This had to happen eventually in this story about parents guiding their daughter through her teen angst.

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Chapter 3: When Teenagers Play Around

It was an ordinary Sunday, a few hours after church let out. Not that the Foremans went to church. Basil and Clara were agnostic and Izzy was an atheist. The only reason the couple got married in a church was to please Clara's family and Basil's Granny. His parents had been invited out of good will, but his mother showed up in a white dress. Missy 'accidentally' spilled red wine on her before she could be in any pictures. The old bitch started screaming transphobic slurs, to which the medical examiner responded by 'accidentally' spilling someone else's wine on her. The step-dad tried to justify Millicent's behavior and physically threatened Missy. In a massive act of short-sightedness, Clara and Basil had not hired security. Fortunately, one of the bartenders, a woman named Vastra who had multiple facial piercings and was covered from head to foot in tattoos, was able 'convince' the Browns to leave.

Clara thought back to the fiasco that was her wedding and shook her head. Even now, over a year later, she still couldn't understand why some people had to be such idiots. At this point, she understood why Basil could be a bit short with people sometimes. She was jolted from her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. She headed over to see what was going on. When she arrived, she saw Izzy facing Stormageddon, who was standing just outside the door. He had a Pokemon backpack on but his style of clothing was less... eclectic than her daughter's. The teenage boy was wearing worn grey Nikes, what could only be described as 'dad jeans', and what had to be the world's most boring brown jumper. Izzy, on the other hand, was wearing black skinny jeans, a red plaid long-sleeved oxford that was left unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a black Jurassic Park T-shirt that she had stolen from Clara, a charcoal grey hipster beanie, and a pair of checkered black and white high-top Chucks. Clara thought that she had lost that T-shirt forever- she hadn't worn it since she was her daughter's age in the 90s- but the teen somehow found it.

Stormageddon smiled and said, "Hi, Mrs. Foreman. I'm here to see Izzy."

"Come on in." Clara said, returning the smile.

Once the teen was inside, he took off his backpack and opened it, revealing a dozen bags of jelly babies, Playstation 2 and several games- Dynasty Warriors 4, Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and a few others. "Playing video games?" Clara deduced. "I hope you two have done your homework."

"Yep." Stormageddon replied. "I brought snacks, too."

"I did my homework last night." Izzy said.

"All right." Clara said. "You two have fun."

The two teens hurried into Izzy's room and slammed the door behind them. Clara simply rolled her eyes. Teenagers. Suddenly, there was the sound of knocking again. The thirty-something mother let out a sigh and headed back to the door. She opened it and, to her surprise, standing outside was her father, Dave Oswald, and her step-mother, Linda. "Dad! Linda!" Clara gasped, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Dave smiled broadly and said, "We were in town, so we thought we'd drop by and see you."

Clara forced a false grin. "Great. Come on in."

Clara led her dad and step-mum to the living room, where they sat down on a sofa. Linda looked at her step-daughter expectantly and said, "Well? Aren't you going to offer us tea?"

"Right." Clara said flatly. "How absolutely rude of me."

The thirty-something mother than headed into the kitchen. A few minutes later, she returned with the tea. She shot Linda teeth-baring grin and said, "I put in extra sugar. Because you're so sweet."

Linda smiled as she and her husband accepted the tea. The older woman then said, "Well done, then. We'll make a proper housewife out of you yet."

"Linda," Clara said evenly, "I work from home. I'm an author."

"I'm sure that your little hobby is a pleasant way to spend your free time, but your husband is a doctor." Linda sniffed.

"Linda," Clara said calmly but firmly, "One of my books, Deep Breath, is one of the top 100 most popular books of 2019 so far. My books have consistently been making the top 100 list since 2016."

"I suppose so." Linda said haughtily. "But they're not in the top 10, are they?"

"Linda, Clara, please don't fight." Dave sighed.

"Who's fighting?" Linda said. "I'm just saying that Clara should be more invested in her children than her books. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"I just put Jack down for his nap." Clara replied. "Izzy is in her room."

"I suppose she's going through one of her moods, then." Linda said. "If her door is closed and she won't come out to greet us."

"She's playing video games with a friend." Clara said. "Knowing my luck, I'd probably disturb them in the middle of a cutscene."

"Which friend?" Dave asked. "I've heard that Izzy made a new friend recently."

"No, she's not in there with Shauna." Clara explained. "She's playing co-op games with Stormageddon."

"Stormageddon?" Linda raised a brow. "That's the Irish girl, right?"

"Alfie Owens." Clara clarified. "Nearly all of his friends call him Stormageddon."

Linda let out a gasp. Dave frowned and said, "Clara, explain."

"Yes." Linda added. "Tell us what sort of irresponsible parenting led you to leave your teen daughter alone, in her bedroom, with a boy with the door closed!"

This time, Clara let her annoyance show. "Dad, Linda, this is Alfie Owens that we're talking about. He and Izzy have been best friends since they were in nappies."

"He's still a teenage boy." Linda said judgementally. "Alone with your daughter, in her bedroom."

