Disclaimer: I do not own The Simpsons, the series, its characters are all the property of Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Sam Simon and 20th Century Fox.

A/N: This chapter took longer than I expected because it covers a lot of material. I look forward to reading what you guys think of this chapter, I worked hard on it, trying to make everything flow naturally. Hope I was successful and you guys enjoy reading this! Don't forget to read and review!

Love at First Sight

Written by: Super Saiyan Blue Juuhachi

Chapter 4: Marge vs. Dondelinger

Marge and the kids walked through the front door a few minutes later. "Bart, Lisa, Maggie if you have any homework, go ahead and get started on it. I'm going to go start making dinner," Marge told her children, "Okay, Mom," They replied in unison and walked upstairs to their rooms, the blue-haired woman walked into the kitchen and looked around the room of what to make for her family when she sighed. With the stressful day she had, she decided she was not in the mood to cook, and pulled out the phone book, flipped through it quickly before finding what she was looking for and picked up the phone.

Upstairs Bart was sitting at his desk, an open textbook in front of him as he took notes in his notebook when his mind began to drift to the incident earlier in the day with the boys he now knew as Jason, Kyle and Devon and what they did to him. He could still their laughter echo in his mind and Jason's mocking words, "Welcome to High School, Bart Simpson!" just thinking about it, made his blood boil, because of them he had gotten into trouble with that jerk Dondelinger who had already assumed he was guilty based on his record from the past and did not care to hear his side of the story at all.

Bart placed on a hand on his head as he fought to keep concentrated on his work when he heard a knock on the door. "Good away," He said, keeping his eyes focused on his work. The door then opened and Lisa stood in the doorway "Can I come in?"

"What do you want, Lisa?" Bart sighed, irritated

"Mom told me what happened to you today," She began, sitting down at the foot of his bed "I'm really sorry your first day of High School was really lousy," Her tone was sympathetic as she looked at him, unknown to him with a look of concern on her face, "I don't want to talk about it, okay? So let's talk about something else," Bart said in a tone, that told her to change the subject as quickly as possible. "Fine," Lisa replied, "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't have a good day either, and was made fun pretty heavily."

Bart paused briefly before turning to look at her,

"Go on," He said, making the hand gesture for her to continue

"I thought with entering a new school, it would be different, that I would be able to fit in and make some friends, but all I got instead of made fun of,"

"You know why that is, Lise?"

Lisa shook her head in response

"Because you're show-off Lisa," Bart said simply to her

"I am not!" Lisa protested, glaring at her brother

"Yes, you are," He told her, "Ever since we were kids you always loved to flaunt how smart you were to people, and for a time people were impressed by it and even respected it," Bart explained, "However, as the years went on people grew tired of your know-it-all behavior and grew resentful of this and your constant need to act superior, bolster your ego and make everyone else look dumb."

"I knew that my intelligence annoyed people sometimes but...I never knew that I was making others feel inferior to me," She said regretfully, a look of a sadness on her face. "That was never my intention at all," Bart could see the pain in her eyes and felt a pang of guilt at having hurt her the way he did, and got up from his seat and walked over to sit down next to her, wrapping his arm around her. "Lisa, I'm sorry," He apologized, " I did not mean to upset you, I just thought if you knew these things it would make you aware of it and improve your attitude. I never meant to hurt your feelings."

"It's all right, Bart that you were just to trying to help me because you love me," Lisa said, smiling softly at him before then hugging him. "Thank you," Bart's body tensed up a bit with his sister touching him, though after a few seconds he relaxed and hugged her back, smiling "Anytime, sis."

"And I will try to work on improving myself,"

"That's good, self-improvement is always important," The older Simpson child said, "worked for me," He then added, walking back over to sit down at his desk, returning to his homework. "That's true," Lisa agreed, getting up from her spot on the bed and walked to the door. "Bart, can I ask you something?"

"What?" He asked, looking up at her

"You used to be mischievous, pulling pranks all the time on people and getting into trouble," She began, "What made you stop? Why did you change from being Springfield's problem child, to who you are today?" Bart looked at her for a few moments before answering, "I don't know," He shrugged his shoulders, "I guess because I had to,"

"What do you mean?" She asked, a look of confusion on her face

"I mean from the time I was five years old till I was twelve I repeatedly got myself in trouble one way or another," Bart explained, "After doing that almost every day for seven years I had pretty much done every prank imaginable and found myself growing bored of it all. Not to mention the stress it was putting on our parents with me getting into trouble all the time, so when I turned thirteen I just decided to move on from that and try to be better."

"I understand," Lisa said, appearing satisfied by that answer "Thanks, Bart,"

"I'm always here for you, Lise, anytime you need to talk."Afterward, Lisa left the room and Bart focused back on his homework.

30 Minutes Later

"Kids, dinner is ready!" Marge called and soon after she heard the thunderous sound of her children rushing down the stairs. When they entered the kitchen, they found a box of pepperoni pizza with a 2 liter of coke cola to go with it. The kids poured themselves a glass of coke cola and grabbed two pieces of pizza before walking over to the table to eat their dinner.

"Where is Homer?" Bart asked, noticing they were one Simpson short.

"Your father is still at the Power Plant," Marge told them as carried over her glass and two pieces of pizza over to the table and sat down. "Mr. Burns put him and the rest of the employees on mandatory over-time for a month,"

"Poor, Dad," Lisa said with a sad look

"Ah, man that sucks," Bart said sympathetically,

"So Daddy isn't coming home?" Maggie asked innocently

"Not right now, sweetie," She told her youngest daughter

"When will he be home?"

