Ellie pounds on the bathroom door a little harder than she had the first two times. She now only has fifteen - no, thirteen minutes - to do something with her hair, throw on some mascara if she's lucky, brush her teeth, and maybe eat something on the go before the bus arrives to pick her and Kenny up for school.
"Kenny?!" she hisses. "You've been in there for twenty minutes! Mom's showering in the master bathroom and I'd go in there but dad has the bedroom door locked. He's asleep and I don't want to wake him. Plus, all my stuff is in this bathroom.."
No response. "KENNY!" she yells, wincing when she remembers how late she heard her dad get home last night. She holds her breath when she hears movement in her parents' bedroom.
Opie cracks the door open and peeks his head out, his long hair falling in his face.
"What the hell is going on?" he asks his newly teenage daughter, clearly tired and annoyed. "It's hard to sleep when all I hear is you pounding on that door."
Ellie looks at him apologetically. "I got a late start this morning and Kenny has been in the bathroom for twenty-five minutes. I need to get ready.. and I have to pee!"
"Hang on," Opie sighs. He disappears into his room and emerges seconds later, having thrown on a pair of plaid pajama pants.
"You're not even dressed yet and you're yelling at your brother to get out of the bathroom?" Opie observes her plain white spaghetti strap tank top and an old pair Soffe shorts.
"I threw my dress in the dryer because it was wrinkled.. but it looks like I'll just have to wear this to school instead because I'm running out of time" she sighs dramatically, averting her eyes from his and back to the closed bathroom door in front of her.
Opie nudges her out of the way so he's now standing in front of the door.
"That'll be a cold day in hell, little girl. Go check the dryer."
"What could he possibly be doing that it would take him that long to get ready... all he even needs to do is brush his teeth, get dressed, and put on deodorant if he even remembers to do that," Ellie throws over her shoulder as she walks towards the laundry room.
Opie snorts, a knowing grin playing on his lips. He knows damn well what a boy hitting puberty could possibly be doing in the bathroom for that long.
Ellie, catching on, gasps in disgust.
"Kenny? You've been in there too long.. your sister is going to kill us both if you don't get your ass in gear."
Kenny emerges from the bathroom combing his hair, dressed and freshly showered, a smirk spreading across his face. "It's not my fault she snoozed three times this morning! She was probably up all night texting Matt."
"Shut up!" Ellie yells from the laundry room.
Great, here we go. I don't have time to play Twenty Questions with dad.
She strips down and puts on a bra before quickly throwing on her sleeveless black dress that falls a few inches above her knees. It's not form fitting - good luck trying to leave the house wearing something like that - but it gently hugs her chest and bottom. She grabs her denim jacket off the top of the dryer and hightails it for the bathroom.
Donna exits her room in a bath robe and a towel on her head. "You're going to miss the bus kids!" Ellie brushes past all of them and closes the bathroom door a little too hard behind her. "Thanks a lot, Ken. Now I have to go to school looking like an ugly bridge troll!"
"You're beautiful, baby!" Donna responds, giggling at her daughter's comment.
"You're obligated to say that!" Ellie shoots back.
"Who the fuck is Matt?" Opie finally asks.
Twenty-five, thirty-two, twelve... Sydney turns the combination lock and opens her locker. She checks her appearance in the handy, little magnetic mirror Gemma bought her. She smiles at the picture of her and her best friend, Ellie obviously, on her thirteenth birthday six months ago at Club Reaper and the other picture of her, Jax, Abel, her grandparents, and Tara that was taken on Christmas day.
She lets her book bag slip from her shoulders and holds it in front of her. She grabs her Math and Science book out of it and places them in her locker.
Ellie, her locker partner, approaches her. Charming Middle School isn't nearly as large as the high school, so each person has to pick someone in their homeroom class to share a locker with. Luckily, Teller and Winston are close enough that they ended up in the same homeroom.
"Cute outfit!" Sydney exclaims, looking Ellie over. "And it looks super cute with your Converse.. I love it."
