A/N: Hey everyone, I'm Tara Burgundy. This is my first time writing a Brady Bunch fanfiction, upon the request of Retro Mania. I really think this is a great idea, so thanks to him for suggesting it!
That being said, I'm not too familiar with this fandom and tv show, so please go easy on me if I get some details mistaken. Also, feel completely free to point out any mistakes and give me feedback if I get some of my Brady facts wrong. :)
I wasn't that sure about the ages/school grades of each of the different Brady kids, so I just came up with some grades that I thought was fit for them. I hope that isn't too inconvenient.
This fic is also based on The Kingdom Chums Special: Little David's Adventure. Basically, a vision of how the special would go with the Brady kids as the characters and also set in a medieval kingdom rather than a Biblical one.
So please, without any further ado, enjoy! And don't forget to give in any of your reviews...
Spring was in full swing throughout the country. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and people were out having extravagant parties. However, things weren't all sunshine and roses inside the Brady household. In fact, it was anything but. All the kids were busy worrying about problems of their own, all of varying magnitude…
Marcia Brady was sitting in her high school Biology class listening to her teacher drone on about the differences between the cells of a plant and that of an animal's. She tried to listen, but she just couldn't. Her mind kept drifting back to the boy sitting across the classroom from her.
"Adam Finch," she thought. "Even his name sounds dreamy."
He had just moved here from Illinois, but he was already making quite an impression around school. He had tried out for the football team during the spring try-out session, and had obtained a lead starting position. That and the fact that he was a senior meant there were girls clamoring for him from all the other lower grades at the high school.
"There's no just no hope! He's a prized commodity," she had told her friends the other day.
Normally, Marcia tried not to waste her time on just another air headed jock. Adam was different, though. He seemed nicer and not just superficial like some of the other boys the girls had been interested in.
Just the other day, he had offered to help a freshman boy with a broken leg carry his books to class. And, on more than one occasion, she had seen him do a genuine good deed. Never once did he talk bull about anyone else, no matter who they were. The few times Marcia had garnered up the courage to actually talk to him, he listened to everything she had to say without sounding even the slightest bit bored or disinterested.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by the announcing something about the Biology final coming up on March 15th.
Marcia really didn't care about that announcement. It was just a Biology final. That she could ace easily. March 15th brought on a different nervousness to her, though. It was also the date that the Spring Fling High School Dance would be on.
She had been trying to think of a way to ask Adam to the dance for almost an entire month. She knew that there would be a bunch of other girls asking him, and she just wasn't sure if she would have enough courage to approach him with an invitation to a date.
"It's probably useless," she whispered to her friend, Claire. "He'd never go out with me. But I just really wish he would!"
"You won't know unless you ask, Marcia," Claire whispered back. "Just try and get enough courage to ask him," she encouraged her.
Ah, courage… if only she could find the courage.
After the lunch break, in that same very high school classroom, Greg Brady sat down to listen to the same teacher drone on about Biology.
Greg didn't really care much for Biology. It wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy science; in fact, he enjoyed Chemistry rather well. Biology, however, just never came very easy to him, so he never really bothered for it much. That was until he found out about the upcoming Biology final.
He knew the final wouldn't be so hard for Marcia, she aced everything test related. For him, it would be a different story. Unlike the previous tests he had taken in science class, he couldn't just wing this test. This test would be worth nearly half his grade in science for the year.
If he failed this test, he would fail the entire class… If he failed the entire class, he couldn't participate in the spring football game. He would be forced into being benched if he didn't get a B or anything higher on the test.
He had tried multiple ways of studying, including asking everyone from Alice to Marcia to help him review.
"What are the mitochondria?" Alice had asked him.
"Uh, isn't that what holds the DNA in a plant cell?" he had hesitantly responded.
"Nope, the nucleus holds the DNA. The mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, it produces all the energy," she explained.
"Man, I'm never gonna get this," he said exasperatedly.
"Don't worry, Greg, you'll get it. Just review as much as you can."
"I try to, but I keep getting nervous that I'll fail. Then it'll look really bad when I apply for colleges."
"Just forget about the nervousness. The more courageous you get, the easier the test will look," she reassured him.
Courage… the word occupied his mind as he sat in for yet another Biology lecture.
Meanwhile, at the middle school, Jan Brady was sitting down for lunch at the cafeteria. She settled down for yet another lonely lunchtime alone, with no one to sit with her at her table.
She always wished she could be more like Marcia, who had tons of friends with plenty to spare. However, Jan wasn't like that; she barely had any friends to go by.
As she was eating her sandwich, she couldn't help but peek over to her neighboring table, filled with girls gossiping away about every topic from who was going steady with who to the new hits they had heard on the radio. The sound of laughter and happiness always seemed to radiate off the table, and Jan always got a bit jealous at seeing all the fun they were having.
"If only I could be like that," she thought.
She had been invited by a different group of people to join for lunch once, though. She looked across the cafeteria towards the group of children who she had become friends with when she first started middle school. Jackie, Cynthia, Jerry, and Sherman had been good friends of her, but Jan had left their little group in hopes of getting in with the popular girls.
The desire to be one of the popular girls was one that was always on Jan's mind. Even though sometimes she was tempted to go back to her old group, the group where she had always had such fun, her want to be popular overcomed her.