"I don't know, honey," The mother of three said, shaking her head. "Probably sometime tonight," This answer disappointed Maggie, though she left the subject alone and went back to her food. There was an awkward silence that followed between Marge and the kids, none of them said a word to one another for the rest of the dinner.

Homer sat at his console, leaning against it with a bored expression, his eyes began to flutter up and down as he fought off sleep. "Must stay awake...must stay awake." He muttered tiredly to himself, before finally closing his eyes and began snoring. "Simpson!" The bald man jerked awake at the sound suddenly and looked behind him and saw Mr. Smithers standing in the doorway a stern look on his face. "Mr. Smithers, I am so sorry! I was just resting my eyes I swear! Please don't tell Mr. Burns!" Homer apologized frantically,

Waylon Smithers waved his hand in dismissal, "Stop apologizing, Simpson," He started, "I just came here to let you know that you are done for the evening," Homer's eyes widen in surprise at the other man's words, "Really? I can leave?"

"Yes," Waylon nodded his head, "Report back here at 6:30 AM"

"Yes, sir," Homer said, with great optimism. He knew that he should not feel that way because he was going to have to work the same exhausting hours he did tonight, but at that moment he did not care, he could go home and that was all that mattered to him. Homer glanced at his watch and saw it was 11:00 o'clock and that happy feeling he felt seconds ago disappeared in an instant. The middle-aged man had hoped to spend some time with his family and see how his kids first day of school was but that wasn't going to happen, they were all in bed by now.

Homer walked out in the parking lot, there were a few cars still there but it was mostly vacant as he made the lonely trip to his pink sedan and got in. Afterward, he rubbed his face to wake himself up more, before starting up the car, backed up and made his way out of the Power Plant parking lot, listening to KBBL radio station as he drove down the quiet streets of Springfield.

It was not long before Homer soon arrived at his home, finding it was pitch black inside. He got out of the car and made his way up the walkway, pulling out his collection of keys and fumbled to find the one for the front door. When he found it, he put it in the keyhole, turned it and opened the door. Everything was silent as he entered the darkened house, closing the door quietly behind him when he was suddenly greeted with the familiar optimism of Santa's Little Helper jumping and barking at him, happy to see him.

"Shhh," Homer shushed the dog, "It's good to see you too, boy." He whispered, petting the dog briefly as he walked toward the kitchen he found a note:

Homer,

Sorry, you missed dinner, there is pizza in the oven for you.

Love, Marge

The large man smiled at the note before walking over and opened the oven, finding a pizza box inside, he pulled it out, brought it over to the table, opened it and began eating, the dog sitting quietly at his side giving a low whine hopefully he will get even the tiniest piece. Afterward, Homer quietly opened the door to the bedroom where he found his wife sleeping soundly, snoring softly.

He tip-toed to the bathroom, the sound of the water running woke up Marge, "Homer?" She asked groggy, turning her head to the bathroom. Her husband then walked out of the bathroom, wearing his pajamas. "Sorry, Marge, I was trying to be quiet so not to wake you," He apologized, "It's all right, I wasn't really sleeping." She confessed, "I have tossed and turned for a better part of an hour, wondering when you would be home."

"Well, I'm home now," Homer smiled, crawling in bed next to his wife "you can sleep now my love," Marge smiled in response, "Goodnight, Homer," The couple kissed one another goodnight before slipping under the covers and turned out the light to go to sleep.

Marge woke up the next morning to find her husband was not in bed with her, she threw the covers off herself and tiredly made her way downstairs. When she entered the kitchen, she found he was not there either. "He must already be gone to work." That was when she found a note sitting waiting for her on the table.

Marge,

I am sorry I did not get to see you this morning but I had to go

in early this morning. Hopefully that means that I will be able to get

off work earlier than last night. By the way, I forgot to tell you last night,

thank you for dinner, it was great. Don't wait up for me, and I hope you

and kids have a good day.

Love,

Homer

Marge smiled at her husband's note before turning her focus to the time, it was 7:15 "Come on, it's time to go." She heard a familiar voice say and turned to found all three of her children, standing there, dressed, book bags in hand and were ready to go. "Okay, go on and wait for me in the car and I'll be out in a couple minutes." Bart, Lisa, and Maggie looked at each other for a moment before doing what they were told.

The kids sat in the orange station wagon, waiting somewhat impatiently for their mother to emerge from the house. Just then they saw her come out, ready to go. She locked the door quickly before walking to the car and got in. "Let's go!" Bart said, now feeling irritated, she put the car in reverse, backing up the car quickly and pulled out into the street and they were soon on their way. Marge dropped off Maggie and Lisa before arriving at Bart's school.

Mother and son walked inside together, Marge began to walk towards the main office, Bart in tow with her when she stopped him. "No, Bart, you're not coming with me."

"Why not? That asshole gave me detention when I didn't even deserve it!" He asked, annoyed "I know, and I'll handle this alone, why don't you go on to class, and I'll talk to you later." Bart stood there for a few seconds, "Fine!" He said, frustrated before walking away. "Don't worry, son, I'll fix everything," She whispered as she watched him disappear from sight.

She narrowed her eyes and made her way inside the main office. Doris turned her attention away from the computer and looked at the woman in front of her. "Can I help you?" The gravely voiced woman asked, "Yes, my name is Marge Simpson and I'm here to speak with Harlan Dondelinger." Marge explained, angrily

"Do you have an appointment?" The other woman asked, nonchalantly, paying no heed to the other woman's temperament. Just then the door to the Principal's door opened "Any calls, Doris?"

