This is for the very past due mother's day. This is the little gang and takes place during the second grade, so the fourth of July one hasn't happened yet. I had a hard time writing this, so it is going to be very short. Please don't comment on the length. I am aware how short it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Darkest Powers

Derek's POV:

My chin leaning on my hands, which rested flat on my desk, I stared at the tiny clay pot in front of me. Everybody around me was happily chattering with their table buddies as they laid newspaper onto their desks and grabbed paints from the counter. I didn't bother. This was stupid. We were supposed to paint little pots and then plant seeds in them to give our moms for mother's day. And I would have been fine with the project. Except there was one small problem. I don't have a mom. And I'd make give one to Dad, but that's what father's day is for. So now, I'm being forced to decorate a stupid pot to give to nobody.

I turned around to see what Simon was doing. He had his paints set out in front of him and was currently laughing at something Chloe had said. I frowned. They were both painting pots, but neither of them had anybody to give them to. And Chloe seemed so happy while she painted. I knew that Chloe was still sad about her mother's death, so I didn't understand what she was so happy about.

I turned back to my pot and dropped my chin back down. Ms. Reynolds was walking around, checking on everybody's progress and stopped by me. She lowered herself so she could talk face to face.

"You're not painting," she said. "Don't you want to make a pretty little pot?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, to give as a mother's day present, of course," she said, smiling.

"Give to who?" I asked.

"Hmm," she said, pondering the question. "Well, you know, Derek, it doesn't have to go to a mom."

"I only have Dad and that's what father's day is for," I said.

She smiled and ruffled my hair. "You'll think of something."

I brushed my hair back into position with my fingers and pushed the pot to the corner of my desk. I hated when adults did that. What was it that suddenly made me a dog? Reaching underneath my chair, I grabbed out my book and started to read.

…,,,…

When the bell rang at the end of the day, I was only too happy to leave. I was ready to go before Simon could even grab his backpack from the hook. Tori and Simon both took their sweet time, but Chloe managed to finish fast and she met me at the door.

"I can't wait until we get to plant our seeds," she said. "I wonder what they will turn out to be."

"Probably some kind of flower," I answered. "Maybe a sunflower or something like that."

"That would be pretty," she said. "I hope it's a nice flower."

"Who are you giving it to anyway?" I asked.

"My mom," she said.

Confused, I turned to ask her what she was talking about, but she was already walking down the hall. Simon came up behind me and said,

"What are you waiting for?"

"Nothing," I said. "Come on."

We followed Chloe down the hall to the front door. Dad was waiting along the curb when we stepped out into the sunshine. Simon ran straight for the car and launched himself in. I took my time walking with Chloe. I wanted to ask her what she meant what she said she was giving it to her mom, but I wasn't sure how to ask. How do you give a present to someone who's dead?

"How was school?" Dad asked.

Tori finished buckling her seatbelt and he pull away from the curb.

"It was great!" Simon said. "We got to paint pots for mother's day. We're not done yet, though. I still don't know what I want it to be."

"Are you planting something inside the pot?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, but Ms. Reynolds won't tell us what it is," Simon said.

I ignored their conversation and looked over at Chloe. She was staring straight ahead out the windshield. When she sensed me looking at her, she turned to me and smiled. Her hand went to her locket and she started to fiddle with it. She always did that when we looked at each other. I didn't understand why. It wasn't like it was a nice locket. It was just something that used to belong to my mom. I never even met her. Dad told me some things about her a few years ago, but I wasn't really interested in knowing. I never met her, so I don't miss her.

Before I could figure out how to ask her, we had already arrived at Chloe's house. Her housekeeper was waiting for her at the door, so I didn't have any time to ask her. Instead, I said goodbye and thought about it on the way home.

…,,,…

When I got to school the next day, I went in search of Chloe. I found her sitting behind the one tree on the playground. She was making something out of dandelions. She didn't notice me until I said down right next to her.

"What are you making?" I asked.

She finished looping one stem through another and then she put it on my head.

"A crown," she replied and she giggled at the look on my face.

I looked down at my hands and cleared my throat. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead," she said.

"About yesterday. You said you were giving your pot to your mom," I said.

"I am," she answered.

"How?" I asked. "How do you give a present to someone who's dead?"

"I'm putting it on her grave," she said. "That way, when the flower grows, she'll have it. And when the flower dies, she can always have the pot to remember it by."

