Chapter 3

Getting good grades and not getting into trouble was one thing, but Claira had been downright disrespectful and Brooklynn knew Mark was on the verge of blowing his stack. She was trying to avoid that from happening, but…since the little bitch didn't want to talk to her, she'd just let Mark handle it. Brooklynn was annoyed she had been forced to wait for her daughter, after TELLING her she was being picked up. She still deliberately made her mother wait for her, probably talking to her boyfriend. When Seth called her cell phone, Brooklynn answered it.

"Claira is grounded until further notice, Seth. Do not call her phone again. Thank you." She hung up on him, not caring and tossed the cell phone in a drawer that had a lock on it. Then, Brooklynn began to start dinner and saw the annoyed expression on Bastet's face as the cat sauntered into the kitchen, nodding in agreement. "I know, Bastet, I know…"

Eventually, Claira made her way out to the kitchen, her math textbook in hand as she tried digesting the theory of something or another. It was all starting to run together. Tests were a bitch and a half. "What're you making?" She asked, dropping down at the table and pulled her pencil out from behind her ear. "Also, how are you with Math?" She flashed a sweet smile when her Mom gave her a look. "Seriously, I don't get this." It was unusual because she tended to pick up on most things academically relatively easy.

"Tacos and I'm not very good with Math, but your Dad isn't half bad."

When Claira pouted, she turned the meat on low to simmer and walked over to sit at the table, pulling the homework toward her to look it over. Why did Math have to be so aggravating? Just staring these problems was making her head hurt. When would Claira ever use this in everyday life?

"Yeah, you're definitely gonna have to wait for Dad to get home and ask for his help. Now if you need help with English and writing, I'm your woman." Winking, she stood up from the table to continue cooking the ground beef. "How was school today?" Since Claira was being civil, she could do the same thing.

"Boring. They made me do pre-AP testing, so they can stick me in their AP classes." Claira wrinkled her nose, eyes on the page, rereading the theory again. "I purposefully failed one of them, just so they couldn't." Advanced Placement… no thanks, that was just asking for a mental breakdown in normal kids. They were not normal in this house; she wasn't adding anything else to that load. "I got English, Mom, apparently that's just genetic." So was seeing 'spirits' and apparently being witchy. She snickered at that last one.

Brooklynn did not know how to feel about Claira purposely failing a test for AP classes. On one hand, she understood why Claira did it, but on the other, it would boost her GPA and chance at getting into a decent college. Then again, Brooklynn never went to college and neither did Mark because of their 'gifts'. She didn't want to take any opportunities away from Claira, but wouldn't force her into anything either. Grounding her for bad behavior and attitude was completely different.

"If that's what you feel is best, I'm not gonna question it. Just as long as it doesn't affect your grades." Mark would agree with that too.

Claira, since she was already grounded and in trouble, had a lot of trouble biting back the snort and the eye roll, keeping her eyes firmly fastened on her work. If her grades were in any danger, she wouldn't have been offered Advanced Placement. If anything, her grades were getting her into academically annoying and challenging waters because she was too smart. She was going to dumb it down, a lot, next year. Blame it on summer, TV, boys and probably playing video games.

Just as she finished dinner, the front door opened and Brooklynn didn't have to turn around to see who it was. Mark was home. It was time for Daddy to take care of his daughter and something told Brooklynn Bastet had informed him what was going on already. She kept her back to the doorway, busy heating up the taco shells – having both soft and hard since they all liked both. Cut up fresh tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, shredded lettuce, refried beans, salsa and ground beef made up of all the fixings for the tacos.

"Claira needs your help with her homework, after dinner because it's done." She announced, beginning to set the sides on the table. "Claira, set the table please."

Claira absentmindedly waved a hand, the table haphazardly setting itself while she gathered up her homework and textbook.

When Brooklynn gave him an exasperated look, Mark shrugged, waving his own hand to tidy up the settings so they didn't look so… out of place. "Sorry, darlin'. Claira, manually next time. Set your stuff on the coffee table."

"I figured it out, Sylow's Theorem." She said after a moment. "And I am never going to use this in actual life." Claira had just voiced her Mom's actual thoughts from earlier, one thing they agreed on apparently.

