Hello hello!

Okay guys, I must confess that I am stupid. I forgot about something, but thanks to you, my dear reviewers, I was able to take care of it in this chapter.

Maybe I should reread my own stories sometime ...

Now ... curious about the new chapter? Then go ahead and read!

(And !Thank you! to everyone who reviewed my story, keeps me going!)

"There you are! Sit down, please," Carlisle said and motioned for his wife and daughter to take a seat.

Esme guided Maddie over to the couch, and sat down next to her.

"I trust your mother spoke to you about the matter of revenge, am I right?" he addressed his daughter.

"Yes."

"Do you understand now why the way you handled the situation was unfavourable?"

"Yes."

"Tell me, please."

"I shouldn't have tried to get even with that girl," Maddie muttered.

"Go on."

"That way I put myself on the same level as a bully."

"What could you have done differently?" her father questioned further.

"I could have told you or a teacher what she did to me, instead of taking care of the situation myself."

"Very good," he praised, then sat down and continued talking. "But, my dear, we are very unhappy about the fact that you not only took the girl's homework away, but you pretended it was yours."

Maddie looked down ... of course he would find more faults.

"Do you understand now why Jasper told you you were stealing?"

"Yes." She nodded her head - of course she understood that now, it did seem like stealing. "But I didn't hand it in, I didn't read it out loud, I merely put it on my desk - I didn't use it."

"Madeline, that is no excuse. It doesn't matter what you didn't do with it. You took it away, placed it on the desk in front of you and fooled your teacher that way."

Maddie leaned back on the couch and folded her arms over her chest. "It's not fair," she stated petulantly.

Carlisle sighed. Oh no, not this again, he thought. "Explain what's not fair now."

"It's not fair that I get scolded for something that's old news already." It's Friday, for heaven's sake! It was over, she got even, why still talk about it?

"It still matters to us. First, you used your gift where it was not necessary. Someone might have watched you and become suspicious; you cannot risk being seen using your ability. And second, like I just told you: We don't want you to take somebody else's homework when you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself."

"I was being very careful," Maddie answered, referring to the use of her gift. And, oh boy, had she been careful.

Maddie found out that she could, and now comes the kicker, use her talent without necessarily touching the person! The bonding formed by looking somebody straight in the eye worked just as well on its own. It merely took a moment longer to build up and she had to concentrate harder, but it worked. At least on humans, since she had only tested it once - on the stupid girl from her class.

But Maddie decided that she wouldn't share that newly discovered information with her parents. Tee-hee.

Carlisle nodded his head, then said, "I believe you, but it is still too risky."

Maddie sighed, and was quiet for a moment. Then... "Daddy?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Why is it okay for Edward to use his ability to be in my head all the time and tattle on me, but I cannot use mine even though I was being careful?" Maddie's voice grew louder with every word, until she was close to yelling at the end.

"Calm yourself. And I agree with you: It is not decent of Edward, and I will talk to him about this."

"Really?" Hopeful eyes looked up at Carlisle and he smiled.

"Of course I will. It seems that he doesn't grant you the privacy you deserve, which I would call misusing his gift."

"... really?" she asked again, not quite trusting her ears.

Carlisle chuckled, then continued. "But keep in mind that it is harder for him. His ability is always active, he has to purposely passivate it, which needs a lot of willpower and concentration."

Maddie beamed. She knew Edward would still be reading her thoughts, but maybe not as often anymore. That might be wishful thinking, but Maddie was content for now.

"And I am sure he reads your mind because he is looking out for you," Carlisle added.

"Like hell he is, he just wants to get me in trouble." Maddie sulked.

"No, you get yourself in trouble with your actions."

"To be honest: Nobody would have found out what happened at school if it wasn't for Edward."

"Madeline, that doesn't change the fact that what you did was wrong, don't you think?"

"Meh."

Carlisle found that everything had been said, so he cleared his throat. "Maddie, would you mind going to your room for a short while? I'd like to talk to your mother. We'll call you back down as soon as we come to a decision."

