on your way to finding that out."
"Yeah, I guess," Stephanie nodded. "I'm gonna get dressed now," she said. "I'll be down to breakfast soon."
"All right," Selina nodded. "Thank you. And…thank you for opening up to me. I know that it can be difficult at your age with this particular subject."
"You're welcome," Stephanie told her, blushing furiously.
Selina left her to dress in peace then and went back downstairs to eat with Drew and Elijah.
"Is she all right?" Elijah asked about his daughter. "Will she be coming down to join us?"
"Yeah," Selina nodded. "In a little while." She then turned to Drew. "How's Percy doing after yesterday? Is he all right?"
"Oh, you better believe it!" Drew assured his mother with a wide grin. "It was like that patient façade of his finally shattered into a thousand pieces! He really let her have it, and it's not a moment too soon, if you ask me. I was beginning to worry that he was just gonna let her stomp all over him because he loved her so much."
"But you'll let this be a matter between your sister and Percy, won't you Andrew?" Elijah asked him, eyebrow raised. "You won't make things more difficult for your sister and Percy than they already are?"
"Of course not," Drew told him. "Unless Percy asks me for help, which I don't think he will, I'll keep my mouth shut."
"And don't mock your sister either," Elijah added. "That should go without saying."
"Yes," Drew nodded and took a bite of eggs. "Of course."
They then made a silent agreement to act normal when Stephanie came downstairs and not pepper her with questions or more remarks about what had gone on with her and Percy the day before, which was something she was grateful for when she finally got downstairs.
They were silent until Elijah cleared his throat and said, "You look very nice this morning, Stephanie."
"Thank you," Stephanie mumbled and smoothed the skirt of her dark blue dress. "This is new. I just got it a few days ago." She then busied herself with pouring a bowl of cereal and though a few more attempts to start a conversation were made, they didn't really go anywhere until finally, everyone just decided to put their dishes in the sink and head to school.
"Stephanie seemed kind of quiet in class today," Elijah remarked when Selina came to his classroom to have lunch with him. "Usually she has her hand up for every question but today she was sinking in her chair and avoiding eye contact as if she hoped I wouldn't call on her. Do you think she's having a problem?"
"Yeah," Selina nodded. "Usual relationship troubles. I think what happened with Percy is really bothering her, which it should. It's nothing we need to worry about too much. I've already said something to her and I think we should just leave it alone from here on out."
"Well, what happened?" Elijah asked.
"Percy invited her to dinner the other night and she didn't go after she promised him that she would. Poor boy was humiliated. I'm glad he gave her a piece of his mind. And maybe it would be best for both of them if he gave up on her. If he sticks with her after all that, he's a saint." She paused and smiled at him. "As you were with me."
"Stephanie seems to be at least starting to learn the meaning of humility," Elijah said. "And if you and I can get through what we did and still end up liking each other, I think there may be hope for Stephanie after all."
Little did her parents know that while they were conversing about her, Stephanie was actually trying to do what she'd promised and make things up to Percy. After selecting her lunch, she went over to Drew and Percy's table and asked her brother to scoot over one so she could sit next to Percy instead.
"Why?" Drew asked. "What are you gonna do if I let you? Throw his lunch on the floor?"
"No, you idiot!" Stephanie frowned at her brother. "I want to eat with you guys!"
"Do you genuinely want to?" Percy asked. "Or do you just not want me to be mad anymore, so you're doing this out of pity?"
"Iisten, who gives a shit why?" Stephanie asked impatiently. "You'll never know if I can be sincere or not unless you give me a chance to be. What do I have to do to get you to believe I have good intentions? Get down on my knees and beg?"
"Yes, please," Percy smiled. "Go ahead and do it right now."
Stephanie's jaw dropped a little. "Wait, you actually want me to? No, that's humiliating! And it's bad enough that you yelled at me in front of everyone yesterday."
"All right, fine," Percy sighed and ate a spoonful of mashed potatoes. "It's your choice, though. If you were willing to humble yourself I would truly believe that you care and are sorry, but I guess not."
"You are such a weasel!" Stephanie told him and then frowned at her brother. "Did you put him up to this just so you both could have a laugh?"
"No, I didn't," Drew told her earnestly. "As hard as it may be to believe, there's more to my life than thinking of plots to humiliate you. Now, I would start begging soon if I were you. Your lunch is probably getting cold." They then waited and Stephanie wavered back and forth between actually considering getting down and begging like they wanted her to, or refusing and waiting until she could talk to Percy in private without her brother egging him on to humiliate her.
Finally, though, her pride won out. "No," she told them firmly. "As much as I want to apologize, I won't beg. I won't be humiliated just because I made a mistake. Percy, I really do want to apologize to you, and I'll be more than happy to do it in private when you don't have my idiot brother egging you on. How about after school? Meet you at my locker?"
Percy gave a barely perceptible nod and then watched as Stephanie strode off to eat her lunch alone at another table. After a few seconds, he turned back to her brother. "Do you think we were too hard on her? Sometimes I let power go to my head and I just…she seems sorry."
Drew shrugged. "All right. Go to her locker then and if she shows up and genuinely apologizes, then you'll have a better idea of where to go from there, won't you?"
"Yeah," Percy nodded, his eyes going back to Stephanie eating alone. "I guess I will."
For all his defending of her, Percy was genuinely surprised (and not just a little pleased) when he went to her locker at the end of the day and found her standing there waiting for him just like she'd promised she would.
"You're here this time," he remarked. "Thank you. It's nice to know that I didn't come all the way over here for nothing."
"Well, I owe it to you, don't I?" Stephanie sighed. "Look, I'm very sorry about ditching you for dinner the other night. I just…I was really overwhelmed by the thought of going out with someone who seems to care for me so much. I don't know why I have such an issue putting myself out there for people, I just do. So if…if you want us to be anything, you'll have to be patient with me. Do you think you can do that?"