Ellie grins appreciatively, "Thanks, sis. So, what answer did you get for problem 15 on the math homework? I worked on it forever until I finally decided to go with an answer I know is probably wrong.."
Sydney stops rummaging through all her books, folders, and notebooks in their locker to shoot her a smile. "Same! I'm pretty sure I ended up with y = 5 but let me look.." she says as she grabs her math notebook out of her book bag that is now on the ground at her feet.
Matt Conway, the fourteen-year-old eighth grader that Ellie has a school girl crush on, walks up to them. Sydney, occupied with flipping to the right page of her notebook, doesn't notice.
"Hey," he smiles. Ellie's knees go weak and she just stares up at him. She loves how tall he is because she hates that she is the same height or taller than many of the boys in her class and even older. Her mom says they will hit a growth spurt here within the next year or so but Ellie worries that it'll never happen.
Sydney looks up from problem 15 in her notebook and nudges Ellie whom is still staring up at the handsome boy.
"Hi, Matt," she finally manages, blushing slightly.
"I was wondering if you wanted to walk to the diner after school for milkshakes or something? You can come too, Sydney.. Jared wanted to know if you would," he smiles at both of them.
Jared? Jared Nickoli? From her math class?
Sydney smiles up at Matt briefly before looking down at her notebook to hide her blush. "Thanks, but-"
Ellie doesn't hesitate cutting her off. "We're in!"
"Cool. See you later," he grins before walking off to his own locker a few classroom doors down.
"Ellie! We don't even have any money.." Sydney exclaims.
"It's not about the milkshakes, Syd... and we are supposed to walk to your house after school anyway so we can just text your dad or Tara and tell them that we decided to stop there. Bobby's party isn't until later anyway and they know that Madge will at least give us a free soda because of Wayne and the club."
Sydney purses her lips together before finally shrugging. "Yeah, okay.. we'll go! But anyway, about the math homework..."
It's eight in the morning and Abel is fussing to be fed. Tara tests the temperature of his formula before picking him up and sitting in the rocking chair in his adorably decorated nursery.
Tara smiles at the precious baby in her arms as she begins feeding him. He eagerly grabs hold of the bottle but he's unable to hold it on his own.
Jax walks in pulling a shirt over his head. He admires Tara, the love of his life, feeding his baby boy... the boy who has become their baby boy.
Tara looks up and catches Jax's eye. She smiles lovingly. "Sleep okay?"
Jax enters the nursery and leans against the dresser. "I did.. you really wore me out last night, babe" he winks at her.
A playful grin takes over her beautiful features, "get used to it, lover boy."
He walks towards her and leans down to give her a passionate kiss before gently squeezing Abel's foot. His phone buzzes and he pulls it out of his pocket.
"Syd and Ellie are going to the diner after school before they walk home."
Tara nods. "I miss those days.. I can't believe Madge is still working there. She'll be there until she dies I bet."
Jax smiles. "Yeah, she definitely will be. Hopefully she's there because I'm pretty sure the girls don't have any money on them.. if they planned this out then Sydney probably would have asked for some.. unless she got it off Gemma or Clay."
Tara shrugs, removing the empty bottle from Abel's mouth and handing it to Jax. She adjusts him in her arms and proceeds to burp him. "She could have.. but Madge is there damn near every day and you know she'll give them something to drink or 'old' pie that they're unable to sell and will end up just throwing away. Like she used to do for us, remember?"
Jax flashes a mega-wat smile. "Those sure were the days.. going there drunk off our asses with Opie and Donna when we were only eighteen."
Laughing, Tara stands to put Abel back in his crib. "Oh, to be that young again.. do you ever wonder if Sydney, Ellie, and Kenny will be as crazy as we all were?"