"No, sir, nothing yet."The woman replied

The man then looked at the other woman in the room, he stared at her for a moment, "Do I know you?"

"You should," Marge answered, "I graduated from here 18 years ago," Hearing the familiar raspy voice, he then knew who she was now, "Marge Bouvier,"

"It's Simpon now, Marge Simpson," She corrected him, glaring at him

"Of course, my apologies," He apologized to her, "What brings you here to my office?"

"I'm here to talk about my son," She told him, "Bart Simpson,"

"All right," Harlan said, "come into my office," He opened the door so she could walk in first, once she was inside he walked in himself, closing the door behind him as he did. "Have a seat," Marge sat down in the chair positioned in front of the desk, as Dondelinger walked around behind his desk and sat down, folding his hands in front of him. "Now you said you want to talk about your son, Bart."

"Yes," She responded, "You gave him detention yesterday,"

"That's right because he skipped class."

"No, he did not," Marge corrected him, a stern look on her face, "He told me that a group of bullies locked him in a bathroom stall and that's why he did not return back to class,"

Dondelinger rolled his eyes in response

"Is that what he told you?" He asked, "And you believed him?"

"Yes, I do," She replied,

"Why?"

"Because he is my son," Marge told him firmly

"Well, no offense, Marge," Harlan began, standing up and walking around the front of his desk "but your son has a quite the reputation as a trouble-maker, dating back from the time he began kindergarten." The older man said, leaning against the desk casually, crossing his arms "And if memory serves me correctly, Homer had problems with authority too when he went here. Like father, like son as they say,"

Marge was silent for a moment as she stared at the man in front of her. "I see what's happening here," She started, "You are biased against my son because of the history you have with Homer," Marge said, disgusted at the older man's behavior "I understand that there is bad blood between you and my husband, but keep it between the two of you, don't take it out on my son just because of who his father is, he has done nothing to deserve such treatment!" She was practically in his face now, furious over how horrible this man, who she had respected years ago had been so cruel to Bart.

"I would ask if you had listened to Bart's side of the story but I already know you didn't because you were too busy judging him, not just for his record but because he has the Simpson name." Marge then added," My son may not be perfect, and he may have made some bad choices in his life, but he does not deserve to be treated like this!" She told him angrily, "You're lucky that I don't report you to the school board for discrimination, and unfair punishment."

Harlan stood there speechless unable to say anything, he had never seen this side of Marge before and honestly, it frightened him a bit at how aggressive she was being. "The only reason I haven't done it is that I know that you are a good man and that is why I am going to give you an opportunity to fix this mess,"

"What do you want me to do?" Dondelinger asked curiously, speaking for the first time in a while

"I want you to apologize to Bart,"

"What?! But he-"

"You had no evidence that he skipped class but gave him detention anyway, you will apologize to him and it will be sincere otherwise I will call up the school board and tell them about your behavior," She said, warningly. Marge was usually not a confrontational person, though when it came to her children she would fight tooth and nail to protect them and if that meant standing up and acting aggressively to others than so be it.

He gulped nervously

"All right, all right, you have made your point," He told her, holding up his hands "I'll apologize to him before school is over, you have my word," Dondelinger said desperately. "Good," Marge said, "because if you don't, Bart will tell me, so make sure you do it." Harlan watched her retreating that back as she then left the office, closing the door behind her. He breathed a sigh of relief that she was out of the room.

"Harlan, what have you gotten yourself into?" He whispered to himself, "I'm getting too old for this..." The older man shook his head and sighed

Marge walked silently out of the main office and out of the school building, she let out a sigh, hoping that things would begin to improve for Bart, High School is hard enough without teachers and other students making it more difficult. She hoped later that day when he returned home to hear a good report from him of what a good day he had "I guess I will just have to wait and see..." She said to herself as she walked back to her car. When she arrived there, she turned, taking one last look at the school "Have a good day, Bart." Afterward, she got in the car and drove off.

At Springfield Junior High School, Lisa sat in class and watched as her teacher was writing a series of math equations on the chalkboard. Once he was finished, he turned his focus to the class and asked, "All right, class," He began, "Can anyone come up here and solve these equations?" Everyone immediately turned to Lisa, who looked at them awkwardly.

She wanted to raise her hand, because of course, she knew the answer to all the questions, though she thought back to what Bart had told her, "...as the years went on people grew tired of your know-it-all behavior and grew resentful of this and your constant need to act superior, bolster your ego and make everyone else look dumb,"

She never realized how people had viewed her though it explained why she was never able to really make any friends, and why teachers often seemed annoyed at her answering all the questions. "Lisa," The teacher spoke, "Do you know the answer to the equations on the chalkboard?" Lisa once again turned her attention to the stares of all the other students in the room, who were just waiting for her to answer.

She looked back at him and shook her head in response.

"No, sir." She replied,"I'm afraid I don't," She looked at the other students in the classroom, who remained silent though there was a few of them that grinned in satisfaction at her cowardice before returning their attention to the front of the classroom. Lisa teared up because though she desired to be accepted and to have friends, she felt that she was not being true to herself lying to avoid ridicule. "What am I suppose to do?" Lisa whispered to herself before placing her face in her hands.

The bell rang and Bart and Milhouse walked out of their second-period to their lockers as they swapped out their textbooks for what they needed for their next period when suddenly Bart head a voice speak to him, "Bart!" He looked behind him and saw a gray-haired teen with short hair and next to him was a black teenage boy. "Richard! Lewis! It's so good to see you!" Bart smiled at his friends, hugging them "How have you been? I didn't see you yesterday."

