Amy woke up the next morning slightly disorientated and she couldn't figure out why. Suddenly she remembered that she'd have to go to school today and Ricky would be there. She seriously considered just staying in bed but knew she couldn't hide forever. She dragged herself out of bed, went through her morning routine robotically and then double checked that she'd packed everything she needed for that day in her bag. Once she added her history review questions that she forgot to put in her binder last night, she followed the smell of bacon down the stairs, suddenly ravenous. Anne looked up when she came into the kitchen.
"Morning sweetie. How are you feeling?" Anne asked.
"Like I'm starving all the sudden," Amy replied, fixing herself a plate. She was soon joined in the kitchen by George who kissed the top of her head and then started to speak to her stomach.
"Good morning in there grandbaby. This is your grandpa speaking," he said with a smile. Amy chuckled at her father's behavior and continued eating. George poured himself a cup of coffee and then gave his wife a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning to you too, gorgeous." Amy smiled and Amy giggled. Her parents were so corny sometimes.
"It's way too early for all that," Ashley said with a straight face as she came into the kitchen and set her bag down by the back door. She fixed herself a plate and then joined Amy at the table while George ate his breakfast standing at the island and read the morning paper. Anne placed the last piece of French toast on the serving plate and then hollered up the stairs.
"ROBERT MATTHEW JUERGENS HURRY IT UP UP THERE! YOUR BREAKFAST IS GONNA GET COLD." Two minutes later Robbie hopped down the last step into the kitchen, kissed his mom on the cheek, fixed a plate and then joined his sisters at the table to proceed to scarf down his breakfast. Anne shook her head at her son but had a small smile on her face. George checked his watch and then quickly finished clearing his plate. He placed his dishes in the sink and grabbed his cars keys.
"Have a good day ladies," he said while pulling on his suit jacket. He kissed the tops of Amy and Ashley's heads, high fived his son and then kissed his wife before heading off to work. Anne checked her watch as well.
"You kids better hurry up." She was speaking primarily to Robbie and Amy since Robbie drove Amy to and from school while she dropped off Ashley each morning. "And remember, Amy. I'll be picking you up after school." They placed their empty dishes in the sink, grabbed their bags, bid their mom goodbye and headed out. Robbie nodded in greeting to Simon, Madison, Terrance and Lauren, who were likewise heading out of their houses. As Robbie was backing out of the driveway, Amy asked him a question.
"Do the boys know?"
"Yep. Do the girls?"
"Yep. Are you guys gonna hurt him?" Amy asked nervously. Hearing the nervousness in her voice Robbie smiled at her as he shifted into drive.
"Only if he forces us to." Amy didn't quite understand what he meant by that but she felt certain Robbie's statement meant the boys wouldn't hunt Ricky down and pummel him without a good reason, at least, she hoped they'd have a good reason. The three sets of siblings arrived at school and the boys parked next to each other in the back parking lot. The girls climbed out and headed inside together while the boys hung back.
"You think he signed it already?" Simon asked Robbie; Robbie shrugged.
"One way to find out." The boys set out in search of one Ricky Underwood while Amy headed to Mr. Molina's office to pick up her new schedule. She knocked on the doorframe and he smiled when he looked up and saw her.
"Hello, Amy."
"Hello. Has my schedule been changed yet?" she asked politely. Molina nodded and leaned down to open a drawer and pull out her file. He removed her updated schedule and handed it to her. She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."
"No problem." Amy headed towards her locker and perused her slightly shifted schedule and sighed with relief. Thankfully only two of her classes had been switched around so she still had all her core classes with her two best friends. The only difference was that now she had band second period instead of first and Spanish first instead of second. While the girls chatted about nothing of significance, their brothers were on the hunt for Ricky. They found him flirting with a girl near the gym. Robbie approached the two teens and interrupted.
"Excuse me, I'm sure whatever the two of you are talking about it quite fascinating but we need to have a little chat with your friend here before school starts," he informed the girl politely with a smile. She returned it and walked away. Once she rounded the corner, Robbie grabbed Ricky by the back of his shirt and dragged him into the locker room, Simon and Terrance slowly following behind them backwards, keeping a lookout. Robbie dragged Ricky towards the showers at the back of the locker room for two reasons: one, they weren't visible from the main locker area and two, by doing so he could make sure no one else was currently in the locker room to disturb or overhear them. Robbie unceremoniously flung Ricky into the shower area and glared at him. Ricky quickly got to his feet and braced himself for a fight.
"What's your problem pal!" he demanded to know. Robbie arched an eyebrow in disbelief.
"You're not too bright are you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're in the marching band and you don't know any of the football players' last names?"
"Of course not, genius, I'm not on the team," Ricky said with irritation, not sure what was going on.
"Better give him a hint or we'll be here all day," Terrance said with a bored tone. Robbie and Simon smirked.
"My last name is Juergens." The boys watched as the gears started turning in Ricky's head and saw the moment realization dawned on him. "Now, I'll give you three guesses as to why we're here right now and the first two don't count." Confusion flashed across Ricky's face as he digested Robbie's words until again reality dawned on him.
"The form," Ricky said.
"Very good. Now, have you signed it yet?"
"Well….." he began and then paused.
"Wrong answer," Terrance declared and quickly stepped forward to punch Ricky in the stomach. Ricky doubled over and wheezed as the wind was knocked out of him. Simon and Robbie looked at Terrance questioningly and he looked back at them unabashed. Robbie straightened Ricky up and got in his face.
"It's very simple Underwood. You hurt our little sister and then treated her like dirt. All she wants now is to be free of you for the rest of her life and you're going to give her what she wants. All that requires from you is your name and signature on a piece of paper. I'm sure even you can figure out how to do that and then we won't have to have this little conversation again. We clear?" Ricky nodded and Robbie released his hold on him. Ricky bent over again slightly as he tried to catch his breath. "You have until game day Underwood. And by game day I mean Friday during school hours. Come find me and give me the form or we'll be seeing you again." His would-be assailants walked away, leaving Ricky still struggling to catch his breath. The boys made their way into the hallway.
"What was that for?" Simon asked Terrance once they'd left the locker room.
"Wrong answer," he said nonchalantly, still unabashed about his behavior. "Besides, Robster had already revealed his identity and unless the little punk's got the sense to actually figure ours out, it was better I did it instead." Simon chuckled.
"Fair enough." Ricky waited exactly where he was for several minutes, just to make sure they were actually gone, before making his way out of the locker room and up to his locker. He wracked his brain trying to remember if Amy had ever told him she had an older brother. Girls with big brothers aren't girls he usually fools around with because, in his experience, brothers take offense to any male with a pulse who's not a blood relative even looking in their little sister's direction. As he pulled his trigonometry books out of his locker, a piece of one of his conversations with Amy at band camp resurfaced.
My dad owns a furniture store and my mom doesn't work, well she works but she works at home, taking care of all of us. There's my brother Robbie he's….a typical boy, and then there's my sister Ashley. She's thirteen.
Ricky had been under the impression that Amy's brother was younger than she was since she hadn't said 'my older brother'. Obviously he was wrong. He'd seen that guy around. Robbie. That was his name. For some reason they'd never had any classes together so he'd never learned his last name. Apparently Amy had an older brother who knew he'd gotten her pregnant and he was pissed. Wait, he said our little sister. Did he mean literally or did he just mean that other guy with the red hair thought of Amy like a little sister? Maybe I should just sign the form to keep from getting beat up? This form was becoming more and more of a problem for him.