"Gwendolyn, we are taking him out of that school!" Mikael thundered at Gwen. "Did you know that idiot teacher of his sent him to the principal again?"
"God forbid he gets disciplined for doing something wrong!" Gwen replied. "King, what did you do now?"
"Nothing horrible," King replied. "I just got in a teensy fight in class, and the teacher told me not to be noisy, and I was because Vivi was making kissy faces at her new boyfriend."
"Well, you're never too young to learn lessons about girls, King," Mikael began. "And the first rule is, don't let them know that they've won! If you see Vivi with a boy, you either kill him, or move on, and show her what she's missing!"
"You're right!" King replied. "I'll do that, Daddy!"
"You do remember he's only six, right?" Gwen asked, her eyebrow raised.
Mikael shrugged. "It's like I told him. It's never too early to learn."
"I fear for his adulthood if that's what you're teaching him," Gwen replied. "He'll probably be murdered by an angry ex-girlfriend. Or at least they'll try, since he can't be killed."
"And then he'll kill them first," Mikael replied. "What's the problem?"
"Never mind," Gwen rolled her eyes. "There's no talking to you when you get like this, is there?"
"Exactly," Mikael grinned. "So why do you even try?"
Gwen left and King smiled at his father. "I'm gonna start making Vivi jealous tomorrow," he said.
"Good boy," Mikael replied and patted his head. "Let me know how it turns out."
He came into school all prepared to tell Vivi off and make her upset, but she, apparently, had seen it coming and was making every effort to confuse him. "Bonjour, grand salaud!" she greeted him. "It means 'Hello, you big stupid idiot,' in case you were wondering."
"You're gonna be sorry you're being so mean to me," King told her. "Just you wait."
"I don't think so," Vivi replied and went to sit next to her 'boyfriend', while King, despite what he'd promised his father, looked on jealously. He knew that getting a little girlfriend of his own would make Vivi sorry, and by recess, he'd compelled himself someone, and when Vivi found the girl on her usual swing, she was certainly taken aback.
"Who's this?" She asked.
"Oh, just a girl I like," King replied. "You speak French, apparently. What's French for 'I have a girlfriend, so there'?"
Vivi's hands balled into fists at her side, but she took a deep, calming breath and gave him a serene smile. "I don't know," she said. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him whisper something in the girl's ear, then the little girl hopped off the swing and kissed him on the cheek.
"Well, isn't that nice?" He smiled. "Did you see that, Vivi?"
"Yes, I saw," Vivi said through her teeth. "And I don't really care."
"Sure you do," King replied, feeling the thrill of victory surge through his body. "But you can just keep telling yourself you don't if it will make you feel better."
With a growl, Vivi grabbed her 'boyfriend' and dragged him over to King so she could kiss the boy square on the mouth and King would see.
When she pulled away, the boy's eyes were wide and he spit all over the ground before threatening to tell the teacher and running away.
"Well, isn't that funny?" King replied. "He didn't even like it. You must be a lousy kisser."
"I am not!" Vivi replied, straightening up a little. "I'm a great kisser! I'll even come over there and prove it to you if I have to."
"Oh, no thank you," King replied. "I don't think that's something either of us would want."
"I wanna do it anyway," Vivi replied, coming over to knock him off the swing, then pulling him up and kissing him. He let her go on a little longer than the boy had, and then said, "That's okay, I guess. Sort of like when my mommy kisses me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." He then grabbed his 'girlfriend's hand and walked away, and Vivi growled again, running to kick King on the bottom so that he toppled on the gravel and then got up with her annoying laughter ringing in his ears.
"You know, you and Klaus should come out with us sometimes," Margot told Amy. "After all the holiday stuff, you probably wouldn't mind a night out, would you? Or you could just bring Vivi over and we could all hang out at the house. Regina even said she's not got any plans in the next week or so."
"Are you sure?" Amy asked. "How could a fourteen year old not have any plans? I mean, not that you and Kol aren't wonderful people, but what kid her age would rather spend time at home than with their friends?"
"Maybe we're just lucky," Margot shrugged. "She's never even mentioned any boys at school."
"Which probably means she's got a surprise one up her sleeve," Amy said. "She's your kid, remember."
"Oh, I haven't forgotten," Margot replied. "Don't worry. Maybe she's trying to pull something now. She was supposed to be back from her study group half an hour ago. You think I should go look for her? Or should I just assume she'll be fine and wait until she gets back. You're the more responsible parent, Amy. Tell me what to do!"
"Well, Mom spent so much of her life worrying about you and trying to mold you into who she thought you should be that she gave herself a stroke, remember?" Amy reminded her sister. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I suppose if she's not back in an hour or so, you could go look for her if you wanted, but you don't have to."
"I will," Margot replied. "After my wild youth, I know what she could be getting up to and it's not pretty."
Regina grabbed her phone out of her purse when she heard it beep, stopping on the sidewalk to check the message that had arrived.
Regina, meet me in real life?
YF
YF meant "Your Friend". She didn't know his name, or even what he looked like. He'd first left a written note of elegant, flowing script in her locker with his number on it a month, saying that he found her pretty and here was his number in case she wanted to talk.
Part of her knew it was stupid and possibly dangerous, but she couldn't resist. And telling her parents wasn't an option either. She typed back, "Meet me at the coffee shop on the corner by the high school. I'll be the one in the hot pink leather jacket."
She sent the text and wanted to head straight to the coffee shop, but her plans were stifled by her mother and aunt pulling her into their car and driving her home to give her a lecture about being out late and not calling to tell them she was alive. By the time she was able to get away to meet her friend, he looked to be just leaving as she came in the coffee shop door. She could tell it was him from the dirty look he gave her on his way out.
"Sorry," she said as she ran to catch after him. He turned, his ice blue eyes drilling into hers, and making her shiver. "Maybe this wasn't the right time, Regina. Goodbye."
"Well, just a minute!" Regina called, running after him for awhile, even though he didn't turn or otherwise acknowledge her presence. "It's not my fault I was late! It's my mom's! Give me another chance! When can we meet again?"
But he said nothing more to her, leaving her standing alone on the sidewalk as he drifted away from her and disappeared.