Brooklynn started laughing out of nowhere, surprising both Mark and Claira, shaking her head.

"What's so funny?"

"I had that exact same thought earlier when you asked me for help."

Claira smiled genuinely and started laughing as well, shrugging. "I'm not lying. When the hell am I gonna use it in everyday life?"

"You're not. Just get through it enough to keep your grades up. You only have 3 months left to go and then summer will be here." Brooklynn grabbed a spoon for the sour cream, stirring it up and then put the plate full of cooked tortillas with warmed up hard shells on the table. "Dig in."

"Mom, quit worrying about my grades." That was going to get annoying fast. "Obviously, my grades are just fine."

"Yeah, why's that? Cleaning up after yourself not a subject?"

"Hardy har-har," Claira rolled her eyes. "She's freaking out because I failed an Advanced Placement test, on purpose."

He snorted at that, making himself his tacos. "Not interested in the extra workload?"

"Uh, no."

"I am not freaking out about that. I'm not freaking out about anything, Claira, besides your horrible attitude as of late, which is why you're grounded, and you lost your cell phone." Brooklynn kept her voice pleasant, refusing to get worked up and angry while making her tacos while Claira didn't look so amused. "I don't blame you for failing that test. You have a lot going on in your life and having advanced classes would put a lot of pressure on you. I just don't want you to start acting dumb and your grades to slip, that's all. I'm not asking straight A's, Claira. C's or higher." Even though she was a straight A student right now and had been most of her academic life.

"She needs a hobby, or a job, Dad. She's freaking out, over grades, because I failed something on PURPOSE." Claira scowled, emerald eyes narrowed. "I bring home straight A's, so why you're worrying about them suddenly slipping to your personal standards, Mom, is beyond me."

"And we're done." Mark mimed zipping his lips.

Claira opened her mouth to ask him what the hell that was supposed to mean only to find she couldn't talk. Her eyes widened first in annoyance and then anger.

"She's your mother, you will respect her and you keep a civil tone when doing so or I'll make sure this is permanent, Claira." He informed her flatly. After dinner, he and his daughter were going to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting; there was no way she was going to get away with talking to anyone that way, let alone the woman who had birthed her.

"Where did I go wrong? Where did we go wrong?" Brooklynn didn't have an appetite anymore and had only ate half her dinner, frowning. "Is this because of that Seth boy? I noticed when you started seeing him, your attitude completely changed. If he's the reason behind this sudden attitude change of yours, Claira, he's gone. You hear me? He's. GONE."

Standing from the table, Brooklynn needed some air and walked out on the back patio, staring out at the huge backyard they had, a few tears falling down her cheeks. She would not cry in front of Claira or Mark, refusing to give her daughter the satisfaction. While he agreed, Mark also knew that outright saying it, and trying to enforce it, was probably not going to go over well. Sure enough, when he looked into Claira's face, he seen the thunderstorm brewing and inwardly groaned. When she was pissed off, she tended to exhibit some of his more…. darker… traits, if it could be called that. He was waiting, just to see a sign that Claira may have the same issues he did, just so he could bind them like he had also done.

Having a daughter with powers wasn't easy to deal with. Brooklynn couldn't begin to imagine what she was going through with both seeing spirits and having dark magic. Seth would not be coming around anymore; Brooklynn would see to it and, if she couldn't, Mark would. This was a little test, experiment, to see if Claira changed who she was when she wasn't around her boyfriend as opposed to when she was with him. Her cell phone started ringing as Brooklynn answered it, wiping the tears away from her cheeks.

"Hey Mel, how's it going?" She faked the cheerfulness, not wanting their friends to know they were having issues with their child.

"Do you think I'm too old to be having another baby? Because I think I'm pregnant." Melina said by way of greeting. "That or I'm fucking hitting menopause a little early." She couldn't decide which one was more preferable. "How's it going, Brook? I was thinking about you, and then my ear started itching. Mickie says that means something is wrong."

