"Hey, what were you dreaming about last night? You kept kicking me." Jeremy asked his wife as they walked down the hall.
Candace scratched the top of her head, running her fingers through her hair as she answered tiredly, "I dreamt you were snoring."
The two adults lazily made their way into the kitchen. Normally they woke up early to make their kids their breakfast, then get ready for work and go about their day. But they stayed up late the previous night having to constantly check on their sons, Xavier and Fred, to make sure they were actually going to sleep. They had no idea what was going on with the boys lately, but for some reason they were acting overly aggressive and annoying.
"Guess we could just pour them some cereal if we have any." Candace suggested, tightening the belt around her robe.
"We don't." Jeremy sighed.
Just as the two entered their kitchen, they stopped in their tracks and stared in awe. The aroma of freshly-made pancakes and bacon filled the air. They saw their daughter standing at the counter, scooping up eggs with a spatula and placing them onto five separate plates. She took notice to her parents standing in the doorway and grinned, "Morning Mom, morning Dad. Sleep well?"
"Uh..I think I'm still sleeping." Candace muttered.
Amanda walked over to hand them two plates filled with chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, and two pieces of crunchy bacon. "I hope you don't mind me getting up early to make breakfast. You guys have been working hard lately, I just feel like you deserve a little pampering. So don't worry about doing the dishes afterward, I'll take care of it."
The two adults shared a confused glance. "Uh, thank you, sweetie. That's awfully thoughtful of you." Jeremy said, slightly suspicious of his daughter's politeness.
Amanda shrugged and set the rest of the plates down on the table. "Anything for the best parents in the whole world."
"Aw, you're so sweet." Candace smiled—which immediately faded. "What do you want?"
The teen just scoffed and shook her head, "Really, Mom? Do I have to want something to be nice to my lovely parents?"
"Spill it." Candace responded, setting her plate on the counter to cross her arms.
"Fine." Amanda sighed, then quickly put on a shy smile, "Well, you see, there's this party Saturday night that literally everyone is going to, even the unpopular kids. So I was wondering if maybe you'd let me go?"
Candace eyed her daughter suspiciously, "Hm, I see. And uh, where exactly is this party going to be at?"
"Uh, Jack Schroeder's house. You don't know him, he's a senior." Amanda answered, sounding rather nonchalant.
"A senior, huh?" Candace said. "Who's all going to be there?"
"Like I said, everybody." The teen shrugged.
"Be specific." Jeremy said from the other side of the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of orange juice from the fridge. He already knew the answer they were going to give their daughter, so he wasn't even bothering with her plea.
"Uh, Jackie, Carrie, Tracie, Lucy, Molly, Teri, and Kim." Amanda said, counting on her fingers.
Candace 'thought' for a moment, then shook her head and took her plate. "No."
"What?! Why not?!" Amanda asked in disbelief, following her mother closely. "I basically just gave the names of all my emergency contacts!"
"Hm, let's see." Candace said as she walked over to the table. "You're 15 and you want to go to a senior's party, which will most likely have no adult supervision. I've never even met the guy or his parents so I don't trust him. Not to mention all those girls are bad influences on you."
"They are not!" Amanda argued.
"Oh really? Didn't they try to make you sneak out in the middle of the night last week?" Candace asked rhetorically.
"Well, how do you know I wasn't making that decision on my own?"
"A word of advice to your friends," Jeremy said, "When they're waiting for you outside, send a text instead of honking the horn."
Amanda rolled her eyes, then focused back on her mother with a pleading look. "Okay, but there'll be responsible kids there, too. Besides, you know I'm not gonna do anything bad! Don't you trust me?"
"Sweetheart, I trust you, I don't trust the other kids!" Candace said, "Sorry, but my answer's still no."
Amanda looked over at her father, "Dad?"
"Listen to your mother, sweetie." Jeremy resounded.
The teen glanced between the two, frowning in disbelief. "You guys are so unfair!" She exclaimed, storming out of the kitchen. "You can do the dishes yourself!"
Candace rolled her eyes and took a bite out of the bacon, "Good thing, she doesn't know where the pots go, anyway."
Jeremy watched his daughter leave the room, hearing her slam her door shut. "Gee, what was that about? Are all our kids going through some aggressive phase I don't know about?"
His wife sighed and held her head in her hands, "I have no idea. I don't even feel like dealing with it right now. I've got three court cases of copyright infringement and no one down there knows what the hell they're doing."
"Mom! Amanda's cutting holes in her pants!" Fred called out from down the hall.
Jeremy put his hand up, "I'll handle it."