Jax sets the empty bottle down on the dresser and scrunches up one side of his face in thought before finally answering. "Depends on what you mean by crazy. There are certain things Opie and I won't take well. Not when it comes to the girls at least," he admits sheepishly. He knows it's a total double standard but he shrugs it off - Jackson was raised to respect and protect the women in his life. He's always been protective of his mother and has been of Tara since they were kids.. even before they ever became a thing. He'd protect Donna and Ellie in a heartbeat as well. John and Piney did their best to teach their sons how to be men, but they never could have prepared them for what comes along with being a father to a girl. Especially now that they're entering their teenage years. Jax and Opie each have been holding their breath while taking it one step at a time.. careful not to step on a land mine.
Tara rolls her eyes but is unable to keep the smile off her face. "I don't mean sex. That's pretty much inevitable.. it's going to happen whether you or Opie or even Clay and Piney, hell, the entire club, like it or not. I was just talking about the partying, sneaking out, and getting into trouble. Rebelling and disrespecting authority. We sure gave Charming PD a run for its money back in the day."
Jax shrugs his shoulders and runs a hand through his beard. "I'm sure they'll experiment with shit like weed and alcohol.. but that better be it. They're good kids but so were you until you finally let your hair down," Jax flashes a cocky grin.
Tara smacks his arm before wrapping her arms around his neck. He responds by holding her waist.
"Hopefully they don't get underages from Unser and have to be picked up at the station by your mom.." Tara reminisces.
Laughing, Jax leans down to kiss her. She deepens the kiss by opening her mouth.
She glances at Abel in the crib. "Listen, you have maybe ten minutes before he wakes up and needs another diaper change."
Jax slips his hands under his t-shirt that she's wearing and grips her ass. "Good.. because I'm only going to need about five" he jokes before kissing her again.
Ellie stares blankly at the dry erase board in the front of her classroom deep in thought. She has straight As and she's happy it's Friday - she doesn't give a damn about today's lesson.
Mr. Kane had other plans though. "Ahh.. how about you, Miss Winston?"
"Huh?" she says as her eyes snap to the man in front of the classroom staring at her expectantly.
"The answer, Ellie. What is it?"
Ellie stares at him wide-eyed. She has no idea what he even asked her and, to be honest, she hasn't heard a word he's said the last ten minutes. All she can think about is walking to the diner after school to hang out with Matt.
Samantha Morris, the annoying know-it-all of the seventh grade, saves Ellie. And for once in her life she was grateful for the girl wearing the smug smile in the front of the classroom.
"Cumulonimbus clouds, Mr. Kane."
"Thank you, Miss Morris.. but, I wasn't asking you. Miss Winston, pay attention." Ellie fights the urge to roll her eyes before copying down the notes he's written on the board.
"Pssst. Ellie!" Miles Stricker whispers to her. She glances to her left at the boy sitting a seat next to her in the very back corner of the room. The boy who's actually in eighth grade, supposed to be in ninth grade, but is still taking a seventh grade science class.
"You're looking good in that dress," he observes while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, running his eyes up and down her legs.
She glares at him before tugging the front of her dress down to her knees and ignores him.
"Oh, come on, now.. I was just giving you a compliment.. no need to get all shy on me."
Ellie successfully ignores him until he finally gives up on talking to her, but she can feel him still staring at her. Though it mostly just pisses her off, she begins to feel pretty uncomfortable. She stares at the clock, crosses one of her legs over the other and taps her foot impatiently. Five more minutes..
Sydney gets to Math early since her third period History class is close by. She sits down in her assigned seat in the middle of the classroom and sits her bag on the floor. She leans over to unzip it and get out last night's homework and her textbook.
Matt had called out Sydney's name as they were in the hallway but she didn't hear him and it was too crowded anyway. He followed her into her math class and successfully avoided the annoying teacher he had last year when he was in this very math class. He sits down in the seat right in front of her. "Hey, can I talk to you real quick?"
Sydney, knowing this is about Ellie, grows curious. Especially since he followed her into one of her classes. "What's up?"
"Listen, so... does Ellie like me? Because it seems like she does but I don't want to assume if she doesn't but I want her to like me, y'know? 'Cause I like her. She's probably way too smart for me but she's smokin' hot - I mean pretty, sorry," he stops rambling and corrects himself when Sydney raises her eyebrows. She smiles at his apology and he takes it as a que to continue. "I'm excited about going to the diner after school.. it's just that people have been making comments about -" remembering that Sydney is also a daughter and granddaughter of two club members, he stops himself.