I looked back down at my hands. We sat in silence for a few minutes until the bell rang and we had to go inside. I stood up to go, and she grabbed my hand to stop me. When I looked back at her, she giggled and reached up to take the dandelion crown off my head.

"I don't think you want the other kids to see you with this," she said. She set it down next to the tree.

"Probably not," I agreed.

We walked into class together and I sat down at my desk. Brady took one look at me and started to snicker. I looked back at Chloe and she bit her lip. She motioned for me to brush my hair and I reached up. Ruffling it, I saw some yellow dandelion pedals fall onto my desk. I looked back at Chloe once more and she smiled apologetically. I quickly made sure there weren't any more left, and then focused on Ms. Reynolds, who had just walked in.

For the majority of the day, I listened to Ms. Reynolds talk on and on. When it finally came time to work on our pots again, I went over to the shelf and grabbed mine, along with the rest of the supplies. Simon shot me a thumbs-up when he saw me and I ignored him. I walked over to my desk and laid everything down. This time when I stared at my pot, it wasn't because I was bored and didn't want to paint it. It was because I was thinking. I pulled everything Dad had told me about my mom. Her name was Molly. She died when I was born.

Her favorite color was purple, so I started with that. I decided to paint flowers along the side. I started with yellow for the middle and carefully painted a yellow polka dot pattern onto the clay pot. Ms. Reynolds did her rounds again and patted ruffled my hair again when she saw I was paining. I stopped mid-stroke and glared at her back. Un-ruffling my hair, I went back to work and finished painting on the yellow dots. School was almost over, so I put away my stuff and set the pot on the shelf to dry.

Someone walked up behind me and reached up to ruffle my hair like Ms. Reynolds did. I turned around to yell at them and stopped. Chloe stood behind me, smiling.

"I thought that was why you glared at Ms. Reynolds," she said, nodding to herself. She walked around me and put her pot next to mine. It was covered in what looked like blue waves.

"I like your pot," I said.

"Thank you," she said. "It's almost done. I like yours, too. What is it going to be?"

"Flowers," I said. "Purple ones."

"That sounds pretty," she said.

We walked back to our desks and waited for the bell to ring.

….(The next week)...

"Alright, class," Ms. Reynolds addressed us. "When you leave today, I want you to remember to take your pots with you. Mother's day is Sunday and you don't want to forget your present to your mothers."

Everybody scrambled out of their seats to get their pots first. I waited until the end and carefully carried mine over to my desk. I was a little nervous. I still hadn't asked Dad yet and I didn't know what he was going to say. Chloe didn't know why I was nervous, but she knew something was wrong, so she smiled and grabbed my hand. We walked out to Dad's car together. Simon, as usual, rushed to the car and was inside before we were even out the door. Tori was the last one in the car.

Chloe went home straight after school today, even though it was Friday. Her dad had taken the day off and was home to meet her. We waved goodbye as we drove away and then headed home. Simon chattered the whole way about what he was going to do with his pot. Ms. Reynolds still hadn't told us what the seed was, so Simon was convinced it was some man-eating plant. He was determined to have it eat Tori, so he decided to keep it by his bed. Tori was going to her mom's on Sunday, so she was going to give her the pot then.

…,,,…

When Sunday came, Tori's mom picked her up for the day. Tori wasn't at all excited for it because her step-dad was with and she didn't like him. Simon was glad that Tori was gone and cheered. I slipped away from him and went in search of Dad. I found him in his office. He looked up when he heard me come in and smiled.

"Hi, Derek," he said. "Did you need something?"

I nervously looked at him. "Can you bring me somewhere?"

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"To see my mom," I answered.

He froze and looked down at me. His face softened and he said, "Sure."

…,,,…

When we got to the cemetery, Dad showed me where her grave was and waited while I put the small pot next to her headstone. He didn't question me or what I was doing. I didn't stay to say anything to her. There was nothing to say. Instead, he grabbed my hand and we walked back to the car, with Simon running ahead, reading all the headstones.

Okay, so that sucked. And it was short. I had three great ideas a few months ago and I never got around to writing them, so I sort of forgot what they were. Anyway, I hope this tides you guys over for a while. I'm not sure what my next holiday will be. So, I will ask you guys. What holiday do you think I should do next? It can be one I've already done before. Tell me the holiday, the age (kid, teen, adult, etc) and if you have an idea you want me to write.