Aleksandar DiNozzo stared out his window sighing. He should be outside right now; skating with his friends, doing stuff he knows not to do. But no, his parents decided to make his life terrible by grounding him to his room for the day. Honestly it wasn't fair. Sure they continuously warned him that if he got any more bad reports from school he'd be punished but this time it wasn't his fault. He HAD to call Ms. Phillips an old hag after she humiliated him in front of the class for the third time that week. It really wasn't a choice. If she wanted to be nasty, the thirteen year old would be nasty right back.
But Alex didn't wanna think about Ms. Phillips. All he wanted to do was go outside, or even downstairs because putting up with his sisters fighting was way better than being confined to his small bedroom.
His thoughts were interrupted by a quick knock on the wooden door. His mother didn't even wait for a reply as she pushed into the room and glared at her teenage son.
"Well? I am waiting for an explanation."
He sighed once more, before pushing his long hair out of his face. "It wasn't my fault!"
"It never is," she replied coolly.
"No but this time I'm serious Mama, she HUMILIATED me!" he started adding a little more drama then needed," in front of the entire class! All I did was defend myself!"
Mamas chocolate eyes softened slightly at her obviously distressed son,"What did she say, habibi?" Her hebrew nickname for him came through.
Alex felt a wave of relief when he heard the nickname. As much as he thought it made him a baby, he cherished his mother's name and it always made him feel better. "She... she called me stupid."
"Were those her exact words, Alex, or are you telling me a leg?"Ziva asked.
Alex chuckled at his mother's incorrect English," It's a tale mom, it's am I telling you a tale. And no! Well maybe she didn't say stupid but it was definitely implied!" he ended raising his voice.
"Don't yell at me, young man, disrespect is what got you here in the first place." Then she sighed, she knew that Alex felt hurt by his teachers words but she was slightly thankful the teacher didn't outright call him stupid. "What exactly happened, Alex?"
"Well she called on me for the answer and when I said I didn't know, she scoffed and said typical, always dragging the class down. So you see Mama! I HAD to retaliate! I needed to defend myself before she embarrassed me farther!" Alex cried indulgently.
Ziva's eyes churned at the fact that the teacher acted so rude but knew she couldn't let her son's behavior go. "I understand how that could have hurt your feeling, my love," she began to state, feeling as though she was talking to her young daughters instead of a teenager," however that does not give you the right to act out on her. Two wrongs do not make a right, do they?"
"No... I guess not but she started it and I've already been stuck in my room for hours so let's just call it even and leave it at that."
Wow, Ziva thought, he is just like Tony always trying to charm his way out.
"Nice try, habibi, but staying up here was not your punishment. It just gave me time to think of a real one."
Alex became angry, "What?! I just spent an hour and a half up here so YOU could think! That's the dumbest thing i've ever heard!"
"Hey! Watch how you speak to me, I am your mother and your elder!" Trying not to lose her temper, Ziva replied. She was shocked that her sweet boy had this much disrespect towards her. Others sure,
from a young age he had been Tony's son, but he had always been a mama's boy who would rather snuggle with her than eat ice cream. Her daughters had been the opposite. Only ever wanted their daddy as if the whole world would end without him. "Now," she continued, "I have come up with a punishment I think is fair. Tomorrow you will apologize to your teacher in front of the entire class, and then when it is time to come home you will go straight to your room until dinner. After you are allowed out of you room but no TV or outside time."
Now Alex wasn't just angry, he was outraged," Mama that's not fair!," he whined not caring how old he sounded,"You said that you got how I was upset and now you are just going to punish me again?"
"While I understand how she hurt your feelings, you cannot act how you please. Tomorrow you will apologize for the disrespect and carry out your punishment," Ziva stated firmly.
Then, Alex had one more attempt to get out of trouble, or at least out of the apology. "Gibbs says apologizing is a sign of weakness."
"He may think that, however I do not in this case," Alex sighed as his plan backfired,"Now you will stay up here until your father comes home!"
And with that, Ziva walked right out that door and downstairs, which made Alex plop down on his desk chair and go back to window gazing.