"Yeah we missed you," Richard said, "We ran into Milhouse and he said you went to clear things up with your teacher..."

"Yeah, I got detention because of her...I tried to explain myself but she wasn't interested in hearing what happened, Dondelinger was the same way." He said with a narrowed look on his face. "Anyway, forget about that. I want to hear about your summer, what you guys been up to,"

"Nothing much happened, just relaxed around the house, watching movies and playing video games for the most part, before school started my family and I went on a trip to the Grand Canyon which was pretty cool, I will admit." Richard explained, "And I just helped my Dad on odd jobs around town, gave me a chance to make some extra cash." Lewis said joining the conversation for the first time.

"Hello boys," The four boys froze in their place, their faces going from their usual vibrant yellow to suddenly pale as they turned and saw them, Sherri and Terri standing just a few feet away from them. Looking exactly the same in terms of their looks, their hairstyle was somewhat the same, except it was shorter than when they were younger and over the years they had decided to show some individuality and started wearing different clothes.

"Oh dear god," Bart whispered in horror, "It's them..."

"Relax, Bart, their not going to do anything..." Milhouse assured his friend

"Really? Have you forgotten the curse they put on Nelson last year?"

"Bart it wasn't a curse..." Milhouse protested,

"He talked like a girl for a month and gave himself wedgie's, Milhouse," Bart interrupted his friend, "that's a curse..."

"Fine, its a curse, but that was a year ago...maybe they have matured since then,"

They turned their attention back to the twins once more and saw they were now talking to each other in their "twin language" they were famous for which began to freak the four boys out. "Let's get out of here...before they decide to put a curse on us too."

"Yeah, I gotta get to my third-period class," Richard then said,

"Same here," Lewis chimed and with that the two boys departed, leaving just Bart and Milhouse

"We should get going too, Bart." Milhouse said to his best friend, who nodded his head "Yeah, let's go." The two boys then departed from the scene and headed to their next class. After they were gone, Sherri and Terri giggled "Gets them every time," They said in unison before walking off to head to their next class.

Homer yawned as he fought to stay awake at the controls of his console. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was just now at 9 o'clock in the morning. "Just two and a half to go before I can call Marge," The large man thought, as sighed quietly to himself. It was only day two and already he was already wishing this mandatory over-time to be over with. Not only was it cutting into his sleeping time, but it was taking him away from his family while Marge was the most involved parent when it came to the kids, that did not mean he did not care and love his children, of course, he did, it was just he was usually exhausted after working at the Power Planet and wanted to relax usually with watching TV and drinking some beer and did not want to hear all the whining and complaining the kids usually had.

"I need some coffee," Homer said, getting up from his chair and walked to the break room, walking over to the counter to grab a cup. He poured himself some hot coffee, mixing it with the right amount of sugar. Homer then grabbed a pink sprinkled donut to go with his coffee, just to add a bit of extra sugar to wake him up more. After he was done, he decided there was nothing exciting going on at his console so he decided to go about his rounds as safety inspector to make sure everything was in working order.

He grabbed his clipboard and began walking around the plant, checking meters on various and other safety hazards. The tanks were working as they should, so there was no problem there but he did find there were a few leaks of green glowing plutonium dripping from the ceiling, narrowly missing the middle-aged man and eating a hole through the floor. He checked marked all the positives and errors and made a mental note to let Mr. Burns of the things that needed to be fixed some point during the day. Once finished, he checked his watch again and saw it was now 11:00. He has worked for an hour and a half, he sighed once more "When is this day going to be over..."

Its now lunchtime at Springfield High School, Bart sat at a table with Milhouse, Lewis, and Richard quietly eating his Hamburger and Fries that he had in front of him, while the other three boys were having a conversation with each other when they were suddenly interrupted. "Hey, Simpson!" This got the attention of the four boys who then turned their heads at the sound of the voice speaking.

It was Jason, Kyle, and Devon

Bart rolled his eyes and sighed "Not these guys again..." He grumbled to himself, before turning his focus back to the three teenagers in front of him and stood up "You guys seriously need to get a hobby and stop bothering me, all right?" At this moment, Dondelinger entered the cafeteria and saw Bart with Jason, Kyle, and Devon and decided to stand back and silently watch the scene unfold, interested to see what will happen.

"Relax, Simpson, it is not what you think," Jason smirked, waving his hand dismissively, "We just came here but as it turns out we have a common interest," The older boy said, smilingly slyly "What are you talking about?" Bart asked, raising an eyebrow puzzled "Dondelinger, we heard about what happened and him giving you detention unfairly and thought you would want to get even with him." Jason said, wrapping his arm around Bart's shoulder.

Dondelinger watched suspiciously, hearing his name being spoken, but was too far away to hear what they were saying exactly.

"Where did you hear that?" Bart asked, glaring at the older teen, Jason did not verbally answer instead he grinned and pointed at Milhouse, "Milhouse you didn't..."

"I'm sorry, Bart they threatened to shove me in a locker if I didn't talk," Bart rolled his eyes once more at his best friend's response. Bart looked back at the older boy in front of him and pondered over his offer for a moment. It would be nice to get even for Dondelinger for what he did, to make him pay for treating him so badly, but then words echoed his mind, "Your father, however, was a slacker who got into constant trouble, and it was obvious he would never amount to anything." The old man sneered, "It is clear now that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, like father like son as they say," Bart felt the anger boil inside of him for a moment at the rash judgment from the older man, before another voice echoed in his mind, it was his mother's voice, "Please don't get in any trouble here." She pleaded as Bart stared at her. "I will try." He said, making her smile "Oh, that's my special little guy." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"So what's your answer, Simpson?" Jason asked, interrupting his thoughts

"Look whatever he told you, I'm not interested ok, yeah I was mad at Dondelinger for what he did to me, but it doesn't matter now, I served my time and it's over, I'm not going to get myself in trouble again on account of you three,"

"Okay, that's fine, I understand," Jason said casually, before slamming his fist into Bart's gut hard, knocking the wind out of him, making the spiky-haired teen fall instantly to his knees and cough as he held his stomach.