"All right." Maddie got a little smile from her mother, then left the room, slightly nervous.

She traipsed up the stairs to her room, and noticed immediately that her door wasn't closed.

"Hey there." She walked inside and plunked down onto her bed, right next to Rosalie.

"How did it go?" Rose flipped her blond curls back over her shoulder and looked at Maddie expectantly.

She shrugged. "Dunno. Get called back down in a few."

Rose nodded her head, then smirked. "Jasper got scolded by Carlisle."

Maddie's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Whhhaaaaaaaaaat?"

"He kept on interrupting me when I was talking to Carlisle and Esme. So when Esme went to talk to you, Jasper got a telling-off."

Maddie laughed out loud and clapped her hands. Finally! So he wasn't perfect either, hahaha!

Laughing along, Rose patted her sister on the head. "I knew you'd like that."

"Hell yeah, I love it! And you know what? Carlisle will talk to Edward about his snooping around in my head."

"That was about time."

"I know!"

But then the atmosphere in the room changed.

"Maddie?" Rosalie said, her voice tense. "I haven't yet apologised for smacking you. I should have given you the chance to explain yourself first. Not to mention that I never should have hit you in the first place. Please forgive me."

"Ah, don't worry, I had already forgotten about it," Maddie answered casually with a wave of her hand.

"Are you sure? You could tell Carlisle and Esme, if you wish, I definitely deserve it."

"Nope. You saved my ass down there. Carlisle was pretty mad when he called for me, but now it's all good."

Rosalie frowned. "I thought you have to come back downstairs soon?"

"Sure, but that means I'll get no more than a grounding," Maddie explained.

"True," Rosalie mused, then added cheerfully, "you're welcome." She smiled and hugged her little sister. "In case you won't be grounded, I'd like to take you to the mall tomorrow, all right?"

Maddie smiled. "Yaaay! Can we go to the games store?"

"Yes."

"And the Vans store?"

"Sure."

"And the book shop?"

"Of course."

"And the pet shop?"

Rose sighed. "We'll go anywhere you want, Maddie."

They would have talked quite a bit more, but a call coming from downstairs indicated for Maddie to get her ass back down there.

"Madeline," Carlisle said as soon as she was seated.

"Dad," Maddie said, mimicking her father.

"We have talked about the happenings at school and, since your motivation wasn't to steal, we wouldn't feel right to punish you for something that you weren't aware of."

Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

"But the fact remains that you took somebody's homework and pretended it to be yours. We do not wish for this to happen again. You do not take homework from others, you do not copy homework from others. And it all comes down to you not completing your homework at home and therefore using your gift to take somebody else's. I know you wanted to get even, but the reason that you chose that particular day was because of you not fulfilling your duty before. Therefore we cannot ignore your actions as irrelevant."

Noooooooooooo!

Maddie inched closer towards her Mom, who immediately placed a hand on her daughter's knee and gave it a light squeeze, meaning to comfort her.

"Madeline, I am not going to punish you but establish a new rule for you to follow from now on until further notice."

Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Maddie was confused.

She tilted her head to the side and waited for her father to go on.

"We want you to do your homework as soon as you come home from school. That way you have enough time at hand to complete all of it. Afterwards you are free to spend the rest of the day as you please. Business before leisure, do you understand?"

Maddie had to blink a couple of times, processing the information she just got.

"Sweetie, we do not lay down rules to make you miserable. You benefit from them."

Maddie didn't like the thought of yet another rule. She wanted to protest, but then realised that it wouldn't be of much use. A tantrum would get her in trouble, for sure, and the stupid rule would still be in force.

So she just nodded her head, indicating she understood what her father told her and that she accepted it.

Do you think the new rule is an appropriate consequence?

I had half the chapter already written down and therefore was glad that you, too, thought a spanking would be too much.

Next update will be ... TOMORROW!

Told ya, reviews make me update faster, haha! So please REVIEW this chapter and make me happy!