Klaus' eyes widened. "What? How did that happen?"
Adrian shrugged. "I don't know. We had a math test and I got all the answers right, and when I showed it to Helene, she just kissed me." Adrian looked at Klaus uncertainly. "Does that mean I have to marry her?"
Klaus burst out laughing. "No. No, it doesn't."
"Oh," Adrian let out a sigh of relief. "That's good." He paused. "Does Mommy kiss you when you do good things?"
Klaus smirked. "Good things, bad things...mostly bad things."
"I don't get it," Adrian said.
Klaus nodded. "Good. Someday you probably will, though."
"Where is Mommy?" Adrian asked.
"In the basement," Klaus said. "I think I'll go down and get her."
He headed down to the basement where he found that she'd untied herself. He didn't see her until she spoke.
"You know, Nicky," she said from the sofa, "you really are the strangest person."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.
"Well, you want physical affection from me, but then you always push me away."
"I never do that," he protested.
"Yes you do, Mr. 'Get-Mad-At-Me-In-Chicago-And-Compel-Me-To-Forget-You'."
"Well can you blame me?" He said. "That was the worst apology and you still left anyway."
She narrowed her eyes. "You could have made me stay, you know. And just for my information, what would a proper apology have looked like?"
"Well," he said, "You would have told me you were sorry, and then we would have gone out to my car and..."
He found himself in the backseat of his black 1942 Cadillac. She was with him. They began kissing as he stripped off her clothes. They were both breathing hard, and she said "Oh, Nicky, how could I have left a virile, handsome man like you? I've been so foolish..."
She burst out laughing, shattering his thoughts. "Do you honestly think I would talk like that? I can't believe you!"
"Well it wouldn't hurt," he said, taking her underneath him. She grinned and kissed him anyway. "So I take it you aren't mad at me anymore?" She asked.
"No," he said. "Something distracted me. And you won't believe it when you hear it."

"Well what is it?" She asked.

Just then, Adrian burst into the basement and Selina quickly sat up. "What is it, Adrian?" She asked.

"I got 100 percent on my math test, see?" He said, handing it to her. She looked it over and her eyes lit up. "All these answers are right!" She said in amazement.

"They usually are if the paper is 100 percent," Klaus said.

"Oh, but he usually compels the teacher to give him full marks anyway, so this is new," Selina said without looking at him.

"Well that's clever," Klaus grinned and slapped Adrian on the back.

Selina looked up and shook her head. "No it's not. Anyway," She stood up and gave Adrian a hug, kissing him on the cheek.

"See?" Adrian said. "That's exactly what Helene did at at recess!"

"What?" Selina asked. "Helene kissed you?"

"Uh-huh," Adrian nodded.

Selina grinned and ruffled his hair. "That is so cute!" She looked at Klaus. "And that means he beat you by what? Ten years?"

"Five," Klaus said. "Just five."

"Is anybody home?" called a voice from upstairs.

"It's Astrid!" Adrian said. "And that means she's got Helene with her! Where should I hide?"

"Why would you want to hide?" Klaus asked.

"In case she wants to kiss me again!" Adrian said in exasperation. "It was just too weird!" He shuddered. "Tell Helene I'm not here!"

Selina just rolled her eyes. "Let's go upstairs," she said to Klaus as Adrian hid behind the sofa.

"Hello, you two," Astrid said. "We weren't interrupting anything, were we?"

"No," Selina shook her head.

"Where's Adrian?" Helene asked. "He was acting weird in the car on the way here and I wanna know why."

"It could have something to do with the fact that you kissed him at recess," Astrid said.

"But that didn't have anything to do with anything," Helene said. "I was just expressing pleasure that he got a good grade on a paper without cheating."

"Yes, well, he has a thought you might just want to do it again, so he's avoiding you," Selina said.

"Well I don't," Helene said. "And I think I'll go and tell him. Where is he?"

"Cowering behind the couch downstairs," Klaus said.

"Thank you," Helene replied and made her way down to the basement.

When she opened the basement door, she was greeted by silence. Then she tiptoed over to the sofa, her black mary janes making no sound on the carpet. Then, she carefully climbed on the sofa and peered behind it where Adrian was curled up in a ball. "What are you doing?" She asked, giggling a little when he jumped. "Your mommy says you're hiding from me."

"Yeah," Adrian nodded. "So you don't kiss me again!"

"I wasn't ever going to," Helene said. "That was only cause I was happy you got a good grade on the math test. I'm not in love with you or anything. In fact, there's somebody else I like, so there!"

"Who's that?" Adrian asked.

"Oh," Helene said slyly, turning so she was sitting on the sofa and looking away from him. "Just Anthony Snyder."

"What?" Adrian stood up. "He's a dork!"

"No he's not!" Helene said. "He's a lot nicer than you, and he's a lot smarter too. So there!" She stuck out her tongue.

"I don't care," Adrian said. "Do what you want. It's none of my business."

"Good," Helene said primly. "Now that we've got that straightened out, I think I'll go upstairs. You have a good time down here by yourself."

"I will," Adrian said. "A lot more fun than you."

"Fine," Helene said, going up the basement stairs. "Goodbye."

"So what's the verdict?" Selina asked.

"I don't think he's going to come up," Helene said. "He's all huffy for some reason."

"And you don't know what that is?" Selina asked.

Helene shook her head. "Certainly not."

"You're right," Adrian said to Klaus that evening. "Girls are evil."

Klaus took Adrian onto his lap. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"Well," Adrian said, "first they kiss you, and then they're all 'I don't even like you. I like Anthony Snyder instead'."