On more than one occasion, she had wanted to approach the popular girls and ask to sit through lunch with them, but she had always chickened out. She had seen how many kids they had bullied especially that new boy, John. She didn't care about their meanness, she just wanted to be popular with them.
She just wished she had the courage to approach the popular girls…
Also over in the middle school, Peter Brady was in the gym after eating his lunch in the cafeteria. He was beyond delighted that he got to skip his class that day because he was in the basketball team. The school had held try-outs for the team a month back, and Peter was so happy to be chosen.
Today, after practice, those who wanted to try out to be captain of the team could approach the coach and make a request. The coach would then pick whoever he thought was best fit for the position.
Peter had always wanted to be the captain of the team. He just loved the idea of getting to carry a whole group of people all the way to victory. He wanted to make plans, see those plans being executed, and then get to reap the benefits of all his hard work.
Plus, he was not only suitable for leadership, but he was also suitable based on his skill set. Ever since making the team at try-outs, his basketball skill had just progressively improved. He was able to make shots all the way from the half line of the basketball court.
Because of all of this, one would think that it would be a no-brainer for Peter to ask to be the captain. There was just one problem. Whenever there was pressure on him to make a difficult shot, he would always miss it, just for the sole sake of the pressure that was put on him to win. Being captain meant making those hard to make shots, right in the nick of time. It meant that everyone, from all his teammates to the coach to even the whole school, was counting on him. And he just didn't think he could handle all that pressure.
He knew that if he saw all those hopefully eyes and faces watching him to make an important shot, that he would miss it. It was just the force of all that pressure getting into his head.
He remembered talking to his dad about it the other day and telling him how much he wanted to be captain, but he was scared that he might buckle underneath the pressure.
"Son, don't worry," his dad had said. "Just get yourself out of your head; that's the only first step you'll have to worry about. If you get the courage and bravery to think that you'll be able to make the shot, then you automatically will. So, I think you shouldn't worry and just go for it."
That day, he had wanted to go for it and ask the coach. He had wanted to do it so bad. But, at the last minute, he chickened out. He just didn't think he could handle it if he let everyone down by missing an important shot, no matter how well he had gotten at basketball over the past few weeks.
"Everyone, thanks for bringing in all your requests," the coach said. "I'll be posting the new captain this afternoon."
That afternoon, after all his classes were over, Peter went to the bulletin board outside the gym to check who had made captain. "Brian," the sign read, and he knew he was definitely better at making shots than him.
"Man, if only I had the courage to put my name in," Peter thought.
Over in the elementary school, Bobby Brady was sitting in his 5th grade classroom, listening to his teacher talk about their upcoming project.
"Alright class, your Spring Project for this year is to orate a story," his teacher, Mrs. Robinson began. "The project is very simple: first, you will write a short story. Then, you will tell it to the class out loud throughout the form of a speech. The story can be about anything you want, so long as it isn't too long or too short."
This project immediately worried Bobby immensely. The story part would be no problem for him; he was great at writing and telling stories to his friends. The real difficult part would be making a speech in front of his whole class. He would have no trouble making the speech to just a few of his friends, or even to just the teacher, but seeing the eyes of the whole class watching his every move and listening to his every word worried him.
He had no idea what he would do for the speech. Public speaking was always a big fear of his.
The habit had begun all the way back in kindergarten when he was chosen to give a few lines during a monologue in the Christmas play at his school. However, he had forgotten the lines and messed up immensely. He remembered trying desperately to figure out the words he had to memorize, but to no further avail. 5 year old him had just given up and ran off the stage.
He just hoped that he wouldn't have a do-over of that situation again when he had to give his speech.
"Remember again, everyone," Mrs. Robinson said, looking straight at Bobby with a smile, "public speaking is not difficult as long as you've got the courage to tackle it."
As long as you've got the courage to tackle it…
Cindy Brady was sitting on the bus, going back home from school. She always dreaded the bus ride home, especially nowadays, ever since she had gotten a run in with a few bullies.
She remembered that day very clearly - that day when she was sitting on the bus in the morning, when her friend had asked her to borrow a pencil since she had left all of hers at home.
"Can I borrow a pencil, Cindy?" her friend Maggie had asked.
"Sure," she had said and handed over her bag to Maggie.
Maggie had opened Cindy's bag and looked through it to find the pencil. After a few moments, she took her hand out of the bag. When she took her hand out, in it was a plain ragdoll.
"Hey, what's that?" she had asked.
"Oh no, I accidentally packed Becky," Cindy had thought. Becky was her favorite doll from home.
"Put that down," she had whispered to Maggie. "It's my doll, and I think I accidentally must have packed it this morning."
But it was too late; almost all of the bus had already no ticed the doll in Maggie's hands. Most people didn't care and went back to their conversations. However, one group of boys took note of it.
"Cindy still plays with dooooooooolls," they droned out in song.
"Haha," one boy said.
"Such a baby," another one echoed.
"Should we call your mommy?" another one snickered.
Ever since that day, the boys had made sure to make her bus ride home torture. Most of the other kids had forgotten, but the boys made sure that she never did.
Thinking back to that day today, Cindy was thankfully that the boys hadn't got on the bus today. She knew they would be back tomorrow, and she also knew that she couldn't just go on taking all of the insults and taunting. She had to courageously fight back against them. It would be even harder now that Maggie's parents had insisted on driving her home themselves.
"I just need to find the courage…" she thought.