Sydney was confused as to why he stopped talking but then it dawned on her. She couldn't keep the wicked smile off her face no matter how hard she tried. "You're worried about Opie?"
Confusion masked Matt's face, but only for a split second. "That's her dad, right?"
Sydney didn't reply though. She noticed Mrs. Kinney staring at the back of Matt's head.
"Mr. Conway? What are you doing in here? Get to class or you'll be late" she commands before turning back around to finish writing on the board.
Emma McKitrick, the nerdiest girl in the seventh grade, stood right in front of Matt. "You're in my seat..." she told him, staring at her plain white New Balance tennis shoes. "Sorry," he mumbled as he stood up. She backed up out of his way, cheeks crimson, and quickly sat down in front of Sydney without even making eye contact with the handsome jock who left her seat a little warm.
"Doofus.." she mumbled as she unzipped her messenger bag and retrieved her math homework. Sydney, being the only one that heard her, giggled.
"We'll talk later.." Matt says before quickly leaving the room to make it to class on time.
Ellie walks in shortly after him but says nothing about it. Sydney takes it as she didn't see him.
"Did you text your dad or Tara?" Ellie asked her as she flipped to the page in her textbook that was assigned to them yesterday. Sydney nodded, "did you text your mom?"
Ellie kept her head down, examining the page in her notebook that she had written all her math problems on last night. "I will at lunch."
Sydney's view of Ellie was blocked as Jared stood in front of her. Looking up, she met his gaze.
"So you're going with us after school, right?"
Sydney has always known that Jared is cute - everyone knows that. But, if she's being honest, she's never really paid much attention to him. That is, until now.
"Yeah, I'll be there.. Ellie is supposed to go home with me tonight anyway," she shrugs.
The corner of Jared's mouth kicks up into a handsome, playful grin. "Nice."
Jared takes a seat on the other side of the room and Sydney finally makes eye contact with Ellie. Well, she couldn't have avoided it even if she tried.. as soon as Jared moved out of the way, Sydney saw that Ellie was staring right at her, a big ass grin on her face.
Sydney couldn't help it - Ellie's smile was contagious. "Shut up" she says, turning to face the front of the room.
Jax and Opie walk out of Church with the rest of the club having just discussed a run to the Niners and Bobby getting out of jail tonight. They all disperse around the room, either to the couches, the pool tables, their rooms, and, of course, the bar.
Juice pours himself a shot and holds the bottle up to his brothers. "Want one?"
Jax nods, "yeah, I'll take one. Thanks bro." Jax takes the shot Juice poured him and offers the bottle to Opie who pours his own shot.
"Tonight should be interesting.. is Tara going?"
Jax nods, "yeah, she'll be there with Abel and the girls. Gemma's gonna take them home early so Tara can stay and hangout though."
Opie nods, blowing the smoke from his cigarette out of his mouth. "Think she'd take Kenny back to your house as well? I'm trying to convince Donna to let loose and have a good time tonight but she keeps saying she can't because she needs to make sure the kids leave the party before shit gets too wild. Which I understand but Jesus Christ.."
Jax brings a cigarette up to his mouth and lights it. He nods. "I feel ya, bro... but yeah, that's fine. I'll tell her about Kenny when I see her."
Opie nods, stubbing the last of his cigarette into the ashtray in front of him. "Thanks."
Jax has Opie slide the ashtray his way so he can flick his ashes into it. "Did Ellie ever mention to you or Donna that she and Syd want to go to the diner after school today?"
Opie gives him a sideways look as he pours himself another shot. "No.. and if she did then Donna didn't tell me. She probably doesn't even have any money."
Jax nods as he takes another shot as well. "That's what I said.. but Madge will more than likely be there."
Opie shoots Jax a sly grin. "I don't know... I could probably go for a piece of pie later."