"And who's Anthony Snyder?" Klaus asked.

Adrian tensed. "He wears vests and likes math and reads for fun. He's a dork."

"So you want Helene to like you?" Selina asked, coming into the living room. "Even though you were hiding from her today cause you were afraid the two of you were getting too close?"

"No I don't want her to like me!" Adrian cried, looking revolted. "Girls are gross!" He paused. "No offense, Mommy."

Selina grinned. "None taken, honey."

"Good," Adrian nodded. "I'm going to bed."

"'Night!" Selina called after him. She turned to Klaus. "I was just thinking about something, Nicky," she said. "Maybe we should get him into sports. He could make friends that way." She paused. "Not to mention channeling all his aggression into smacking a ball instead of the walls or my antique Chinese vases."

He nodded. "I agree."

"You do?" Selina asked in surprise."

"Yes," Klaus told her. "It's a good idea. I think it would be good for his confidence to see that he's superior to all the other children."

"Oh, yes," Selina rolled her eyes. "Because he's got terrible confidence right now."

Klaus took her into his lap and kissed her. "Speaking of which," he said, "would you like to help me with my confidence?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "I'm not going to say any of the stuff you want me to say. It's implied!"

He carried her to their bedroom. "I tell you you're pretty. The least you could do is return the favor."

"You want me to tell you you're pretty?"

"No," he said, putting her down on the bed. "You know what I mean."

She turned away from him. "No," she said.

He got in next to her. "What is this aversion you have to giving me compliments?"

"Simple," she turned to face him. "You don't need any. You're already full of yourself as it is."

"Oh, come on," he said, kissing her again. "You have two options. You can either compliment me voluntarily, or else I'll just have to force a compliment out of you."

"Oh, really?" She said, her eyes twinkling. "I'd enjoy seeing you try."

"All right," he said, cuffing her as she giggled. "If you want to do things the hard way, that's your prerogative."

They began to tussle, her moans and squeaks shaking the bed, but just before she was about to experience release, everything stopped. She opened her eyes and stared up at him. "What did you stop for?" She asked, moaning. "Because it's really bad timing."

He grinned down at her. "You know what you have to do," he said.

"Haven't I already said enough?" She asked. "Have you been paying any attention to the things I've been shouting?"

He heaved an exaggerated sigh. "I suppose," he said. "But you know, I just, I just don't feel appreciated."

"Well what do I have to do?" She whimpered. "Compare you to God?"

"Maybe," he shifted and she whimpered again. She was so close. She really hated him right now.

She narrowed her eyes. "I really hate you right now."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Now darling," he said, "that's not what I want to hear." He took her hand and began nipping her fingers.

She winced. "Would you just..."

"You know what you have to say," he said.

"Oh, all right!" She groaned. "You're good! The best damn guy I've ever gone to bed with! After I left Chicago, I cried myself to sleep every night because I was so lonely. I-"

He thrusted and she burst out laughing. "God, that's good! Yes! Yes!"

As she calmed, he began kissing down her neck. "There," he said. "Was that so hard? And by the way, God's too formal. Nicky's fine." He grinned as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You know," she said severely. "This is the sort of thing that makes people resentful and angry."

"Oh," he said, "you're not resentful and angry. You like me. Admit it."

"I suppose I do," she said. "Despite the fact that you're generally reprehensible, you have some redeeming qualities, I guess."

"Uh-huh," he nodded. "And I just demonstrated one of them, didn't I?" He kissed her again.

"Well, um," she nodded. "Yeah, yeah you did." She leaned up to kiss him again. He grinned. She always acted resentful when he realized how good she thought he was in bed. It was part of their little dance, and it never lasted long.

He began to kiss down her stomach. "And would you like me to continue demonstrating it until we both become so exhausted we can't keep our eyes open?"

She grinned. "Oh, yes please."

The next morning, the ride to school was silent. Adrian sat in the passenger seat next to Selina and Helene sat by herself in back. Selina tried to start conversation a few times, but each time failed, so finally she decided to leave it alone. When they drove up, Selina saw a boy wearing a vest with glasses and a book under his arm standing on the sidwalk in front of her usual parking spot. "How nice," Helene said from the backseat. "Anthony told me he had a book I'd find interesting and that he'd give it to me before school started. He's probably been waiting for me since he got here."

"Well yay for him," Adrian said. "Nobody cares."

"Adrian be nice," Selina said.

"Fine," Adrian rolled his eyes. He got out of the car and grabbed his book bag out of the backseat and went to follow Anthony and Helene toward the school building. They were standing awfully close together. He ran to catch up to them, forcing himself between them. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"We're discussing this book," Anthony said, holding it up. "It's about daily life in America during the Civil War. I doubt you'd be interested, though. You're not really an intellectual type, so it might have big words you wouldn't understand." He turned back to Helene and continued talking as the muscles in Adrian's arms tensed. He pushed Anthony to the ground and began to beat up on him. Finally, he was still, his eyes on the book that had fallen to the floor. He slowly brought his arm up and as Adrian smugly turned and walked away, the book slowly rose from the ground where it had fallen and flew through the air, hitting Adrian squarely on the back of the head and knocking him out cold.

"Oh, my goodness!" Helene said as Adrian fell to the ground. "What did you do that for?"

Anthony stood up slowly. "He was thinking bad thoughts about me. I don't like it when people think bad thoughts about me." He grinned after a moment and offered Helene his arm. "School awaits," he said. "Shall we?" And he marched her off to the school building without giving Adrian another glance.