"If I know that you're trying and not just taking advantage of my good will, then yes," Percy nodded. "I think I could."
"Great!" Stephanie actually managed to give him a smile. But let's…let's start slow, though. Maybe be friends first?"
"All right, friends," Percy nodded and shook her hand. "I'm really glad we were able to talk like this."
"Yeah," Stephanie nodded and then opened her locker to get some of her books. "Me too."
Percy saw the pile she took out and said, "Would you like me to carry at least some of those for you?"
"Sure, I would love that," Stephanie replied, handing him a few and then following him as they walked in the direction of the parking lot. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
"Are you smiling?" Samantha asked Ian as she watched her brother dress. "You had a good time with Ethan the other night. Come on, tell me I'm right."
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Ian conceded. "I took him to the fights."
Samantha chuckled. "You're kidding, right? I can't see that guy at a boxing match."
"Well, I have to give the guy props for making it through in one piece," he told her. "Although at one point, a guy's tooth got knocked out and there was blood and Ethan looked like he was gonna be sick."
"Because of blood?" Samantha asked. "What kind of vampire is he?"
"A delicate one, apparently," Ian shrugged.
"Did he make you kiss him goodnight?" Samantha questioned.
"That's none of your business," Ian told her firmly.
"Did you set up another date?" Samantha took another stab at getting more information out of him. "Please tell me you did and you let him pick the place so you have to go to the opera or something!"
"When I want to tell you something about my personal life, I'll decide what it is, thank you," Ian told her, a smirk on his lips. "Don't you have a boyfriend you need to be getting home to?"
"Yes, but I wanted to see how things turned out," Samantha nodded. "Can you blame me?"
"Yes," Ian nodded irritably and zipped up his pants. "Can you just go now?"
"Fine," Samantha nodded. "But being with someone is supposed to make you nicer, not a bigger pain in the ass."
She left before he could say anything else to her and once she was gone, he let out a sigh of relief and left his room.
"Have you spoken to your sister lately?" Victoria asked him. "Not that she needs a babysitter or anything, but I'm worried I haven't heard anything from her."
"She's around," Ian said. "She's setting me up on blind dates and stuff."
"Really?" Kai said as he shut the refrigerator door and, milk in hand, took a gulp from the carton before carrying it back to the table.
"Wait a minute," Victoria said. "How full was that carton? We talked about you drinking from the carton and said you could only do it if it was practically empty."
"I don't even know why we made that rule, Vicky," Kai told her. "It's not like I'm going to give you germs, or anything.
"But the backwash," Victoria shuddered. "That could be full of your spit!"
"So's your mouth after we kiss, but I don't see you complaining then," Kai shot back. He then zapped Victoria up a full carton of milk and put his name on the one he'd drunk from before turning his attention back to Ian. "What's the guy your sister set you up with like?"
"He's a bit boring," Ian said. "But I can work with him. There's potential there."
"Well, that's nice," Victoria smiled. "Good for you!"
They watched Ian gulp down his breakfast and then disappear again.
"That was fun," Kai remarked and then looked at the clock. "Shit, I was supposed to be at Adrian's ten minutes ago!"
"You're going there to spend time with your friend, right?" Victoria asked. "Not just to spy on him and Molly?"
"Of course," Kai replied and kissed her. "Bye, Vicky. See you later."
Meanwhile, Ian was preparing to go out when his cell phone rang. "Yes?" He asked.
"Hi, Ian," said a voice on the other end of the line that surprised him. "It's Ethan. I wondered if you wanted to meet me for lunch today or just walk around or something?"
"Sure, why not?" Ian chuckled. "After last time, I honestly thought I'd never hear from you again."
"I'm made of stronger stuff than you think," Ethan told him.
"Really?" Ian asked, his mind wandering and thinking about what preppy Ethan would look like in leather. "Maybe we could go shopping a little."
"Sure," Ethan agreed. "Cause I really think you could use some nice shirts. You won't get much of anywhere if the only shirts you own have vulgar slogans on them."
"Let me buy you a leather jacket and then maybe, just maybe I'll let you get me a preppy shirt or two," Ian said. "How long until you wanna meet?"
"Two hours," Ethan told him. "Meet me at the benches outside my office on 34 and Park."
"All right," Ian nodded. "I'll be there."
"I don't know about this," Ethan said as he looked at himself in the mirror. The jacket was a bit tight on him and frankly it looked more than a little ridiculous. "This doesn't seem like me at all. And it doesn't fit properly either."
"How?" Ian asked with a sigh.
"It's too tight through the shoulders," Ethan complained. "I can barely move my arms!"
"All right," Ian said and together they worked to peel the jacket off him and get him the next size up.
"There," Ian said once it was on him. "Better?"
"Yes," Ethan nodded. "But I still don't think I like it."
"Well, don't worry," Ian said with a smile. "It's not like you'll ever have to wear it in public."
"What?" Ethan asked, his cheeks coloring a little. "You mean you got me this for…?"
"Of course!" Ian replied. "Have you never done it before?"
"Yes," Ethan nodded. "I was married and then my husband cheated on me, if you must know."
"But why are you blushing then?" Ian asked.
"Because I don't think we should be shouting about that stuff in public," Ethan replied. "Not when that kind of conversation is meant for behind closed bedroom doors."
"Fine," Ian sighed and then reached out to stroke the sleeve of the jacket. "You really do look good though."
"Thank you," Ethan said. "Now you have to fulfill your end of the deal and come with me to look at button down shirts."
"Fine," Ian told him. "But I can't be seen in them in public."
"I'm sure you'll want to be once you know how good you look in them," Ethan smiled. "Just trust me, will you?"