Melina was exactly 40-years-old, so she wasn't too old to have another baby. That was actually adorable, and she knew David would be ecstatic or want to blow his brains out. They already had two, one teenager and one pre-teen, 2 years apart.

"I think you'll be just fine having another baby, Mel. Women that are 40 have babies all the time. And everything's fine, just dealing with a snot-nosed teenager, but it's nothing we can't handle. Have you taken a pregnancy test yet?"

"Uh nope, I did have a glass of wine however." One glass a day while pregnant, both her kids were fine and mellow. Hell, maybe wine was the secret. Or they were just like their Dad, easy going and laid the hell back. One of the many things she adored about David. He was fairly calm all the way around. "So, a snot-nose huh? What's she rebelling about? I swear it's the age."

"Where do I begin? She refuses to clean up after herself and Mark has about had it with her. You should've seen her bathroom, Mel. It was DISGUSTING. Makeup and pantyliner wrappers all over the place. She knows better than this, but she doesn't care and it's frustrating. Mark stepped on a used pantyliner this morning and it's happened for the past three months straight. He's about to lose his mind because she's not using her bathroom and she's not cleaning up after herself, so I took her cell phone away and grounded her." Brooklynn scrubbed a hand down her face, gripping the ledge of the patio. "She used to be such a good kid and then she met this Seth kid and now…now she's turned into an asshole." Yes, she just called her daughter an asshole. "What do you do with Leigha when she gets like this?" Melina's daughter was 15 going on 30.

"Leigha? I don't handle it at all, David does." Melina snorted derisively. "I'd rip her hair out of her skull."

She and David were polar opposites, fire and ice. She was the fiery one, full of piss and vinegar, with a healthy dash of 'rip a weave out of a bitch's head', whereas David was chill and rational, usually. Mess with his family however and watch the explosion, it was terrifying.

"He usually makes the punishment fit the crime. If she pulled that shit, she'd be cleaning everyone's bathroom by herself for a month." She took a deep breath. "Honey, are you sure it's this Seth? Maybe Claira is just a douchebag." That happened. Her preteen was looking to be that way.

"Maybe. I'm going to put this to the test though. She's going to stay away from Seth, besides at school, for 2 weeks. I'm gonna see if her attitude changes at all not spending every waking moment with him. Pick her up from school every day, instead of being driven by him. No football games, no hanging out with friends, none of it and, hopefully, this will show me if he's the reason behind her attitude." Brooklynn figured it was worth a shot since her daughter was never a douchebag until Seth came along, who was her first boyfriend. "Okay, so maybe things are a little worse than I let on around here…"

"Um, sweetie, are you sure you're going to come down that way?" Melina asked hesitantly. "I mean, if she's being rebellious and a snot, that actually might make things harder, or worse if she decides to take it really, really badly." She didn't even want to try to imagine how that would play out in that house. "What's Mark got to say about everything?"

"I know he's pissed and that's about it. I don't know what else to do about her at this point. I guess I'm gonna have to let Mark deal with her since she won't listen to a word I say. She keeps saying I need a hobby, or a job, instead of doing what I do with spirits. I forgot what she called me, but…it wasn't exactly nice." Scrubbing a hand down her face, she watched the sun beginning to set on the horizon and tore a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I don't mean to dump this on you when you're in a crisis yourself. Why do you think you're pregnant? When are you going to take a test?" Brooklynn needed a change of subject.

"I will tomorrow. I bought one, but I want to piss on it first thing in the morning, you know how that goes. Sweetie, maybe you need to find something outside the house to do." Because it sounded like Brooklynn did need an outlet. "Have you thought about writing again? You used to love that, and you were doing really, really well."

"My writing mojo went away after I found out I was pregnant with Claira. I don't need a job or a hobby, I just want my daughter to change her attitude and all will be fine." They were well-off financially with her fortune she had from all the books she'd sold, as well as Mark working at the shop he owned. "I'm fine being a wife and mother, today is just an off day. I have plenty during the day to keep me company with cleaning, cooking and dealing with the occasional spirit that pops up." That one today sent chills down her spine. "When you take that test, you better call and let me know, woman. Don't keep me in suspense."