"Bart!" Milhouse, Richard, and Lewis said in unison, rushing to their friend's aid,

"You had your chance, Simpson," the dark-haired boy warned him, glaring down at him "but you blew it, from this point on you better watch your back," Afterward the three teens walked away, leaving the injured boy still on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"Are you all right, Bart?" Milhouse asked

"I-I'm fine," He wheezed

"What a jerk, sucker punching you like that!" Richard sneered, as the three friends helped Bart back up to his feet.

Just then the four boys saw a shadow cast over them and looked and saw it was Dondelinger. Bart sighed, "What do you want, Dondelinger?" He asked, feeling rather annoyed and did not want to deal with any more issues today.

"Listen, I'm sorry for the way I treated you yesterday, it was wrong of all that I said and did to you, I shouldn't have judged you or just gave you detention like that without a good reason, I should have listened to your side of the story and I didn't and for that I apologize."

"Forget it," Bart said, before turning to his tray and picked it up, though before he walked away from him, Dondelinger spoke again, making the teen look at him once more. "Those boys, they wanted you to do something to get back at me, didn't they?"

"It doesn't matter what they wanted me to do, I didn't do it," He responded, sharply "Well, in any case, thank you," Bart was silent for a few moments, simply just staring at the bald man before he replied in a quiet voice, "I didn't do it for you," He then walked away, dumping the contents of his tray in the garbage, putting his tray away before departing out the door. Once he was gone, Dondelinger whispered to himself "I know you didn't,"

In the hallway, outside to the cafeteria, Bart leaned against the stone wall, his head tilted back against it. He knew that he just put a bigger target on his back with turning down Jason and his brothers on their offer to help get even with Dondelinger for what he did, but he didn't care at that moment. Bart just felt relief that at least he could look his mother in the eye, knowing that he had done the right thing, that made it worth it to him.

Marge was sitting on the couch her head tilted back as she rested her eyes. She had finished all of her cleaning and now had nothing to do, so she decided to rest her eyes for a while. The doorbell soon rang, waking the blue-haired woman just as she began to drift off to sleep. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, when she heard the doorbell again, "Hold on, I'm coming, I'm coming!" She called, letting whoever was on the other end to stop ringing the bell.

She soon arrived at the door and opened it to find her elderly neighbor from next door, Sylvia Winfield standing in front of her. The older woman had her arms crossed and had a did not look happy as she stared up at her. "Hello, Mrs. Winfield, what brings you here?" Marge asked politely,

"Hello, Mrs. Simpson, I won't take up much of your time," Sylvia began, "I just came over to let you know that my husband and I decided to move," She told her, "and there are few things you can do to help us sell our home,"

"First off, when your husband walks in front of the window, could you ask him to please wear pants," This was not really a question, it was a demand, Marge opened her mouth to answer "Next, could you please ask your children to pick up their belongings in the backyard, and cut your grass the condition of it is absolutely atrocious,"

"Of course, Mrs. Winfield I will ask my son to do it right away,"

"Third thing, could you please take in your Jack-O-Lantern's from past Halloween's?" The elderly woman asked, pointing at the rotting pumpkins beside the front porch, the third one was simply green mush with flies swarming around it.

"Yes, I'll get right on that," Marge said, a look of embarrassment on her face at Homer's lack of effort to throw away the Jack-O-Lantern's. "Finally, can you please cover your garbage, its attracting wildlife," Mrs. Winfield said, gesturing to the Moose currently digging through and eating the garbage. "Oh, my gosh," Marge said, covering her mouth "Don't worry, Mrs. Winfield, it will be taken care of, I promise,"

"Thank you, Mrs. Simpson, I appreciate it," The older woman then walked away and Marge closed the door. It was barely heading into the afternoon and already she was exhausted and was ready for a break but there was no time, the kids got off school at 3:00 and she had still so much to do, there was no time to rest. "I guess the first thing I should do is go to the Kwike-Mart and pick up a few things for dinner tonight.

Just as she was getting ready to walk out the door, she heard the phone ring and picked it up. "Hello?" She asked, "Hi, Marge," Homer spoke on the other end, making the blue-haired woman smile. "Oh, hi, Homie how is work."

"Exhausting," He sighed, "How are things there?"

"Okay," Marge replied, "Mrs. Winfield was just here saying she and her husband are moving,"

"Well, good riddance," Homer said with a narrowed look "never liked the old the bat,"

"Yes, well, she gave me a list of suggestions to help them sell their home," She explained,

"Like what?"

"Just simple things, like the kids picking up their belongings in the backyard, cutting the grass, you wearing pants as you walk past the window..."

"She isn't the boss of me," He grumbled, "It's a free country and if I don't want to wear pants in my own home, that is my god given right!" Marge rolled her eyes at her husband's words, "So anyway," She began, "when the kids get home I am going to ask them to pick their stuff up in the yard,"

"You know they aren't going to like that..."