"Again, this is Alfie Owens!" Clara said with a groan. "I can guarantee you that he's in there because he wants her to help him beat a boss level, not his meat."

The walls were thin, so everyone could suddenly hear the sound of Izzy let out a loud moan. The three adults rushed to Izzy's door, the parent to try to stop the grandparents and the grandparents to try to stop whatever was going on in that room. There was the sound of the springs to Izzy's mattress creaking loudly. "Give it to me, Stormageddon!" the girl shouted.

Dave yanked the door open, only to see the two teens sitting on Izzy's bed. They were both holding the same PS2 controller, but they were staring at the adults, utterly shocked into silence. "What in god's name is going on here?" Dave bellowed.

"Stormageddon is being a jerk!" Izzy said angrily.

"Well, it was your fault!" Stormageddon argued.

Linda scoffed. "We all know what you were really doing! I'm disappointed in you, young lady!"

"And you!" Dave pointed an accusing finger at Stormageddon. "Get the hell away from my granddaughter!"

"She wouldn't let me have my turn with the controller!" Stormageddon protested.

"He wanted to have the final strike against the boss that I defeated!" Izzy said. "I tried to tell him that there was a second boss, but noooo, he had to have the controller back!"

That response left Linda and Dave completely and utterly confused. Clara merely sighed and said, "You brought a single-player game because you couldn't beat the boss monster, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Stormageddon said sheepishly.

"Now the entire party is dead!" Izzy said tersely.

"You were just playing video games?" Dave said, clearly dumbfounded.

"Yeah." Izzy replied. She then sarcastically added, "What did you think that we'd be doing?"

Linda let out a huff and said, "Well, you are teenagers."

Stormageddon turned bright red with mortification. Izzy was absolutely irritated. "Okay, one: this is Stormageddon and I that you're talking about. Two: you know that we're both obsessed with video games. Three: I want the jellies he brought inside my stomach, not his prick inside my fanny because he's my best mate. Four: even if I did want to fuck him, I wouldn't want to do it right now because my body is currently performing its monthly expulsion of my uterine lining via my vagina!"

Dave, being very much a man, flushed just as red at the mention of periods as Stormageddon had at the insinuation that he had been sexual with Izzy. Linda was silent. Finally, the Owens boy broke the ice. "So... you wanted me to bring that many jelly babies because you were hungry because you were on your period?"

Linda let out an annoyed sniff. "Since when would a teenage boy be comfortable talking about a young woman's menses?"

"Mrs. Oswald, my two best friends are both girls." Stormageddon deadpanned. "I've had to pick up period stuff for them and learn how to clean leaked period blood off of my duvet and the furniture so it won't stain. When both of your best mates are girls, periods are just something that you have to get used to."

Clara was actually impressed by this. When she had her first period, it was her mum that helped her out. Her dad wouldn't even pick up menstrual supplies at the store. He acted like he was afraid that he would spontaneously combust if he stepped into the menstrual supply aisle. Danny had been better about it. He was actually quite sweet but he frequently brought home the wrong thing, such as regular tampons when he was supposed to get super absorbent. He tried so hard, though. Basil, being a doctor, had absolutely no problem with picking up tampons for her or sanitary towels for Izzy. Her dad, though? Useless. Still, it was good to know that her daughter had at least two males in her life who would be willing to pick up period supplies for her.

Linda let out a loud huff and stormed off. Dave quite sheepishly followed. Clara silently mouthed 'sorry' before following the other adults. Once all of the adults were of of the room, Stormageddon spoke up. "I just realized something, Izzy."

"What?" Izzy asked through a mouthful of jelly babies.

"None of them scolded you when you said 'fuck'." the teen boy pointed out.

"Dad probably would." the teen girl said with a shrug. She then asked, "Why didn't you point it out?"

"You'd probably kick my arse if I did." Stormageddon replied.

"You really think I could take you in a fight?" Izzy raised a brow.

"Have you met yourself?" the teen boy asked. "You're taller than I am, you're a better fighter than I am, you're more audacious than I am, and you're crazier than I am."

"Name one time when I was crazier than you." the taller teen deadpanned.

"There was that one time that a guy who was taller than you and probably weighed twice as much tried to rob us- at knife-point- when we were going to a sweet shop after those stupid ballroom dancing lessons that my dad insists that I take. You had the bright idea of confronting him with a shoe." Stormageddon said. "And somehow, you scared him off with said shoe."

"They were the heels I wore at the lessons." Izzy pointed out. "I was tired, I was cranky, and my feet hurt. What did you expect me to do?"

"Do what he asked?" Stormageddon suggested.

"Whatever." the taller teen shrugged. "My mum was not happy when I lost that shoe. I'm not going back, anyway. Stefan is an angry little 50-year-old man who is just bitter about a fourteen-year-old girl being taller than him."

The shorter teen shook his head. "You're crazy, Izzy. Just crazy."

"Yep." Izzy replied with a smile. "Now, are you going to let me defeat both of those bosses or not?"

Stormageddon let out a sigh and handed the controller over to his friend.