Heist, verb: to steal.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It was wrong. Jodie and DJ both knew it, but as you've probably realized by now, neither girl really cared about right from wrong.
The sun hadn't even peaked above the horizon when Jodie and DJ tip toed into their father's room and found his wallet and keys resting on his desk.
"Make sure Dad doesn't wake up," DJ ordered Jodie before opening the leather wallet and pulling out several twenty dollar bills. "Let's go."
DJ and Jodie slipped out of their father's bedroom and walked down the hall with the money in DJ's hand.
Jodie laughed. "That was almost too easy."
DJ nodded. "I know, right? He shouldn't even notice until after our shopping spree today."
"I heard JC Penny is having a sale," Jodie gushed in excitement as they returned to their room, and they continued talking about everything they would buy with the cash they'd heisted from their father's wallet until the sun came up.
Jodie and DJ watched their father pull away from the school in his car, leaving Jodie and DJ standing on the sidewalk that separated the high school from the elementary school.
"Let's go," DJ stated before the two girls glanced around for teachers and after finding none, they left the school grounds and took the city bus to the mall.
DJ and Jodie giggled as they stepped inside minutes before the adults would return home.
"You went shopping without us?" Stephanie demanded. "Where did you get the money to buy that much anyway?"
"Daddy's wallet?" Michelle guessed, knowing it was something her older sisters would do.
Jodie nodded before the two girls sprinted up the steps and slipped into their bedroom as the front door opened downstairs. They stashed their shopping bags filled with clothes and toys and movies and such into their closet before sliding the closet door shut and sitting on their beds with their workbooks, as though they'd been there for the past half hour.
The door opened, and Danny stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and staring at his girls in disappointment and irritation. The anger was there, but he was used to Jodie and DJ acting out, so while he was mad, he was mostly disappointed that they had had total disregard for his trust for the umpteenth time.
He wished Pam was here. Danny was good with the emotional side of things, not the discipline apart, especially when all four of his daughters were getting into trouble three times a day. His wife would've been able to handle their rowdy girls. Danny wasn't sure if he could, but he had to find a way. Pam had been going to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for Danny's flu in order to cure him before he spread it to their daughters; that was when she got in the car accident. People told him not to blame himself, but that's easier said than done.
In Danny's mind, he'd already let Pam down. He couldn't let his daughters down, too.
"You two stole from my wallet," Danny said, firmly.
"How do you know it was us?" Jodie questioned, although she didn't deny it.
"Jesse and Joey wouldn't have taken money without permission, and stealing money from my wallet is not Michelle and Stephanie's style. They cause plenty of trouble, but they cause trouble just to do that: cause trouble. They don't get anything out of it. You girls on the other hand, cause trouble to cause trouble, but you also cause trouble if you get something out of it. Like…" Danny opened their closet door to reveal the shopping bags. "Clothes, toys, movies, magazines, and everything in between.
"Girls, I have raised you better than this. Breaking the window, drinking the coffee, drawing all over the walls with permanent markers, I can tolerate all of that. But in this life or the next, I will not tolerate stealing. Stealing from my wallet is horrible, and it's very close to pick pocketing people outside of this house. And pick pocketing is one step away from prison, and I will not allow my daughters to become criminals. You two are going to pay me back every single penny you took. You two will not be left home alone; DJ will not babysit; you will leave this house for school and school only. DJ is fourteen and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but since I can't trust her or either of you, if the adults ever have to go anywhere, I'm hiring a babysitter. You will have no dessert, no TV time, and will be cleaning every square inch of this house.
"Girls, I thought you'd learned your lesson. I was finally startingwhat to trust you again, and then you do this. I don't trust you at all anymore, and my trust will not be so easily won back after the stunt you pulled today. You will have to earn my trust back piece by piece, and after this, if I see either of you cause one ounce of trouble on purpose, one of you will be sent to boarding school. Am I understood?"
"Boarding school?" DJ demanded. She could tell by her father's expression that the threat of boarding school was not an empty threat.
Danny nodded. "Now... maybe you'll realize that your actions have consequences, and you can't get out of every single consequence. I repeat: am I understand?"
"Yes, Dad," the girls chorused.
The threat of boarding school worked for a while, but almost a year later, the girls starting to get into trouble again, but by then, Danny had discovered a better solution than sending the girls to boarding school…
But you'll have to wait to find out what it is!
Goodbye!