Catching onto his best friends drift, Jax mirrors his expression. "Yeah, I could too."
Donna's done very well with her physical therapy and has learned to know when enough's enough. She's gotten much better at taking it easy when necessary - she can tell when it's time to give it a rest. But that hasn't stopped her from slowly getting things done around the house when the kids are in school all day and when Opie is working at Teller-Morrow or working with the club.. which, between the two, is daily. He's been able to earn more money and get caught up on the bills which has been a huge relief for him and his wife. He finally feels like a man again.. taking care of and providing for is family. It feels damn good to be doing okay.
Even if Ellie had known prior to going to school that she would be going to the diner afterwards, she wouldn't have asked for money. Both she and Kenny can tell that their parents are doing better and things aren't nearly as tight as they were before, but she's still in that mindset that there's no extra money for things that aren't important. She's been wanting a job for two years now but of course she's too young for one.. but that's never stopped her from trying to make an extra buck by helping her Gramps out with anything she can convince him to let her do.. as stubborn as that old bastard is.
Both Kenny and Ellie have done things for money to help out their mom when their dad was behind bars. They walked dogs, they cleaned up houses of the elderly, they mowed lawns, gardened, and even rode their bikes to the grocery store for people just to make a little bit of money to give to their mom who was working her ass off to try and keep a roof over her kids' heads. That stopped when Opie was released from prison though. His pride wouldn't allow it. There were times he could have easily taken the money his kids had worked hard for to fill up his gas tank but he never did.. and he never will. So instead, the kids ended up using the money on trips to the diner. Too bad Ellie didn't have any left over for today.
Donna grabs a tiny laundry basket from her bedroom and decides to check the kids' rooms before starting a load. She enters Ellie's room first. Her sheets and comforter are a heaping mess on her bed and she has a few shirts on the floor in front of her closet that Donna knows are clean - she can tell Ellie tried them on in a rush this morning to see if it's what she wanted to wear to school. Hmm, maybe that's also part of the reason you were late getting ready this morning, little girl.
She decides to quickly make Ellie's bed and hang up the three shirts she had laying on the floor.. other than that, her room is clean. She grabs the laundry basket and closes the door behind her. She stares at the closed door across the hall. The door that has a "CAUTION. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" sign on the door. Ain't that the truth.
She braces herself as she opens the door to Kenny's room. She takes in the sight - clothes everywhere. Bed a mess. Clothes hanging out of his dresser drawers. And his closet? A complete disaster. "Jesus Christ, son" Donna says aloud to herself.
She quickly picks up all the dirty clothes on his bedroom floor and fixes the clothes in his dresser so the drawers actually close. She hangs up the clothes that are on his closet floor, reluctantly smelling them first to make sure they're actually clean, and fixes the ones barely hanging onto the hangers. She goes to make his bed but stops short right in front of it. Thinking better of it, she releases the corners of his sheets from the mattress and rolls it all up into a ball before setting it on top of the already overflowing basket. She looks around the room, feeling satisfied before heading for the laundry room. She starts by washing Kenny's bedding.
She grabs the Febreeze and heads back to give his room a good spray before shutting the door. She shakes her head. Boys.
Ellie and Sydney meet at their locker. "Guess who has no homework this weekend?!" Sydney asks excitedly, stuffing all her stuff, even her book bag, into the locker.
"Lucky!" Ellie exclaims. "I have to read three chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird for the quiz on Monday.. you read that far ahead?!"
Sydney nods, checking her phone. "It got really interesting so I just kept reading. You'll like it!"
Ellie stuffs everything other than her cell phone and her copy of the book into their locker before closing the door.
Matt and Jared approach them. "Hey, you guys ready?" Jared asks the girls.
They nod and walk out the front doors of Charming Middle School. It's buzzing with kids excited that it's finally the weekend. Kids are throwing around a football, others are making their way to their bus, parents are pulling up in front of the school to pick up their kids. Fridays are the best.
"How was your day" Matt asks Ellie just after they have walked far enough away from all of the commotion. "It was good.. only have to read this weekend, other than that I don't have any homework. How was yours?"