"I know, but they have to because I don't want to argue with this woman, she has already given us enough grief over the years with her complaining about one thing or another." A silence followed between the couple before Homer broke it and said, "I gotta go, Marge, I will call you on my next break...whenever that is." He said with a sigh, "I understand,try to have a good day, Homie,"

"I'll do my best, I love you," He told her

"I love you too," She smiled and afterward hung up. Marge then grabbed her car keys and headed to the garage where she then opened the door before getting in her vehicle, backed up and pulled out the driveway and headed to the Kwike-Mart. The automatic doors dinged as they opened, making Apu turn his head, "Hello, Mrs. Simpson how are you?" He greeted the woman with his usual smile,

"I'm doing good, Apu, how are you?" She smiled in return at her friend "I'm doing all right," Apu answered, "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

"No, just picking up a few things," Marge replied,

"I understand," He said, "well if you need any help, you know where to find me," '

"Thank you, Apu, I'll do that," She then grabbed a cart and began walking up and down the isles picking up things like eggs, milk, chicken, beef, vegetables, soft drinks etc. when she was finished she walked back to the counter, paid for her items "Thank you, come again!" Apu said cheerfully "Thank you, Apu!" She smiled at the man one last time before departing the market, loaded her groceries in the trunk before getting in her car and driving off.

The final bell rang at Springfield High School, the end of the school day, kids exited the school, racing hurriedly to their buses. Bart exited the school and headed to his bus where he climbed on board, walking to the very back and sat down, dropping his book bag at his side and stared at the window when he felt the seat shift and move and looked beside him to find Milhouse. "Hey, man," The other boy greeted, "Hey," Bart said, turning to his friend. The school bus then began to move and as they pulled away out of the parking lot, Milhouse turned back to Bart was staring once more out the window.

He thought about asking him about what happened at lunch today and what Jason and his brothers had said to him, but decided not to bring up the subject. If his years of friendship of Bart has taught him anything is to let him come to you. He had tried in the past to get Bart to open up to him when things were bothering him and he would always shut down and clam up, only when he was ready to talk about what was bothering him did he finally open up to him about what he was feeling inside and this was no different. He would simply have to wait until Bart was ready to talk about it, if he ever did.

The bus made a stop at Springfield Junior High where they picked up 6th, 7th and 8th graders. As the bus began to fill up with more kids, Bart turned his head silently and saw his sister Lisa board the bus and take a seat all by herself, and watched as she turned her head to look out the window. He debated whether or to go over and sit with her, but decided to give her some space and stayed where he was, turning back to the window, but glancing in her direction every once and awhile.

The bus soon arrived at its destination and let Lisa, Bart, and Milhouse off. Lisa being the first one off, had a head start on the two boys have been sitting closer to the front of the bus, so she entered the Simpson household first, closing the door behind her just as Bart and Milhouse stepped off the vehicle. Milhouse began crossing the street, turning back to Bart for a moment to wave, "See you tomorrow, Bart!" He called back at him, "See ya!" Bart replied, waving back as he headed inside the house.

When he walked inside, he dropped his book bag by the door when suddenly, he was greeted by his baby sister Maggie, "Bart!" She smiled, running to him "Hey Maggie," He smiled as he then picked her up and she hugged him tightly. "How was your day?" He then asked her, "Good! I drew a picture of all of us and the teacher liked it!" She told him happily, "That's great, Maggie," He told her, smiling at her "You want to see it?" She asked him, "Mommy has it hanging up on the fridge?"

"Sure," The teen said, putting her down

The young girl then grabbed her brother's hand "Come on, follow me!" She said, excitedly, pulling him "I'm coming, Maggie, slow down!" He said laughingly, as he allowed himself to be dragged to the kitchen. When the two Simpson children when they entered the room they found their mother standing at the stove, breaking spaghetti noodles into a boiling pot.

"Hey, sweetie, how was your day?" Marge asked, looking over at her son.

"What can I say? It was school," He began, "I am just happy it's over," Marge murmured a bit at his answer, "But you had a good day, right?" She asked, making Bart look at her, "Yeah, sure you can say that if you want, for me I wouldn't say it was better or worse than yesterday. I am just glad its done for the day." He explained, getting slightly annoyed "Now can we move on, please?"

"Of course," She replied

"Bart, look, look!" Maggie said, pulling at his arm again. He turned to Maggie again and saw that she was pointing at the drawing she had done in class that day of the family, drawn and colored in crayon.

"Wow, this looks great, Mags, you did a great job!" He smiled at her, picking her up in his arms "Thanks, Bart!" She said, smilingly brightly "You're welcome," The two hugged briefly, after pulling apart Bart then added, "I knew Lisa wasn't the only "special gifted" Simpson in this family,"

Bart then set Maggie back down on the ground before getting into the fridge, "Now that's not true, dear you have many special talents your self," Marge told him, as he then grabbed a soda before shutting the door again.

"Like what?" He asked, opening the can

"You're very artistic too, you use to love to draw when you were young, but never kept up with it, I never understood why though," Marge told him, "Guess I lost interest," Bart shrugged his shoulders taking a drink of soda before taking a seat at the table, Maggie sat down in the chair next to him. "So how was your day, Mom?" He asked, "Same as always," The blue-haired woman answered, "I cleaned, did laundry, stopped at the Kwike-Mart to pick up a few things for dinner," She explained, as she placed some cookies and milk in front of Maggie.

"Thanks, Mommy," Maggie asked before she began eating the cookies

"You're welcome, sweetie," Marge said, before turning back to her son. "Also, Mrs. Winfield stopped today," She began,

"Oh, the old hag," Bart sneered

"Bart, don't start..." Marge warned him, "Well, she is!" Bart said insistently, "Nobody likes her, not even the Flanders like them and they like everybody."

