Chapter 36j: Ninety Percent
Do I go for a burger, a kebab or some good old fish and chips?
Maybe I should do sushi... but there's no good sushi place near here. Besides, I hear that stuff gets really pricey. Of course, just making her happy alone is pretty much priceless.. but it becomes a value proposition.
Setty will be happy either way. She's simply naively innocent in that childish, utterly adorable way. Fill her belly, and she's happy.
Maybe I should feed her jelly so that nickname she calls me by has some actual meaning. Unintentional giggles bubble up as I consider how I might make this a thing, and how she'd likely end up hating jelly.
"Is something the matter, Miss Becker?"
Whoops. I flip my pen around between my fingers, trying to look studious as I move my gaze up to meet the teachers gaze.
"Just thinking of my lil sis, Mister Parks. I just thought of a way to cheer her up a little bit. She's got it tough."
The monster of math peers at me for a moment, sighing and glancing towards the door. "Screw off. There's only ten minutes left anyways and I don't need a distraction like you to take everyones minds off of Pythagoras."
Really? Sweet! He's not nearly as strict as his reputation makes him sound. After throwing him a grateful smile, I quickly start to pack my bag to the dissatisfaction of my classmates, but then he clears his throat and raises a finger.
"One condition. You will score an A on your next test, or I'll mark you as absent for todays class."
I groan, sighing and nodding as I resolutely continue to pack. Fuck it. Setty needs me more than this old grump, even if it is just ten minutes earlier.
"Well.. wow. Okay." He sounds as surprised as he probably is at my accepting those terms of his. We both know how much studying that is going to take on my part.
"You know, I was going to offer you an alternative, but seeing how resolutely stubborn you are, I think this might just be a good thing for your grades. Have fun then, little lady."
That's what I'll do! "I'm going to bring some jelly to that belly of hers." I laugh as I dart out of class to quickly find the local convenience store. I've only got ten... no, fifteen minutes to work with. Miss Perfect likes to keep her classes late to spite them for being troublesome in class. And her classes are always troublesome.
When I arrive at Miss Perfect's geography classroom, it is just letting out. It takes only a few minutes to extract her from her group of friends before we're off to Pin & Play. I often escort her there just to make sure she arrives safely; the school isn't too far away from the shop, but it is far enough to make Clara uncomfortable.
I don't mind. It turns me from a bossy and clingy sister into a well-behaved elder sister to a girl who is more and more of a mind to grow up faster. Besides, I bribe her in tons of little ways just so she won't think of me as her caretaker during these required little walks.
As we walk and talk, I pass her the little container wordlessly. Her expression that betrays the defied expectations is quite amusing as she finds it isn't a yoghurt or other container, but she does give me a suspicious eye.
"So, what's on your mind? People other than me are going to pry if you don't stop putting wrinkles on your face by scowling so intensely all the time."
I am the Empress of Distractiony Tactics, as she just sighs and digs her spoon into the jelly, curving out a little cylindrical pyramid before starting to talk.
"Dad said something, and I'm not sure what to think. It just sucks."
She's being really vague, and I sigh as I take a bite from my own jelly. Ugh. So sweet and gel-like.
"I think things and have thoughts too, you know."
Setty's confusion quickly makes way for annoyance before she gives me a playful shove. "Meanie." she laughs before shoveling another bite of jelly into her mouth.
"Dad mentioned his wish to reunite the family again."
The fact the pavement isn't exactly even is one of the contributing factors in me nearly stumbling, but frankly, it is the statement that comes to mind most.
"Wait. What?"
I blurt out my thoughts before peering at her.
"I know, right?" she groans. "I don't want to change my life around again. Even if I get to live with Nii-san again, I'd feel like I'd lose you in the process."
She gives me a look. That really sweet look. But I finally realize it might just be a bit of a smartypants look, too. As if she knows how much I care for her.
Well. Duh. Of course she does.
"Then don't?"
My answer is as simple as it is crude; aren't I asking her to forsake her Nii-san? Fuck. This is going to cost me Setty brownie points.
"But he's my dad. Do I even get to decide? Hell. It's a shitty decision. A mean prank by God. The fake parents I've got and don't really love, or the promise of a dad who will make me think of mom being in heaven each time I see him!"
Wow. That's one vehement counter; the tears spring out and run down her cheeks in the heat of the emotions suffered. I wrap my free arm around her, pulling her closer and using the spoon in my hand to boop her nose.
"Fuck me if I know."
I squeeze her upper arm gently before continuing to somehow make a somewhat comforting statement she won't call out as me treating her like a little kid the way her dad does.
"You can't make the decision. You are a little kid."
She wants to grumble, but I silence her with the spoon by pressing it on her lips.
"Shush a sec. It is a fact. You are underage and you don't know what you want. That's not what you think, but that's what a judge will have to think if it ever comes to interpreting the law."
She slumps a bit and sucks my spoon into her mouth, pulling it away like a spoiled little brat wanting to get her way. Heh.
"It is a balance between your needs as a kid and the letter of the law. So while you can't decide, you can probably influence things. You just need to make it clear what you want, and why that is the best."
She groans in protest, which allows me to take back my spoon. Ugh. Slimey Setty saliva is all over it.
"So I'm still stuck having to figure out the worst of two disappointing alternatives?" she complains, at which point I see it as my right to wipe my spoon on her forehead. Take that!
"Ewww!" Setty dodges a bit but is - unfortunately for her - still stuck in my loving embrace, and as a consequence the drool is spread out nice and evenly with almost none of it remaining on the spoon itself.
"Then don't drool all over my spoon!" I laugh at her self-inflicted misfortune while she rubs her head, showing the most lighthearted smile I've seen her smile all week.
"You're so mean! Stupid jellybelly!" she counters with a laugh of her own.
I put on my most mysterious face. "If I am so stupid, I'm not going to share my wisdom and mysterious insights into life with you." I add mock-threateningly, and the unabashed curiousity that flares up in her eyes is enough to make me relent my plan to tease.
"Fine fine. There's a saying. 'Possession is nine-tenths of the law.' You've heard of it, haven't you?" I inquire of her, and she nods after a moments worth of contemplative staring at her jelly.
"Well then. Just make sure you are in the 'possession' of whatever side you want to win. Maybe the courts decision will follow what is already there, huh?"
I offer her a lighthearted wink as we arrive in front of the entrance to Pin & Play, and she offers it back happily before opening the door.
"Cassandra! Come see what I dragged along with me!" She greets the person she is visiting with considerably lighter countenance, whereas my own darkens a bit.
Since when was she the one to drag me along? I could have sworn I was the one to pick her up from her classroom...