The next school day after open house came, but that thought Moze had the night before had stuck with her now more than ever. She couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt while Ned couldn't help but feel a bit of betrayal towards his sister. In the hallway early in the day, Ned waited for Kaitlyn to get out of her class. When she came out, she glanced at her brother once and went on her way. Ned followed her.
"Look, what did I do to get you so mad?" He asked. Kaitlyn stopped and looked at him.
"Well, Ned," she began, "you say you want me to be 'less buddy-buddy' with you, but what do you want me to do?! You're my brother; we need to watch out for each other. And you just act like you never want me around…" She trailed off.
Ned stood there for a second and then it him. "Kate, I never meant to hurt your feelings I just don't want you to treat me as little Bigby all the time like you did at the last peer leadership meeting. That's all."
Kaitlyn smiled lightly. "Well, I guess I could be a little kinder to you outside that class. You deserve a lot more respect than I've seen you get."
Ned laughed and hugged his sister. "Thanks, Kait, I'm sorry."
"No problem, your young, you have 3 more years to screw everything up." She joked.
Ned had a study hall next period and had met up with Cookie right after talking to Kaitlyn. They went to the library talking about their usual geeky nonsense and headed upstairs to their usual table. Moze was already there, with her head on the table obscured by her arms in a white sweatshirt. Ned and Cookie stopped in there place when they saw her.
"Do you think its dead?" Cookie asked.
"I don't know, poke it with a stick." Ned asked. Cookie crept up to Moze and poked her with a sharp pencil.
"Ow!" She yelled jumping up. "Oh, it's just you guys."
"What's with you?" Ned asked sitting down.
"I don't know, Ned, I just feel like crap."
"What did your dad do this time?"
"It wasn't him, it was me. I just yelled at him last night for no reason."
"Geez, that sounds like a bit of a problem. And you haven't talked to him all day?"
"Not since I went to your place."
"That sounds like a problem." Ned took a heavy sigh and began "Here's what you need to do. Just go to his classroom right now and tell me you care. Parents are always easily sucked up by that."
"Ned, that's just crazy enough to work!" Moze threw the sweatshirt off (and onto Ned's face) and ran to his classroom. Ned pulled the sweatshirt off his face.
"Is that really the advice you really think is the best?" Cookie asked.
"It's the best I've got." Ned said.
Moze ran down to her dad's classroom, coming to an epiphany of sorts. Mr. Mosely himself was in the middle of teaching a course on the American Civil War to his seniors. He was talking about the battle of Gettysburg when Moze slammed open the door when he was in mid-sentence, making him jump slightly.
"Oh, Jennifer, what a... um... surprise." he said.
"Dad, I need to talk to you right now." she said.
"Well, I'm in the middle of teaching a class right now, it'll have to wait."
"Yo, Mosely!" yelled Gideon. "Did anyone really die towards the end of the battle?"
Mr. Mosely stuttered for a second, he wasn't exactly sure, but Moze piped in "Gideon, General Elon Farnsworth died towards the very end of the battle. He was a Union Army general..."
And from then on, Moze ended up helping her dad teach the class about the final day of the battle of Gettysburg. At the end of the period, when everyone else left, Mr. Mosely stopped his daughter on the way out.
"Wow, honey, that was amazing! How did you know all that?" He asked.
Moze shrugged her shoulders, "Well, when your dad's a social studies teacher who's been at a school way too long, it kind of sticks on you."
"So... how about once in a while, how would you like to help come in and teach my classes once in a while? When you have free periods, of course."
Moze thought about this for a second. "Sure!" she piped out. "So, no hard feelings about last night?"
"No hard feelings." Father and daughter ended up sharing a hug right there in the empty classroom. "I love you, daddy." Moze quietly whispered. Ned and Cookie had stared in from outside the classroom and looked at each other.
"It really did work!" Cookie said.
"Well, looks like I still have the tips in me after all!" Ned said chuckling.
End of story #3.
Next time: Mr. Monroe seems to be struggling transferring to the high school, but maybe Mr. Mosely could give him a bit of a helping hand.