"She stopped by cause they said they are moving and would like our help in selling their home,"

"How?" He asked quizzically

"She wants you kids to pick up your stuff in the yard, and if we could cut our grass, so we are going to eat dinner early tonight so you can get started,"

"Get started on what?" He asked,

"Picking up around here," She said, "Tell Lisa dinner will be ready in a half an hour, in the meantime go do your homework."

"But Mom-" He began to protest, but was interrupted, "No buts, do it!" She growled at him, and he then got up from his seat, grumbling under his breath as he grabbed his bookbag by the door before then climbing the staircase "old hag, can't move away fast enough" When he got to the top of the stairs, he heard the sounds of muffled crying from coming from Lisa's room. He walked over to the door and gently knocked on it

"Go away!" Lisa shouted

"Lisa? Are you ok?" Bart asked as he then opened the door, peering a bit inside that's when he saw his sister with her face buried her pillow, clutching it close to her as she sobbed heavily into it, "What's wrong?" He pushed open the door completely and walked inside, "Nothing, just leave me alone," She choked out

He walked over to the bed and sat down on it. Bart was silent for a moment before asking," Did something happen at school? Was someone mean to you?" She did not answer. "Come on, Lisa, talk to me, tell me what's wrong." She then pulled her head from her pillow and turned to him, looking at him angrily, "Why should I?! It's all your fault!"Lisa shouted, her sudden outburst caused him to jump off the bed

Bart scoffed, "Me? What did I do?" He asked, glaring

"What did you do?" She asked getting up from the bed and marched up to him, glaring daggers up at him "I took your advice and guess what? It didn't work! I am still being made fun by the kids in my class!"

"Grow up, Lisa," Bart sneered, "You can't expect people to change after one day, you have to give these things time," He told her, "also, if you don't want to be a target for bullies, expand your interest in other things besides school, homework and your saxophone,"

"Show interest in other things? Like what?" She asked curiously, "I don't know," He shrugged his shoulders, "find out what other people are interested in by listening to their conversations, what bands they like, what movies they enjoy watching and check them out and then afterward join in on the conversation."

"I don't know..." She said, skeptically

"Look if making friends is truly important to you, this is the only way to do it, by showing an interest in what other people like you will get attention and people will start talking to you," He advised her, "If you don't want to do it, then don't come crying anymore for me to help you, because this is the best advice I can give you,"

He then began making his way towards the door when he was stopped when she said, "Wait!" Bart stopped and turned towards her and watched as she walked up to him once more, "I will try...what you said, about taking an interest in what other people like,"

Good," He nodded and smiled, "On a change of subject, I am supposed to tell you that dinner is in a half hour and after it's over Mom wants us to clean up the yard,"

"Why?"

"Because that Winfield's are moving and want us to help them sell their home by picking up our belongs in the backyard, also they want us to cut our grass,"

"I see," She responded,

"In the meantime, until dinner is ready, she said we have to work on our homework,"

"Do you have any?" Lisa then asked, crossing her arms "I just have Algebra and English homework to do, what about you?"

"No," She smiling

"I forgot who I am talking to, you probably did it at school, didn't you?" He asked, "What am I saying, of course, you did." Bart said, rolling his eyes before walking to his room "Would you be interested in doing some more?" The teenage boy asked hopefully

"No, thanks, I'm good," She answered, the smile still present on her face.

"Dammit!" He cursed, making Lisa laugh as he walked into his room and slammed the door behind him.

A half an hour later, it was time for dinner, Marge had made Spaghetti with Meatballs. Everything was silent between the four Simpson's until Marge broke it. "So, Lisa," She began, wiping her mouth with a napkin "How was school today?" Lisa and Bart looked at each other before she turned back to her mother and said, "It was fine," She answered, smiling slightly "A little slow but otherwise it was okay,"

"Good, I'm glad," Marge smiled

"How was your day, Mom?" The pre-teen asked

"Same as usual, I cleaned, did laundry, went grocery shopping, just an average day."

Lisa nodded

"I see," Once more silence fell upon and when dinner was over, Lisa, Maggie, and Bart walked outside on the back porch and examined the backyard. It had only been a week since the grass was cut, though between the rain and sunshine they had gotten the last few days it had grown a few inches long. Nothing too serious but enough to pose an issue with their neighbors, there were a few toys that were lying around the yard, also along the fence line was a number of weeds that needed to be pulled.

"All right," Bart began, turning to his sisters " Here is what we are going to do," He began, "Lisa, you will be in charge of taking of the weeds over there. Maggie, pick up the toys in the yard, I'll get started on the yard." Bart explained to them, "Now that we know what we're doing, let's get started!"

"Right!" Lisa and Maggie said in unison

The three got to work immediately. As Bart went to the garage to get the lawn mower, Lisa got started on the weeds while Maggie began picking up the toys in the yard. Bart opened up the garage door, walked over to the lawn mower, unscrewed the cap to check the gas before screwing it back on and pulling it out of the garage and into the yard. He yanked hard on the cord three times and on the third yank, the engine roared to life and began working on the front yard which took him a half hour to finish because he went over it a couple times to make sure it got it all.

By the time he reached the backyard, Maggie had finished her job, Lisa was still doing hers as he then began cutting the grass. It took him longer to finish the job since the yard was wider and there was always so much to maneuver around so cutting the grass in the backyard usually took about 45 minutes to an hour to finish.

