I don't own Home Alone
A/N: Another movie reference, though its not a John Hughes one.
Enjoy!
The night had proven to be extremely chilly as Becky and Kevin stood out in the school's parking lot. Kevin shivered against the cold, even though he was properly bundled up. He hated having to wait for his family to come out of the building and see the look of disappointment on their faces. "I wish we could walk home," he mumbled against the cold as he stood close to Becky.
"Me too," Becky said. Even though she didn't have any participation in this situation, she felt terrible that Kevin had to go through something like this. How would Buzz have felt if he was publicly humiliated? Then again, Kevin took care of that. Compared to Kevin, Buzz was like a mountain and Kevin was able to bring him down by just a single push. She looked up when she saw other parents walking out of the school building and took notice of Allison walking past them. "You got your headline, right?" Becky asked as Allison skidded to a halt when the voice was directed towards her.
Allison slowly turned around and looked at the redhead through her heavy black eyeliner. "What do you think?" she simply asked as she held a couple of titles for the newspapers next installment.
Becky was taken aback that Allison would ask her for an opinion. I guess I was just that good she proudly though to herself as she took the notebook in her hands and looked through what Allison had written. Christmas Pageant in Shambles, 'My Christmas Tree' has Fallen, Small Rock brings down Huge Mountain, and many more. Becky held a grudge over her oldest brother after what he did to Kevin so she pointed to the Small Rock brings down Huge Mountain title. He was not going to get away with this. Sometimes, public humiliation was just what he needed.
Allison took back the notebook and circled the title with her pen. "Have a Merry Christmas, Becky."
"After what happened tonight, we'll try," she smiled as Allison walked away from them.
"What was that all about?" Kevin then asked as he looked up at his sister.
"School stuff," Becky said to her, "but knowing Allison, I know that she's going to do a good job on today's production." Just then, her smile faltered when she noticed her family making their way down the steps and towards the car.
Just by the distance that divided them, Kevin could feel the tension that had been formed. His father walked past him and Becky, his sisters opened the car door and settled into their seats and Buzz and Jeff followed. Uncle Frank and Aunt Leslie got to their own vehicle along with their children. Kate opened the door on the passenger side but stopped as she looked at both of her children. She looked from Becky and then to Kevin, debating whether she should say something to her youngest for doing something so foolish. "You two better get inside, we will discuss this at home."
The rest of the car ride had been in silence, but Kevin felt that another argument was about to break out between them. This whole situation felt like last year, but he was not going to let his eldest brother get away with what he did. The whole family had gathered in the living room and him and Buzz were sitting on the opposite side of them.
Buzz paced back and froth, thinking over of the action that he had done. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," he began. "I'd like to apologize for whatever displeasure I might have caused you."
Becky rose an eyebrow at her brother's choice of words and she heard Kevin whisper a "what?" on the other side of the room. It took all of her willpower to not facepalm at this act of display.
"My prank was immature and ill-timed," Buzz continued.
"Immature or not, it was pretty darn hilarious," Uncle Frank laughed on the other side of the room.
Jerk Becky thought and then slowly shook her head at Kevin, knowing that he was about to snap back at his uncle for not showing any of his support. To her side, she noticed Jeff shaking his head and she was surprised by that.
"I'd also like to apologize to my brother," Buzz continued and turned his attention over to the youngest sibling in the family, "Kevin, I'm sorry."
To Becky, the apology sounded sincere and she almost felt guilty for allowing Allison to use that title in the newspaper. I hope he grows up from this she thought to herself.
"Oh Buzz," Kate smiled as she looked at her oldest son, "that was very nice." Her comment was followed by the family clapping for his apology. Becky didn't bother to clap. This was just the start of him maturing and she needed to be convinced that he was never going to do this again. Just then, Kate turned her attention over to her youngest son, "Kevin, do you have something to say."
Kevin looked from his mother and then towards the whole family. He couldn't believe that they had fallen for such an act. How gullible did his family have to be to not see through that? Buzz had never apologized to him about anything and what was the reason for him to start doing now?
Just then, Buzz walked up to him and whispered, "beat that you little trout sniffer."
That's it! Kevin thought as he felt his anger getting the best of him. He stood up on his feet and looked at his family. "I'm not sorry!" he exclaimed, "I did it because he humiliated me and since he gets away with everything, I let him have it." He didn't want to hold back on what he was saying. There was no point to it anymore and he knew that if he was to hold back, Buzz would be deemed the angel of the family and he would be considered the little devil that always caused trouble.
There are fifteen people in this house and you're the only one that causes trouble his mother's words come to his mind from last year.
Then so be it! Kevin thought. "And since you so stupidly believe his lies, I don't care if your Florida trip gets wrecked. Who wants to spend Christmas in a tropical climate anyway," he said and was about to walk out of the room before his mother stopped him his tracks.
"Kevin you walk out of here and you're sleeping on the third floor," Peter interjected. The last thing that he even needed was for his sons to continue their fight and for them to go to bed in anger before their family trip.
His cousin Fuller smiled from the other end of the room. "Yeah with me," he said as he took a sip of his Coke.
Kevin had been used to this form of treatment that he just didn't care about it anymore. Why not stand up for yourself and face the consequences rather than keep your mouth shut and be walked all over. "What else is new?" Kevin said and it was then that Uncle Frank interjected.
"You'd better not spoil my trip, your dad's paying good money for it," Uncle Frank said.
"Oh," Kevin held his hands in the air, "wouldn't want to spoil your fun, Mr. Cheapskate."
A snort came out of Becky as she placed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing. Right on the money, Kevin, right on the money she said. She stood up on her feet to go after him.
"What a troubled young man," Buzz said as he shook his head.
Becky halted when Buzz said those words. She then turned around and looked at her oldest brother right in the eyes. "Shut up, Buzz."
"Becky!" Kate said, "please."
"No mom," Becky said to her, "I was backstage and I saw what happened. You are all making it seem that Kevin was the one that started this whole thing when it was actually Buzz who did. "
"I know that it was Buzz who started it. We watched from the audience," Kate said to her. She hated having to rethink of the humiliation that Kevin went through, "but he shouldn't have reacted the way that he did. Him doing that to Buzz ruined the whole production that your school worked so hard on. I want Kevin to think about his actions."
Becky let out a scoff and rolled her eyes. "He's almost ten!" she said to him, "he's still just a kid. Deep down, I know that he regrets doing it but to put him on the spot like this? If the roles were reversed, would you be punishing Buzz the same way as you're punishing Kevin?" Maybe she had been oblivious before, but Becky could see that there was favoritism in the family and she couldn't believe what she had seen and heard. So, Kevin was given a hard time because he was immature and Buzz was easily being let off the hook because he was the oldest.
Kate did not know how to respond to that. She loved both of her sons equally but to her, if the youngest misbehaved they needed to face consequences and learn from their mistakes. But wouldn't the same thing apply to those who were also the oldest?
Becky was taken aback by her mother's silence. She then looked over to her father who hadn't shown any of his support to Kevin. "Wow," she blinked, "so much for moral support," she then turned her head and looked at Buzz who was sitting comfortably on the couch, "I do hope that during your prom night, you get blood dumped on you."
Both Peter and Kate were aghast at the threat that Becky had made. "That was uncalled for," Peter said to his daughter, "Becky, I never want to hear you say something like that again."
"Oh don't worry," Becky said as she shook her head, "because after what happened tonight, I don't want to be in the same room with any of you." The moment she said those words, she wished that she could take them back but it was too late. She was just too angry with her family after how they had treated Kevin during this mock trial that she needed her space.