Matt flashes her a pearly-white smile and Ellie feels butterflies in her stomach. My God, is he cute.
"I have a science test to study for but that's it."
Sydney smiles as she watches her best friend and the boy she likes walk in front of her. She almost forgets that Jared is walking beside her.. but she feels him staring at the side of her face so she turns her head to look at him.
"Finish your math homework before the end of the day?" Sydney asks him, not really knowing what to say to him. She's really only here because Ellie wants her to be. She knows she'd do it for her if the roles were reversed.
"Yeah, I finished it in study hall.. you?"
Sydney nods. "Hence the no-backpack," she jokes with a smile.
She looks around her and sees multiple groups in front of and behind them. There's always more people walking home or to wherever on Fridays.
They turn a corner and see that the diner is pretty crowded for a Friday at 2:45PM. The high schoolers who can actually drive made it there faster than the middle schoolers but there's still plenty of room. They take their seats in one of the booths in the middle of all the others lined up with the windows. The girls sit on the inside across from each other while the boys sit on the outside. Madge, knowing all of them, greets them warmly. "Hey, kids! How are you? Have a good day at school?"
They all smile and nod. "How about you, Madge? How're you?" Sydney asks her. Madge winks at her. "I'm doing great, baby. What can I get for you? Ladies first."
Ellie and Sydney stare at each other, waiting for the other to answer first. "Uh.. I'll just have a water, please" Sydney tells her. Ellie nods, "yeah, me too."
Jared interjects. "No, get something else! We got it covered."
Matt nods in agreement, "yeah, it's cool. We wouldn't have asked you if we weren't going to pay for you."
Sydney and Ellie both stare at each other again but Ellie answers first this time. "I'll just take a strawberry milkshake please."
"And for you?" Madge asks Sydney again. "I'll take a vanilla one, please."
"And for the boys?"
"Chocolate, please." Matt says, pulling out his wallet. It only has a twenty-dollar bill in it because being fourteen means you don't have any money and you're not old enough for any cards.
"I'll take a chocolate one too, Madge. Thank you." Jared finishes for them.
"Thanks, guys.. you really didn't have to do that though," Ellie says.
Matt shakes his head. "We want to pay for it."
"Well, thank you." Sydney says.
"So what are you guys up to tonight?" Jared asks them. Both the girls grin and Ellie answers for them. "We have a party to go to actually.."
Jared's eyes widen a little bit and he's unable to keep the surprise and slight jealousy out of his voice, "a high school party?"
"No," Sydney answers as she laughs. "A party for one of our favorite people ever. He's a member of SAMCRO."
Jared nods before looking down and staring at the table and Matt shifts uncomfortably before forcing out, "oh, that's cool."
Although Ellie catches on to the awkwardness, she responds anyway because SAMCRO is her family. "Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun. I can't wait to see Bobby."
Matt looks at her with squinted eyes. "Did he move away?"
Jared kicks his foot forward under the table at Matt who ignores it and continues to stare at Ellie. "No, he's been in jail" Ellie shrugs. She knows it probably sounds bad and maybe even scary to the boys but it's something that she, her brother, and Sydney have come somewhat accustomed to. Being arrested and in and out of jail isn't uncommon for the Sons.
Madge arrives with four milkshakes and two waters for the girls. "Here you kids go.. need anything else.. alright, enjoy!"
"Yum," Ellie smiles after taking a sip out of the old fashioned milkshake glass. She slowly pulls out the long, silver spoon and begins eating it by the spoonful.
They hear a chorus of motorcycles in which the boys ignore - all residents of Charming are used to hearing multiple motorcycles at a time twenty-four-seven. Sydney and Ellie both look up from their milkshakes wide-eyed and the boys still haven't caught on. The roaring engines of the bikes are cut and Ellie whips her head sideways and sees not only her dad and Uncle Jax getting off their bikes, but Clay, Chibs, Tig and her grandfather as well.