This took the same amount of time and when it was over and he was done, he turned to his sister Lisa. "Hey, Lisa, are you done over there?" He asked, wiping the sweat from his face with his shirt. "Yeah, I'm done," She huffed, ready to call it a day too. The two siblings walked inside only to be met with blissful cool air from the air conditioner and collapsed on the couch to cool off.

"You kids get finished outside?" Marge asked, walking in the room carrying two glasses of ice water for them to drink. The only response she got was incoherent groans,

"Good," She smiled, "Then go on upstairs and go take a shower, put your dirty clothes in the hamper, then change into your pajamas and go to bed. You got to get up early tomorrow for school."

"But Mom we just finished with our chores, can't we rest first before-" They began to protest but were not allowed to finish as Marge then interrupted them, "Don't argue with me! Just do what you are told!" The three kids groaned in response and began their journey up the staircase.

"I'll go first," Bart said

"Why do you get to go first?" Lisa asked, crossing her arms

"Because I did more work than you did," Bart explained, "In total, I cut grass for an hour and thirty minutes and in this heat that takes a great effort,"

"Fair enough," She replied, "All right, go ahead but I am next." Lisa then retreated to her bedroom, same as Maggie to wait for their turns. Before entering the bathroom, Bart grabbed a change of clothes, a towel, and a washcloth. Afterward, he walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower and began stripping off his clothes before stepping into the shower. A few minutes passed and he emerged from the bathroom, wearing a pair of boxers and a white tank top.

He walked up to Lisa's door and knocked on it before speaking through the door "Shower is all yours," Bart then walked to his room and closed the door, hearing the soft reply of "Thanks," His sister Lisa said through his door before moments later hearing the shower running. He turned out the light, walked to his bed, drawing back the covers, sat down, and swung his legs up on the bed before covering himself up.

He looked at the digital clock on his nightstand and saw 9:00 P.M. glowing brightly in the darkness and though normally he would not go to bed exactly when his mother had told him to go to bed, today he was absolutely exhausted and needed to rest and closed his eyes and soon was sound asleep.

Two weeks go by and things had changed a bit in that time. Lisa had taken Bart's advice and began listening to people more, getting involved in what others were doing and was starting to make friends. Bart, on the other hand, had noticed Dondelinger was keeping a close eye on him which might explain why Jason and his brothers had not attempted anything.

However, this did not mean the bullies had ceased picking on him, no far from it actually, though instead of approaching him publically, they waited until Dondelinger was not around and he was alone before ganging up on him, that way there was no witnesses and if he said something it was just his word against theirs.

Meanwhile, at home, he and his sisters were keeping with cutting the grass and keeping the yard toy free as people stopped by to look at their neighbor's house. There had been many young couples in their late 20's to early 30's who had looked at the house, but nothing that panned out.

Until Saturday, Bart was outside skateboarding on the skateboard ramp that Homer had built for him a couple years back as a birthday gift. As he did a frontside ollie, his mother came outside and said, "Bart," She began, "sweetie, I am going to go welcome our new neighbors, you want to come with me?"

"No thanks," He said, doing another frontside ollie "Why I don't you ask, Lisa, I am sure she would happy to go,"

"I can't," Marge replied, "She is busy studying for a test coming up, and Maggie is taking a nap upstairs." Bart slowed down his skateboarding, before coming to a total stop. He looked at his mother and saw the pleading look in her eyes, making him sigh and say, "Fine," He groaned "I'll go,"

"Oh, thank you, sweetie," Marge said, now beaming from ear to ear, hugging him "Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with," He grumbled, as she pulled apart from him.

A few moments later mother and son were on their way next door, Marge had made an assortment of treats such as fudge and her famous chocolate chip cookies which had included with the other "Springfield Welcome Wagon" goodies that she had stored in the wicker basket that dangled loosely around her forearm. Bart remained quiet, hands shoved deep in his pockets as he stared disgruntledly at the ground.

They walked up the steps on the front porch as the Clumsy Student Movers unloaded the furniture out of the truck. Marge rang the doorbell and seconds later the door opened, "Hello, may I help you?" A young female then spoke, Bart looked up and immediately became slack-jawed at the very attractive girl that stood before him, her hazel eyes sparkled in the sunlight, her long brown hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back like a beautiful waterfall. His heart pounded against his chest so hard, he thought it might burst out of his chest. Everything else around him faded, as he became entranced by her beauty.

"Bart, introduce yourself," Marge whispered, nudging her son, bringing him out of his daydream. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," He looked between his mother and the girl in front of him, blushing furiously "I-I'm Bart," He stuttered, "Bart Simpson," He said, smiling sheepishly as he ran his hand through his hair, "It's nice to meet you, Bart, I'm Laura Powers." She said, smiling at him

"Nice to meet you," He said, the blush still ever present on his face "Oh my god, she is beautiful! Her face, her smile, her hair, her eyes, everything about her is simply amazing!" Bart thought, trying his best to not to embarrass himself in front of this girl, but with his heart pounding in his ears, and finding himself slightly short of breath he did not know how long he could keep his cool.

"My mother is inside, Mrs. Simpson, please go right in," Laura said politely, "Oh, you speak so politely to adults," Marge said, impressed with the teenage girl's manners. "My upbringing was painfully strict ma'me." The teenage girl then told her, "That's sweet," Marge said, patting the girl on the head before walking inside, leaving the two teenagers alone with each other, both smiling nervously at one another.

A/N: That is it for Chapter 4, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Chapter 5 will be coming soon, you have my word. Stay tuned for it! Later guys!