Too Equal For My Taste
Chapter 34: The Christmas Evaluation
The fight between Mike and Ken finally ended. The months of conflict and tense rivalry drew to a close as their parents decided on the appropriate punishments.
Mike, Ken, Calvin, Jake, and Mark were put together in a room the next day for five minutes to think quietly about what happened. After the five minutes were up, Tom and Jimmy came in to deal with them.
"We hope you've thought about what you did," Tom said seriously. At the nods of the five, he continued, "Because the punishment is not going to be a happy or simple one."
"Yesterday, we agreed that Ken and Mark would be off to Military School," Jimmy recalled. "Today, we are withdrawing part of the decision. Ken will end up in Military School for certain reasons. He has done similar acts before. This time, he got the police involved, and could've gotten himself in serious trouble. Right now, Ken is grounded for a month. This summer, Ken will study at Military school for half of it. Afterwards, he will be confined in the neighborhood for the rest."
Ken stayed sitting down. He didn't dare protest. Ken was to suffer the most out of anyone else. This must've been the worse punishment imposed by Jimmy, ever. Calvin looked up curiously, "As for me?" he asked.
"As for you," Jimmy added. "We acknowledge that you were driven to do this out of manipulation from your brother. So, we let you off with a serious warning, as it is your first offence in months."
Calvin nodded gratefully, and then left. Ken stayed sitting where he was, awaiting on what was to become of Mark and Mike. Tom was to decide that as those kids belonged to him. Tom opened his mouth, "Jake, you're grounded for a week. However, for one month, you cannot have Connor over. I think that's fair enough."
Jake nodded, and left the room without word. Mike looked up at his dad, heart pounding nervously. The decision came sooner than liked, "As for Mike. I believe half a summer in Military school is too harsh for him."
Mike sighed in relief, and Tom continued, "However, for the good of a relationship between him and Ken, and to improve things, and for seeking a fight instead of going straight to the adults; further for giving in to fear evoked by Kenneth, Military school may be the right thing. And so for half a summer, Mike will be joining Ken there."
"What?"
"Unless he wants more," Tom continued threateningly. Mike shut up, chancing half a glance at Ken before looking down. Tom went on, "Mark will be grounded for three weeks starting now. Two will be taken from the summer. I acknowledge that he stayed out of the violence, and that is why the punishment is not worse."
"That's not fair!" Mark protested.
"Unless he would like more," Tom repeated more loudly.
Mark shut up very reluctantly and miserably.
Mike was really miserable too. For the first time, he wished Ken would speak up. However, Ken already landed himself in enough hot water. His punishment was the worse, and he did not want to make it even worse.
The next couple weeks went on quietly. However, like all bad things, good fortune came from this. Mark started to distance himself from Ken a little bit, and from the experience, started opening up more to kids his age. As for Mike, the times of Tae Kwon Do came back, and they had a somewhat friendly relationship that evolved over time. Ken and Mike no longer fought, but often rivaled each other, mainly in popularity.
When Christmas approached, the counting of the points came at hand. At Tom's request, the winning team of a game was given a bonus five points. The losing team was given a bonus of one. Kate and Serina moderated the counting at none other than the University, where they were invited to have a Christmas dinner, and announce the points in a large auditorium, and put forth the records of points.
"First game: Soccer!" Kate announced to the room over a microphone. All kept their fingers crossed as they listened. "Bakers got four points. An additional five is added, giving them nine. Murtaugh's got one point, plus an additional. Score overall: Nine to two for the Bakers."
The room clapped, and Serina read next, "Second game: Basketball. Twenty-eight to twenty-three points to the Murtaugh's. An additional five is given to the Murtaugh's. One is given to the Bakers."
"Third game!" Kate called from over the claps. "Third game: Football. Eighty-six to eighty-five points to the Murtaugh's." Tom's heart sank. It seemed the Murtaugh's would win this. "An additional five is given to the Murtaugh's. One is given to the Bakers."
"Fourth game," Serina called as the Murtaugh's clapped hard. "The fourth game was baseball. Bakers won this good. Seventeen to six points for the Bakers. An additional five is given to the Bakers. One more is given to the Murtaugh's." Tom's hopes lifted slightly. Maybe his team had a possibility of winning. He had his victory speech written down!
"Now, it's for the last game. It's certainly the hardest to decide!" Kate called. She and Serina read it out together. "The Bakers get an auto one hundred points, as Nigel and Kyle finished first. Additional five is awarded. Sarah and Elliot get ninety points. Forty-five go to each side. Lisa and Robin get a solid eighty points for their team. Ken and Mark get seventy points. Thirty-five points go to each side. Kim and Jessica get sixty points. Jake and Mike get fifty points. One hundred and ten go to the Bakers, and they too receive the losing point."
Everyone waited, and Serina went on, "Total, the Bakers got five hundred and eighty-five points offensively and defensively. The Murtaugh's get two hundred and forty-five points offensively and defensively."
The room clapped, but there was confusion. Who won? Tom held his breath, along with every other kid at the table. So did Jimmy. Mike and Ken were whispering to each other, "I'll bet you ten dollars we win this."
"I'll take that bet," Mike whispered back. Mike wanted to win as much as Tom did, because he captained the team very hard, and put them through good training. Now he'd find out if the training was worth it.
"Bakers: One thousand and twenty-two points!" Kate announced.
"Murtaugh's: Five hundred and forty-three points!" Serina announced. "The winner this year is the Bakers. Bakers win!"
"Pay up!" Mike yelled over the clapping as Ken slapped ten dollars in Mike's hands.
"We won!" Tom announced, standing up. "Of course, our original idea was to have best three out of five. Either way, we won and I am deeply sorry for making trouble over something we would've won with in the first place. At first, tonight, I thought we would lose this, but it seems my feelings were wrong. We won the Murtaugh's with a victory margin of four hundred and seventy-nine points. Even so, it was a difficult game, and was too equal for my taste. I am few things to say about this competition."
Tom went on from the beginning, when they first discovered Jimmy on their doorstep, throughout the difficulties between kids and adults, and conflict that went on, and finally the fight between Mike and Ken, which drew enormous attention. He ended his speech with a victory team name, 'Baking Bakers.'
After Jimmy, Mike also spoke. That was when he found a new skill he liked doing. Public speaking.
Jimmy also came with a speech. He didn't have much to say about losing, and focused on the quality of his team. He ended with his own name, dubbed the 'Murtaugh Miners.'
Kens spoke too, since he captained his team most of the time.
Best of all, both teams promised to return next year for another big competition.
A/N: I didn't know. I did not know the Bakers would win this. If I knew they would win this by that much, I'd find some other way. But, it was worth it. Even the final race was chance. I had everyone fail with one good kart left, and chanced who would win. However, in all honesty, the previous four games were fixed for the winner. As I wrote the chapters, the winner came naturally to me and I decided as I went along. So it wasn't fixed from before, (but that way, the Bakers should've won football.) But nonetheless, the race could've turned everything around. After baseball, they were very close to each other in points. The race was anybody's game. A lot of flipped coins decided it; offensive, defensively, and even the winner. I loved writing this story. Now, just the Epilogue, and the story is done with thirty-five chapters. By the way, who's interested in reading deleted chapters and parts of chapters originally meant to be posted to enhance the plot, but abandoned? I have about six.