"Crap," Ellie hisses. "What the..?" comes out of Sydney's mouth at the very same time.
"What?" the boys ask confused.
"Step out of the booth for a second, Matt...quickly" Sydney commands frantically to his confused expression. He steps out and Sydney slips underneath the table and crawls up in the booth right next to Ellie. Jared hops up real quick so Matt can slide into the booth and sit across from Ellie still.
"The only problem we really have now is that I'm no longer facing the door.. " Sydney says. She slowly turns her head around to peer at the entrance, her eyes widening a bit. She smiles at Piney but is nervous for what's to come. Anyone who knows Piney knows that he speaks his mind. He won't care if he embarrasses Ellie or not.
"Your grandpa is walking over here, Ell'."
Ellie's eyes nearly bug out of her head. She braces herself and looks up at the grumpy man carrying an oxygen tank and wearing a denim kutte. "Hey, Gramps.. how's it going?"
He ignores her question and looks back and forth between the two boys sitting on the other side of the booth. He could have sworn he had just seen one next to his granddaughter and the other next to his late best friend John Teller's granddaughter. Two girls he loves very much.
Smirking, he focuses his back and forth glare on the girls now. "I see what you did there.. think you're clever, huh? Anyway... care to introduce me? C'mon now.. don't be rude."
Matt and Jared have both gone silent. Ellie nudges Sydney who in turn also begins staring at the petrified boys. They turn around and glance at whatever they're gawking at.
Matt and Jared's eyes, each wide as saucers, are met with ten others.. five tall men clad in leather and shit eating grins.
Sydney and Ellie turn back around in their seats. They never even made eye contact with the others approaching them - they were all too busy tormenting the thirteen and fourteen year old boys sitting with their girls. Sydney is the one to speak this time. One look at Ellie's embarrassed expression and she knew she had to step in. Thank God she doesn't like Jared otherwise she'd be just as embarrassed and nervous as Ellie.
"This is Piney," she says pointing at the man who first made an appearance, "Ellie's grandpa. That's Tig, Chibs, my grandpa Clay, my dad Jax, and Uncle Opie.. Ellie's dad" Sydney introduces the men to the boys. She points at Jared. "These are our friends from school, Jared and Matt" she trails off, knowing better than to say anything else.
"Hmph," Opie grunts when he hears 'Matt' and Ellie immediately turns around in the booth again and glares at him. "Daddy, be nice."
All the men laugh as Opie puts his hands up in mock surrender. "I haven't even said anything, baby."
"What's wrong, kids? Cat got your tongue?" Clay asks with a nasty smile.
"No, sir" Jared answers while Matt just shakes his head along with him.
Tig and Chibs give each boy a bone-chilling glare before walking off to another booth to have a seat. Piney finally follows behind them, shaking his head at all four kids.
Clay follows Piney as well, shaking his head and laughing. "You pissed off the old man.. that's a bad start. You better behave yourselves now, boys.. you don't want to find out what'll happen if you don't."
"Clay!" Ellie groans, face hot with embarrassment. Clay turns around and starts walking backwards towards the men he's following. He throws his hands in the air, an enormous smile taking over his face. "I'm just being honest, baby."
Jared sucks down his milkshake, ignoring the painful brain freeze. He slaps a ten dollar bill on the table, ready to bounce out of that diner. Sydney slides out of the booth and hugs her dad whom is still standing nearby with Opie. "What are you guys doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he says after pulling away from the hug, shooting yet another glance at the boys shaking in their seats. "You told me it was okay to walk here after school, dad," Sydney reminds him, annoyance in her voice.
"We decided to come up here to see if you guys needed some money so you could actually get something and not have to make Madge feel obligated to give you something on the house.. but it looks like you've already got that handled."
Ellie stares at Matt. His milkshake must be super interesting because it's all he's been able to look at. She shoots her father a look - he's standing with his arms across his chest. Long hair, burly beard, beanie, leather, tattoos, rings, chains on his pants, mean expression.. yeah, Ellie knows how intimidating her dad must look to Matt and Jared right now..
