The following takes place during the winter of the twins' sophomore year, while Mackenzie was vice president.

He had let procrastination get the best of him. Again. His entire two-week Christmas vacation had been spent in Connecticut with relatives up there. Grandma Kate attempted to the twins how to bake, but it had ultimately proved unsuccessful, seeing as Becca's brownies became permanently affixed to the baking pan and Horace's halfhearted try at gingersnaps nearly burned the house down. Amy, being a typical younger sibling, assisted Grandma in whipping up the best angel food cake New England had seen (the best in the country, of course, being the author's step-grandmother's version). The whole time, Horace didn't even start his World Civ. essay. He barely even thought about it, except for when his mom stopped him as he trotted downstairs to play Go Fish with Amy. "You've started on your essay, haven't you, Horace?" she asked seriously.

"I'll work on it tonight," he promised. That wasn't lying, was it? He never quite felt comfortable with not telling his parents the truth. In fact, the last time he'd lied to them was in the eighth grade, after he'd broken up with his first real girlfriend, Deanna. She was spreading awful rumors concerning him around the school, and naturally, Horace faked a migraine in order to be exempt from that day.

Now, it was eight at night on the absolute last day of break. He sat at his desk, tapping away furiously at his laptop while his new friend Robert lay sprawled on the bed, listening to heavy metal music so loudly that it was likely Becca could hear it in her room next door. Frankly, Horace found the screaming part of hardcore a tad disturbing and extremely irritating, especially at this particularly stressful moment. Under normal circumstances, he would have told Robert to stuff it, but they were supposed to see Saw 4 later with Joyce and Bianca, and Horace was dying to see the horror flick, no matter how gruesome and horrifyingly disgusting the other three had been.

Of course, the essay was due the next day.

Horace reviewed the paragraph he had written so far. "Here comes another F," he muttered to himself. For some freakish reason, Robert heard him over the tasteless music being pumped into his ears and sat up to look at Horace.

"Hey, you know you can buy that essay online."

You can buy that essay online.

Horace didn't know it yet, but what Robert Haley said to him that night quite possibly changed his life… or, at least, his relationship with his parents. After surveying the website, the two boys selected what seemed to be an easy A. Being the spoiled son of business tycoon Mitch Haley, Robert always was armed with a credit card and instantly whipped it out when it came time to pay.

Horace was uneasy throughout the entire process. He knew that if he skived off this particular assignment, his C- would plummet to a D-, or likely a big, fat F. If he failed World Civ, there was no telling what his parents' reactions would be. Deep in his guilty gut, however, Horace knew that Mackenzie would never explode. She would stare at him in cold, stony disappointment, and he would lose her trust forever. On the other hand, Rod was known to have a hot temper. Horace had witnessed his father react to Rebecca's most recent boyfriend, Vernon. Just reflecting on that particularly memory caused him to shiver in spite of himself.

If the online essay were a success, his grade could easily be raised to a B, or possibly an A- by the end of the semester with the help of extra credit assignments, which were normally simple for the intelligent yet atrociously lazy Horace.

Robert expertly printed the essay (titled "North Korea's 'the Bomb'") and handed the warm papers to Horace, who shakily accepted them and inspected the text. "Thanks, Robert. I owe you one."

"No problem, man," replied Robert casually. "Let me hook you up with Linda tonight, and then we'll be even."

Horace's mouth turned up at the corners and was forming a grin when he repeated Robert's words in his mind. Linda?

"Wait, Robert, aren't we going to see that movie with Joyce and Bianca? I thought Linda was busy."

Instead of answering, Robert only chuckled.

"What?" asked Horace irritably.

"Horace, did you seriously think we were seeing that lame movie? Horror films are so out."

Personally, Horace thought Robert sounded a bit like Becca in his last comment. "…where are we going, then?"

"Shit, Horace, you never heard that Alex was having her party tonight?"

Ummm…no…

Seeing his friend's confused expression, Robert broke into a huge cocky grin and slapped Horace on the back. "It'll be fun. Linda's amazing, you'll love her-"

The two boys were deathly quiet as noises downstairs drifted up to their ears.

"I know it's late, Rod!"

"Mac, this is the seventh time in a row!"

"For God's sake, it's not like I asked Templeton to interrupt the meeting and go on about his grandchildren-"

"For six hours? Jesus, Mackenzie, we finished dinner at 7:45. You said you would be home by seven, would it really be so difficult to tell Templeton to stuff it?"

"Rod, I'm not going to get into that, you know that I can't afford to tick him off any more!"

"Oh? And why's that? I'd love to hear your explanation."

"Rod."

"Mackenzie."

The two boys heard silence downstairs. Horace winced, sensing unrest in the home as his parents quarreling continued with icy, venomous stares. Was it something they learned in law school? Politicians always seemed to have evil eyes.

Robert laughed nervously. "I think your mom is home. Next stop, Alex's house?"

No matter how much he wanted out, Horace felt sick to his stomach when he remembered what had happened to his friend John when he arrived home drunk, high, and completely disoriented from a "wild, rockin' party". Attending one of those would equal going against his parents' wishes, and the perfect son would never be comfortable with that.

He remembered, though, the essay in his hands. That wasn't exactly honest, was it? Horace gently placed the essay on his desk, shut off the computer, and nodded. "Uh, that sounds like fun."

They trooped downstairs to find Mackenzie and Rod glaring at each other from across the kitchen table. Horace cleared his throat nervously. "M-Mom? We're… r-ready to take off-f…"

Mackenzie smiled. "Have fun, boys. Did you finish your essay, Horace?"

Here it was. Lie Number One. "Yeah."

"Can I see it?"

"It's on my desk," answered Horace, avoiding his mother's eyes. This was much harder than he had anticipated.

"Great!" Mackenzie beamed, and ascended the stairs to Horace's room.

Rod's gaze bored into his son's skull. "You can drive; you have your permit. Agent Lutz will accompany you, naturally."

"Of course," Horace replied, grimacing. Joseph Lutz was his secret service agent, everyone was glad he would be retiring at the end of the school year. Let's just say he was extremely intimidating… especially to his charges.

"All right… come home directly after the movie. Understood?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Great. Have fun, then." It wasn't necessary for Rod to question any further, seeing as Agent Lutz would be dogging his son's footsteps.

Horace, Robert, and Agent Lutz were piling into the car as Mackenzie neared her son's desk, anxious to see his work.

As soon as she read the bold title letters, her breath caught in her throat. No, she told herself. Not Horace! Mac knew from her days as the chancellor at Richmond what online essays looked like. Even elite college students cheated, and she had seen this particular title too many times to not register it.

Never had she expected Horace to do something so drastic. She bit her lip and fought back frustrated tears, even though she knew that she would never actually cry. That wasn't in Mackenzie's nature.

What was she supposed to do now? Was Horace even going to see the movies? Relax, Mackenzie, he has the secret service. She knew she was being naïve, her kids were clever enough to evade their agents. But would Horace really lie to her face like that?

In the end, she let it slide. Just this once. Mackenzie didn't know it yet, but it was the just the beginning. Her trustworthy relationship with Horace was gone. She assumed it would never happen again, but how wrong she was.

Sorry that so long. When I was writing Chapter 1, I still had no idea what the suggestion would be. I mulled it over for days, and I hope you enjoyed what I eventually came up with. Chapter 3 will be up shortly, I promise.It will get exciting.